Every XCOM game, ranked
All 3 XCOM games we hold, spanning 2012 to 2020: 2 ranked by the GamingPickz Score and plotted below, the rest listed in release order so nothing in the series is missing. Together they carry 82,037 Steam reviews.
Where to start
- For the best-reviewed: XCOM: Enemy Unknown (GamingPickz Score 8.3), the highest-rated entry we can score.
- For the money: XCOM: Chimera Squad gives the most score per dollar right now.
The XCOM games on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueThe same 2 games, plotted rather than listed. The two axes below are the ones the ranking is built from, so a game sitting high and right is a game the formula placed near the top. Change either axis to see the field a different way. Where we hold a publisher wordmark, the game is drawn as its mark rather than a dot.
2 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 2 games rather than the full 0 to 100 scale, because a filtered list shares a narrow band and would otherwise sit in one corner. End values are marked. A point on the left edge is the lowest of thesegames, not a low score.
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
2 best XCOM games, ranked
Ordered by GamingPickz Score. Every figure links back to the source that produced it.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown at a glance Released 2012 Studio Firaxis Games Player sentiment 93% positive of 58,594 Critics 89/100 Price $14.99 Steam Deck playable Install size Not stated Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 93% shrinks to 92.9 on 58,594 reviews, then blends with the 89 critic aggregate, giving 8.3.
What the data supports- Cloud saves and cross-platform play, so progress follows you between machines.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
- 2
XCOM: Chimera Squad
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
6.4GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceXCOM: Chimera Squad at a glance Released 2020 Studio Firaxis Games Player sentiment 71% positive of 23,443 Critics No aggregate Price $9.99 Steam Deck playable Install size 18 GB Accessibility 0 declared features Raw 71% shrinks to 71.2 on 23,443 reviews, giving 6.4. No critics data, so that weight was redistributed across the rest rather than counted as zero.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
Only the 2 XCOM games with Steam review data can be scored and ranked. The complete series, scored or not, is charted in order below.
Best and worst entry
The best-received XCOM game we can score is XCOM: Enemy Unknown at 8.3. The lowest is XCOM: Chimera Squad at 6.4, a 1.9-point spread across the series. The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Cheapest way in, and best value
- Cheapest right now: XCOM: Chimera Squad at $9.99. Prices are read live from Steam and move.
- Best value: XCOM: Chimera Squad, the most GamingPickz Score per dollar in the series at its current price.
On a Steam Deck
Valve's own Deck compatibility rating for the XCOM entries on Steam:
- Playable: XCOM: Enemy Unknown, XCOM: Chimera Squad
Platforms across the series
Where the 3 XCOM games have landed, counting every entry we hold:
| Platform family | Entries |
|---|---|
| PC | 3 of 3 |
The XCOM series, game by game
Every XCOM game we hold, in release order. Each description is the game's own, from Steam where it has a listing and Wikipedia for the older entries, never ours.
- 2012
The XCOM: Enemy Unknown - Slingshot Pack is Now Available! (Steam)
Plot
Setting The game's campaign begins in early 2015 as a global alien invasion begins. Prior to the start of the game, a group of countries called the Council of Nations has banded together to create Extraterrestrial Combat Unit (XCOM), the most elite military and scientific organization in human history that is tasked with defending the nations from alien attack. The player assumes the role of the commander of XCOM and engages in a war against an… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Critical reception Reception According to review aggregator website Metacritic , XCOM: Enemy Unknown received "generally favourable reviews" from critics. Franchise creator Julian Gollop also praised the game, describing it as an "addictive and absorbing" experience; he liked the new alien design and enjoyed the challenging gameplay. Evan Lahti from PC Gamer praised Firaxis for understanding the core gameplay pillars of the franchise and modernizing them… (Wikipedia)
- 2020
XCOM: Chimera Squad delivers an all-new story and turn-based tactical combat experience in the XCOM universe. (Steam)
Plot
Chimera Squad is set in City 31, a model city with humans and aliens living alongside one another. It takes place in 2040, five years after the events of XCOM 2: War of the Chosen , in which the titular organization defeated ADVENT, the alien-led puppet government that ruled Earth for 20 years following an invasion . The game puts players in control of the eponymous squad, an elite peacekeeper force pitted against unknown elements that seek to… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Chimera Squad received "generally favorable reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic . Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received strong approval, being recommended by 71% of critics. One of the core changes between Chimera Squad and XCOM 2 the replacement of randomly generated soldiers with the cast of eleven unique ones was the subject of both praise and disappointment by critics. (Wikipedia)
- —
XCOM 2
Metacritic 88No sourced description on file.
Plot
XCOM 2 is set in 2035, 20 years after the events of XCOM: Enemy Unknown and XCOM: Enemy Within , its expansion pack . XCOM proved incapable of resisting the alien threat and was betrayed by the council nations, who surrendered to the aliens shortly after the invasion began. Most of the XCOM members also submitted to alien rule but some, like Central Officer Bradford, refused the alien administration and went underground to operate as a resistance force. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Critical reception Reception XCOM 2 received "generally favorable" reviews, according to video game review aggregator platform Metacritic . Nic Rowen from Destructoid praised the game for building on the original and expanding the number of tactical options offered to players. He also liked the new enemies, which force players to rethink their tactics before they plan their attacks. (Wikipedia)
XCOM, head to head
Two entries side by side on score, price, specs and reception:
XCOM vs other series
How XCOM stacks up against other series in the same genre, as a whole:
Also: XCOM vs Darkest Dungeon, XCOM vs Divinity, XCOM vs Dungeons, XCOM vs Kingdom Rush, XCOM vs Might & Magic, XCOM vs Pathfinder, XCOM vs Shadowrun, XCOM vs Soda Dungeon, XCOM vs Town of Salem, XCOM vs Wasteland
Common questions
How many XCOM games are there?
We hold 3 XCOM games in the catalogue, released between 2012 and 2020. 2 of them carry enough Steam data to rank; the rest are listed in release order below, including console-only entries with no Steam listing.
Which XCOM game is best?
By the GamingPickz Score, XCOM: Enemy Unknown rates highest at 8.3. That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, computed the same way for every game, not our opinion. The full ranking is above.
What order should I play the XCOM games in?
Release order is listed below, from 2012 to 2020. For most series that is also story order, but we list dates rather than telling you a canon; the timeline is read from Wikidata.
More franchises
Browse every game franchise ranked the same way, or head to the full grid.