Turn Based — After Strategy

Wartales Community Update 7: The Lair Criminal Hub and Prisoner Rework Land September 7

Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Community Update 7 for Wartales does more than add maps. It grafts a layer of criminal economy onto Shiro Games’ tactical RPG. The Lair, the new location in CU7, gives your company a hideout to offload loot and manage its outlaw reputation, alongside its mercenary contracts.

The open beta has been available since August 5, 2026. The full release is planned for September 7, and the update is free for all players.

Update, October 26, 2026: CU7 launched on September 7, 2026 as planned, free of charge. It also ships personal quests for mercenaries and a new post-battle report panel. A hotfix followed as early as September 8.

The Lair: A Hideout for Illegal Activities

The Lair is an underground location for those who operate outside the law. It is accessible from the start of the adventure, provided your troop has built up enough Suspicion to earn an invitation. Inside, you can reduce that Suspicion, sell stolen items, buy weapons and armor you cannot find at regular merchants, accept contracts suited to criminal bands, and rest.

The place has five characters. The contract broker offers a quest board reserved for criminals: catch and deliver, attack, assassinate. The black-market merchant buys with no questions asked. The Suspicion specialist eases the pressure from the guards. The tavern keeper offers shelter, and the doorkeeper controls the entrance.

So this is not just an extra map. The Lair plugs into the economic loop: loot and criminal contracts feed the company, while Suspicion becomes a resource to manage. The open question is how deep that integration stays over time.

Prisoners Gain Depth

Shiro Games reworks the prisoner system. Each prisoner who joins your troop keeps skills tied to their past and gets a dedicated skill tree. Their needs are clearer, which makes trust easier to read, and hidden objectives influence their behavior.

Escapes now have 3 possible outcomes. An escapee can come back with reinforcements to ambush you, attack your camp while you rest, or end up behind bars. You can also hunt wealthy merchants: a new capture-and-deliver-to-prison bounty exists for that. With skill trees of their own, some prisoners can become useful members of the company if you meet their needs.

End Round and Smoother Combat

CU7 introduces an End Round option that automatically skips your units’ remaining turns. You can switch back at any time to a more deliberate pace and position your units exactly as you like. For players running large companies, that is a real time saver in long fights. The update also improves AI calculations and camera transitions.

The content is rounded out by 6 new battle maps spread across several regions and 3 new armor sets that can be stolen from wandering merchants.

What to Check on September 7

The big question for CU7 is this: does The Lair really fit into the flow of the game over time, or is it a place you visit once and forget?

If Shiro Games has managed to tie the criminal economy to the rest of the loop, with resources, Suspicion and contracts, CU7 could give Wartales a dimension it did not have yet. If The Lair works in a silo, interest will fade fast.

The Fires in the Capital update showed that Shiro Games knows how to densify its game without overloading it. CU7 tests whether the team can do the same with a permanent economic location.

To try the beta: right-click Wartales in Steam, open Properties and then the Betas tab, and choose the Open Beta branch. Back up your save before you start.

Going further

Star Wars Zero Company: Optional Permadeath, Three Editions — What to Know Before August 27

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Hawks cannot die, but the rest of the squad can die for good. Sixteen days before launch, Zero Company lets you switch permadeath off, sets the prices of its three editions and opens the final stretch for Collector’s Edition pre-orders, which were due to run until August 23.

Update, October 26, 2026: the game came out on August 27. Permadeath is still on by default and can be switched off; Beskar Mode is a separate setting, a single-save restriction. Limited Run Games now shows Collector’s Edition pre-orders closing on September 13, and the edition is marked sold out. Our post-launch buying analysis covers the verdict.

Permadeath: a setting, not a dogma

Permanent death is on by default in Star Wars Zero Company. An operator dies for good on their third Injury, and only Hawks, the commander the player creates, is exempt: if Hawks falls, the mission fails instead of the character leaving the campaign.

What earlier previews had not settled: the option can be turned off in the settings. That choice says a lot about the intended audience. A tactics game without permanent death sits closer to a squad RPG than to XCOM’s tension, because a failed mission no longer takes away a character you care about. Injuries are still counted, but they stop being final.

Whether this softer version holds its tension is a question only launch reviews can answer, and After Strategy has not played the game.

The three editions and where they sit

Standard Edition: $49.99 on PC, $59.99 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Steam lists it at 49.99 euros. It is the entry tier and the sensible choice for a first look at the genre.

Deluxe Edition: $59.99 on PC, $69.99 on consoles, 59.99 euros on Steam. EA’s press release says it adds two cosmetic packs and five weapon themes inspired by the Clone Wars. No gameplay content is announced at this tier.

Collector’s Edition: $299.99, sold by Limited Run Games for PS5, Xbox and PC. Pre-orders were due to close on August 23 at 11:59 PM Eastern, four days before launch. The full box is announced for April to June 2027, with console copies shipping before it.

Whatever the edition, pre-orders include the Crystalline Astromech Cosmetic Pack.

Campaign length and New Game Plus

Bit Reactor’s producer said in late July that the campaign takes 30 to 40 hours depending on difficulty and the player’s experience with the genre, and that the game will not have a New Game Plus mode. Later playthroughs can only unlock certain customization options. For a tactics game that is a clear contract: the value rests on a finished campaign, not on a replay loop. The panel details are in our SDCC article.

Who should buy, and when

For XCOM veterans: switch permadeath on from the start and take the Standard Edition, which gives access to the full game. For players drawn to the Clone Wars but less comfortable with campaigns that never forgive: the permadeath-free setting genuinely widens the audience.

The real decision is timing: wait for the first reviews on August 27 or bet on launch. Zero Company is Bit Reactor’s first game of this kind, so an uneven start is possible. For a collector the deadline is simpler: the Collector’s Edition is only sold through Limited Run Games, and the pre-order window is short.

Going further

Star Wars Zero Company: Class System, Advantage Mechanic and Strategic Layer Explained

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Ex-XCOM devs, a Star Wars license — and their own rulebook

Zero Company does not pitch itself as XCOM with lightsabers. Bit Reactor, a studio founded by Firaxis veterans, has built its own architecture. Five weeks before the August 27, 2026 launch, PC Gamer’s observed demonstrations outline a game willing to take several design risks.

Three pillars define the experience: a two-tier class system, a shared resource called Advantage, and a third-person explorable base. These are the elements that will determine whether Zero Company is a spiritual XCOM 2 successor or simply a solid-but-mid licensed tactical.

8 standard classes, 4 exotic classes: two tiers, two philosophies

Zero Company’s roster works on a hard split. The 8 standard classes are freely assignable to any character — Hawks, custom recruits, or story members — and can be respecced at any time outside of a mission. This is a freedom XCOM 2 never offered; it locked classes at recruitment and made every wrong choice permanent.

The 4 exotic classes, by contrast, are permanent and tied to specific story characters. The most concrete example: the customizable astromech droid has its own exclusive class focused on support and grenades. This rigidity is deliberate — these characters define their narrative role as much as their tactical function.

For XCOM veterans, the “flexible standard + locked exotic” combination creates genuine roster tension. You can adapt mission to mission, but you can’t reinvent everything.

The Advantage resource: replacing XCOM’s Time Units with squad synergy

Each squad member has 3 Action Points (AP) per turn. Movement and attacks draw from the same pool, while some abilities can restore AP during a turn. Zero Company diverges further through Advantage, a collective resource available to the whole squad.

This shared pool powers major class abilities, including the Assault’s multishot and the Heavy’s area rocket. Hawks can spend a smaller amount to restore one AP to an ally. Because Advantage abilities do not consume AP, they can alter the optimal order of a turn instead of merely adding a final attack.

The risk: if Advantage generation lacks clarity, or if resource costs are opaque, the loop can become frustrating. That’s the point to watch in the campaign’s late stages, when enemy factions have accumulated power and the pressure is highest.

The third-person base: genuine ambition or dead weight between missions?

Between missions, Zero Company doesn’t fall back to an isometric management screen. The squad returns to a fully explorable third-person base with real-time movement and contextual dialogue. Squad bonds develop here — units frequently deployed together unlock combat synergies, combo abilities, and narrative arcs.

This is the game’s riskiest design choice. A 3D base extends time between fights and demands compelling writing to justify itself rather than feel like friction. If those interactions land — Mass Effect and Baldur’s Gate 3 prove it’s possible — this layer could be Zero Company’s standout feature.

If they don’t, it’ll be the main complaint.

A Strategic Layer Wider Than the Mission List

EA says the galaxy map contains more than 150 planets. It frames the hunt for Kundri Fathom and the Infinite Coil, while the missions vary between hostage rescue, control-point defense, and direct elimination in the demonstrations documented by PC Gamer.

Those presentations do not yet prove that the map creates meaningful pressure. One hundred and fifty planets could support difficult priorities or merely multiply mission markers. The answer depends on what an ignored operation changes: enemy composition, resources, faction relationships, or just a delayed counter.

Four Operators Leave No Room for Decorative Roles

The missions shown generally field Hawks plus three other operators. A four-person squad gives the class system immediate weight. An overspecialized role occupies a quarter of the team; an overly flexible class could erase composition choices altogether.

The eight standard classes offer one answer. A character the player likes is not trapped in a specialization that has become redundant. Exotic classes preserve a harder constraint: bringing a Jedi, Mandalorian, or astromech means accepting the combat identity attached to that character. On paper, that is a sensible compromise between free progression and authored identity.

One missing detail matters more than the raw class count: how often mission geometry and enemy types demand a particular tool. If every objective rewards the same damage-first squad, twelve classes become a catalogue. If terrain forces a choice between mobility, control, and firepower, composition becomes a real strategic decision.

Permadeath gives class freedom its weight

Permadeath has been part of the plan since the reveal: GamingBolt confirmed it back in April 2025, in classic XCOM fashion. It applies to operators, but not to Hawks, the player-created character, who cannot be lost for good. That rule changes how the class system reads. In XCOM 2, losing a high-ranking soldier meant losing their whole class progression with them. Here, the standard class outlives the character: another operator can take over the Assault or Heavy role between missions. What logically disappears are the bonds built in the Den and the cross-training perks they unlock. On paper, the penalty hits squad cohesion more than squad composition.

What the Evidence Supports

The confirmed facts are substantial: three AP per operator, a shared Advantage gauge, eight standard classes, four exotic roles, an upgradeable base, and a galaxy map with more than 150 planets. That is enough to describe a tactics game with ambitions beyond a licensed reskin.

It is not enough to judge balance, enemy AI, or campaign pacing. This analysis uses official material and demonstrations observed by PC Gamer; After Strategy has not played this build. XCOM comparisons therefore explain structure, not quality.

The Den Has to Earn Its Walking Time

EA’s description of the Den names four practical functions: recruit operators, improve facilities, buy equipment, and select missions at the holotable. Character bonds can unlock support abilities and cross-training bonuses. Those are concrete systems, not merely cinematic decoration.

The uncertainty lies in access. A third-person base can make squad members feel present, but repeated walks between upgrade stations can also slow a tactics campaign. The Den pays off only if conversations change with the selected operators and if facility decisions create competing priorities. Otherwise, an interface would communicate the same information faster.

This distinction matters because Zero Company is a single-player game built around authored characters. The base must connect those characters to combat rather than hold the player between two battles. Bond bonuses are the clearest bridge disclosed so far; their frequency and tactical value remain unknown.

Price raises the standard further. EA lists the standard edition at $49.99 on PC and $59.99 on consoles. Zero Company is not positioned as a small licensed tactics game. At that price, the campaign needs to give all twelve classes, the Den, and the 150-planet map meaningful jobs instead of placing three attractive systems beside one another.

That is a demanding target.

What to watch for on August 27

Zero Company arrives with a promising blueprint: flexible classes, shared Advantage, an upgradeable Den, and a galaxy map. Its XCOM lineage explains the vocabulary, but the shared movement-and-attack AP pool and Advantage already give it a distinct tactical grammar.

The real test is in the details: how deep the 4 exotic classes go (they’ll separate advanced compositions from basic ones), how well the base’s writing holds up, and whether the faction pressure system sustains its tension across the full campaign. The Star Wars license draws a wide audience, but these three points will define whether the game aims beyond it.

For the wider context, our first Star Wars Zero Company preview covers the setting, cast, and campaign. Main sources: PC Gamer’s mechanics overview, its detailed class preview, and EA’s official announcement.

Star Wars Zero Company: Clone Wars XCOM-Style Tactics Game Arrives August 27, 2026

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Star Wars Tactics Game Fans Have Been Waiting For

The Clone Wars finally has its XCOM. Revealed at Star Wars Celebration Japan in April 2025 and shown in full gameplay at Summer Game Fest on June 5, 2026, Star Wars Zero Company is shaping up to be one of the most exciting strategy releases of the year — a turn-based squad tactics game set in one of Star Wars’ most politically complex eras.

Developed by Bit Reactor (a studio founded by Firaxis veterans behind the XCOM series) alongside Respawn Entertainment, and published by EA and Lucasfilm Games, the game launches August 27, 2026 on PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Zero Company: An Unconventional Squad in the Clone Wars

You play as Hawks, a former Republic officer tasked with assembling an irregular squad of hired professionals to carry out operations that neither the Republic nor the Separatists can officially acknowledge. Zero Company works in the grey zones of the Clone Wars — missions where conventional heroism doesn’t apply.

Your core squad is diverse and compelling from the start: Trick, a disillusioned clone trooper voiced by Dee Bradley Baker (the voice behind every clone in Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series), Cly Kullervo, a Mandalorian of the ancient Clan Verminoth, Tognath Jedi Padawan Tel-Rea Vokoss, and Umbaran soldier Luco Bronc. Each character brings unique abilities and a personal narrative arc to the campaign.

Beyond the authored cast, you build and customize your own Operators — mercenaries recruited across the galaxy — choosing from eight iconic Star Wars species: Devaronian, Human, Neimoidian, Ovissian, Togruta, Twi’lek, Weequay, and Zabrak. Appearance, specializations, and talent trees are fully customizable.

Turn-Based Tactics: Positioning, Bonds, and Customization

Combat in Zero Company is turn-based and played from a top-down perspective, with a strong focus on squad positioning and ability chains. Every mission demands careful planning: cover management, action sequencing, and the synergy between your characters. If you’ve played XCOM 2, the foundation will feel familiar — but the Star Wars setting and new systems add distinct depth.

The standout mechanic is the bond system. As your characters fight side by side, they develop relationships — trust, rivalry, or camaraderie — that unlock unique support abilities. The cross-training system also improves Operator stats and skills based on who they fight alongside, making your squad’s history feel meaningful.

The gameplay trailer at Summer Game Fest teased an appearance by Anakin Skywalker, suggesting Zero Company will intersect with key Clone Wars characters while keeping its original protagonists front and center.

For a sense of the tactical depth the genre can reach, our XCOM 2 complete strategy guide covers the mechanics that Bit Reactor is building on and reinventing for a galaxy far, far away.

The Den: Your Galactic Headquarters

Between missions, you manage The Den, your mobile base of operations. A dynamic galaxy map displays available contracts and objectives, and from the Den you recruit new Operators, upgrade facilities, and acquire equipment.

This familiar loop — field mission then base management — echoes the best elements of XCOM’s Avenger, but in a setting where your squad’s constant movement feels narratively justified. The galaxy map and mission variety suggest strong replayability, with squad composition varying dramatically across campaigns.

Bit Reactor and Respawn: A Dream Pairing for Tactics Fans

Bit Reactor was founded in 2021 by former Firaxis developers — the team behind XCOM and Civilization. Their turn-based pedigree is immediately evident in Zero Company’s design. Paired with Respawn Entertainment, known for the narrative level design of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the collaboration promises a game that is both tactically deep and narratively compelling.

EA and Lucasfilm Games officially announced the project on June 3, 2026, with the gameplay trailer broadcast live at Summer Game Fest two days later to millions of viewers worldwide.

What to Expect on August 27

With a confirmed release date and public gameplay footage, Star Wars Zero Company has moved well beyond concept. The bond system, Operator customization, and Clone Wars setting give it a distinct identity — not just another licensed XCOM clone, but a tactics game that uses the Star Wars universe to add genuine emotional weight to squad relationships.

Open questions remain: campaign length, difficulty scaling, and whether a New Game+ or skirmish mode will be available. Expect more details in the months ahead as the August 27 launch approaches.

If you’re a fan of tactical games with strong narrative hooks, this is one to add to your wishlist now.

Star Wars Zero Company launches August 27, 2026 on PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. Developed by Bit Reactor and Respawn Entertainment, published by EA and Lucasfilm Games.

Sources

Stellar Tactics review: after a decade in Early Access, does the space RPG finally deliver?

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Ten years. That’s how long Stellar Tactics spent in Early Access before its 1.0 release on March 30, 2026. This sci-fi sandbox RPG — developed almost solo by Maverick Games Studios — promises a 160,000-system galaxy, deep turn-based combat, and detailed ship customization. After a decade of waiting, does it deliver? We played 30 hours.

TL;DR:

1.0 release: March 30, 2026, after almost 10 years in EA (started September 2016)
Massive content: 160,000+ star systems, 40 ships, 240 perks
Deep combat: turn-based ground, real-time space simulation
Solo dev: Maverick Games Studios, primarily one developer
Steam reviews: overall “Very Positive”, but 57% over the last 30 days — post-launch bugs are hurting new players

10 years in Early Access: how do we get here?
The content: 160,000 systems, really?
Ground combat: XCOM with RPG roles
Space: simulation or dashboard?
Flaws: bugs, dated interface, dizzying scope
Verdict: who it’s for, who it isn’t

10 years in Early Access: how do we get here?

Stellar Tactics launched into Early Access in September 2016 on Steam and GOG. At the time, it pitched itself as the spiritual heir to Starflight (1986) and Sundog: Frozen Legacy (1984) — the sandbox space RPGs that today’s thirty- and forty-somethings wore out.

What lengthened development:

One main dev (Don Wilkins of Maverick Games Studios), not a team
An incredibly ambitious scope — 160,000 procedural systems is literally unthinkable for a solo dev
Community funding via Steam EA rather than a publisher who could have imposed deadlines

The result after 10 years: a game vast but artisanal, with the qualities and flaws you’d imagine. Some EA veterans have poured 1000+ hours in. Others bailed seeing each update took 3 months.

The content: 160,000 systems, really?

Yes. The number is real. Stellar Tactics procedurally generates over 160,000 star systems, each with:

Stations, planets, asteroids, wreckage debris
Dynamic factions in conflict
Random events (piracy, encounters)

The galaxy is persistent — what you do in one place impacts the rest. Caveat: narrative density varies. Some systems are full of stories (named factions, scripted quests); others are empty, just asteroid-mining filler.

Verdict: the content is real but not uniformly dense. As with Starsector or Elite Dangerous, you have to accept that most systems are “filler” to create the illusion of a truly living galaxy.

Ground combat: XCOM with RPG roles

This is the game’s best aspect. Stellar Tactics’ turn-based combat borrows from XCOM (cover, firing angles, height) but adds a deep RPG layer:

240 unlockable perks — specialization as sniper, medic, hacker, heavy, etc.
Classless progression — your character evolves freely based on your choices
Teams of 4 — each member is distinct, not an XCOM clone
Environmental effects: gravity, radiation, toxic atmosphere

Battles on the ground in abandoned stations and ancient ruins recall Fallout Tactics with a Star Wars KOTOR touch. Satisfying, demanding, with a real learning curve.

Space: simulation or dashboard?

The space side is more dashboard than pure simulation. You pick a destination, you travel (with warp jump), and you encounter what comes up along the way. No arcade piloting like Elite Dangerous.

On the other hand, the 40-ship customization runs deep:

Combat — offense/defense optimization, ammunition, armor
Mining — ships dedicated to asteroid extraction
Cargo — trade between stations
Exploration — long-range sensors, upgraded jumpdrives

You can disable and board enemy ships — opening a ground combat aboard their vessel. It’s one of the game’s unique mechanics, a direct heir to the Starflight tradition.

Flaws: bugs, dated interface, dizzying scope

Three recurring critiques of the 1.0 release:

Post-launch bugs — recent reviews (57% positive over 30 days) flag loading crashes, quests getting stuck, save issues. The solo dev pushes near-daily hotfixes, but it remains frustrating.

Dated interface — the UI feels 2016. Little visual polish, austere fonts, sometimes missing tooltips. For a $40 game, it’s rough.

Dizzying scope that can paralyze — 160,000 systems is literally infinite. Many new players bail at 10-15h, overwhelmed, not knowing what to do. The game doesn’t hold your hand enough.

Verdict: who it’s for, who it isn’t

Buy Stellar Tactics if:

You loved Starflight, Sundog, or early ’80s/’90s space RPGs
You love open sandboxes where you make your own story
XCOM-style turn-based combat appeals to you
The “one-man project” angle inspires rather than scares you

Skip it if:

You want guided narrative à la Mass Effect
You don’t have 100h+ to invest to really “taste” the game
Dated UIs put you off
You’re looking for a solo RPG finishable in 40h

At $39.99, it’s an honest bet for anyone looking for a modernized old-school space RPG. To compare with the other 2026 RPG/tacticals, see our Xenonauts 2 review and our Vaunted preview.

Final score: 7/10 — a singular game, thrilling for those it grabs, frustrating for those without context.

Sources

Xenonauts 2 review: is the 1.0 release the true heir to classic X-COM?

Wed, 06 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On April 2, 2026, after nearly three years of Early Access, Goldhawk Interactive finally shipped Xenonauts 2 in version 1.0 on Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store. The small British studio’s goal: deliver the most faithful spiritual successor to 1994’s X-COM, set in the late Cold War. After a month of play and 50+ hours of campaign, here’s our full verdict.

TL;DR:

The most punishing tactical game in its category — not an accessible XCOM-like, a true X-COM in the 1994 tradition
180+ battle maps and real depth in global management (bases, R&D, funding)
Pragmatic art direction rather than spectacular — visual charm isn’t the strong suit
$39.99 — a fair price for a deep strategy game of this scope
Verdict: 8/10 for X-COM old-school fans, 6/10 for those seeking cinematic XCOM

Three years in Early Access: what changed?
Tactical core: punishing combat, solid pathfinding
Global management: what XCOM 2 never dared
The Cleaners: the new narrative faction
Weaknesses: art direction and repetition
Verdict: who it’s for, who it isn’t

Three years in Early Access: what changed?

Launched July 2023, Xenonauts 2 spent 34 months in Early Access. Over that period, Goldhawk listened to the community — often brutally honest — and reworked several core mechanics:

Less tedious early game: the opening missions, long criticized as too repetitive, now offer real enemy-type and terrain variety
Rewritten air combat: the interception system was simplistic in beta, it’s now a full tactical mini-game
Richer late game: new UFO types, complex alien threats, endgame that no longer runs out of steam
Redesigned UI and UX with several iterative passes

The 1.0 result is clean and playable — which wasn’t a given.

Tactical core: punishing combat, solid pathfinding

At Xenonauts 2’s heart is turn-based combat on 2-to-3-level maps. Goldhawk made the opposite choice from Firaxis: no hidden percentages, no heroic cinematics, no manufactured chance. If your soldier misses an 80% shot, it’s because ballistics decided — and you’ll have to live with it.

This approach has two consequences:

Maximum satisfaction when plans work — you genuinely won, not carried by scripting
Brutal punishment when things fail — a single positioning mistake can cost three veteran soldiers

The action preview system (clearly inspired by XCOM 2, improved here) helps anticipate consequences. Combined with highly precise pathfinding — you can finally climb stairs without falling into the ambush you’d already spotted — combat becomes pure pleasure for hard-tactics fans.

Global management: what XCOM 2 never dared

Where Xenonauts 2 crushes the competition is the global strategic layer:

Multiple bases to manage simultaneously (unlike XCOM 2 centralizing everything on the Avenger)
Multi-nation funding with distinct reputations — losing Japan’s trust doesn’t affect your US rating
Parallel R&D — 3 to 5 science projects simultaneously, each with tech prerequisites
Interception patrols to coordinate globally, strategic choice on fighter positioning

It’s complex, sometimes bewildering, but it rewards anticipation. You recover the 1994 X-COM feel that no game since really captured — except maybe the old UFO: Aftermath series of the 2000s.

The Cleaners: the new narrative faction

Xenonauts 2 introduces a secret human faction — The Cleaners — that operates alongside the alien invasion. They’re sleeper agents sabotaging Xenonauts efforts from within: government infiltration, disinformation, black ops.

Narratively, this is denser than Xenonauts 1. The 1.0 version significantly enriched this storyline with:

New dedicated mission types (Cleaners base raids, extractions)
Scripted events that progressively reveal their motives
A final choice that affects the campaign ending

It stays less memorable than XCOM 2’s Avatar storyline cinematically, but smarter in its writing. No caricature villain speeches, just a slow buildup of paranoia.

Weaknesses: art direction and repetition

Two real critiques to address:

Pragmatic art direction: the graphics are functional, clean, readable — but charmless. Maps look similar despite the count (180+), aliens have generic designs, UI is efficient but lacks personality. After 30 hours, you miss XCOM 2’s Gothic overture style.

Limited mission variety: despite the effort, the campaign eventually goes in circles. UFO recovery → terror mission → enemy base raid → repeat. The first 50 hours are excellent, the next 20 less so.

High failure penalty: losing a mission can trigger catastrophic domino effects. Some Iron Man players abandoned their campaign after a single failure. The game owns this choice — it’s authentic X-COM — but it can drive new players away.

Verdict: who it’s for, who it isn’t

Buy Xenonauts 2 if:

You loved original 1994 X-COM or the 2000s UFO: Aftermath series
You want a real tactical challenge without narrative crutches
You enjoy global strategic management (multi-base, parallel R&D)
The $39.99 price doesn’t put you off for 80+ hours of gameplay

Skip it if:

You want an accessible cinematic XCOM (grab XCOM 2 + Chimera Squad instead)
Art direction matters to you
You hate losing 5 hours of progress to a single bad mission

To compare Xenonauts 2 with the other major 2026 tacticals, see our tactical strategy guide 2026. To expand the genre, our 4X space comparison covers the other angles.

Final score: 8/10 for hard-tactics fans, 6/10 for general audiences.

Turn Based — After Strategy

Wartales Community Update 7: The Lair Criminal Hub and Prisoner Rework Land September 7

The Lair: A Hideout for Illegal Activities

Prisoners Gain Depth

End Round and Smoother Combat

What to Check on September 7

Going further

Star Wars Zero Company: Optional Permadeath, Three Editions — What to Know Before August 27

Permadeath: a setting, not a dogma

The three editions and where they sit

Campaign length and New Game Plus

Who should buy, and when

Going further

Star Wars Zero Company: Class System, Advantage Mechanic and Strategic Layer Explained

Ex-XCOM devs, a Star Wars license — and their own rulebook

8 standard classes, 4 exotic classes: two tiers, two philosophies

The Advantage resource: replacing XCOM’s Time Units with squad synergy

The third-person base: genuine ambition or dead weight between missions?

A Strategic Layer Wider Than the Mission List

Four Operators Leave No Room for Decorative Roles

Permadeath gives class freedom its weight

What the Evidence Supports

The Den Has to Earn Its Walking Time

What to watch for on August 27

Star Wars Zero Company: Clone Wars XCOM-Style Tactics Game Arrives August 27, 2026

The Star Wars Tactics Game Fans Have Been Waiting For

Zero Company: An Unconventional Squad in the Clone Wars

Turn-Based Tactics: Positioning, Bonds, and Customization

The Den: Your Galactic Headquarters

Bit Reactor and Respawn: A Dream Pairing for Tactics Fans

What to Expect on August 27

Sources

Stellar Tactics review: after a decade in Early Access, does the space RPG finally deliver?

Table of contents

10 years in Early Access: how do we get here?

The content: 160,000 systems, really?

Ground combat: XCOM with RPG roles

Space: simulation or dashboard?

Flaws: bugs, dated interface, dizzying scope

Verdict: who it’s for, who it isn’t

Sources

Xenonauts 2 review: is the 1.0 release the true heir to classic X-COM?

Table of contents

Three years in Early Access: what changed?

Tactical core: punishing combat, solid pathfinding

Global management: what XCOM 2 never dared

The Cleaners: the new narrative faction

Weaknesses: art direction and repetition

Verdict: who it’s for, who it isn’t

Sources