Discover games similar to XCOM 2, and find your next adventure.
XCOM 2 is Firaxis Games's turn-based tactical strategy game, putting you in charge of a resistance movement fighting back against an alien occupation years after humanity lost the first war. Every mission is a tense trade-off between pushing for objectives and keeping your squad alive, since losses here are permanent. We like how much weight that permanence gives every decision.
Available on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch.
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Shares turn-based tactics, grid-based movement and turn-based combat with a similar overall feel.
100%
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Built around grid-based movement, turn-based tactics and military, much like the game you started from.
96%
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Battle Brothers trades XCOM 2's alien invasion for a procedurally generated medieval world, but keeps the same unforgiving tactical core: positioning, terrain and fatigue matter as much as gear, and losing a veteran brother stings the same way losing a XCOM soldier does.
There's no overarching base to manage between missions and no sci-fi tech tree — progress comes from contracts, salaries and a traveling company rather than XCOM 2's Avenger and research tree.
Leans on turn-based tactics, turn-based strategy and turn-based combat — the same pull that makes the original click.
84%
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Battlesector reskins a similar turn-based tactical core into the grim 40k universe, fighting in the aftermath of the Devastation of Baal with Space Marines and Blood Angels, and its Planetary Supremacy mode adds a strategic layer of capturing territory not unlike managing the wider war in XCOM 2.
Its Momentum and Surge systems reward aggressive, high-tempo turns in a way XCOM 2's cover-and-overwatch rhythm doesn't really ask for, and it offers live multiplayer alongside the single-player campaign.
Brings turn-based tactics, tactical and turn-based combat to the table, with its own spin.
81%
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Jagged Alliance 2 is one of the games XCOM's own tactical DNA traces back to: hire mercenaries with real personalities, take and hold territory, and fight it out in turn-based battles across a small nation in open revolt.
It's a much older, more systems-dense design with none of XCOM 2's presentation polish or alien enemies — expect a rougher, deeper mercenary sim rather than a sci-fi squad tactics game.
Shares turn-based strategy, turn-based tactics and turn-based with a similar overall feel.
79%
match
This is the 1994 original the whole modern XCOM series descends from — the same alien autopsy research, base management and squad losses, just with the rough edges of a 30-year-old interface.
Expect a far steeper, more opaque learning curve than XCOM 2's streamlined UI and tutorializing, and a slower, more methodical pace overall.
Built around turn-based tactics, turn-based combat and post-apocalyptic, much like the game you started from.
79%
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Mutant Year Zero comes from former Hitman developers at The Bearded Ladies, and it shows: you scout targets in real-time stealth before triggering XCOM-style turn-based combat, letting you set up an ambush rather than just reacting to one.
Its small, three-character squad and mutated-animal cast — a crossbow-wielding duck among them — give it a tighter, stranger scale than XCOM 2's larger roster and alien-invasion stakes.
Leans on post-apocalyptic, turn-based and tactical — the same pull that makes the original click.
78%
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Brings turn-based tactics, turn-based combat and turn-based strategy to the table, with its own spin.
77%
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Mechanicus puts you in command of Adeptus Mechanicus Tech-Priests awakening a Necron tomb world, with a Cognition Points system that gates your strongest abilities the same way XCOM 2's limited action economy forces hard choices each turn.
Its narrative branches from aboard the Ark Mechanicus and single faction of Tech-Priests give it a more linear, story-focused shape than XCOM 2's open strategic layer and squad customization.
Shares turn-based tactics, turn-based combat and turn-based strategy with a similar overall feel.
77%
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Jagged Alliance 3 lets you recruit and command multiple mercenary squads across an open world in revolt, with online co-op so a friend can fight alongside you through the same campaign — something XCOM 2 never offered.
Its focus on managing several parties and holding territory across a living country gives it a broader strategic layer than XCOM 2's base-and-missions structure.
Built around turn-based tactics, tactical and perma death, much like the game you started from.
76%
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We look for games that share something worth loving about XCOM 2. The match score compares game data and is relative to the closest match in this list. Our picks below add our own perspective: why each game appeals to us, who it suits, and where it takes a different path.
Our picks, beyond the numbers
XCOM 2's tension comes from how little room it leaves for error — a single bad shot can cost a soldier you've leveled up over a dozen missions, and the war you're managing between missions keeps advancing whether you're ready or not. We looked for games that chase some piece of that: the unforgiving turn-based tactics, the attachment to a squad with real stakes, or the strategic layer humming in the background between fights.
A couple of these are the tactics genre's other big names; others take XCOM's specific DNA — permadeath, limited action economy, a roster you grow to care about — into a completely different setting. Here's where we'd send a XCOM 2 player next.
Our first choice for the same unforgiving tactical core
Battle Brothers trades XCOM 2's alien invasion for a crumbling low-fantasy world, where the dead rise from crypts and Greenskin hordes gather while you lead a mercenary company across a procedurally generated map. Battles play out on hex-based terrain where height, obstacles and fatigue matter as much as the gear your brothers are carrying.
We'd point a XCOM 2 player here first because it keeps the same unforgiving tactical core — positioning, terrain and resource limits all matter as much as raw stats — and losing a veteran brother to a bad engagement stings in exactly the way losing a XCOM soldier does.
There's no overarching base to manage and no sci-fi tech tree here. Progress instead comes from contracts, salaries and keeping a traveling company fed and paid, so the strategic layer feels grounded and mercenary rather than XCOM 2's Avenger-and-research structure.
For managing multiple squads across an open world
Jagged Alliance 3, from Haemimont Games, sends a large and distinctive cast of mercenaries into Grand Chien, a resource-rich nation thrown into chaos after its president disappears. You explore the country, earn money, grow your team and fight deeply tactical turn-based battles, with online co-op letting a friend join the campaign — something XCOM 2 never offered.
We'd recommend it to a XCOM 2 player who wants the squad-building and loot-and-upgrade loop they already know, but widened into managing several mercenary parties and holding territory across a country that keeps changing while you're not looking.
That broader strategic layer — training locals, controlling regions, running multiple squads at once — is a real step up in scope from XCOM 2's base-and-missions structure. Expect a bigger, busier game overall, not a tighter version of the same idea.
For setting up the fight before it starts
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden comes from The Bearded Ladies, a studio with former Hitman developers, and it shows: you scout targets in real-time stealth across a ruined, nature-overtaken Earth before triggering XCOM-style turn-based combat, letting you set up an ambush rather than just reacting to whatever the enemy throws at you.
We'd choose it for a XCOM 2 player who enjoys the turn-based combat but wants more control over how a fight begins — sneaking into position with a small, strange squad that includes a crossbow-wielding duck changes the rhythm of every encounter.
Its squad is much smaller and stranger than XCOM 2's larger roster, and the stakes feel more personal and contained than fighting off a global alien occupation. Go in for the stealth-into-tactics loop, not for XCOM 2's scale.
For a familiar universe with the strategic layer stripped away
Gears Tactics brings the Gears of War universe into turn-based tactics, set twelve years before the first game, as a recruited squad of survivors hunts down a Locust leader. It borrows XCOM 2's squad-building loop wholesale and wraps it in Gears' chainsaw-and-cover combat and tone.
We'd point a XCOM 2 player here when the appeal is specifically the mission-to-mission tactics and squad progression, without the strategic base-management layer XCOM 2 asks you to juggle alongside it.
Its fast-paced, single-campaign structure skips XCOM 2's base layer, research tree and global strategic map entirely in favor of a tighter, more linear story. Pick this when you want the tactics without the extra management.
For a tighter, story-driven tactical campaign
Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus casts you as a Tech-Priest leading Adeptus Mechanicus operations to prevent a Necron awakening, across 50 hand-crafted missions where a Cognition Points system gates your strongest weapons and abilities — not unlike the hard choices XCOM 2's limited action economy forces every turn.
We'd recommend it to a XCOM 2 player who wants that same careful, resource-gated tactical combat, but told through a single, focused story rather than XCOM 2's open-ended strategic layer and squad customization.
Its narrative follows one faction from a single Ark Mechanicus rather than XCOM 2's broader squad roster and base, giving it a more linear, story-focused shape. It's a tighter, more contained campaign than XCOM 2's ongoing war.
For the closest match to XCOM 2's unforgiving tactical core, start with Battle Brothers. Jagged Alliance 3 is our pick if you want that same loop widened into a bigger strategic game, Mutant Year Zero is where we'd send you for stealth-first tactics, and Gears Tactics and Mechanicus are our choices when a tighter, story-driven campaign appeals more than XCOM 2's open strategic layer.