Xenonauts casts you as the commander of a multinational military organisation defending a Cold War-era Earth from extraterrestrial attack. Its premise draws on the classic X-Com strategy games, but the campaign’s defining tension comes from managing a global defence while sending small teams into dangerous encounters. Alien technology is both a threat and a potential resource: recovering artefacts feeds research that can reveal more about the invaders and unlock equipment for future operations.
On the ground, combat unfolds in turns across varied, destructible battlefields, with missions including crashed-UFO sites, alien bases and attacks on cities or Xenonaut facilities. The fighting is deliberately asymmetric: your forces face intergalactic enemies with 1970s ballistic technology. Soldiers persist between missions, gaining experience and rank, but a single bad move can cost a veteran. Away from the battlefield, you direct customisable interceptors against UFOs, weigh spending on equipment, scientists or planetary coverage, and pursue a research tree that develops aircraft, vehicles and weapons.
The campaign is shaped by broad invasion rules rather than scripted missions, so circumstances influence what a ground operation looks like. A UFO brought down over a polar region can lead to an Arctic crash-site battle, while a night engagement reduces sight range; an assault on your base is fought in its layout.
