Old-school XCOM-like Xenonauts 2 doesn’t pull any punches
Despite XCOM being a borderline household name at this point (Mario and Warhammer 40,000 have certainly taken note), few games have mimicked the series’ origins as openly as 2014’s Xenonauts. As a love letter to 1994’s X-COM: UFO Defense, it added even more complexity to the already punishing turn-based formula, weaving branching technological upgrades with tense tactical skirmishes. Xenonauts 2 continues that tradition by doubling down on the depth, nuance, and difficulty of both Xenonauts and the game that inspired it.
The premise of Xenonauts 2 sells itself: It’s 2009, but the Cold War never ended, and society is beginning to fray. The ever-increasing UFO activity, which has unfolded alongside global geopolitical tensions, has reached a boiling point. You control a multinational special forces team dedicated to protecting Earth and eradicating the intruders. The tech at your disposal seems slightly dated (including M16s and M9 Berettas), as if the world could not make measurable progress in the absence of peace. That changes swiftly as you begin to assimilate and adopt alien wares. Narratively, the tone is charming, as it vacillates between silly notes and others that are decidedly grim.
If you’ve never played Xenonauts — or any XCOM games, for that matter — you needn’t flee in terror. One of the great strengths of this sequel is in how well it communicates the inner workings of its overlapping systems. Where the first Xenonauts was a rough experience with little to no hand-holding, this new incarnation features an in-depth tutorial, as well as a wonderful nesting tooltip mechanism that allows you to quickly identify key words and processes in the UI. There is quite a lot to internalize here, and you will need to
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