Highlights

  • Indie titles like Classified France '44, Phantom Brigade, and Xenonauts 2 provide a unique twist on turn-based tactics akin to XCOM 2.
  • Phantom Brigade, a mech-themed hybrid, offers a new gameplay experience with time control and strategic customization elements.
  • Xenonauts 2 stays true to the challenging XCOM formula with hardcore gameplay and randomly generated battle maps for a true test of skill.

Despite the success of the modern XCOM revival with titles like XCOM: Enemy Unknown and the award-winning XCOM 2, it appears that (for now, at least) the series is in a bit of a holding pattern. The departure of series lead Jake Solomon from Firaxis following the highly-publicized shortcomings of Midnight Suns leaves the potential for a third turn-based tactics XCOM game up in the air. Thankfully, games like Classified France '44, Phantom Brigade, and Xenonauts 2 fill the gap left by the absence of an XCOM 3, with each of them bringing something new to the turn-based tactics genre despite their obvious XCOM 2 influence.

XCOM 2's success paved the way for the Chimera Squad expansion, in which the game's already robust tactical systems received almost a complete overhaul thanks to the addition of new enemies and unit types. The modern XCOM formula that Solomon spearheaded got a further evolution and a novel twist in Marvel's Midnight Suns' deck-building tactics. Still, this new generation of turn-based tactics indie titles errs more on the side of tradition in paying homage to Enemy Unknown and XCOM 2. As a result, each of these titles amounts to a bit of genre "comfort food."

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Indie Tactics Titles Carrying the Torch for the XCOM Franchise

In addition to the titles below, there are also several upcoming games in the turn-based tactics genre that fans will want to keep an eye out for later on in 2024. However, these titles are all currently available and scratch the same itch that a new XCOM game would reach. It's also worth noting that late last year saw the release of Jagged Alliance 3. While the third Jagged Alliance game isn't an indie title, it is a highly-anticipated follow-up to the legendary turn-based tactics game Jagged Alliance 2 more than 20 years in the making.

Classified France '44

In terms of games that owe a debt of gratitude to XCOM 2, specifically, Classified France '44 wears its inspiration directly on its sleeve but translates the turn-based tactics gameplay to a realistic World War 2 setting. Classified France '44 is also more focused on stealth, with players able to silently take out enemies during battles before eventually switching to an all-out assault on Axis troops. Though the game's difficulty skews toward being more forgiving, there are some missions where Classified France '44's challenge spikes to levels that either match or surpass the toughest parts of XCOM 2's challenging campaign.

Phantom Brigade

After an initial launch into Early Access, mech-themed RTS and turn-based tactics hybrid Phantom Brigade launched into 1.0 last year and has more recently received the sizable 1.2 update that adds in boss battles, rebalances difficulty, and much more. If one were to imagine the turn-based battles of XCOM mixed with the loadouts and mech customization of an Armored Core game, they wouldn't be too far off from what Phantom Brigade brings to the table.

The game's unique twist on the genre is that players have control over chunks of time rather than taking turns, getting to precognitively predict the enemy's actions and plan out the squad's response accordingly before watching the pieces unfold in real-time.

Xenonauts 2

Xenonauts 2 takes a purist approach to the XCOM formula by adhering closely to a true blending of classic XCOM and the modern Firaxis turn-based tactics games in the series. As such, Xenonauts 2 is every bit as difficult and hardcore as the original XCOM titles on PC and is not for the faint of heart. One of the more challenging aspects of gameplay is the use of randomly generated maps in battles, which completely remove the ability of the player to save scum and restart battles after learning enemy placements and behaviors.