Without warning on the first day of October something terrible happened, Earth was invaded. The world spread into panic thinking that we would all die as communication with the aliens proved to be a failure. Then suddenly a group of soldiers appeared and proved they had the means to fight back. These soldiers were titled Xenonauts and they showed they had the means of combating against the alien threat. Humanity would need to rely on the Xenonauts as if they failed it would mean humanity's extinction.

Let’s begin this list of games like X-COM with a title that is claimed by developers to be a re-imagining of the original 1994 X-COM. Xenonauts has players fighting aliens in similar manners to the current and old school X-COM titles but with some cooler concepts. During a mission maybe you take town a specific ship well then the next mission will be find that ship’s enemies. This gives players plenty of options to replay the game as a mission has branching pathways and events, always a good way to keep a game fresh even hours after playing. With all that being said, we here at Honey’s Anime agree with developer Goldhawk that their title has the heart of X-COM but is a truly new game in many ways.

Corrin was just enjoying another boring day at work when he gets a strange phone call. A woman’s voice claims that he doesn’t have much time left, if he wants to survive he needs to move fast. This would just be the beginning nightmare for programmer Corrin, who would learn that the program he created had been used by some very scary people. Now on the run and having to align with complete strangers, Corrin has a very limited amount of choices. Corrin could run but that would probably mean his death or he could stand and fight against the unknown organization.

There Came an Echo may not involve aliens—or maybe it does—but the gameplay is very similar to X-COM. Players control Corrin alongside several other people—who just so happen to be voiced by some well-known voice actors such as Yuri Lowenthal and Laura Bailey—to fight against various forces. While very simple in RPG mechanics, the main draw of There Came an Echo is the cool way players can move Corrin and allies. Players can actually use microphones in real life to avoid having to use a controller or keyboard which is a very neat idea. Alongside truly impressive art and a very deep story, There Came an Echo we felt had to be on this impressive list of games like X-COM.

Expeditions: Conquistador gives players the feeling of what it would have been like to travel the world as a legendary conquistador. Players are tasked with traveling the world in order to gain land, make money and explore the unexplored free world. Will you choose to live the historic life and make the same moves as the conquistadors did or will you alter history? With a mixture of turn based combat and plenty of ways to play, Expeditions: Conquistador aims to give players the chance at making their own histories. Success or failure, what awaits is up to you in Expeditions: Conquistador.

Let’s step away from lasers and aliens for a moment and look at Expeditions: Conquistador by developers Logic Artists. Expeditions: Conquistador really is a cool game and in many ways similar to X-COM thanks to a risk and reward gameplay mechanic. Players must use various in game tools such as diplomacy to gain money and resources to travel from location to location. As players venture into new and unexplored lands they obviously will face enemy tribes and unknown threats, and making the wrong decision means the player could face some grave consequences. However, that in lies the beauty of games like Expeditions: Conquistador and X-COM, risk may lead to failure or it may lead to that sweet victory all gamers love. That’s why despite the high difficulty we highly recommend checking out Expeditions: Conquistador as it’s still a lot of fun to play.

In Advance Wars: Dual Strike, players take control of lead protagonist Jake as they battle against various enemy forces. The Black Hole Army has begun to gain strength under new leadership. Commander Von Bolt has plans to take over the world’s energy giving him eternal life. Jake and the various forces of the Orange Star Army must stand alongside friend and foe alike if they wish to prevent the world’s destruction. The fight for tomorrow’s future begins now in Advance Wars: Dual Strike.

You have to love the Nintendo DS for games like Advance Wars: Dual Strike. Fans of the Advance War series once more return to the battlefield where they must make use of the various military powers to take down enemies. Akin to games like X-COM, players will find that there isn’t one way to play a mission but for maximum success players will need to learn the best way to handle an enemy force. If the enemy is using a tank going up against that with just troops will lead in your loss and thus critical thinking is needed in Advance Wars: Dual Strike. While Advance Wars: Dual Strike may not be as complex as X-COM titles, it still is filled with that great tactical like gameplay we all know and love.

The year is 2074 and while technology and civilization have continued to advance so have the various threats humanity has to deal with. Luckily, the world has one means of stopping certain threats in the form of Invisible Inc. Privately owned and aligned with no one faction, their skills give them a fearsome power indeed in the current landscape. However, one day Invisible, Inc. is attacked by unknown forces decimating their team and leaving only you and an advanced AI alive. Though soon you learn your so called helpful AI has other goals in mind for how to save humanity and now you’re tasked with rebuilding Invisible, Inc. to somehow save the world from the biggest threat ever.

Invisible, Inc. has been called by fans and reviewers worldwide an X-COM-like game and we here at Honey’s Anime completely agree with that consensus. Players take control of an agent and must strategically move around maps with less emphasis on attacking like in X-COM but with more stealth. Also, like X-COM, players need to be careful of what moves they take as if an agent dies in the field and doesn’t get saved they will be dead for the rest of the game. What really makes Invisible, Inc. even cooler than the gameplay mechanics is the art style which is really unique to be sure. Invisible, Inc. has garnered a lot of praise from critics and it’s easy to see why.

An amnesiac wakes up after a dream of being in a battle with unknown forces. Upon awakening he is met by Chrom and his small army known as the Shepherds. When the player’s character and Chrom face a battle together it is shown that the player is both a skilled warrior and an even better tactician. Chrom then decides to take the character into his army to hopefully provide much needed assistance. Little does Chrom or his army know, soon they will indeed need all the help they can get when strange forces begin to rise up in the land leading to battles that will test the warriors in the future battles to come.

Let’s end our list on a game series that needs little introduction—Fire Emblem—but specifically Fire Emblem Awakening. Players of X-COM need to realize that Fire Emblem Awakening isn’t obviously like X-COM in its theme but in its execution. In Fire Emblem Awakening you’ll lead your armies to victory by moving them across a grid like battlefield. Unlike previous titles of the Fire Emblem franchise, you can turn off permadeath to avoid losing a unit entirely but veterans of the series and those who like the challenges of X-COM will find keeping permadeath on is a much needed concept. Regardless of how you decide to play though, Fire Emblem Awakening is easily one of the best Fire Emblem games of the series. With tons of new improvements—such as team attacks and marrying characters together for new units—there’s no doubt that Fire Emblem Awakening deserves a spot on our 6 Games Like X-COM list.