Hey there! I recently beat some XCom games (only 1 and Chimera Squad, 2 won't work on my potato laptop) and am looking for some more tactics experience. Therefore, I'll ask you to recommend me some games.

The first aspect of what I'm looking for is customizability. I have played some games, mostly on mobile, that were just series of scenarios tied with a story. No growth, no new tools, no individuality. I felt it was really boring. Progression between missions is great, unlocking new units/weapons/whatever. Also, being able to start the same mission and approaching it in 2 different ways, or more, feels great too.

The second aspect is the tactical focus should be there. It mainly refers to games like Age of Wonders, that do have a tactical fight layer, but it's a significant undertone to macromanagement of the whole kingdom. I don't want to knock games like this off, but I don't have enough energy to play games like this.

The third aspect is... the game should be hard, but not too hard. Roguelites for me are nice for that reason, as they're basically as hard as far you progress and there's not much threat of losing progress, like in Into the Breach you just start a new timeline. But it doesn't have to be a roguelite, and it doesn't have to be super difficult either.

The fourth aspect is fairly low hardware requirements. A lot of these games are turn-based, so it's theorerically less of an issue, but X-Com 2 was in 10 FPS for me. Painful, even when the game is in turns. There are games that work surprisingly well, like Chimera Squad (which is on the same engine 2 was, but for some reason was fully stable on minimum details), but still.

I'm not sure which game would be perfect in these requirements, but if you want here's an example of a game that fulfills almost none

3 years ago*

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I'm not sure if it covers the customization aspect as much as you'd like (its strategy layer is a bit more simple), but I found Valkyria Chronicles to have a very similar feel to XCOM: Enemy Unknown/Within, tactics-wise.

Another one is Darkest Dungeon, thought that one has unforgiving perma-death with only auto-saves so I don't know if it'd be considered too hard. ;D (And now that I checked you've already played it, so why am I even mentioning it?)

Hmmm, I can't really think of any other hard tactical games. The King's Bounty games are sorta close-ish and have a lot of freedom on how to approach things (or at least Armored Princess/Crossworlds has; the later games were... underwhelming)... but if I can cheese it on the highest difficulty where every enemy is marked as "Impossible", then it can't really be all that hard. XD

Oh, and don't worry about XCOM 2- it's 100% the buggy and unoptimized game's fault that it's not running on your computer.

3 years ago*
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I have fond memories of Armored Princess, although I don't have it on Steam. I hope KB2 will be good. I won Dark Side somewhere, and it was awful. I'll have a look at Valkyria Chronicles, thanks! Typically I stray far away from jrpgs, but a few are decent

3 years ago
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Not sure if you are going to like these or not, but here's some of the games from my library I think may fulfill your request (just make sure to double-check them before trying):
Codex of Victory
Hard West
Regalia: Of Men and Monarchs
Shadowrun trilogy
Divinity: Original Sin 1&2

3 years ago
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I definitely suggest Shadowrun games!

I see from your library that you know Battle for Wesnoth. Would you try it some more?
It's more of a turn-based strategy game, but in the campaigns it does have unit progression, with some choices, and usually you can recruit new kind of units while you progress.

3 years ago
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I played a lot of Battle for Wesnoth out of Steam actually, simply got bored xD I think that for the most part, the "main" campaigns don't really have meta progress, just a bit of units. Still decently fun, and an amazing modding scene

3 years ago
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Oh I see. Yes, you are right, there isn't really much of a progression. The biggest flaw in my opinion is that there isn't a point in using many max level units, ok they are strong but they cost a lot and the +3hp isn't much of an incentive to make them level up again.
But that is really an amazing game nonetheless! I go back to it and replay all campaigns every couple years, some of them are very good. And the greatest thing about the game is that it's open-source and completely free! Everybody should know about it!

3 years ago
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And I'll need to look whether I added Shadowrun games on EGS, I remember them being free someday

3 years ago
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The Banner Saga games and if your rig can handle it: Mutant Year Zero.

Chroma Squad is quite fun too, albeit not as deep.

3 years ago
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I didn't like Chroma Squad, not sure why :< But thanks anyways

3 years ago
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The warhammer 40k turn-based tactical games like Sanctus Reach or Chaos Gate.

3 years ago
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3 years ago
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Yeah, that sounds more or less like the degree I'm looking for

3 years ago
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3 years ago
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Big plus for this one

3 years ago
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I think Invisible, Inc. checks these boxes.

3 years ago
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If you are okay with a fantasy setting and RPG elements, Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark may be interesting.

3 years ago
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I played that one already. Got too grindy for me in the midgame (my fault, I spread my units too thin), but otherwise liked it

3 years ago
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If you don't mind playing another XCOM game, I would probably recommend the older X-COM games, like X-COM UFO Defense (in Europe known as Enemy Unknown) and the sequel Terror from the Deep. For their age they still look good and play well. UFO Defense can be tough, but Terror from the Deep is actually really hard. They are my favorites of the entire series.

3 years ago
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i'm not a fan of tactical games, so i can't recommend any, but i hope you'll find games that you want :)

3 years ago
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Xenonauts, Jagged Alliance 2, Fallout Tactics, Silent Storm, X-Com: UFO defense, X-Com: Apocalypse, Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate.

3 years ago
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Shadow Watch

3 years ago
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Not a big fan of RTS, but I had a blast with the original MOO games from back in the day. Your potato lappy should be able to play the first two games with no problems. Just don't try playing on the hardest difficulty unless you're not afraid to bust out the HEX editor. šŸ˜›
Just an FYI: MOO3 plays like a damn encyclopedia, so I'm not going to recommend it even if your laptop can run it.

3 years ago
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+1 to anyone recommending Jagged Alliance 2.

Try it vanilla for maybe two wipes, then add the 1.13c mod (assuming that's the latest -- it was te most recent update of a community mod years ago).

The game doesn't teach you all the many many nuances very well, so you will wipe, so don't spend too much time getting invested in character creation at the start, but it's worth the experience trying the original vanilla version first.

(Sci-Fi mode on too is fine. I still consider that part of vanilla, and the commentary from your mercs is fun.)

3 years ago
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Not really close of what you're asking but... have you heard of Fire Emblem?

3 years ago
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Banner of Maid, Space Hulk: Tactics, Numantia, Space Hulk Ascension, Wargroove
God Wars The Completed Legend, Warmachine Tactics, Valkyria 4 Chronicles
Frontline: World War II, Field of Glory 2, Afghanistan '11, Frontline: The Great Patriotic War
ę±‰ę­¦å¤§åøä¼ , Warring States, Fantasy General 2, Canon - Legend of the New Gods
Lock 'n Load Tactical Digital.

Still got a lot. If you want, I can list out more.

3 years ago
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I usually stay away from microtransaction but I enjoyed played mobile game called arknights.
There's a sub class called summoner that looks super fun in fan showcase but I'm too smol brain to use it šŸ˜…

3 years ago
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Maybe PhantomDoctrine would interest you. This one has silly investigation mechanics, but the tactical gameplay isn't too bad. I wouldn't say it's as fun as XCOM, but it's something, you know.

3 years ago
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I liked Fae Tactics.
Crowntakers
Eador series(can only speak about genesis though) Eador: Genesis, the New Horizons mod is a very nice addition. Which is a standalone download, you don't even need genesis to play it.
Renowned Explorers: International Society
Maybe Ash of Gods: Redemption, haven't played it myself yet.
Wargroove

3 years ago
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3rd aspect... is up to you and not sure about 4th aspect as I can run the games just fine, but here goes some recommendations:

3 years ago
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Mechanicus made my whole computer crash. Seemed good from what I managed to play. But clearly too much for my computer xD

3 years ago
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Ouch, well you should be good with Shadowrun. Otherwise hope you get an upgrade soon šŸ‘ and stick to Minesweeper in the meantime, that's tactical, right? O_O

3 years ago
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I feel you Commander ; )
My top recommendation would be Dreadlands - Indie Gem (90% polished, has an extensive Demo!) closely followed by Tainted Grail - Card Battler Roguelike with a lot of customization going on.

Oldies but goodies:
Hard West
Satellite Reign - though not turn-based
Massive Chalice - smtg. a little different
Warhammer 40k: Spacewolf

Wild Cards !?
Mutant Year Zero
Phoenix Point

As a last resort, there is a great overhaul mod for XCom: Enemy Within called Longwar. Unfortunately thereĀ“s no workshop support for it on Steam, so youĀ“d have to google & download it. Longwar 1 or 1.0 should be it. It adds quite some depth and challenge to the game and lets you play with up to 8 soldiers ..

3 years ago
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I know about Long War (it's hard not to) but it also seems really scary in its scope. Like, too huge, and I'm afraid it will crush me. Are there any tutorials for new things or other ways to ease myself?

3 years ago
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Well thereĀ“s the XCom-Companion - https://github.com/chrishayesmu/XCOM-Companion/

ItĀ“s basically a Wiki for Longwar 1 and very helpful with the more extensive stuff like research and equipment & whatĀ“s needed for what.
Otherwise IĀ“d just recommend easing into it on a lower difficulty, it ainĀ“t that bad, if you donĀ“t insist playing on Impossible ..
Surely there will be learning by doing, then again isnĀ“t that also part of the fun ?

3 years ago
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Jagged Alliance 2, Silent Storm, Fallout Tactics

3 years ago
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Phantom Doctrine, I haven't finished it yet but I'd say it satisfies the xcom itch and has enough new stuff to keep things interesting, for example you can finish most missions in stealth. Beware though I don't know how good the performance will be on low hardware.

SteamWorld Heist, it's basically xcom in 2D. Great game with enough variety in characters and abilities and the distinct Steamworld universe humour.

The Secret of the Menhir Forest, this one is from the creators of the Legend of Grimrock 1&2 ,which are great games btw, and it's set in a medeival fantasy world, you have rangers and wizards etc. I've only played it for a couple of hours some years ago so I don't know if it covers your preferences.

Attack of the Earthlings, humans land on an alien planet to mine resources, aliens get mad and try to kill them all. You play as the aliens. There's a skill tree to upgrade your aliens and evolve them into different units (ranged, tank, stealth...) and give them new abilities. Overall pretty fun game.

Crookz The Big Heist, haven't played it but I have it installed. It looks like an xcom game and has positive reviews so maybe it's good.

The Banner Saga trillogy. The combat is probably what you're looking for here, tactical and punishing with lots of unique characters but keep in in mind these are for the most part visual novels with a lot of dialogue and text.

I would also recommend you look into deck-building games, like Slay the Spire, SteamWorld Quest Hand of Gilgamech, Monster Train, Dicey Dungeons, kinda. I've found they satisfy the tactical gameplay itch and each one is unique with their own gimmicks and world.

3 years ago*
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I love deckbuilding games, played all of the ones you mentioned (didn't like SW Quest, too JRPG-ish). I basically played them so much I have enough for now, and am looking for something with more movement. I hope that Fights in Tight Spaces will go cheaper someday, it looks like a great mix of more traditional turn based tactics and deckbuilding

3 years ago
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Probably not what you are looking for but when i read the tittle i remembered a game i had a lot of fun with:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/258050/Survivor_Squad/

3 years ago
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