If you want the closest match to XCOM 2’s mix of squad battles and campaign management, consider Phoenix Point for an evolving alien-threat campaign or Jagged Alliance 3 for mercenary operations across an open map. Choose Wasteland 3 if you want tactical squad combat embedded in a reactive RPG story. These games share turn-based squad tactics, but their combat decisions and campaign priorities are not interchangeable.
What makes a game feel like XCOM?
XCOM 2 is the reference point: Firaxis Games developed it, 2K published it, and its campaign centers on rebuilding XCOM under alien rule and leading a global resistance. That combination of tactical squad missions and a strategic resistance layer is what many players mean by “games like XCOM.” The Steam listing gives its release date as February 4, 2016. Steam’s XCOM 2 page
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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XCOM: Enemy Unknown Official Strategy Guide (Signature Series Guides) | $14.15 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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XCOM 2 Collection | $48.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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XCOM 2 - PC | $8.16 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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CATAN Board Game (6th Edition) | $39.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
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XCOM 2 (PS4) | $19.90 | Buy on Amazon |
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Rather than compare titles by genre label alone, look at four questions: what choices you make during a turn, how much the campaign map and resource pressure matter, what difficulty changes, and how much confidence to place in reported campaign times.
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How the games differ
| Game | What defines its tactical play | What defines its campaign | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phoenix Point | Its difficulty system reaches into enemy capabilities and evolution as well as tactical encounters; the available source does not establish a complete current breakdown of turn-by-turn combat rules. | Starting resources, recruitment and progression, Pandoran evolution, and attack frequency can vary with difficulty, according to a community-maintained guide that warns some material may be outdated. | Players drawn to an alien-threat strategy campaign whose pressure can build over time. |
| Jagged Alliance 3 | Its official feature list describes an action-point system, weapon jams, penetrating bullets, destructible buildings, and wounds that do not immediately heal. | Players can control territory, train militia, command multiple squads, and explore the campaign map at their own pace. The campaign also supports online co-op. | Players who want granular mercenary combat and a more open operational map. |
| Wasteland 3 | Its developer describes challenging tactical turn-based combat and customization for a squad of up to six Rangers. | A deep, reactive story and difficult choices put RPG narrative decisions alongside combat. | Players who want a story-led squad RPG rather than a close copy of XCOM’s campaign structure. |
What you decide during a turn
Jagged Alliance 3: manage action points and weapon risks
Combat decisions revolve around an action-point system and weapon behavior, including the possibility of jams. Penetrating bullets, destructible buildings, and lingering wounds add further tactical considerations. The official feature set describes these systems but does not provide a direct, standardized comparison with XCOM 2’s turn rules. Jagged Alliance 3 official site
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Wasteland 3: fight as part of an RPG
Wasteland 3 pairs turn-based squad combat with customization and story choices. Its developer describes squads of up to six Rangers and emphasizes a reactive narrative, so its decisions extend beyond positioning and attacks into role-playing. inXile’s Wasteland 3 page
Phoenix Point: account for changing strategic pressure
The cited community guide focuses on difficulty’s wider effects rather than supplying a full current tactical rules comparison. It describes changes to enemy capabilities and Pandoran evolution, meaning the challenge is not limited to the immediate battle. Because the guide flags potentially outdated material, treat its detailed difficulty advice as community guidance, not definitive current developer documentation. Phoenix Point Mentaculus guide
Rank #2
- Aliens rule Earth, promising a brilliant future for mankind while secretly hiding a sinister agenda. As the leader of a guerrilla force facing impossible odds, you must ignite a global resistance to eliminate the alien threat and save the hum race from extinction.
- War of the Chosen:This expansion adds extensive new content in the fight against ADVENT including new Hero classes, powerful new enemies, as well as new missions, environments and increased depth in strategic gameplay."
- Resistance Warrior Pack: Customize your squad of resistance fighters with a set of bonus outfits and head gear, as well as custom armor and face camo.
- Anarchy’s Children: This rebellion-themed content pack introduces more than 100 new exotic customizations for the entire arsenal of armors available to your XCOM soldiers. These options are purely cosmetic and do not alter the stats of a soldier
- Alien Hunters: Transform the soldiers of XCOM into an elite alien hunting squad with impressive new weapons and armor to face off against new alien Rulers that will pursue your squad across an entire campaign. Additional cosmetic upgrades to soldiers and the Avenger are included, as well as a new epic mission where Central Officer Bradford leads a squad with the guidance of an old friend.
How much does the campaign layer matter?
Choose Jagged Alliance 3 for operations across a map
Jagged Alliance 3 makes the open campaign map a central part of its identity. Territory control, militia training, and managing multiple squads give the player operational responsibilities between fights. Its mercenaries also have distinct personalities and can react to relationships within the squad, while online co-op offers a way to play the campaign with someone else, according to the official site.
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In Wasteland 3, the campaign’s defining emphasis is a reactive story and difficult choices around a customized Ranger squad. That makes it a stronger match for players who want narrative and RPG decisions to share the spotlight with tactical battles.
Rank #3
- XCOM ON THE RUN: Take command of the Avenger, an alien supply craft converted to XCOM’s mobile headquarters. Guide your strike force around the world, build popular support and expose the aliens’ sinister plans.
- RECRUIT RESISTANCE FIGHTERS: Five soldier classes, each with its own skill tree including new class abilities like Momentum, let you create specific soldiers for your tactical plan.
- TACTICAL GUERRILLA COMBAT: New gameplay systems offer more tactical flexibility in combat. The state of the world affects each combat mission’s environment. Use concealment to ambush enemy patrols. Loot enemies for precious gear and artifacts. Rescue VIPs and save fallen comrades by carrying them to the extraction point.
- A NEW BREED OF ENEMY: A diverse cast of enemies from powerful new alien species to the ADVENT, enforcers of the alien regime, offer a distinct tactical challenge.
- RESEARCH, DEVELOP AND UPGRADE: Configure and build rooms on the Avenger to give XCOM new capabilities on the battlefield. Use your Scientists and Engineers to research, develop and upgrade weapons and armor to fit your preferred tactics.
Choose Phoenix Point for difficulty-linked campaign pressure
Phoenix Point stands out in the available information because difficulty affects more than combat: the community guide lists starting resources, recruit acquisition and progression, enemy capabilities, Pandoran evolution, and attack frequency. Its guidance says the curve rises over time, but the warning about potentially outdated content is important when applying those details to a current version.
How should you choose a difficulty?
There is no well-supported basis here for labeling one of these games “the hardest.” A fair ranking would need a consistent comparison method and current, sourced descriptions of each game’s difficulty settings. The available detailed evidence is specific to Phoenix Point: its community guide suggests Veteran for experienced tactics players who are new to that game, while warning that the curve rises as the campaign progresses. Treat this as a starting suggestion, not a universal rule or a guarantee about current balance.
Rank #4
- EXPLORE THE ISLAND OF CATAN: Settle the uninhabited island of Catan by gathering resources, building infrastructure, and nurturing trade relationships.
- STRATEGY AND COMPETITION: Compete with 2-3 opponents to expand your settlements and cities while managing resources and avoiding the robber.
- TRADE, BUILD, AND SETTLE: Use brick, wood, wheat, ore, and sheep to construct roads, settlements, and cities in your race to 10 victory points.
- REPLAYABLE AND ENGAGING: With a modular hexagonal board, no two games are the same, offering endless strategic opportunities and replayability.
- FOR FAMILIES AND STRATEGY ENTHUSIASTS: Designed for 3-4 players, ages 10 and up, CATAN 6th Edition is perfect for family game nights and friendly competition. Add the CATAN 5-6 Player Extension (sold separately) to expand your game to 5-6 players.
For Jagged Alliance 3 and Wasteland 3, the available sources establish core features but do not provide a comparable, sourced difficulty matrix. Check the current in-game descriptions when choosing a setting rather than assuming that a difficulty label means the same thing across all three titles.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteHow long is Jagged Alliance 3?
IsThereAnyDeal relays HowLongToBeat community estimates for Jagged Alliance 3. These are aggregated player estimates accessed in 2026, not official promises or fixed completion times.
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- RESEARCH, DEVELOP AND UPGRADE: Configure and build rooms on the Avenger to give XCOM new capabilities on the battlefield. Use your Scientists and Engineers to research, develop and upgrade weapons and armor to fit your preferred tactics
- EACH MISSION IS A UNIQUE CHALLENGE: Go on missions around the world, from wildlands to the heart of the alien-controlled megacities, to the depths of alien installations. There are virtually infinite combinations of maps, missions and goals
- ENGAGE IN HEAD-TO-HEAD MULTIPLAYER: Mix-and-match squads of humans and aliens and battle head-to-head on randomly-generated maps.
| Play style | Estimated time |
|---|---|
| Main story | 41 hours — HowLongToBeat estimate relayed by IsThereAnyDeal, accessed in 2026 |
| Main story plus side content | 63 hours — HowLongToBeat estimate relayed by IsThereAnyDeal, accessed in 2026 |
| Completionist | 88 hours — HowLongToBeat estimate relayed by IsThereAnyDeal, accessed in 2026 |
| All play styles | 60 hours — HowLongToBeat estimate relayed by IsThereAnyDeal, accessed in 2026 |
IsThereAnyDeal’s Jagged Alliance 3 page relays the estimates. No similarly reliable, comparable set of campaign-time figures was established for Phoenix Point and Wasteland 3, so these numbers should not be used to rank all three games by length.
Which one should you play?
- Pick Phoenix Point if the appeal is an alien-threat campaign where difficulty can affect both resources and the rate of strategic pressure. Keep in mind that the detailed difficulty guidance comes from a community-maintained guide that may be outdated.
- Pick Jagged Alliance 3 if you want mercenary combat built around action points and weapon handling, plus territory management and multiple squads on an open map. The community playtime estimates offer a rough sense of its possible scope, not a guaranteed schedule.
- Pick Wasteland 3 if tactical fights should sit inside a reactive story with RPG choices and a customizable squad of up to six Rangers.
Each is a plausible answer to “what are some XCOM-like games?”—but the right choice depends on whether you want alien-strategy pressure, open-ended mercenary operations, or a narrative-first squad RPG.
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