$39.99Xenonauts 2 A Cold War Against Aliens
Scramble jets at UFOs, command ground battles turn by turn, and hold a divided world together one hard decision at a time.
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Turn-based battles where every step is a decision
Ground combat is slow, deliberate and lethal. Each soldier has time units to spend on moving, shooting, overwatch or anything else, and you can act with one soldier, switch to another, then come back and finish the first one's turn. Positioning, lines of sight, cover and ammunition all matter, and the aliens hunt you: they move to strike from beyond visual range, take the high ground and hide behind cover. You drop smoke, edge a squad forward, check every dark corner. One careless step and your best soldier falls to a shot from the dark. The game gives you proper planning tools, so you commit to a move knowing exactly what you can see and shoot from there.
A war fought from the shadows
It is 2009, the Berlin Wall still stands, and nobody in power believes you at first. You start with one base, a handful of soldiers and a tiny budget, working without government support until the aliens force the world to listen. The invaders feed on the Cold War itself, stoking tensions between two blocs already close to the brink, so your job is not only to fight them but to keep humanity from destroying itself first. Sightings are covered up, witnesses vanish, and the aliens grow bolder by the week. The story unfolds through plain briefings from your advisors rather than cutscenes, which suits the dry, serious tone of the whole thing.
Learn by killing, then build something better
Knowledge is your real weapon, and you earn it in pieces. Every battle is a choice: blow the aliens apart with grenades and missiles, or take the slower, riskier route and secure intact bodies for autopsies and salvage. Those samples feed a research tree of over a hundred projects, unlocking new weapons, armor, aircraft and vehicles, and slowly revealing what the invasion actually is. Every enemy species fights differently, so autopsies tell you what to prepare for. You can even field autonomous combat platforms and sentry guns, though every hour of engineering time spent on them is an hour not spent on dropships or fighter armament. Money, time and resources are all scarce, always.
What should you know before playing?
Do you need to play the first Xenonauts?
No. Xenonauts 2 is a standalone title with its own story, and the game itself says you need no experience with the original to follow the plot or enjoy it. A short tutorial at the start explains the systems, and the old-school mechanics are introduced as you go. If you have played the first game you will feel at home faster, but newcomers pick it up too.
How long is a campaign?
Roughly 20 to 30 hours for a first playthrough, based on how long players report their campaigns taking. That covers the main arc from a single underfunded base to a global resistance network. Missions can start to feel repetitive deeper into a campaign, which is the main limit on how much longer it holds.
Can you lose soldiers permanently?
Yes, and you will. Battles are extremely dangerous, and the game makes no pretense otherwise: many operatives get wounded and many die, even when you play well. Veterans are invaluable, but fresh recruits are competent soldiers, and training centers plus medals let you grow the next generation. If losing a named soldier after twenty missions would ruin your evening, this war is not gentle about it.
Is it moddable?
Yes, the game supports mods, and the community has already put that to use with new weapons and more. If you find the base equipment selection too streamlined for your taste, mods are a real way to widen it.
