The best games like XCOM to play right now
The XCOM franchise is pretty synonymous with turn-based tactics games. It’s a beloved franchise for good reason, and has spawned many, many imitators. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, XCOM is an almost overwhelmingly flattered series.
Here are our staff’s favorite XCOM-likes and where to play them. Some were directly inspired by XCOM; some weren’t. Some are also sci-fi humans-versus-aliens games, while others take the structure and move it to a fantasy realm or an established IP setting. All of them are fun, tactical times, and we hope you find one you’ll dig.
Where to play: iOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows PC
Invisible, Inc. is a gloriously crisp 2015 tactical stealth game from Klei Entertainment, the Canadian indie studio behind Don’t Starve. It’s a dashing, cartoony cyberpunk heist caper in which a team of augmented agents fly around the globe, stealing things from the high-security facilities of sinister corporations with the support of a powerful hacking AI. Procedurally generated levels and an exquisitely designed network of interconnected rules work together to create dynamic sneaking scenarios that seem to exist on a permanent knife edge of tension; unlike many games in the tactics genre, Invisible, Inc. is impossible to overpower or be overpowered by, and rewards playing with just the right amount of heart-in-mouth risk. In this game, using a gun is a last resort, and remembering to close a door behind you can mean the difference between success and failure. A near-perfect hidden gem of a tactics game. —Oli Welsh
Where to play: Android, iOS, Mac, Nintendo Switch, Windows PC
Into the Breach is basically Lo-Fi Beats to Tactics To. Whereas games like XCOM go large with expensive production values, Into the Breach is refreshingly minimalist. Your team of just three mechs is tasked with fighting back kaiju-sized insects. You can see the entire battlefield, in all its pixel-art glory, from an isometric view. Every level is randomized,
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