Xenonauts similar games & best alternatives

Xenonauts - Trailer
Xenonauts - xenonauts_1.avif
Xenonauts - xenonauts_2.avif
Xenonauts - xenonauts_3.avif
Xenonauts - xenonauts_4.avif
Xenonauts - xenonauts_5.avif
Xenonauts - xenonauts_6.avif

Xenonauts

Linux, PC (Microsoft Windows), Mac • 2014

Should you play it?

Xenonauts is a strategy game in which you control a multi-national military organisation defending a Cold War-era Earth from alien invasion, using small squads of persistent soldiers to eliminate the extraterrestrials and recover their technology in turn-based ground combat.

What works

  • Faithful to original x-com gameplay
  • Deep tactical and strategic layers
  • Challenging and rewarding difficulty
  • Extensive customization and mod support
  • Immersive cold war sci-fi atmosphere

Things to keep in mind

  • Steep learning curve and limited tutorials
  • Repetitive maps and some bugs
  • Tedious air combat for some players
  • Some ui and performance issues
  • Lack of multiplayer or social features

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

  • X-COM: Terror From the Deep

  • Battle Brothers

  • Xenonauts 2

  • UFO: Aftermath

  • X-COM: UFO Defense

  • Infection Free Zone

Less fantastical

Games that feels like Xenonauts but with less imaginative fiction

  • Ultimate General: Civil War

  • Unity of Command II

  • Armored Brigade

  • The Three Kingdoms: The Tales of Jian An

  • Order of Battle: World War II

  • This Is the Police 2

More relaxing

Games that feels like Xenonauts but with a more relaxing feel

  • Warpips

  • Ground of Aces

  • Pathway

  • From Glory To Goo

  • Templar Battleforce

  • Fantasy General II

Choose your own criteria ->

Similarity map

How to compare these games

Compare nearby games

Each card is a nearby game on the similarity map, compared with Xenonauts. Swipe sideways to move between games. Titles already listed in What to play next are left out.

  • Cover and title: open that game’s page.
  • What works / keep in mind: the same highlights as the desktop comparison panel.
  • Bars: the main motivational differences versus this game.
How to use the graph

Similarity map

Each dot is a game placed from its motivation profile relative to this page’s game. Direction shows which motivation differs most; distance along that axis shows how large the gap is.

  • Purple star: this page’s game at the centre — everything is relative to it.
  • Direction: each axis is a main motivational difference vs this game (e.g. more / less competitive).
  • Distance on an axis: how large that difference is (ring scales show +/− points).
  • Coloured chips: click to highlight games that mainly differ on that motivation; click again to reset.
  • Dotted line: link between this page’s game and the one selected for comparison.
  • Hover a dot to preview that game in the panel on the right; click to keep that comparison.
  • Scroll or double-click the chart to zoom.

How to read the map This is a polar difference map: direction = which motivation differs, and distance = how much (same units as the sidebar deltas).

Swipe to compare nearby games with Xenonauts. These titles are not in What to play next.

Xenonauts: Less representative of its motivational profile, with noticeable differences. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Violence, Survival, Fellowship, Intimacy. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Leadership, Violence. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Relaxation.

Last update: 21/08/2026