XCOM: Enemy Unknown
XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a turn-based tactics game with a strategic management layer, and a reimagining of the 1994 strategy title UFO: Enemy Unknown. Players lead a squad of soldiers through turn-based combat…
XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a role-playing (rpg) developed by Firaxis Games, released 9 October 2012 on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Android and iOS. It currently starts at $5.24 at Fanatical. The main story takes about 30.6 hrs to finish.
What XCOM: Enemy Unknown is
XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a role-playing (rpg) game developed by Firaxis Games and released in 2012. It was published by 2K Games. It is available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Android, iOS, Linux, Mac and PC (Microsoft Windows). It runs on Unreal Engine 3.
The premise, in the publisher's words
Set in an alternate version of 2015, the game begins as an alien force launches a coordinated invasion of Earth. In response, a coalition of nations forms XCOM, an elite multinational military and scientific organization tasked with defending the planet. The player takes the role of XCOM's commander, directing soldiers against an enemy with far more advanced technology while studying the aliens to understand their purpose and turn their own discoveries against them.
How it plays
It is played from a bird view / isometric perspective. Its themes are action, science fiction and warfare. It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component. Available modes: Multiplayer and Single player. There are 85 achievements to unlock.
Where it sits in the X-COM series
XCOM: Enemy Unknown is the seventh of 27 entries we hold in the X-COM series. It arrived 11 years after X-COM: Enforcer. The next entry was XCOM: Enemy Unknown - Slingshot Pack in 2012. Its critic score of 89 is 8 points above the series average of 81. That makes it the highest-rated entry in the series.
How it was received
XCOM: Enemy Unknown holds a critic score of 89 out of 100. That places it above 91% of the 3,811 rated role-playing (rpg) games in our database, which average 73. Games released in 2012 averaged 70, so it scored 19 points above the year average. Player ratings track closely with critics at 86, across 560 votes.
How long it takes, and what that costs
The main story runs about 30.6 hrs. Completing everything takes closer to 54 hrs, roughly 1.8 times the length of the critical path. At its current cheapest price of $5.24, that works out to about $0.17 per hour of the main story, or $0.10 per hour if you finish everything.
What you need to run it
The minimum specification calls for 2 GHz Dual Core, 2 GB RAM and NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT / ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT or greater. At 2GB of RAM, it will run on essentially any working PC — that is below what a budget laptop ships with today. Install size is roughly 20GB. Both tiers are compared side by side on the requirements page, and you can check your own parts against them without installing anything.
What it costs, and where
The cheapest verified price right now is $5.24 at Fanatical, 65% below its usual price.
What it launched against
XCOM: Enemy Unknown launched on 9 October 2012, within three weeks of Dishonored, Hotline Miami, Borderlands 2 and Assassin's Creed III. It reviewed better than all of them.
Released around the same time: Dishonored, Hotline Miami, Borderlands 2, Assassin's Creed III.
Cheats and codes
We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for XCOM: Enemy Unknown yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.
Official trailer
Sourced from the publisher’s YouTube channel. See all 3 videos →
Screenshots
All media
Characters
All 7
Dlc
Parents
Quick answers
XCOM: Enemy Unknown — frequently asked questions
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