XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a turn-based tactics game with a strategic management layer, and a reimagining of the 1994 strategy title UFO: Enemy Unknown. Players lead a squad of soldiers through turn-based combat missions against alien forces, using cover, positioning, and class-based abilities, where fallen soldiers can be lost permanently. Between missions, players oversee a central base: researching recovered alien technology, building facilities, managing funds, and deciding which global threats to respond to as they try to keep member nations from abandoning the project.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a turn-based tactics game with a strategic management layer, and a reimagining of the 1994 strategy title UFO: Enemy Unknown. Players lead a squad of soldiers through turn-based combat missions against alien forces, using cover, positioning, and class-based abilities, where fallen soldiers can be lost permanently. Between missions, players oversee a central base: researching recovered alien technology, building facilities, managing funds, and deciding which global threats to respond to as they try to keep member nations from abandoning the project.