If you want the closest match to XCOM 2’s mix of squad battles and campaign management, consider Phoenix Point for an alien-threat campaign or Jagged Alliance 3 for mercenary operations across an open map. Choose Wasteland 3 if you want tactical squad combat embedded in a story-heavy RPG. They share turn-based squad tactics, but their combat decisions and campaign priorities are not interchangeable.
What makes a game feel like XCOM 2?
XCOM 2 is the baseline: Firaxis Games developed it, 2K published it, and its campaign centers on rebuilding XCOM under alien rule and leading a global resistance. Its Steam listing gives a release date of February 4, 2016. Steam’s XCOM 2 page describes the game and its campaign premise.
For a useful comparison, look beyond the “XCOM-like” label. Ask what choices you make during a turn, how the campaign map and resources shape your plans, what difficulty changes, and whether campaign-length figures are grounded in comparable estimates.
At a glance: which game fits your priorities?
| Game | Tactical focus | Campaign focus | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phoenix Point | Squad battles against an evolving alien threat; its difficulty can affect enemy capabilities. | Resource pressure, recruit progression, enemy evolution, and attack frequency are among the factors affected by difficulty, according to a community guide. | Players seeking alien-threat strategy and pressure that extends beyond individual fights. |
| Jagged Alliance 3 | Action-point combat with weapon jams, penetrating bullets, destructible buildings, and lasting wounds. | Open-map mercenary operations, territory control, militia training, and command of multiple squads. | Players who want granular mercenary combat and an open operational campaign. |
| Wasteland 3 | Tactical turn-based squad combat and customization for up to six Rangers. | A reactive, story-led RPG shaped by difficult choices. | Players who want narrative and RPG decisions alongside tactical battles. |
These descriptions draw on the Phoenix Point Mentaculus community guide, the official Jagged Alliance 3 site, and inXile’s Wasteland 3 page. The difficulty details for Phoenix Point are community guidance, not definitive current developer documentation.
#1 Best Overall
- Spymasters give one-word clues and a number to link multiple cards, encouraging creative thinking
How the tactical decisions differ
Jagged Alliance 3: manage mercenaries and action points
Jagged Alliance 3 emphasizes the details of a mercenary fight. Its official feature description includes an action-point system, weapon jams, bullets that penetrate, destructible buildings, and wounds that do not immediately heal. Those mechanics make weapon handling, positioning, and the condition of your team central to combat decisions.
Wasteland 3: fight as part of a larger RPG story
Wasteland 3 combines tactical turn-based battles with squad customization and a reactive story. You can build a squad of up to six Rangers, while difficult choices give the RPG layer a more prominent role than in a close imitation of XCOM 2’s campaign structure.
Rank #2
- COOPERATIVE GAMEPLAY: Work together as a team to crack the code and cover every space on the board within the 3-minute time limit.
- PROGRESSIVE CHALLENGES: Experience 10 levels of missions that increase in difficulty, ensuring a thrilling and evolving game experience.
- FAST-PACED FUN: Enjoy the excitement of a high-pressure game where quick thinking and communication are key to success.
- PERFECT FOR GROUPS: Designed for 2-8 players aged 8 and up, X-Code is ideal for family game nights, parties, and group gatherings.
- EASY TO LEARN: With illustrated instructions and a brief how-to-play video available online, players can quickly get started and dive into the action.
Phoenix Point: account for an evolving threat
Phoenix Point is the pick here for players drawn to alien-threat strategy. The available difficulty guidance stresses that the challenge can change over time, including enemy capabilities and Pandoran evolution, rather than being confined to the tactical encounter in front of you.
How much does the campaign map matter?
Phoenix Point: strategic pressure changes with difficulty
The Mentaculus guide says difficulty affects starting resources, recruit acquisition and progression, enemy capabilities, Pandoran evolution, and the frequency of attacks. That breadth makes difficulty a campaign-management decision as well as a combat setting. The guide also warns that some of its material may be outdated, so treat its specific advice as community guidance.
Rank #3
- 🔥 Team-Based Strategy – Partner up and work together to craft the perfect hand while staying one step ahead of your opponents.
- 🎯 Fast & Engaging Gameplay – Simple turns keep the action moving as you draw, pass, and complete goals.
- 🃏 Easy to Learn, Fun to Master – Accessible rules make it great for beginners, with plenty of depth for strategic players.
- 🎉 Perfect for Card Game Nights – Plays 4 or 6 players, making it a must-have for couples and team play!
Jagged Alliance 3: operate across an open map
Jagged Alliance 3 gives players an open campaign map to explore at their own pace. You can control territory, train militia, and command multiple squads. Mercenaries have distinct personalities and may react to relationships within the squad; the campaign also supports online co-op.
Wasteland 3: make the story part of the strategy
In Wasteland 3, the campaign distinction is its deep, reactive story and difficult choices. It suits players who want the consequences of RPG decisions to sit alongside tactical combat, not a campaign centered on reproducing XCOM 2’s resistance-management setup.
Rank #4
- New Weapons and Equipment: Give your operatives an extra tactical edge with new projects from your engineering team and the Foundry
Difficulty: what the evidence supports
There is no consistent basis here for declaring one of these games “the hardest.” The available specific guidance concerns Phoenix Point: its community guide suggests Veteran for experienced tactics players who are new to that game, and describes a curve that rises over time. Because the guide notes that some content may be outdated, use that as a starting point rather than a guaranteed current recommendation.
For Jagged Alliance 3 and Wasteland 3, the available sources do not establish a comparable, sourced breakdown of how each difficulty setting changes combat and campaign pressure. Compare their settings in-game rather than inferring that one title is more difficult from its genre or feature list.
Best Value
- Sized For the XCom: The Board Game: This bundle is made for the XCom board game, providing standard card sleeves to match the three card sizes used throughout XCom. Each sleeve is dimensioned to fit XCom cards exactly, with no gaps, bunching, or excess material dragging during play or shuffling. These exact fit card sleeves hold every card secure in a clean, flat position. One bundle covers the complete XCom card library with no separate purchases needed.
- Soft Clear Polypropylene, Acid-free, PVC-free Sleeves: Each sleeve is formed from soft, clear polypropylene, providing clear sleeves for cards that keep art sharp and fully visible. These transparent card sleeves are made without acids or PVC, designed to avoid the yellowing and warping that affect low-grade plastic sleeves. Mayday Games polypropylene maintains clear visibility over time.
- 40 Micron Standard Sleeves, Ideal Weight For High-Card-Count Play: At 40 microns, these standard card sleeves are built for the demands of games like XCom, where large card counts make flexible, easy handling a priority. The lighter profile lets sleeves go on cleanly without the stiffness that thicker formats add, keeping gameplay smooth through every deal and shuffle. For players managing large XCom card sets across long sessions, standard 40-micron polypropylene delivers consistent sleeve coverage without bulk.
- Archival-Safe Storage For Long-Term Protection: These protective card sleeves are formulated without acids or PVC, helping reduce the two most common sources of card deterioration in standard plastic sleeves. Card surfaces, printed art, and card stock stay stable through years of storage and active play. Whether you are archiving a collector copy of XCom or sleeving a game played weekly, these sleeves are designed for regular gameplay and storage.
- 300 Sleeves, Complete XCom: The Board Game Coverage: This bundle includes 1 x MDG-7044 (57.5x89mm), 1 x MDG-7039 (41x63mm), 1 x MDG-7152 (70x120mm) standard clear card sleeves, totaling 300 card protector sleeves engineered to cover every card in the XCom game. Instead of sourcing individual standard size card sleeve packs and hoping for the right sizing, this single bundle delivers the exact count and correct dimensions for complete XCom game coverage, straight from Mayday Games.
How long is Jagged Alliance 3?
IsThereAnyDeal relays HowLongToBeat community estimates for Jagged Alliance 3. These figures were accessed via IsThereAnyDeal in 2026; they are player-submitted estimates, not official durations or promises.
| Play style | Estimated time |
|---|---|
| Main story | 41 hours — HowLongToBeat estimate, accessed via IsThereAnyDeal in 2026 |
| Main story plus side content | 63 hours — HowLongToBeat estimate, accessed via IsThereAnyDeal in 2026 |
| Completionist | 88 hours — HowLongToBeat estimate, accessed via IsThereAnyDeal in 2026 |
| All styles | 60 hours — HowLongToBeat estimate, accessed via IsThereAnyDeal in 2026 |
IsThereAnyDeal’s Jagged Alliance 3 page relays the estimates. No comparable, reliably sourced set of campaign-time estimates was established for all three games, so these figures cannot support a precise runtime ranking across the shortlist.
Which XCOM-like game should you choose?
- Choose Phoenix Point if the alien-threat premise and difficulty-linked strategic pressure appeal to you.
- Choose Jagged Alliance 3 if you want action-point mercenary combat, squad logistics, and an open campaign map. Its published feature set makes it the clearest option here for granular combat and operational play.
- Choose Wasteland 3 if you want tactical squad battles to support a reactive RPG story and consequential choices.
Each offers a different answer to the question “What should I do next?” In one, the draw is managing an evolving alien threat; in another, it is directing mercenaries and territory; in the third, it is balancing fights with story and character decisions.
Quick Recap
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