XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Developer Firaxis Games, Feral Interactive (Linux)
XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a 2012 turn-based tactics video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K. It is a "reimagining" of the 1994 strategy game UFO: Enemy Unknown (also known as X-COM: UFO Defense). XCOM: Enemy Unknown is set during an alien invasion of Earth in an alternative version of 2015; the player controls an elite, multinational, paramilitary organization called XCOM and commands troops in a… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
481 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
235 positive · 31 negative
95% range 84–92%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 235 | 31 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 35 | 11 | 144 |
| Lemmy * | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| Mastodon * | 2 | 0 | 10 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
What players are saying
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 239 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (54,794 of 58,792 positive).
Players praise XCOM: Enemy Unknown as a masterful strategy game that holds up well over time. [1][2][3] Some reviewers note the game's difficulty and reliance on chance can lead to frustrating moments. [4][5][6] A few players criticize technical issues like clunky UI and crashes. [7][8][9]
- [8]
Frankly don't understand how this was successful. Great concept and potential marred by issues all over the place. Finicky UI, you will struggle selecting the tile you want to move to thanks to camera angles, UI elements being in the way, and also ??? because it feels like it. Game alt tabs poorly and borderless windowed mode sucks. Don't know how you screw that one up. Line of sight often questionable at best. You …
- [1]
XCOM Enemy Unknown is not as deep and detailed as the original XCOM. It is a different kind of game, refined and simplified for the modern gamer and while I regret some of the lost complexity, this game is absolutely perfect at what it is trying to do. Honestly my biggest problem with the game is the inclusion of Israeli soldiers. Their inclusion would make more sense if this was a game about murdering children …
- [5]
Renamed all my soldiers after my friends. They are all dead now. The game looked me dead in the eyes, let me miss a 94% shot and then had a Sectoid one tap my best guy on the very next turn. Incredible stuff. XCOM is genuinely one of the best strategy games ever made: deep, tense and endlessly replayable. It respects your time just enough to make you waste all of it. Every mission feels like a heist plan that goes …
- [11]
I have very fond memories of playing this game with my housemate back when it was still quite new. I am now replaying the campaign and I must conclude it holds up exceptionally well. I honestly think this is one of the best tactical campaigns you can play to date. Sure, the writing and cut scenes are incredibly cliché-ridden and overacted, but I actually kind of like it that way. It feels really 90's, in a good way. …
- [7]
XCOM: Enemy Unknown does a great job setting the tone, with good turn-based combat and a satisfying strategy when everything clicks. That said, it shows its age with clunky UI, awkward pacing, and some frustrating design choices that later games clearly learned from. It’s still a solid experience, but honestly you’re better off just playing XCOM 2.
Summarised from 34 of the 367 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 11, 2026. How summaries are made
XCOM: Enemy Unknown sits at 88% positive across 266 opinionated reactions from 4 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Critics, per Wikipedia
According to review aggregator website Metacritic, XCOM: Enemy Unknown received "generally favourable reviews" from critics. Franchise creator Julian Gollop also praised the game, describing it as an "addictive and absorbing" experience; he liked the new alien design and enjoyed the challenging gameplay. Evan Lahti from PC Gamer praised Firaxis for understanding the core gameplay pillars of the franchise and modernizing them for a new audience, resulting in a combat system that was "more coherent and elegant" than similar games in the same genre. He also liked the way the combat captured the "childlike joy" of moving a squad of action figures. Dan Stapleton from GameSpy described the game…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 481 · most liked firstgirl are you a 96% chance to hit in an XCOM game because i miss you so much
neutral · AI labelView post →the government should be spending one billion dollars to make a new XCOM game that runs on all systems including ipad
neutral · AI labelView post →"there's a new star wars game" hard pass, no thank you "it's XCOM 3 in all but name" you son of a bitch i'm in
neutral · AI labelView post →If I was a billionaire I’d just personally pay 20 million dollars every year to make a new Xcom game and then I’d be able to play it and I wouldn’t even notice the money being gone and some people would think I’m cool for funding it. I guess I could also become a bigot because I saw memes online tho
neutral · AI labelView post →Maybe 2025 is the year I finally play XCom 2, which is notably a game that has been sitting in my library unplayed since release
neutral · AI labelView post →Reasonably well known at the Other Place that I'm a gamer, but yes, Bluesky, I'm a game nerd. OG Fallout guy, also love XCOM, as well as many WWII and other strategery games. I just bought a new rig from @falconnorthwest.bsky.social too, arrives next week.
neutral · AI labelView post →NEW VIDEO: In 2006 a Washington DC based think tank hired future lead designers of Civilization and XCOM to make a strategy game based on a documentary about nonviolent protest. 20 years later I'm here to tell you why. youtu.be/dmL7Ph4Us8o
neutral · AI labelView post →a few people have asked me what i think about it. XCOM games are often discounted at like 2$, get it, if you like it, then it’s XCOM/Fire Emblem set in the clone wars. It’s my fav SW game since force unleashed
neutral · AI labelView post →its pretty interesting and notable from a game-design standpoint that people still seem to really like the original Final Fantasy Tactics and XCOM over new games in the genre that have been "improved" with the addition of modern game design philosophy
neutral · AI labelView post →*secretly wishing every single turn based tactics game was just more of XCOM 2 war of the chosen* oh yeah I just wish the game loop was more holistic, you know?
neutral · AI labelView post →God the amount I would suffer if I bought like an XCom game or like Darkest Dungeon. Absolute misery. SO I DON'T.
negative · AI labelView post →I can't find the exact screenshot but on my playthrough of XCOM:EU, I had a late game mission where these five dipshits were all set up with 95% overwatch shots on a guy that my Support triggered. They all missed and then he Crit one-shot my Support. That's XCOM, baby!
neutral · AI labelView post →There was an old article about Xcom 2 from Kotaku that called it the sports game of the year because it was very focused on managing rosters and doing a lot of things sports videogames do and there’s something to that because if you have a fighting game but I get to equip hats that’s also an rpg
neutral · AI labelView post →Things are bad but they made a game about Star Trek Voyager that looks like a cross between Stellaris and Xcom so things have never been better
neutral · AI labelView post →This sucks, Gears Tactics was a great XCom style game, they could have easily gone on to make more in that vein, but private equity.
neutral · AI labelView post →I'm still chewing through this (the devs kindly sent me an early copy) but it has my highest recommendation. The title is dull. The game is anything but. Like if Supergiant made an XCom game. Funky squad tactics about magic knights on mopeds fighting demons in anachronistic, very camp Italy.
neutral · AI labelView post →Tactics connoisseur (the term just fits) Sin Vega on how overbearing the XCOM reboot’s influence on game design became, and the other directions tactics can go. remapradio.com/articles/sho...
neutral · AI labelView post →There's an XCOM like game, called Star Wars: Zero Company, coming out soon! BUT IT'S RELEASED BY EA, WHO JUST GOT BOUGHT BY THE FUCKING SAUDIS MEDIAWASHING BLOOD MONEY FUND. FUCK. 😩
neutral · AI labelView post →XCOM The Miniatures Game is now on pre order from @modiphius.bsky.social I had the pleasure of painting two of the Operatives. They were a lot of fun to paint, I especially love the Heavy sculpt. Fantastic models the heavy was sculpted by Ben de Bosdari and the assault by Joana Abbott. #xcom
neutral · AI labelView post →Floaters I painted for the new @modiphius.bsky.social XCOM Miniatures Game. They were great fun to paint! 😊 #xcom #xcomminiatures #xcomminiaturesgame #modiphius
neutral · AI labelView post →3DS middle/deep cuts? Any of the M2 3D Sega ports. Superscaler in 3D is religious. Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars, which is probably the best XCOM game
neutral · AI labelView post →BG3 has me on some XCOM shit tonight if my hit percentage is 91, and I miss twice in a row, your game is full of LIES and BULLSHIT
neutral · AI labelView post →1) yes. 100%. full agreement 2) losing it at how this looks like the Global Leaders you’d expect to in an XCOM game
neutral · AI labelView post →I earnestly think the game would’ve sold better if it had been marketed as “Marvel Persona” instead of “Marvel XCOM”
neutral · AI labelView post →EVERYBODY, WAKE UP. THERE WAS AN XCOM GATCHA GAME
neutral · AI labelView post →Why the hell don’t we have a new Xcom game every year? It’s 2024, is Biden even trying to win?
neutral · AI labelView post →How I long for a Redwall inspired XCOM game
neutral · AI labelView post →Am not acknowledging the video game industry until they give me an XCOM 3
neutral · AI labelView post →XCOM: Apocalypse. Terrible, difficult game at a terrible, difficult time of my life.
negative · AI labelView post →10. Xcom 2 This is the big one! The game I've had on the long finger for the longest I think. I bought it back when it first came out. Now, the 10th anniversary flew me by somehow. I'd been planning to stream it, name characters after chat, and still do at some stage.
neutral · AI labelView post →Sometimes I think about Chimera Squad which has such a interesting concept as a Xcom game with fun gameplay but then also hits you with 'also you are cops'
neutral · AI labelView post →XCOM: Enemy Unknown was released 14 years ago today. I played this game a LOT until it was replaced in my heart by XCOM 2: War of the Chosen. 😁 Now please give me a real XCOM 3. Memories of nights spent fighting strategically against the Alien invaders while taking care of a baby with a flu.
positive · AI labelView post →The other fun thing about The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is that WE knew that Firaxis was making a proper XCOM game but the public did not. So the response was always "this isn't XCOM!"
neutral · AI labelView post →HELLO MODIPHIUS WHY AM I, CO-DESIGNER OF WIDLY SUCCESSFUL MODIPHIUS BOARD GAME MASS EFFECT AND XCOM SUPERFAN, NOT ON THIS TEAM PLZ PUT ME ON THE TEAM KTHX!!!
neutral · AI labelView post →XCOM dev’s highly rated Marvel’s Midnight Suns is ‘free’ to claim for a limited time. vgc.news/news/xcom-de...
neutral · AI labelView post →My dream video game is XCOM 3 with slightly more depth to squad relationships and base building and full mod support
positive · AI labelView post →they're saying this Star Wars XCOM game might be the worst thing to happen to my productivity since, well, ever
neutral · AI labelView post →I have hundreds of design credits on BGG, and I think maybe a quarter of them are expansions I did not design, for games I designed. XCOM the board game only has my name on the cover, but it should also have Nikki Valens and Lukas Litzinger, who were more co-designers than developers.
neutral · AI labelView post →Hey have you all heard that XCOM 2 is a pretty good strategy game
neutral · AI labelView post →I saw someone on Reddit referring to our game Cyber Knights as XCOM meets Ghost in the Shell, and that makes me so happy. 😄
neutral · AI labelView post →Agents of SHIELD rules right up to the end did you know. But also, no two franchises have ever been better suited to one another than this and XCOM There should be an Agents Of SHIELD XCOM game that follows the events of the show
neutral · AI labelView post →Today’s Black Video Game Character: Dr. Richard Tygan (XCOM)
neutral · AI labelView post →XCOM Enemy Unknown is not as deep and detailed as the original XCOM. It is a different kind of game, refined and simplified for the modern gamer and while I regret some of the lost complexity, this game is absolutely perfect at what it is trying to do. Honestly my biggest problem with the game is the inclusion of Israeli soldiers. Their inclusion would make more sense if this was a game about murdering children instead of fighting aliens.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I’m very much enjoying my XCOM Star Wars skin video game. It has everything I want from a XCOM game and a good Star Wars story so far!
positive · AI labelView post →Star wars xcom?. Hey all, The new Star Wars Xcom game says it's unsupported on Deck and Machine. I know those aren't always entirely accurate. I didn't suppose anyone's gotten the game and tried it have they?
neutral · AI labelView post →Xcom 2 gotta be a top 3 game of all time right?
positive · AI labelView post →XCOM 2 continues to be a banger of a game. It's got its weird bugs and quirks, and even those somehow turn out charming.
positive · AI labelView post →been playing this early access game called Menace and damn I really forgot how much I miss XCOM
positive · AI labelView post →Update, probably gonna restart my playthrough a second time lol. The long term death spiral in this game even in "normal" difficulty is so brutal and makes XCOM seem quaint
neutral · AI labelView post →Pre Order Now! XCOM: The Miniatures Game, is on its way in November with a Core Rulebook and Plastic Miniatures Sets. Take a look here: tychosgames.com/collections/... #xcom #miniatures #wargaming #modiphius
neutral · AI labelView post →Was just pitched a game as "Stardew Valley meets XCOM"
neutral · AI labelView post →非常好的游戏,但我不推荐Take-Two Interactive旗下任何一款游戏。 Really good game but I do not recommend any game published by Take-Two Interactive. 2025年2月28日,Take-Two更新了旗下所有游戏的EULA。2025年6月。 On February 28, 2025, Take-Two updated its EULA for all titles. 新协议条款包括:收集设备标识符、IP地址、精准地理位置、支付信息(含信用卡/借记卡号)、网站和应用浏览记录、账户凭证,并获取系统根目录访问权限;美国及澳大利亚、瑞士、英国、欧洲经济区以外地区的用户须放弃集体诉讼和陪审团审判权利,一切争议通过有约束力的个人仲裁解决;禁止使用修改器、MOD、漏洞利用,禁止使用VPN、代理服务器、虚拟机伪装位置或居住地。协议适用于Take-Two旗下所有游戏。 The updated terms include: collection of device identifiers, IP…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Still one of the best games ever created. Might be the game I come back to most often. #retrogaming #dosgaming #xcom
positive · AI labelView post →So, that recent "Star Wars does XCOM" game was pretty good? And the new "Star Wars does Burnout" game is good, too? Huh. Well, if you happen to have a license to make Star Wars games and are looking for your next idea...
neutral · AI labelView post →Eurogamer is celebrating XCOM 2's 10th birthday 👽 www.eurogamer.net/xcom-2-10th-...
neutral · AI labelView post →👽👽👽👽 🔴LIVE🔴 👽👽👽👽 Its Back to the Front Lines in XCOM: Enemy Unknown with the LONG WAR Mod! This makes XCOM a WHOLE NEW GAME! Come Discover how neat it is with us! :D Questions in Chat WELCOME! ▶️ www.twitch.tv/pankraru ◀️ #Vtuber #Pngtuber #Xcom #XComEnemyUnknonw #Mods #LongWar
neutral · AI labelView post →Modern Gamers whenever they see a tactics game: Oh neat an XCOM game! #Blutoid
neutral · AI labelView post →Kinda love juggling rechargeable batteries in video games. FTL, caves of qud, XCOM. I would play the hell out of a cozy incremental or roguelite game where you rig solar panels, relocate batteries and daisy chain extension leads around your solarpunk dystopian commune.
neutral · AI labelView post →I finished Zero Company! 💫 Had a fantastic time with this and can easily recommend it to fans of Star Wars and XCOM. I absolutely loved the characters! With a bit more gameplay depth, content, and polish, this would be a legendary game. Hope @bitreactor keeps developing it!
positive · AI labelView post →Hot take incoming: I like this game WAYYYY more than XCOM 2. Like seriously, Enemy Within is the best XCOM experience and I'm tired of pretending it's not just because XCOM 2 exists
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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