Give me ideas for games or franchises.

I still remember a moment from the first X-Com. Trying to kill the aliens with rifles as they burned my squad down with energy weapons. I finally killed one, ran one of my guys over to the corpse and picked up his plasma rifle. Screaming "Eat hot Death you alien scum!" I fired at the closest alien, only to have it click and the game say "You must research this item before you can use it." Yeah, that guy died standing there the next turn. What an awesome game.

Xcom2 with the War of the chosen expansion attached is my favorite game of all time. Together with the first one, i played it for an absolutely psychotic amount of time and i loved every single second of it. (Of course i did play the OG too for a wile, but save for one amazing moment involving a panicky guy somehow saving the day by drawing tons of enemy fire and surviving, it was just too unwieldy for my taste.) What i adore most about it is that Xcom as a franchise has an almost shameless amount of faith in humanity: We fight off an alien invasion and occupation all by ourselves, copy their technology and even make it better, discover psychic powers and take our first crude steps into cybernetics, managed to liberate a host of enslaved aliens and last we saw in Chimera squad we are slowly on our way to become a local power in the galaxy that can not be ignored. This concept just gets me PUMPED.

I would note there were actually THREE DLC for XCOM2 - besides War of the Chosen there was also "Alien Hunters" and "Shen's Last Gift".

Xcom 1 intro put an tear to my eye, it would be great when they do an real remaster of the 2 old games

The atmosphere of Xcom(2012) was so much better than Xcom 2. Much more mystery with the aliens. They felt like a bigger threat, that you were struggling to even find what to do about it. Xcom 2 gameplay was better, Yes. The new "stealth" mechanic implementation was nice. The timer missions also was an obvious fix to overwatch spam. (frankly, giving the enemy AI the ability to home in squads so overwatch spam leads to being swarmed instead would have fixed that also) But the atmosphere was totally different. You were in Cause Mayhem mode pretty much from step 1. Break the commander out, tell him what you need him to do...start game. It was less "oh shit, what do we do...can we even survive? Do we even have a CHANCE with freaking aliens around?" And Xcom 2 went more Just Cause 3. Cause enough damage and that's progress! War of the chosen turned that up even more. WIth the amount of firepower and tactics and abilities in the end game making the final mission more a chore then a final hoorah. Combined with that very very obvious timer of how soon till the aliens win and there isn't a mystery left to explore with your overly-capable resistance fighters against a entrenched enemy. Timers rarely make for good play and the entire campaign has it in front of your face the entire time. Honestly, if they just stripped the obvious timer out, gave the aliens resources to do things with like in Longwar(2012) such that player mayhem(or lack) would influence the time left and let the player discover they lost by the enemy fielding greater and greater units...and eventually freaking psychics. That would have made SUCH a huge change in the whole thing. It would make the ending not a hard limit, but a soft limit. How much tougher can alien capabilities get before I can finally figure out how to stop them...or can't stop them? Giving players dilemmas is much more interesting then hard stops. Can you imagine this? "Oh shit. what's that? Alien psychers? Shit. we just about lost. We can't ready ourselves any more. We need to just invade their facility with what we have NOW." XCOM 2, in mission is definitely better than 1 by far...except for the sheer amount of abilities you eventually hoard up and steamroll with.(tone that down a bit is a easy fix.) But the atmosphere? WHY you do missions? what missions you do NOT do? What you are trying to accomplish with those missions? Xcom(2012) was better.

I actually really, really liked The Bureau. By no means was it a particularly good game, but it had its own style and appeal that really did it for me. It had an amazing twist and even pushed some of the story and lore forward in interesting ways.

Is anyone else hoping Xcom3 is going to be Terror From the Deep? I damn sure hope it is!

I started back with Apocalypse, absolutely loved that game. Been doing another play through of 2 recently. What really amazes me about the original 3 is that the shots could miss your target but hit another enemy (or civilian, or teammate), or destroy terrain. The recent games are great, no doubt, but I don't like the binary hit/miss. Make the missed shots do something!

What annoyed the hell out of me when I played TftD back in the day, was that even though you looted alien artifacts, you often could not research them - unlike the previous title. Instead you had to dissect or capture some alien or other in order to unlock the research option for whatever you found. This in fact put me of so much that I never finished it.

No mention of the Long War mods? Not surprised since it’s not official content but as someone with over 1,300 hours in XCOM EW and most of those thanks to Long War I think it deserves a mention for its impressive overhaul of the game.

XCOM2 WOTC was so ahead of its time it easily holds up to this day. Absolutely insane game

That was honestly really fun to watch, I really liked the commentary. You did a good job with this.

I would have personally loved more detail about the mobile game. I've been apprehensive of trying it out. Also, Chimera Squad limiting you to pre-determined characters is really interesting. I''m surprised that wasn't mentioned. All in all, this was a fantastic video though. I've subscribed!

Great video man, ive played xcom 2 and really enjoyed it but never really looked deeper into the series

I never got into the original, but XCOM Enemy Unknown had me hooked instantly! Enemy Within was also great. But I wish you could play EU with the bug-fixes introduced in the expansion. EW was great, but didn't quite have the same dark claustrophobic atmosphere as the original.

I played original X-COM on Amiga. Today I'm still happily burning hundreds of hours playing those massive mods for Open X-COM Extended engine.

Also, thank ya for actually mentioning Interceptor! As someone who really likes the Firaxis XCOM games (especially Enemy Within), I really enjoy Interceptor.

good video, thanks. Also, love me some xcom. Didnt know re xcom3 so good to hear!

nice job:) yeah the first xcom was one of my first PC games as a kid. formative and brutal

What's your opinion of Phoenix Point? Gollop is involved.

XCOM is one of the best games i ever played! i love it so much that every 9-12 months i play it again. XCOM 2 graphics and gameplay are better than the original (obviously because its a sequel) but the atmosphere in Enemy unknown is so much better. give me the XCOM Enemy Within but with gameplay of XCOM 2 and graphics from 2024

Just started xcom 2 and the Ender's Game vibes are strong. I understand this is supposed to be explaining the retcon about the aliens winning but once you introduce simulation theory to your story you can never be sure you're out of the simulation. If they do xcom 3 they should lean into this. The big bad for xcom that the aliens are trying to prepare the humans for is the arrival of artificial intelligence. Ironically, this artificial intelligence would be a byproduct of the aliens and xcom plugging everyone into a network.

I played the heck out of the very first game all those years ago and when the new game was released, I was there when the words of the Spoony One echoed out. “BETRAYAAAAL!!! Betrayal! Betrayed me!” The teaser for ‘XCOM’ was not promising. It looked like they were going for that 60’s retro-futurism and really weird aliens. I think the message was received loud and clear and we got the XCOM we deserved. It remains the only game I ever pre-ordered and I loved it immensely… and when 2 came out, it was downright Nirvanic. I can’t wait to see what 3 has in store!

Apocalypse was my favourite XCOM game, unfinished as it was. Truly way ahead of its time

Look at that... youtube Algorithm gave me a cookie. I like my cookie. Good cookie. Favorite cookie. (thanks nice quick history lesson and yes what a product line/history)

Thank you for covering this. Microprose got the formula right from the start. Firaxis didn't change anything except modernize it. All other games from this genre pale in comparison to X-COM.

How many of these games did you play? Some of the information is inaccurate, like at 4:36 when you mention """adaptable AI""" (which just sounds like dynamic difficulty scaling, but more marketing buzzword-y) and score/funding reduction for civilian/soldier casualties as if both were introduced in x-com apoc, when they were around even in UFO defense, or at 3:01 when you call the game over/campaign victory screens in UFO defense "multiple endings depending on how well you play", even though (afaik) there's only one game over screen, other than the alternate game over cutscene in the PS1 version. At 13:25 you also mention "aliens on your squad" being a new feature in chimera squad as if you hadn't seen the hybrid agent type from apocalypse. You also don't really mention game mechanics removed/changed in the XCOM reboot balance revision, like time units being changed into turn phases, bullet accuracy deviation physics being mostly removed, war sim item logistics being simplified, vehicle slots being reduced to 4-6 soldiers with a heavy emphasis on keeping every soldier alive instead of the heavy-casualty 20 soldier dogpile of previous games (other than that one screenshot you showed, but still), or every soldier in the reboot games having 360 vision instead of the 90 degree narrow cone UFO defense had. You also didn't really mention the changes in how each game depicted the aliens (like how UFO defense pre-boot was more 90s pulp fiction cosmic horror-y (aided by things like the writing, narrow vision cone, or the high soldier turnover rate) and how UFO defense reboot was more MCU action-y (because of the inverse), which i thought you were going to talk about, considering the thumbnail was a comparison of alien design flavor between games.

XCOM3 confirmed ??? Big if true! :O I hope they can pull it off without Jake Solomon but I'm afraid to get my hopes up.

XCOM3 is in development?!? I thought Firaxis forsook XCOM for a Marvel conversation simulator.

I started with xcom2 then war of the chosen, then chimera squad. I love all of them. Each entry changes the gameplay enough to be fresh but still familiar.

Has XCOM 3 been confirmed? I can't find anything about this

I've been replaying the originals recently and man they are so good. easily in my top 10 games

I startet with UFO and TFTD, but stopped at Apocalypse. I agree that Xcom Enemy unknown is a great sucessor to UFO and XCom 2 is great, too. I think Xcom 3 will be most likely a new version of TFTD if you consider the ending of 2.

Xcom 2 with WOTC is definitely the GOAT of strategy games. Only Civ games are at par with this franchise.

Incorrect: Terror from the deep had *one* new mechanic: Melee Weapons!

13:00 XCOM Legends is surprisingly alright. It's a mobile game, so you know it can't match the main series, but for something that can kill 15 minutes, I'd recommend it. The advertising is a bit much, but you don't need to purchase anything to win. Though, one huge downside is the UI and lack of explanation for any mechanics. Seriously, they just drop you into the game without any explanation for how things work, I know it's in development still, but god damn, even for an XCOM fan, this UI system was unintuitive.

THEY'RE MAKINGA THIRD?!?! HOW HAVE I NOT HEARD OF THIS!

Hey you did a pretty good video. I am a big fan of the old games and the various spiritual sequels that came about as a result of Hasbro horribly handling the franchise. With that said I actually liked the concept of The Bureau back when it was a first person shooter, because they seemed to want to make some truly alien aliens rather than just the usual "this could just be a human in a rubber suit". Hope you keep making videos.

I loved Xcom 2. I wish we got a third game.

I love X-com, but it's not the originator of turn-based squad shooters. Rebelstar existed long before X-com was a thing. God I'm old.

TFTD is also much harder, because there was a bug in the original UFO Defense that reset any difficulty option to the easiest after a save and load. That bug was both fixed, and the difficulty buffed so the easiest difficulty in TFTD was about as hard at the hardest mode in UFO Defense.

Dang, I had thought that XCOM 3 is never happening lol

Too bad we don’t have an Xcom style Halo game where you have a squad of ODSTs and marines fighting the Covenant. The game would pretty much design itself since each memeber of the Covenant plays a specific role, they have multiple subclasses/ranks, and personality/behaviors. There’s also a wide array of different weapons from the games/books that could help flesh out the sandbox. If they wanted we could get Flood, Insurrectionists, and Sentinels for dlcs. Too bad 343 is beyond incompetent and out of touch. We know from ex-343 devs that numerous pitches were made and shot down, with one of them being VERY similar to HellDivers 2 (I bet Microsoft are kicking themselves now). There’s a lot of really cool mods for Xcom 2 that add in Halo weapons and armor into the game, but they sadly can’t overhaul the enemies to make the game play more like Halo. It would also be cool to have Xcom style games set in Killzone or Resistance Fall of Man’s worlds.

Xcom Alliance was far enough long it may have been mentioned in catalogs. As a side issue the X-Com engine ( Microprose game ) was the basis for a superheroes game they were working on. Also in catalogs.

Wait, X-Com 3 is in development? Are you sure about that? I thought the team had moved on.

i did like the bureau and wish for a FPS Xcom game mission based a la Earth defense force

openxcom with mods like "the Xcom files" and "The World of (Terrifying) Silence" are MUCH superior tactical-strategy games. new xcoms are rock-paper-scissor type games with stupid trigger mechanisms. it's super dumbed down gameplay. bring back action points/time units. IMHO ufo afterlight, and aftershock are great too and in spirit of original xcoms. OG xcom3 (apocalypse) was great too, especially with gangs and city diplomacy mechanics; also that futuristic art deco style was something!

12:06 why is that timer in minutes and not turns?

Have you looked at Xenonaughts and Attack of the Earthlings?

I never played x-com type of games in youth. But when XCOM enemy unknown came out i gave it a try and was very good. Now XCOM2 WOTC is one of my favorite games ever ! I also hate Chimer squad :( .

Great video, thanks!

For me the best is still the first one from msdos, then xcom2 with mods. I love the mods of xcom2, today playing my team of space marines against the star wars empire in the campagn, and with ALOT of other factions. Each mission has like 3 or 4 sitreps at the same time... each mission is a huge chaotic battle, sometimes unwinable but it is ok

Where are the xcom: after series? Aftermath, aftershock and afterlight?

There basically is X-Com cartoon - Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths & Legends

Maybe you missed the shen's gift? and those aliens kings that were born with your former scientist? I'm not sure. Not a xcom player myself.

good content

Xcom 3 is in development? Got a source for that Senator?

there was a bugg in the original x-com that, after the first mission game difficult was reset to the easiest/lowest difficulty. not sure if there ever was a update/fix for this as internet was not really common. The open source has fixed this. This was fixed in Terror from the deep so even playing at "medium" difficulty was harder then the first game. TFD also had alot of quality of life fixes that makes it a much better game. Both are great games and stand on their own.

They have to remaster or re release some of the old games. I want to play enemy within on switch

2:20 doesn't that kind of go to Laser Squad?

I love the original X-com games, but the Faraxis games really missed the mark, Xenonauts and Phoenix point - though not perfect - are far better games.

What's your source for the update on XCOM 3 being currently in development? I hadn't seen anything when I'd looked around.

and Xenonauts?

no word on xenonauts?

I hope the new one is more like Xcom Enemy Unknown and Xcom 2 I think Chimera was a tuber. It was obviously a one off to keep people off them. Like the video says, the addition of converted aliens is a good touch but the deployment and resource management is not as good. It would be cool to see one more like the one they pitched for Alien Unknown. (AND PLEASE NO SWEET BABY INC) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/npeBoayX2LmviXU.html

13 game titles and it only took them to 11 or 12 to canonize snake woman brothels... Who would greenlight such a thing?

2:10 They have different titles because UFO: Enemy Unknown was the original European title, and X-COM: UFO Defense was the name of the North America release. You could seriously do at least a cursory search on whatever thing you're making a video about... Also, XCOM3 isn't confirmed. In my opinion, with Jake Solomon gone(can't be understated just how much he contributed to X:EU being made), and Garth DeAngelis(producer on X:EU and X2) gone, and Greg Foertsch(art director on X:EU and X2)... I don't see it. If Mark Nauta(designer on X2 and X:CS) doesn't have as strong convictions as Jake had, it's going to be a game made by a publisher committee.

I loved X-com Apocalypse with real time combat. It is sad that it was again rushed and unfinished.

Good video

Xenonauts is much better, at least it has operative inventory and it's not reduced to rolling dices

So much content was cut or unimplemented in X-Com Apoc.

good vido

What's the source that xcom3 is in dev? I've seen nothing to this effect anywhere. Man I hope it's true.

Xenonauts 2 is actually superior successor to Original, Modern X-Com EU/EW are good too but they are too streamline and X-Com 2 held back by too much cutscenes. Chimera Squad are it own thing completely.

There's no Xcom 3 in development... what are you talking about?

I enjoyed the beuro

I think Firaxis did a good job with their reboot/remake. I don't like all the cinematics and story elements, though. Really takes me out of the experience. Unfortunately they doubled down on it in their sequel. With this kind of game I'd rather have more emergent storytelling thru the research reports and noticing clues on my own. The constant dialogue and taking control from the player is incredibly frustrating. Nothing can top the original game. I can never get tired of playing it, but my eyes can. A faithful remake would be wonderful but unless mechanics could be kept 1:1 I don't see the point.

"Secretly combat" You know, I think my guys were doing a piss poor job with all the cities being invaded, and with all the chryssalids.

Was I the only one who played UFO?

XCOM: Legends has just been cancelled and will be shuttered completely on May 7.

I have to say that I really, really try to play the new XCOM games, Enemy Within and War of the Chosen, but I really couldn't, because they were so generic, and they were nothing more than a power fantasy, the original XCOM was brutal, and it seems that it having a revival with Xenonauts, so I got those games and continue playing Valkyrie Chronicles, that is brutally hard if you a rookie, and have an actual anti-war message, I give up on the newer games.

A X-com game without Jake Solomon???

Too bad you didn't mention even honorably, Phoenix Point, last entry in the genre by the original creator.

When looking at EW and Chimera XCOM2 just seems lacking in atmosphere and mechanics. WotC helped with some of them but I feel it's not enough. It's not bad but still

Theres an xcom 3 in the worlks what?

1:18 it’s always been 1999? Really?

The franchise lost its character with each sequel. It became XCOM - Power Rangers edition with Fortnite graphics. No sense of realism or sci-fi horror whatsoever with graphics aimed at 12 yr olds. XCOM missed the whole point of why UFO: Enemy Unknown was so good.

Mechanicus

i never played the games but youtube thought id like the video lol

The weird euro game mid period was pretty fun. Modern X com sucks so fucking hard though. A 5/6 troop board game that relies entirely on RNG for too many things. Xenonauts thankfully keeps the real shit going. Fighting aliens should be like a WWII anzio operation, not final fantasy.

Btw, the mobile game, although it's fine, is very, very repetitive.

unfortunate how xcom2 never surpassed Xcom 1 The Long War.

I believe that from the new games. XCOM Enemy unknown /within is the closest to XCOM and best game. XCOM2 + chosen + Long war, was good, but not that good as the first XCOM , and chimera squad, was a woke propaganda bullshit game, with pink haired chars that you were forced to have. Didnt even bother to play the mobile game, because its a mobile game. Pretty excited that i learned now that an XCOM3 is on the making, and i really hope it will be more than XCOM Enemy unknown /within, than the woke chimera squad.(Or it could be like terror from the deep

Where Xenonauts or Phoenix Point? Both superior to "new X-COM".

Xcom and xcom2 are big dissapointments for me. Braindead overworld combined with gamefied combat. Unplayable without long war. At least first one had great design, while second one felt sterile and unimaginative.

Could you be a little less sexist and not just assume the 'commander' is male or a male player?

Firaxis reboot of series are ugliest shit which was pooped out in history and corrupt ANYTHING! It was eaten only because of hype and lack of ANY good enough tactical strategy games or even tactical RPG of eny means. No, thanks. I refuse to eat this shit. Spinoff's are plainly spin-off. And actually both of them are good, just not what expected by audience by that time. Both have unique place in thier ganres and honorable to mention. IMHO However! X-Com concept realy shine in realtime mode for tactics. Proof of that are series of UFO: After series. There are some lack of widening in mechanics, but overall concept are awesome and feel good. Mean UFO: Aftermath, UFO: Aftershock and UFO: Afterlight. It is concept worth to explore. There also exists some of more straight atemps to copy or reimagine X-Com formula. Some are even more garbage than Firaxis reboot(I even can't belive it is possible) like Extraterrastrials(horribly enough it have two games). Some are too straight like Xenonauts. Some are just abandoned like UFO: Alien Invasion. Anyway! Did You really think only TES shitballs can live on MOD lifesupport system? There are at least three HUGE total conversion mods for OG X-Com and two mods which hardboiling OG game and Terror from The Deep! There are conversion of X-Com into Warhammer 40k universe - pretty solid one. One rethinking of development of X-Com like organization - X-Files, huge widening of scope from foilcaped geek into militaristic monster which singlehandedly defend Earth against alien invasion. Crazy 80's sci-fi coolness quintessence of X-Piratez where we start as bunch of mutated by female supremasy scientist gals which in desolated world 600 years after invasion have no better thinkings like just to start thier own corsaire band(underwater and space missions included). They are MONSTRUOS and each of them are more cool and colorfull that Firaxis pooping. Hardboiled Hardmod for OG will make You clear that it clearly not done yeat! If You loves Terror from the Deep - just google "TWotS for Open X-Com" - no words about. And there are also many smaller mods, submods and etc. Hell, there was released not so long ago mod BrutalAI which squash Your head, because it is really brutal without unfear Firaxis tricks with "random" randoms. So just why to eat this Firaxis poopings? Just why? Graphics? If You play such games graphics have last place, otherwise don't lie to Yourself. Mechanics? If You love BDSM because of frustration against formula "casino wins anyway" then maybe. But, just why? Unfortunately Phoenix Point doesn't count, because it is raw cheap meat which still walking in wilderness, but even it better than Firaxis shit.