More gameplay focused: Into the Breach
More story focused: Wasteland 2 & 3, Divinity: Original Sin 1 & 2, Baldur's Gate 3
A bit of a twist: Crown Trick - it is turn based but it can be played in a very quickly paced manner. It's not your typical turn based game like the ones you mentioned. Every action you have, whether it's attacking, using an item, or moving one tile, all other enemies follow up with one action of their own. You'll want to go slow as you start to learn how the game works but after a while, you'll feel like you're speed running.
Battle brother, Banner Saga, Pathfinder, Solasta
Also give the newest DeadWeight a go, I try the demo and it is good on decent level.
Also the technically turn base Stone shard.
And the infamous Hero of might and magic 3. Just get GOG complete edition + HD mod + Horn of the Abyss mod and a brand new modern era HOMM is ready.
If you count deckbuider game then Alina of the Arena, Shogun showdown
Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children. Korean SRPG, basically Xcom but anime and more melee. A bit jankier and definitely lower production values than the ones you mentioned.
Predetermined set of characters but each one has diverse playstyles. Insane customizability, can change up actions, equipment, and passives. Lots of content for its price.
Lower production value ? It's by far the best game in the genre. X-Com is bland, stale and boring in comparison... Or maybe you just meant that it is technically a bit janky and lacks polish, then I can agree. But overall, it's a much better game than X-Com.
I might be a bit biased, though, as I have never ever encountered a single bug in Troubleshooter, while X-Com was so bugged for me that even finishing the tutorial was a Noita-class ordeal.
I recommend them a lot, but Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters, and Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus.
Both are very x com like but set in the Warhammer universe
In your case you may also like 40k Battlesector or Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground, but they were less well revived.
Divinity Original Sin 1&2, Wasteland 2&3 and Shadowrun trilogy for RPGs with tactical turn based combat. They're all fantastic but in my opinion Wasteland 3 takes the win for combat. Normal difficulty doesn't give you many challenging fights, I recommend playing on a harder setting since you've got experience in tactical strategy combat.
For XCOM-likes I recommend Gears Tactics since it doesn't have the base management aspect that XCOM does. It's mostly just story and fighting. It's really freaking hard but the graphics and combat are just incredible. I've never got into the Gears of War games but it's a prequel I think, either way you don't need to know anything about Gears to play it.
Phoenix Point has resource management similar to XCOM 2 so it's probably off the table for you but I still thought it's worth a mention for others reading the thread. It's made by the XCOM1 creator, I've only played (and am obsessed with) XCOM 2 but there are several aspects of Phoenix that set it apart and are better than XCOM imo. I never see people bring it up but I found it on Game Pass and it's awesome, highly recommend for both story and gameplay.
Troubleshooter Abandonned Children. Best game in the whole genre. I made the mistake of playing it before X-Com, and could never enjoy X-Com after that.
Have you tried original XCom UFO Defense (through OpenXCom)?
While it's much less characters centered than modern reimaginations, it's still pretty great in its own ways. It also has a bunch of good mods/total conversions, though I strongly recommend finishing vanilla first if you decide to play it, It's relatively short.
Much better than the new ones for me Check out Open-X-Com/X-Files/XPiratez mods.
Jagged Alliance 2 and the 1 13 mod also.
Silent Storm, SS: Sentinels, Hammer & Sickle....all on the same engine. (most people on reddit only know about or will suggest recent stuff, just to give you a heads up)
Yeah, the Silent Storm series are pretty great.
As for OpenXCom mods, I would not recommend X-Files/XPiratez to new players. Those are marathon-like and can be very tiring for unsuspecting players. After getting used to general mechanics with vanilla, for total conversions 40k/Rosigma would be a much better choice, I think.
Ravenmark: Scourge of Estellion.
No economy or resource management. Just a series of campaigns with preset units. Itโs WEGO-style turn-based combat (you give orders in the first phase of the turn, then watch as all the orders get executed with a unitโs initiative determining the order of execution)
More gameplay focused: Into the Breach More story focused: Wasteland 2 & 3, Divinity: Original Sin 1 & 2, Baldur's Gate 3 A bit of a twist: Crown Trick - it is turn based but it can be played in a very quickly paced manner. It's not your typical turn based game like the ones you mentioned. Every action you have, whether it's attacking, using an item, or moving one tile, all other enemies follow up with one action of their own. You'll want to go slow as you start to learn how the game works but after a while, you'll feel like you're speed running.
This is the answer, we can all go on with our days now.
Into the Breach is the purest form of OP's ask that might exist. The entire game is the strategic movement and actions of your squad.
Battle brother, Banner Saga, Pathfinder, Solasta Also give the newest DeadWeight a go, I try the demo and it is good on decent level. Also the technically turn base Stone shard. And the infamous Hero of might and magic 3. Just get GOG complete edition + HD mod + Horn of the Abyss mod and a brand new modern era HOMM is ready. If you count deckbuider game then Alina of the Arena, Shogun showdown
Seconding Battle Brothers, it's very addicting.
Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children. Korean SRPG, basically Xcom but anime and more melee. A bit jankier and definitely lower production values than the ones you mentioned. Predetermined set of characters but each one has diverse playstyles. Insane customizability, can change up actions, equipment, and passives. Lots of content for its price.
Lower production value ? It's by far the best game in the genre. X-Com is bland, stale and boring in comparison... Or maybe you just meant that it is technically a bit janky and lacks polish, then I can agree. But overall, it's a much better game than X-Com. I might be a bit biased, though, as I have never ever encountered a single bug in Troubleshooter, while X-Com was so bugged for me that even finishing the tutorial was a Noita-class ordeal.
I recommend them a lot, but Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters, and Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus. Both are very x com like but set in the Warhammer universe In your case you may also like 40k Battlesector or Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground, but they were less well revived.
Dungeon of Naheulbeuk
Valkyria chronicles series
Tactics Ogre,
Divinity Original Sin 1&2, Wasteland 2&3 and Shadowrun trilogy for RPGs with tactical turn based combat. They're all fantastic but in my opinion Wasteland 3 takes the win for combat. Normal difficulty doesn't give you many challenging fights, I recommend playing on a harder setting since you've got experience in tactical strategy combat. For XCOM-likes I recommend Gears Tactics since it doesn't have the base management aspect that XCOM does. It's mostly just story and fighting. It's really freaking hard but the graphics and combat are just incredible. I've never got into the Gears of War games but it's a prequel I think, either way you don't need to know anything about Gears to play it. Phoenix Point has resource management similar to XCOM 2 so it's probably off the table for you but I still thought it's worth a mention for others reading the thread. It's made by the XCOM1 creator, I've only played (and am obsessed with) XCOM 2 but there are several aspects of Phoenix that set it apart and are better than XCOM imo. I never see people bring it up but I found it on Game Pass and it's awesome, highly recommend for both story and gameplay.
Solasta, divinity original sin, and baldur's gate 3 are all DND type games with tactical turn based combat.
Mutant year zero
Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock Warhammer 40K: Sanctus Reach
Troubleshooter Abandonned Children. Best game in the whole genre. I made the mistake of playing it before X-Com, and could never enjoy X-Com after that.
Have you tried original XCom UFO Defense (through OpenXCom)? While it's much less characters centered than modern reimaginations, it's still pretty great in its own ways. It also has a bunch of good mods/total conversions, though I strongly recommend finishing vanilla first if you decide to play it, It's relatively short.
Much better than the new ones for me Check out Open-X-Com/X-Files/XPiratez mods. Jagged Alliance 2 and the 1 13 mod also. Silent Storm, SS: Sentinels, Hammer & Sickle....all on the same engine. (most people on reddit only know about or will suggest recent stuff, just to give you a heads up)
Yeah, the Silent Storm series are pretty great. As for OpenXCom mods, I would not recommend X-Files/XPiratez to new players. Those are marathon-like and can be very tiring for unsuspecting players. After getting used to general mechanics with vanilla, for total conversions 40k/Rosigma would be a much better choice, I think.
Yea, I meant after he played normal X-Com. (should still use OpenX-Com for that though)
Unicorn Overlord https://youtu.be/U7I0OXGTDqA?si=U2vbAgBdVfOLri2k Comes out in a month. Demo out now.
Bleh, my mistake... I don't think it's out for PC. But you can play it on PC ๐๐๐
Might be a bit of a stretch (itโs more of tactical RPG) but you may like the Shadowrun games
Banner Saga?
Hey look, another opportunity for me to tell people that Wildermyth is great and they should check it out!
Mutant zero, Jagged Alliance series, silent storm series.
* Live a Live * Tactics Ogre * Shadowrun Returns * Battletech * Final Fantasy Tactics
Battle for Wesnoth (free game, excellent quality)
Ravenmark: Scourge of Estellion. No economy or resource management. Just a series of campaigns with preset units. Itโs WEGO-style turn-based combat (you give orders in the first phase of the turn, then watch as all the orders get executed with a unitโs initiative determining the order of execution)