Xenonauts 2

Much more fleshed out now that mile stone 5 is out. Great game could use a few more scary end game enemies especially for operation end game. Over all still great just feels like there should be more of an "Oh sh!t" moment when you land and see a new enemy.

This game has QOL features and game mechanics that no other game has. This is the CLEANEST, most REWARDING, most STREAMLINED version of the XCOM experience, by miles.

Great game that keeps the heritage of the original old school XCOM games, and so glad they're taking this game to the finish line having almost completed development.

over half of the research options, equipment's, and choices to be made are entire noob traps that the community will actively dog on you for falling for. Not sure why you would include 2/3rds of the game when you prescript it all to be a synthetic learning curve of "learn to NOT use this" over and over again.

Game phasing is so slow. Ther is no combat flow . I cant enjoy it . wish i can but i cant.

With the new Milestone 5 update the game is almost complete and there is no reason to go back to Xenonauts 1 or any of the OG XCOMs anymore. This is a great take on the old school XCOM formula with a focus on tough tactical battles and frequent difficult choices where sacrifices need to be made. Compared to the "modern" XCOMs, this is more focused on the tactical decision making in battles, positioning, plan of attack, etc. There are more units and more strategic decisions. It's less of a cinematic action shooter, and obviously there are no grand cinematics like in the AAAs.

The cleaner segment is a great addition to the XCOM formula to ease you into fighting aliens. Mission variety is good and progression feels on point. Their work to add more choices and variety on the world map has been a good direction, it feels more alive to have to fight govt infiltration and worry about some geopolitical activities. The original always felt a bit weird as to why you're the only one bothering to do anything and Xenonauts provides a lot more flavor and background as to what's going on. Simple popups of various army forces and and civilian airliners being destroyed by aliens on the world map also add a fun flavor to the overall setting.

Again this is a TOUGH turn based strategy, so a better fit for those who are looking for a more tactical experience. It won't hold your hand like the mainstream titles. You need to use ALL of your equipment that you bring, deploy smokes everywhere, move around in teams with cover fire, and be happy with 50-60% objective completion in the best of cases.

Over the last decade I'd say Xenonauts 2 is the best tactical combat turn-based strategy game along with Battle Brothers.

If you liked old school XCOM or played Xenonauts 1 then this is probably for you. It's still in early access but has minimal bugs and the developers are constantly working on it to improve it and are actively listening to player feedback and have been extremely kind (even going as far as a developer taking my save file to repair it after i experienced a bug that softlocked my game). Every update the game gets better, and I'm eager for the full release when it comes!

This game is coming along real nice. If you liked the gameplay style of og X-com but want a newer game with less trouble, this game and the previous one are the best for it

Pretty cool xcom like but a bit more hardcore, does not hold your hand.

So far I have enjoyed the game but I am just a casual player of this and the Devs have been active and everytime I have looked back at the game it has had atleast one if not more "milestone" patches since I last played. if you enjoyed the first one then I feel you will enjoy this one as well and the Devs do seem dedicated to producing a good game so I wouldnt worry to much but as with any early access game it is always a risk.

I dont have much else to say positive or negative... I think it overall feels like a better Xenonauts one so take that how you will.

Grabbed it on sale as I really loved the old X-Com UFO Defense. And it feels a lot like that with modern polish. The intro feels good. Has all the pieces. I believe they will finally release the live version soon. If you really love the old X-Com original and want a modernized play through it might be worth getting this while on sale or you can wait for release. Just thought I would high light this one as I think the actual release of the game is coming soon while it is on sale.

It´s a good game. I am being entertained.

True enough to the old xcom with some good improvements. Rare crash or bug. Still completing the game but good replayability and challenging even on lower skill levels.

I played a little bit of Milestone 4 but ever since Milestone 5 with the varies bug fixes needed to bring it to the stable branch the game is pretty good. (I finished the game on veteran difficulty)

PROS
1. Progression feels really good especially early game (they redid the early game as apart of milestone 5)
2. The enemies being very different from each other (especially later on) makes each encounter quite a bit different and you have to figure out how to win with what you brought
3. The strategic part of the game is pretty solid (a lot of waiting but still puts you under a good amount of pressure for pretty much the entire game) (should be said also i was playing on veteran difficulty)
4. Mission variety felt nice especially early on (you get to save civilians, raid some alien ships, and missions related to the cleaners that are unique)

CONS
1. The air combat is pretty boring (i used auto-resolve like 90% of the time) though I heard there is going to be an air rework at some point
2. Overwatch I think works pretty well but it takes a while to get used to (it is tied to reflexes and certain weapons like MGs to tend to have much more random spread than other weapons) The game could use a way to better show how effective over watch will be for a person considering how important it is.
3. The damage variation is a bit much, not to the point that it cant be worked around but its still noticable in certain situations (I have specifically run into this issue with laser weapons)
4. The late game felt a little short, as in I would want to spend more time on the alien planet before beating the game (hopefully this will get expanded in an update)

I got this game on a 35% sale (pretty sure it is discounted that much fairly often) and at $26 it is defiantly worth the money, maybe even worth full price if this is the main genre your interested in.

This is the true successor of UFO Defense from the 90s. Yes, it has some issues, still not finished. Basically a lot of the original stuff from UFO Defense is implemented here, but to a better degree. The same feeling of dread is there, difficulty can go crazy sometimes. Soldier types are good, some you could find in the old game through modding. Base building is simple, like in the old game.

10/10 as an indie game
01/10 as a production controlled by hooded horse.... recommend or reject?

These devs chose to be enslaved by one of THE WORST publishers as of late...

XCOM 2 is my favorite game of all time. It looks like XCOM 3 is never going to happen. I really tried to get into Xenonauts 2, the systems look like the exact thing I'd be into, but everything just feels flat and disjointed.

I'll come back on full release and update my review if I have a better experience, but so far I'm not optimistic.

If you like X-Com [Specifically UFO Defence and or TFTD] then you will like this. If you played the first Xenonauts and enjoyed it then this is that but better. The progression is better, there's more content, the engine is better - you can rotate the camera, the air combat is better, there's fewer bugs and this is all while it's still receiving pretty regular updates.

It can be frustrating as all hell but that's the nature of probability games. Remember: a 2% chance of something happening means it happens in 1/50 instances.

love the game so far, it is a very great step up from coming from the new xcom series to playing this.
its not overly complex, but at the same time you can still customise and change the squad depending on what firepower or equipment is fun to charge in with.
9/10 (always room for improvement)

The story is not bad 7/10 but the characters feel slightly lacking 4/10

Not fully out yet but it's still great fun, even if i miss two 99% in a row and frag a fellow squad mate, woulds stomp alien again. 10/10

Worth playing, fair and challenging on my level.

Running regular difficulty with ironman because you should, it makes the game better/quicker/different try it.

I've spent in game 150h , finished it 5 times to extend game gave me a possibility, including 2 times on Commander in Milestone 5 experimental , where the game is complete and is in polishing state.
Here is an honest review :
SHORT VERSION
If you like turned base games like Xcom - BUY IT , its 10 times better in every single manner

LONG VERSION
Combat system is taken from XCOM 90th and well transfered here , will lot of refinements . Its not an easy one to take on from the start , so you need to read a bit about stats , how it works and staff ; but once you get into it , you will never wish to come back to ugly ass run-shoot system from XCOM 2000th .

Difficulty is another thing , while XCOM from 2000 takes it easy on you , this game , the very way XCOM 90th did , will teraform your ass ; even if you play on easy.
Early game is brutal and you WILL LOSE your fighters , no matter what, if you are new to the game. Accept it , embrace it and get gut. You will prevail if you fight back hard enough.
This game does the very opposite of what XCOM 2000th does ; It starts INSAINLY HARD ,cause you are outmatched vs Aliens , and its LOGIC ,its fine. But as the game goes on and you catch on alien tech , your soldiers become Space Marines , you equal and surpass Aliens.
I love it. The more you advance the more tactical solutions the game will offer you to beat aliens. In return they will send you most hard enemies and in numbers to now test your true command ability and decision taking.

Graphics
Its not an AAA and thank god. Graphics are FINE , they are. The game about gameplay , not graphics but its a huge UP since Xeno 1 , so its fine to look at and nice to play with.

Balance in game
Its pretty good !
Weapons like you have ,all are usefull for each situation even at the very end game. Gear and weapons are done pefectly for thier roles so you can effectivly use 95% of gear game propose you.
As it is now , milestone 5.15 , only Colossus Armor needs a buff/fix , as its a piece of useless gear.
Aliens - really well balanced as well , but only the Cyberdrone and Medical Prob in 5.15 ; those 2 need a rebalance , as they are overpowered enemies to face.
Over balance wise it really is a good step up from Xeno 1

What I dont like in current state ?
Well , 2 major things :
1°Timed mission , I never liked them. But in this game , as I described you how difficulty scales , in early game they are brutal , in late game they are annoying.
2°Game falls off in content past mid game ; no more new tech , no more new difficulties from new aliens , new tasks - you continue to do very same missions until ENDGAME mission , which is really well made and really Hard on part 1 of it. But overall its all same maps and tasks with no variation.
May be this will be adressed in next milestone 5 and by modding community

Overall , you will enjoy a lot for you money , game is replayable , I'm on my 6th run today to seek for bugs and send them to devs to help them out.
I would say 8/10 game ; -2 points for downfall of content in a late game.

Unpolished and overpriced XCOM clone. Not recommendable in its current state.

Already having a lot of fun, despite the game not being finished

Beware, normal difficulty can actually feel challenging

X2 is a work in progress but it is great work. A true successor to the X-Com franchise. Support the devs as they make this game better and better.

The game was promised to be released no later than April 18, 2024.

This i just a bad copy of Xcome2, everything i worse in this game, just play xcome2 insted!!

A solid throwback to the days of the original X-Com games where defending the earth meant building up the global infrastructure to do so, instead of just upgrading a single base and dealing with a single mission at a time. The visual flair and punchy skill tree driven combat of the reboots will be missed, but fans of the genre will appreciate the more robust strategic layer.

Excellent. Played through on unfinished main branch and buggy beta branch. Enjoyed both a lot.

Been a long time since I played the original x-com games, but I would say the difficulty curve is smoother and there isn't a sense of dread.

Compared to x-com reboot, it is less cinematic and less immersive in some ways, but more interesting tactically. You think about battles in terms of the whole map, instead of a bunch of mini encounters. I prefer it.

Probably my favourite game of its genre.

Not too complex (Phoenix Point), not too simple (Xcom 2), based on Terror from the Deep.
Couldn't stop playing until I reached the "Finished all the available content!" message.

tl;dr play the Firaxis XCOM games instead.

A year and a half into early access and this game still has so far to go. Less than 10 hours in I've encountered 'placeholder' art and story for required plot missions. New enemies show up almost every mission but they lack meaningful variety/mechanics. Given the deep sales while still in EA I suspect it's not selling well and I'm speculating the remaining development will be haphazardly rushed to move the devs to more profitable ventures. Very glad I did not buy this at EA launch or for full price.

Gameplay
Combat mechanics seem ok; no major complaints outside enemy variety. Enemy overwatch mechanics seem poorly implemented but perhaps I'm not understanding the mechanic well. Facing direction is new to me mechanically--it adds a little thinking to positioning but the feature is mostly irrelevant. Soldier progression seems very poorly thought out (medals and rankings with minor stat bonuses? c'mon...numbers aren't fun). IMO the Firaxis XCOM games were much more fun; the RNG soldier class system and ability tree made each soldier unique. Additionally, I dearly miss the cinematic kill-cam.

Performance
Not good. Enemy turns are long and the game stutters something fierce when smoke is on the field. Despite the classic sprite appearance, the game is rendered in 3D. Game runs on Linux via Proton, but almost everything does nowadays so no bonus points.

This game has some good moments and at times a decent gameplay loop, but I can't recommend it in its current state, especially as a full-priced title. While this is still a review, I have put a few 'wishlist' style changes I'd like to see throughout it; despite my (at times) harsh tones, I love this kind of game and wish this game and its developers a successful 1.0 release. Regardless, My main criticisms are as follows:

1. Compared with other games of this genre, the difficulties are far harder than they let on. I'm struggling through my second playthrough on veteran (second hardest difficulty) while I've managed to beat pheonix point and Xcom 2 on legendary EASILY by comparison. This isn't a detractor for diehard fans of the genre, but WILL alienate more casual players.

2. Overwatch in tactical missions. This is an issue in other games of the genre as well, but it's ESPECIALLY bad here. Aliens, even from undisovered pods, will almost always be on overwatch beyond the early game, even on turn one, facing directly toward your landing area. There's also NO indicator showing if any given alien (or human, for that matter) is on overwatch, and if that alien has only a single overwatch attack, or several. Additionally, your own men's overwatch (which you can't really turn off beyond wasting time units) cause friendly fire an uncomfortably large amount of the time. The rules explaining how and when units will use overwatch are unclear and inconsistent, and NOTHING you can field is beefy enough to just face-tank through the worst of it unless you're VERY ahead in tech at that given point. One (partial) solution is smoke grenades (flashbangs can't usually be thrown far enough accurately to turn it off consistently), but they're REALLY risky and unintuitive to use:
Use them on your own units -> you're forced to move unless you've outfitted your entire squad with gas masks (or have T3 armor already) because stun will keep building from smoke inhalation.
Use them on enemy units -> congrats, you're never going to hit them until they either leave or you get really up close, which defeats the point.
use them on the space in between -> They're sorta inconsistent, and aliens still move around them on their next turn anyway, and you also can't shoot through it either, and moving through it later will still give stun effect.

2B) Damage rolling. While not a big issue in the earlygame, with how armour works, combats feel increasingly luck-based and inconsistent as the game progresses- attacks do 50 to 200% of their base damage on every hit, before armour An attack having a base of 50 damage against a unit with 60 hp and 20 armour could do anywhere between 5 damage (basically nothing), or 80 (oneshotting almost most biological soldiers even through T3 armour). Weapons having different damage ranges/spreads or even reducing the overall spread would do a tonne to make combats more fair and straightforward. The wild damage ranges makes the overwatch issue mentioned above even worse as you can't calculate your way through traversing a volley to allow your squad to move again.

3. The atmosphere of the game and the strategy layer in particular is underwhelming. Almost no voice acting, no cutscenes even for big events, and a lack of varied sound effects or music as the game progressed. Our chief of operations, head scientist and head of engineering don't even have their own names or backstories (that I've managed to find, anyway), which is a huge shame for the scientist especially, as he clearly has a personality he establishes over the game. Additionally, the storytelling around 'an asymmetrical war against the aliens' is DEEPLY confusing. You simultaneously have hidden bases, yet the governments of the world are somehow still funding you anyway while all their intelligence agencies have been compromised by alien sympathisers (light spoilers, my bad) from the dead start of the game? Whose side are the governments of the world on? If the threats are so pervasive, how are you able to just build bases anywhere and they'll almost never be attacked until the second half of the game, and only by aliens. Where is the Xenonaut support base coming from?

4. The air combat is also very unpolished and they admit as such when you do it for the first time. with a second-generation fighter (which I won't name for spoilers) armed with third tier weapons and second tier armour can't kill anything bigger than certain 'small' sized aircraft. Additionally, the interface implies you can send multiple fighters (which would definitely be helpful in using lots of weaker craft) after a single threat, but there's no proper explanation anywhere ingame on how to do this? This one is probably the most forgivable of all my criticisms thus far- maybe I don't know what I'm doing. Additionally, I built a LOT of missile/laser/redacted Defense batteries in my campaigns, and later found out these ONLY shoot at alien aircraft attacking your bases? If these could attack other alien craft passing by, I think that'd be both thematically awesome and make the air combat a lot more bearable.

5. A lot of the tactical level item choices and combinations are honestly just sort of boring, and the number of viable comps in the second half of the game is very low. Grenadiers are really weak as the game progresses and their tech up for explosives comes WAY too late. Further exacerbating their mediocrity, normal soldiers of other classes can carry a LOT of grenades by then. Could grenade launchers be made into a secondary so I can still use a rifle, shotgun or machine gun? Shields are honestly too strong in the earlygame and midgame if you get their T2 project done soon enough, but fall off rapidly after that. The MARS units are definitely very cool, but why can't I turn my men into Telepaths, cyborgs or super-mutants using alien tech? The restrictions on what can be used as primary and secondary weapons are also too strict for my liking- it also takes (in my opinion) far too many time units to move stuff around in inventory, so trying to cram out on held items and switching as needed in combat isn't usually viable either.

6. More minor issues. they're not a serious issue in the scheme of things, and will likely be fixed soon, but definitely make play on some maps maps deeply uncomfortable. Issues such as
Cyberdrone explosion on death feels almost unavoidable in the REDACTED, as the short corridoors and small rooms mean one in the center of a room is almost unavoidable damage, especially if you use shorter- ranged compositions (you'd be an idiot to do a long-ranged one in there anyway)
Why do really thin boreal trees provide 100% (perfect) cover as good as brick or metal walls? Cover in general feels like it's too generously applied when shooting through various non-straight general angles.
Why can't I move units through each other, to the point it adds massive amounts of time units in moving a formation UNLESS you move them all in a very specific order? since you lose additional time units for making turns, a unit may need to turn THREE times to get around one guy, which often loses you 10+ time units for what should have been a 2-3 block, 5-7 time unit move. This isn't a huge issue by itself, but if someone gets suppressed, panics or otherwises loses their remaining turn unexpectedly, it can cause a doorway to be shut for an entire turn as the person you can't move through now can't move at all.

While I may have more to learn about this game, I can't recommend it right now. I WILL update this review as more content, bug fixes and rebalancing comes available. I have high hopes for the team working on it and this game by 1.0 Release, however far away that is. Thanks for reading my review!

An absolutely amazing sequel to an equally amazing game. This has improved on the XCOM formula in almost every way and is arguably better than even XCOM 2.

This cover system is so stupid???
Can't shoot from behind a wall?

I like killing aliens








But seriously, even in the early access state, this game delivers. I'm excited to see it continue to be refined and polished, and the latest experimental branch release only cements my hopes.

Passed the dollar per hour ratio easily. For those who enjoyed the first, you will also enjoy this one- the balancing and progression feels a lot better in the second game compared to the first.

This game will cheat. You will miss hit chance to hit shots, regardless if taken multiple times. Your soldiers will die from a stiff breeze. Enemies will spawn right next to you when you start the mission and WILL kill you the from the word Go. You will always be at a disadvantage unless the games director decides suddenly that the aliens are eating glue in the corner levels of dumb and easy.

You think I'm being dramatic?
Half cover walls are -40% accuracy when shooting over it from as far a one tile away from it, while the aliens you weren't targeting, and that you can't see hidden in the fog of war, can head shot your soldiers perfectly every time.
Your soldiers will miss several shots on the SAME enemy whose standing in the middle of an open field, but that same enemy on the AIs turn will kill one of your soldiers with ease. Oh and then an enemy you can't see because of the fog of war will follow up on their turn by ONCE AGAIN blowing the head off another solider.
Med kits can only be used ONCE per soldier, meaning they can only be healed once per mission.
Enemies WILL destroy your cover with a few shots, but your nerf gun bullets will bounce harmlessly off the walls.
Enemies have a MUCH wider field of vision than you, and they WILL shot you from areas that your sniper in a raised advantage point, with upgraded weapon and sights, can't see and cant target.
Enemies will charge you, and your soldier will full movement point, who should be on overwatch, will do NOTHING to stop them. While if your soldiers stick so much as a pinkie toe from behind cover then aliens will overwatch your position EVERYTIME and get free shots off.
Miss a shot or took a shot? aliens get a free reaction shot on you. Aliens shoot you or miss you? Your soldiers will stand around with a thumb up their ass as they die. You hit an alien with gun fire and a grenade? They will laugh it off and charge you. Your soldier with multiple missions and dozens of confirmed kills gets a splinter? They go crazy and shoot and destroy the life saving cover of their nearby teammate WHO THEN GETS KILLED BY AN ENEMY YOU CAN'T SEE!

The game punishes you for playing it. Save scumming is a MUST. And NPC civilians on the map will get more kills then your hand picked, best of the best, special forces soldiers.

Its like playing the first Xcom remake all over again. And I loved that game, and its broken mechanics, while this game just pisses me off. I keep coming back to this game to try it again and again, but I can't stick with it for long because it just pisses me off so much with its poorly explained mechanics, and obviously cheating AI that makes it that you HAVE to save scum to even have a hope of winning.

I had to start the same mission over again several times because the game INSISTED on having an alien right next to my deployment zone that would immediately one shot whoever I sent out first.

Kinda boring. The story is a little too 'basic' to draw me in. Still lots of basic bugs, like not being able to click on the data from computers in the cleaner missions makes it unplayable for me.

I just stopped playing. :(

Fantastic. This in XCom reborn. Original XCom but better! I can hardly wait to see what else they do with this.

Old fashioned tactical game bought up to date with great game play that really challenges the brain.

Great game with a lot of challenges, its still early access but the developers are really trying to work hard to fix issues and complete the game.
Still in its uncompleted state its a good challenge and has a lot of content.

I love Xcom and this is a lot like that game. It's a little different but, I love this game so far.

Good game

As i have reached the point of story roadblock, i am gona chill with the game now. As for now, it feels like very refined experience of Xenonauts, improved in almost every way. However, will wait with full review on the release.

alot of fun, kinda balls to the wall at times, but i wont lie it makes alot of auto saves, which i think is a beautiful use of the multiverse xD i mean if they gonna invade us from the multiverse, i may from time to time, swap to a reality i didnt just flash bang my whole team, and try a differnt thing xD 10/10 its a cleaver use of quantum mechincs

they need to start thinking not just puting in numbers, oh yeah and they introduced loaded dice. cant turn it off either ofc. the new system forces you to take aliens alive on first contact, while giving you 2 weapons specifically designed to do it that both combined do as much as SMOKE each turn for 3-4 turns if you lucky.

Yes smoke practically impossible to missthrow, stuns on first contact and FIXED amount each turn. STUN baton does half IN MELEE with 50%-ish chance (loaded die btw), and oh you get a stun gun 70% chance !!! IN MELEE MAYBE (and also loaded die) maybe modder can take that crap out.
Ah yeah im not sure after i saw it how bad it is, but in this 2 at least bullets once calculated it WILL miss, THEN it calculates a path that HAS to miss the target, this makes the bullet FORCED to some angles that you just scratch your head, like wtf?!

ah yeah, and locals kill off your aliens that you try to capture so you kinda forced to kill the locals to stop doing that.... unless you wanna run up to them and talk to them, you know they always nice and reachable inside 3 aliens target reticle.

I have played the first Xenonauts both vanilla and Community Enhanced edition and liked them vey much.
For this iteration, I have been playing and experimenting with updates since the closed beta days before the release of Milestone 1. I love the latest experimental branch, you can feel the game is heading towards its final production stages, and feels nice and good overall.

Now that I see this game resistance against fascism, i love it even more.

Wish this game was multiplayer, would be fun as hell to play with my brother.

Tough, unforgiving, and tense. Its one where I super care about making every hit count. Where every new enemy is a scary challenge. Where even if you think you are about to cross a hill, the next mission one shots half your team.

Love it. Didn't play Xenonauts 1, so not comparing. Sure, genre is XCOM, but the feel, the tension, the play is so much more exciting.

How can you win in this game, you don't have the money to build new bases, your aircraft don't have the range to intercept out side your area. All your troops cant help you unless a mission comes up. So i just watch the US and Russia surrender and that means no matter how strong or ahead i am i automaticly lose.

This absolutely scratches the XCOM itch. The care that has been put into this is clear to see and I've been really enjoying it so far!