Whereas other 4X games let players see their sprawling empire across city to city, Crusader Kings gives players a more strategic and “realistic” approach. In this grand strategy game, players relive 1066 to 1452 in their own image. Historically, these mark the day after William the Conqueror’s coronation and the fall of Constantinople. Unlike other fantasy games that prominently feature knights and sorcerers , Crusader Kings tries to be as realistic as possi

Firaxis made it clear that this game was focusing on telling interpersonal stories and experimenting with Slg Game blog mechanics rather than making a full expansion for XCOM 2 or War of the Chosen . The game’s unique characters and removal of permadeath mainly stem from Firaxis experimenting with storytelling components. While it hasn’t been outright confirmed, it’s safe to assume that Firaxis made Chimera Squad as a way of testing the waters for major mechanical changes in a future XCOM ti

Players of grand strategy games might have heard of Endless Legend. Moreover, it’s perhaps one of the most interesting fantasy-science fiction 4X titles to have graced the PC. In this game, players end up as one of the many remnants of races in a changing Auriga. The game features 14 playable factions, with five others in expansi

X-Com: Apocalypse is arguably the most forgotten main-entry in the XCOM franchise. This game is the most ambitious XCOM title ever that revolves around a major city and managing multiple organizations instead of simply stopping an alien invas

While having numerous endings and routes within a game incentivizes numerous playthroughs, nothing incentivizes players to keep playing a game quite like post-launch content. Whether these are free updates or DLC, additional content to a game allows it to continue to be fresh over a much larger period of time. As a tactical RPG , Triangle Strategy could theoretically add anything from new recruitable characters to entirely new mo

As the rescued and restored Commander, the player takes on a challenge and campaign that is, in many ways, an inverted form of the original. Now operating as the resilient infection the aliens posed previously, the gameplay, mood, desperation, and constant threat of failure and death have been completely twisted. The main difference is the element of surprise: allowing players to operate unseen prior to attacks, scouting enemy forces, planning and executing ambushes, fundamentally changing the complexion of the standard miss

Strategy fans who want to stray away from the intense army-versus-army nature of other titles can go to turn-based tactics for the same tactical”thrill.” And in the case of tactical RPGs, the XCOM series definitely takes the cake. In this series where alien conspiracies are real and the world has built its own anti-alien force, players become Earth’s last line of defense against the extraterrestr

Firaxis Games and Feral Interactive present the second and wildly popular entry to the XCOM franchise. XCOM 2 is the classic alien-fighting turn-based strategy game where players control a squad of talented soldiers with different skills on dangerous missions against an exoplanetary enemy threatening to rule mank

While Enemy Unknown ‘s basic gameplay loop saw players taking uneasy steps into hostile territory, unsure of ambushes, it’s the player who now stalks their alien prey. Squad members can be led, one by one, up to the very fringe of monitored areas. From there, it’s possible to identify secondary targets or assets (now a core layer of the mission objectives), and surround enemy troops and traitors before they know what’s about to hit them. And when it hits them… it’s glori

Some XCOM players swear that the percentage chance they have to hit a target is factually incorrect . Incredibly unlucky players have expressed that they miss 100% shots even though they should always land while players have sworn that an 85% chance to hit almost always la

The core thrill of seeing a squad erupt from ‘Overwatch’ to let barrages loose on an unsuspecting enemy is augmented by the new tweaks to Squaddie classes. The standards remain (Sniper, Grenadier, Specialist), but the ‘Assault’ class has been replaced with the fearless and furious Rangers. And before player assume the name means these fighters are ranged characters, realize that sprinting across a battlefield to unleash a sword attack point-blank has a distinct melee feel. The turn-based gameplay remains the same (although clearly increased in difficulty), leaving the fiction to inform the meaning of the mechanics – scrounging alien technology, attacking research centers and extracting assets – and in turn, letting the desperation of the campaign amplify the story ramificati

This would be especially effective if particular characters weren’t locked behind single decisions, rather than chains of choices that would encourage the player to experiment with their choices and greatly enhance replay value through tangible assets that are only available under certain conditi