I've been playing XCOM: Enemy Unknown and I really like it, but for a change I'd like to play something similar and a bit more casual. I want turn based tactical game where I don't have to worry about losing anyone from my squad. In XCOM: EU you will lose a character forever when he dies and when that happens to one of your favorite characters you have to either deal with it or load a saved game (and since I never remember to save the game, I have to deal with it). Then there is Frozen Synapse where all your soldiers are expendable, but the gameplay is a bit too different from XCOM. I still like XCOM where characters gain experience through combat and learn new skills, but I want another game that I could casually play every now and then. I know there is this one mod that changes XCOM so that your characters don't die permanently and I'd like to use this on another save file, but either it needs to be updated or I need to get the Enemy Within expansion I haven't yet bought. Anyone have any experiences with this mod?

About the game I'm searching for:

  • It doesn't need to have a story.
  • Instant skirmish like in Frozen Synapse would be nice.
  • The gameplay should resemble XCOM or pre-Bethesda Fallout games.
  • Focus on ranged combat, I don't like meelee in these kind of games much.
  • Not having to worry about losing any characters is the keyphrase here.
  • The newer the better but older games aren't out of question.

Are there any games that fall in the criteria?

EDIT: Bought Shadowrun Returns from the current sale and I have already been looking at Valkyria Chronicles and will most likely be buying it when it gets on sale. Thank you all for your replies!

9 years ago*

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Sounds like Shadowrun or Wasteland.

9 years ago
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+1 for both of the shadowrun gamesgames. Wasteland 2 is great but you have to be careful with your teammates

9 years ago
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You can't go wrong with Banner Saga.

9 years ago
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You could try Jagged Alliances or Shadowrun Returns/Dragonfall.

9 years ago
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Wasteland 2.

And from XX century: Jagged Alliance 2 (especially with v1.13 mod) - but it's expensive right now, at least on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/1620/ .
Jagged Alliance 2 Wildfire is on sale right now - http://store.steampowered.com/app/215930/ - but I know long time ago people said it's actually worse than JA2. But then, with so many years and community patches/mods it might not be actual opinion.

Unfortunately, losing characters due to massive amount of bullets is something that's is really important in this kind of games.

9 years ago
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You can try playing the old XCOM games and the UFO series if it's still of your liking.
Perhaps Antisquad is what you're looking for, didn't play a lot on that one though.

9 years ago
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Damn... Those old XCOM games need to be remade properly...

9 years ago
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Deleted

This comment was deleted 2 years ago.

9 years ago
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If you're going to play UFO Defense, OpenXcom is very useful.
I know that they're planning on supporting Terror from the Deep too, but they didn't give the release date for that yet.

9 years ago
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Try Valkyria Chronicles

9 years ago
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+1

9 years ago
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To be honest I've never played neither of them, but some friends tells me the gameplay is simlar to Fire Emblem. I played this one and it's pretty fun. And the last one, if you play casual, you don't lose buddies.

9 years ago
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Shadowrun, Wasteland or Valkyria Chrinicles, maybe Massive Chalice (?)

9 years ago
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my bread and butter!

in addition to the excellent options others have mentioned, I would add silent storm into the mix

9 years ago
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Maybe check out recently released Invisible Inc. On the easiest difficulty you have 5 turn rewinds and you can restart the mission if you fail, and you can even customize it to have 99 rewinds if you want. However, the game is entirely focused on stealth so I don't know if that fits your preference.

9 years ago
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+1

9 years ago
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old Games:
Classic Xcom games.
Jagged alliance series.

Recent games:
Xenonauts. (be warned: Its hard. )
UFO: Extraterrestrials

9 years ago
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Expedition conquistador was satisfying, blackguards was ver nice as well. But jagged alliance 2 is amazing.

9 years ago
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Final Fantasy Tactic Advance/ Tactic Advance A2 : Grimoire of the Rift
A really nice game would be Tactics Ogre : Let Us Cling Together. One of my favotire so far
Fire Emblems are cool also.

9 years ago
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The sequels to FFT are inferior, you're better off using an emulator to play the original.

9 years ago
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They indeed aren't as good, but they're still definitely worth a try.
Anyway, Tactics Ogre remains somewhat better than the FFT as a whole, and I would only recommend to play the laters if you are quite into FF

9 years ago
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+1 FFT MASTER RACE

9 years ago
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Expeditions: Conquistador is pretty unique and underrated. You should try it :D

9 years ago
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Invisible Inc.
GL

9 years ago
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+1
I was going to suggest it

9 years ago
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The Age of Decadence, i didn't play it but in my wishlist. the reviews are very positive.
UnderRail, i loved this game, if you like old fallouts you should try this. it's better than wastland 2 in my opinion.

9 years ago
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Jagged Alliance 2, still the best game of that type that I've played.

9 years ago
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Dunno if there's a version for PC, or if your request is PC exclusive, but you could try any of the Disgaea series... It can be as casual as you'd like (or as opposite of casual as they come). Heck, if you like it and have lots of time, you can end up spending days with those games. I think it has some of the key elements you mention (not permanent death, range-based skills, lots of fights, lots of ways to play it, etc...). Let me know your thoughts...

PS: The Final Fantasy Tactics series are also great games, and they have better story (imho).

9 years ago
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Silent Storm Gold

9 years ago
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You can give This game an opportunuty.
Fallen: A2P Protocol

9 years ago
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Shadowrun Returns and Dragonfall are currently on sale. Other than that Invisible Inc. is said to be pretty good.

9 years ago
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Valkyria Chronicles

9 years ago
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Maybe this

9 years ago
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I am a huge fan of the Shadowrun series, having been addicted to it since I first jacked into the matrix on the 8 bit console systems of my childhood.

They just went on sale this weekend on Steam to get ready for the latest launch Shadowrun Hong Kong.

I just happen to be giving away a Shadowrun game for Midsummer Madness. /shameless promotion

9 years ago
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It's a good shameless promotion :P
Thanks.

9 years ago
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Faces Of War was nice

9 years ago
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