Timeless classic that still holds up
Mentioned in ~2 in 5 positive reviews
“I was really impressed with how well it holds up.”
Steam review · 8.9 h played ↗
X-COM: UFO Defense
Worth buying? What 270 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 270 Steam reviews actually say.
Overwhelmingly PositiveOverwhelmingly Positive · 97%MicroProse Software, Inc2008Turn-Based Strategy · Turn-Based Tactics · Strategy
−75%$4.99$1.24
US Steam price, checked 2 h ago
The verdict
A brutal, deep 1994 classic mixing base management and tense turn-based combat. Skip it if you need a modern UI, tutorials or fairness; play it with OpenXcom.
Great for
Veterans and patient strategy fans who like brutal, no-hand-holding tactics, base building and modding
Main risk
Archaic UI, no tutorial and brutal RNG make it hard to get into, and the Steam DOSBox version is laggy
What players love
Deep strategy and tactics combined
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews
“Three parallel tracks to play the game; 1st) a good ol' shoot 'em up - kill the aliens whenever and wherever they land.”
Steam review · 537.6 h played ↗
OpenXcom makes it much better
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“Open X-Com brings many QoL updates to UI.”
Steam review · 55.2 h played ↗
Tense, brutal, unforgiving difficulty
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 positive reviews
“If you fight the urge to savescum and embrace your soldiers are going to die this game is incredibly tense and satisfying.”
Steam review · 53.9 h played ↗
Huge replayability and freedom
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 positive reviews
“Still the most replayable game I've ever installed.”
Steam review · 84.3 h played ↗
Great atmosphere, art and sound
Mentioned in ~1 in 19 positive reviews
“the art design is great: the developers nailed not just the aliens but also the UFOs.”
Steam review · 5.2 h played ↗
What players complain about
Too dated, only for nostalgia
Mentioned in ~2 in 5 negative reviews
“if your not playing this to relive your childhood I'd recommend you don't waste your time.”
Steam review · 0.3 h played ↗
No tutorial, steep learning curve
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“This game have no tutorial and I don't understand WTF I have to do”
Steam review · 0.2 h played ↗
Dated, clunky interface
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“By today's standards, the UI is near impossible to use, controls can be fiddly”
Steam review · 1.6 h played ↗
Laggy, poor DOSBox port on Steam
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews
“The version that is sold through Steam is a broken mess. It runs like absolute ♥♥♥♥. it's so laggy as to be virtually unplayable.”
Steam review · 22.6 h played ↗
Brutally unfair difficulty and RNG
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews
“even on the "beginner" difficulty, the game has no problem deploying you on your second mission into the alien infested city right in the middle of aliens”
Steam review · 4.3 h played ↗
Crashes and compatibility problems
Mentioned in ~1 in 15 negative reviews
“crashes through steam on windows 11 cannot change compatibility settings”
Steam review · 2.4 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: Unsupported
Minimum
Processor80386 processor or better
Memory4Mb RAM
Processor80386 processor or better
Memory4Mb RAM
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