Games like X-COM: Apocalypse
If you like X-COM: Apocalypse (tactics, strategy and classic), these 10 games are similar in what you do and how you play. They go from most to least similar.
X-COM: UFO Defense
- In common: thinking and long sessions
When you feel like weighing every move: in combat, each soldier spends time units to move, shoot or kneel.
X-COM: Terror From the Deep
- In common: thinking and long sessions
When you already know UFO Defense and want another campaign: same engine, set under the sea and reputedly harder.
XCOM 2
- In common: thinking and long sessions
- Difference: more story
When you feel like thinking and have an hour or two: each mission is a small tactical drama.
The Last Spell
- In common: thinking and long sessions
When you have a free afternoon: a single night can run past 40 minutes and each map takes around ten hours.
Into the Breach
- In common: thinking and a challenge
- Difference: shorter sessions
When you want to think seriously but in little time: a mission lasts minutes and you can stop on any turn.
SteamWorld Heist
- In common: thinking and progression
- Difference: shorter sessions
When you fancy turn-based tactics without endless battles: each mission usually takes 10 to 20 minutes.
Sid Meier's Civilization® III Complete
- In common: thinking and long sessions
- Difference: more relaxed
When you want a classic 4X with several routes to victory: conquest, culture, diplomacy or the space race.
Shogun Showdown
- In common: thinking and a challenge
- Difference: less management
When you have a free hour and want a complete tactical run, with very brisk fights for a turn-based game.
FTL: Faster Than Light
- In common: thinking and management
- Difference: less progression
When you have an hour and want to make tough decisions in a compact adventure.
Sid Meier's Civilization® IV
- In common: thinking and long sessions
- Difference: more competitive
When you can give it a few afternoons: one review says a game can be finished in under ten hours.
How we pick them
We compare the tags the Steam community gives each game with our own classification: what you do (action, story, building…), the difficulty, how long sessions last and whether you play alone or with others. Nobody pays to appear.
About X-COM: Apocalypse
The third X-COM shuts itself inside a single city, Mega-Primus: on the map, in real time with pause, you research, deal with 25 organisations and shoot down UFOs; in combat you choose turns or pausable real time, with destructible scenery.
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