Need to knowWhat is it? XCOM as a solar system-spanning grand strategy gameRelease date January 5, 2026Expect to pay $40Developer Pavonis InteractivePublisher Hooded HorseReviewed on Ryzen 7 3700X, RTX 4070 Super, 32 GB RAMSteam Deck VerifiedLink Official siteIf you’ve played any of the XCOMs, the premise here will be familiar—appropriately enough, given that it comes from the people behind Enemy Unknown’s cult hit mod The Long War. Aliens are attacking present-day Earth and it’s up to you to figure out why they’re here, what they’re made of, and send them packing. Or maybe make friends. Or just profit from the chaos. We’ll get to that in a minute.The difference is that this shadow war plays out across a detailed map of Earth and the entire solar system involving Lagrange points, interface orbits, and delta-v calculations for sending rockets to mine asteroids. The physics stuff isn’t quite as granular as something like Kerbal Space Program, but it’s close. And there are many dozens more celestial bodies when you include all the asteroids, moons, and Kuiper belt objects. It’s legitimately jaw-dropping, and terrifying at first.Down on Earth, you can click on a nation to see stats like environmental sustainability, wealth inequality, and education—all of which can shift over time through the influence of various pro-human and pro-alien factions. Even for a seasoned grand strategy player with thousands of hours in Europa Universalis, it’s a lot. The sheer amount of stuff being simulated creates an almost incomprehensibly rich board for the war against…
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