$9.99XCOM®: Chimera Squad Lead a squad of humans and aliens
Command eleven agents through tense turn-based breaches while unrest threatens to tear City 31 apart.
Is XCOM®: Chimera Squad worth it?
XCOM®: Chimera Squad is worth it if…
- you want turn-based tactics in shorter, punchier sessions than a full XCOM campaign
- you enjoy a squad of named characters with personalities, not expendable soldiers
- you like a strategy layer where a ticking clock forces hard priorities
- you want branching outcomes that make a second playthrough play out differently
Screenshots
Breach mode: the fight starts at the door
Missions are built as a series of short, explosive encounters, and each one opens with a breach. You assign your four agents to different entry points, pick breach-specific skills, and coordinate the assault before anyone fires a shot. Kick the front door with your heavy, send a stealthy agent through a side entrance, stack the odds before the first turn begins. No more creeping through fog of war waiting to be ambushed: you see the room, you shape the entry, and then the fight kicks off fast. It keeps the action intense and unpredictable, and it makes every mission feel like a string of set pieces rather than one long grind.
Interleaved turns that keep you on edge
There is no clean "your turn, their turn" rhythm here. An automatic initiative system slots individual agents and enemies into one alternating order, so what happens next depends on who is queued to act. That changes every decision. Do you push this agent forward when an enemy acts right after them, or hold back and let a teammate with earlier initiative cover the move? You are always weighing what the next unit in line can do to you, and the tension of a turn can swing twice before it ends. It is a genuinely different flavor of turn-based tactics, and it rewards thinking one, two and three slots ahead.
Eleven agents, one fragile city
Your squad is a fixed cast of eleven, each with a distinct personality, their own motivation for joining, and species-specific tricks: the Viper can pull an enemy across the room with its tongue. Team composition matters, because pairing the right agents unlocks cooperative combos, and the line between a clean mission and a botched one can come down to who you brought. Outside combat you run the HQ: juggling investigations, agent assignments and competing tasks while unrest rises in City 31's districts, ticking toward total anarchy. The clock is real, the choices compete, and how you conduct your investigations shapes how the story ends.
Frequently asked questions?
Do you need to have played XCOM 2 first?
No. The story is set five years after XCOM 2, so returning players will catch more references, but the setup is explained from scratch: the war is over, the aliens left, and City 31 is trying to make peace work. It stands on its own.
Is it as long and hard as the mainline XCOM games?
It is shorter and simpler by design. Missions come in quick bursts, there is no base building or soldier permadeath, and the campaign wraps up well before a numbered entry would. If you want the full war-management weight of XCOM 2, this is a lighter take; if you want tight tactical fights without the overhead, that is the point.
Can you replay it and get something different?
Yes. You pick which of the city's threats to investigate and in what order, your choices lead to different endings, and each run plays out differently. The interleaved turn order and breach assignments also mean no two missions unfold the same way.
Can you play it solo, or is the multiplayer required?
It is built as a singleplayer game. The campaign, the squad management and the tactical combat are all designed for one player, and nothing in the experience depends on playing with others.
