User Score
4.8

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 326 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 96 out of 326

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  1. Apr 27, 2020
    2
    Firaxis developers have sold themselves to politicians, they disgrace the great franchise.
    Firaxis and 2k games are ashamed.
    -1 loyal customer
  2. Apr 27, 2020
    3
    Seems almost everything these days has been whacked with the woke stick. Guess I should not be surprised that games are getting a "make over" too.

    This is diversity loving, inclusive huggie XCom where people have made peace with the mean old aliens and now have coffee and do lunch with them. Its all sooo nice the world has turned pink and a nice lady called "mother" runs the show. If
    Seems almost everything these days has been whacked with the woke stick. Guess I should not be surprised that games are getting a "make over" too.

    This is diversity loving, inclusive huggie XCom where people have made peace with the mean old aliens and now have coffee and do lunch with them. Its all sooo nice the world has turned pink and a nice lady called "mother" runs the show.

    If that sounds horrible to you, you are not alone. What I liked about XCom was its cold edge, the sense that this was as much as horror as a sci fi game where you faced off against a menacing unrelenting other. This for me is like taking the creature from Aliens and dressing it in a pink floppy hat whilst sharing a margarita with it.

    Yuck. 3/10.
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  3. Apr 26, 2020
    4
    this release is a big step backwards for the xcom series, after the good last 2 xcom games from firaxis. i am not sure what the game designer was thinking when they created this. the comic strip style presentation of the game is completely odd for an xcom game. xcom is great b'c it has the dark tension and fear of being killed by aliens at any minute. this Chimera Squad has none of thethis release is a big step backwards for the xcom series, after the good last 2 xcom games from firaxis. i am not sure what the game designer was thinking when they created this. the comic strip style presentation of the game is completely odd for an xcom game. xcom is great b'c it has the dark tension and fear of being killed by aliens at any minute. this Chimera Squad has none of the great elements that made xcom good. it tries too hard to be colorful and fun when it is not relevant. in addition, the laughable dialogues make it more of a CCC game than a AAA release. clearly this release belongs to the junk pile and is yet another example of the cash grab methods by a declining Firaxis/2K. gaming companies nowadays seem to have taken the Disney route of taking old classical game titles and juicing them dry by creating rubbish to hoodwink gamers. sure they might succeed this once but people are not stupid and Firaxis is just damaging themselves in the long run with the bad reputation that they getting. is there any wonder why pirating games is still so widely done? B's who the **** is going to pay for such rubbish!?! Expand
  4. Apr 29, 2020
    3
    First I want to say that this game isn't bad, it's a decent game, with working and tested methanics in known universe and is quite lengthy. Now to bad stuff... The game is overly repetitive. It's so bad that after just 4 hours I didn't want to start the game anymore. There are balancing issues, where some of your units are becoming super soldiers. The fact that the maps are now extremelyFirst I want to say that this game isn't bad, it's a decent game, with working and tested methanics in known universe and is quite lengthy. Now to bad stuff... The game is overly repetitive. It's so bad that after just 4 hours I didn't want to start the game anymore. There are balancing issues, where some of your units are becoming super soldiers. The fact that the maps are now extremely smalls, the came lost its tactical aspect and the fights are taking 5-10 minutes. Even with those small maps, the games occasionally having issues in top hardware. Each fight starts the same with the new mechanic, which is interesting few dozen times, however gets annoying afterwards. Attempt and failure of making character driven story (or story in general) For the price they are asking, the game is solid 6 out of 10 (if not the very bad part) Very bad stuff: (also minor spoiler) The game is full of LGBT messages, which has no business in video games and especially in xcom universe. Males are in squad quite weaker, just because. The main "bad guy" is of course white male, with no story nor reasons nor plan. Aliens which were originally genderless, now have **** for some reason?! I am honestly afraid for xcom series and civ, if this is the direction they want to go. Now about the game play: everything shows that this game was originally designed for mobile platform, from small maps and very short encounters. However (I assume it haze something to do with release of gears tactics or the fact that they didn't managed to optimized it for mobile) it was quickly reworked for pc. Which explains also low price and poor optimization. I personally am against rushed projects, since they are usually anti customer. Expand
  5. Apr 25, 2020
    2
    A truly disappointment, nothing like previous Xcom games.

    -Really small and repetitive
    -No characters creation
    -Characters can't die
    -No base building
    -All maps of the game are small rooms in sequence.
    -Writing and characters are the worst seen in last 10 years.

    Buy Xcom 2 or Xcom EW, this is basically the mobile version.
  6. Apr 26, 2020
    3
    Maybe it's only me but, all the X-Com, UFO games were for me about being a part of my own story. Customizing my character and all the team as my closest friends so I would care about each of them and want to keep them alive.
    When an alien or one of the main characters from Chimera fells down ... I just can't care less.
    That's just subjective opinion but lack of customization killed it
    Maybe it's only me but, all the X-Com, UFO games were for me about being a part of my own story. Customizing my character and all the team as my closest friends so I would care about each of them and want to keep them alive.
    When an alien or one of the main characters from Chimera fells down ... I just can't care less.

    That's just subjective opinion but lack of customization killed it for me.
    I hope they will release mod/addon whatever (even without this story mode which I don't care about) where I will be able to play missions as it used to be and make my own personalized team.
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  7. Apr 25, 2020
    0
    Truly sad. The X-Com franchise has devolved from being the gold standard of science fiction turn-based strategy to a mobile game for simpletons.

    Shallow, boring gameplay. Horrible depressing characters and writing. No customization or strategic depth. Frequent crashes and technical instability. Not sure what they're doing at Firaxis these days, but it seems like they must have fired
    Truly sad. The X-Com franchise has devolved from being the gold standard of science fiction turn-based strategy to a mobile game for simpletons.

    Shallow, boring gameplay. Horrible depressing characters and writing. No customization or strategic depth. Frequent crashes and technical instability.

    Not sure what they're doing at Firaxis these days, but it seems like they must have fired everyone with a brain.
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  8. Feb 15, 2021
    2
    I've been playing the Xcom games since the first one in the nineties, but this one just doesn't work for me. It seems like Firaxis/2K is in desperate need of cash, the game collects and sells an extraordinary amount of telemetry data from players/customers. It seems to be unfinished, because all the time the game gets stuck, stutters or even crashes. The design and style are veryI've been playing the Xcom games since the first one in the nineties, but this one just doesn't work for me. It seems like Firaxis/2K is in desperate need of cash, the game collects and sells an extraordinary amount of telemetry data from players/customers. It seems to be unfinished, because all the time the game gets stuck, stutters or even crashes. The design and style are very youth-oriented, artificial and forcedly progressive. The innovations can't inspire for very long and somehow I miss the real Xcom feeling very quickly. It seems like a project of an ambitious modder. Refund. I would have never thought it, but it just doesn't grab me. A great pity. I hope the (real) third one continues the quality of the predecessors. Expand
  9. Apr 24, 2020
    4
    The gameplay is pretty basic, nothing exciting, but it is a budget game. However the writing and characters are just awful, I can't deal with all these sassy people and woke dialog. Why do they keep doing this in movies and games when it always results in failure?
  10. Apr 24, 2020
    2
    I was suprised this game was so mediocre, being made by the legendary Firaxis. The first thing that struck me which I found jarring was the dialogue, it's just so corny, with the banter between sqaud mates being really corny, with jokes landing flat. The tutorial was so boring I didn't even bother with the game. Introducing you to a small amount of game mechanics shouldn't be that dull.I was suprised this game was so mediocre, being made by the legendary Firaxis. The first thing that struck me which I found jarring was the dialogue, it's just so corny, with the banter between sqaud mates being really corny, with jokes landing flat. The tutorial was so boring I didn't even bother with the game. Introducing you to a small amount of game mechanics shouldn't be that dull. The 'turn' queue doesn't work for me with this title. It makes battles way too predictable. I can't help thinking this title is just a convenient cash cow that they didn't have to make too much effort on. Surely a new title in the xcom universe should be rivalling or surpassing the last one, not be a step backwards. Refunded this after 20mins and went back to War of the Chosen. Expand
  11. May 2, 2020
    0
    The game itself bring nothing new for the price tag except the movement one by one. And a single player game that can be run without internet.
  12. May 25, 2020
    0
    Bugged mess with outdated graphics, dumb dialog, and I think it's word XCom.
  13. SH1
    May 11, 2020
    0
    Good story but too buggy to buy at this point. This is why I should not buy AAA titles at release. Will it go to consoles? Imho yes eventually after all the bugs have been fixed.
  14. May 22, 2020
    3
    Even worse than previous remakes, bleh. Many mechanics got cut. You cant build, you cant sell stuff, research tree got cut - you can research the best armor literally in 2 steps. You can capture aliens, but this gives you nothing but some points. Remember how hard and rewarding it was to capture Eternal guy? Missions are quite the same, there are no "terror" or "alien base" type missions.Even worse than previous remakes, bleh. Many mechanics got cut. You cant build, you cant sell stuff, research tree got cut - you can research the best armor literally in 2 steps. You can capture aliens, but this gives you nothing but some points. Remember how hard and rewarding it was to capture Eternal guy? Missions are quite the same, there are no "terror" or "alien base" type missions. There are some intresting abilities combinations, but other that that all characters looks the same, even blant chitchat between missions cant help it. 3 of 10 at best. Expand
  15. Aug 27, 2020
    0
    The game is totally disappointing at first it seems that it can be interesting but there is little that the new mechanics presented before 3 or more Crashes can do caused by the bad idea of ​​putting infinite enemies seriously, who came up with that idea? Not to mention that the Most enemies are generic and they get boring after a while like a continuation of xcom sucks and it shows thatThe game is totally disappointing at first it seems that it can be interesting but there is little that the new mechanics presented before 3 or more Crashes can do caused by the bad idea of ​​putting infinite enemies seriously, who came up with that idea? Not to mention that the Most enemies are generic and they get boring after a while like a continuation of xcom sucks and it shows that they could do something better like what they did with xcom 2 but they did not release an unfinished game and with many errors for me this is the rating the game deserves a 0 Expand
  16. May 12, 2020
    4
    It isn't terrible for what it is, but I am tired of seeing franchises streamlined to death. I'm tired of having all the talent that was obviously involved wasted to dumb down yet another experience. But I guess it was either that - designing the game to become boring very fast so that you have an incentive to buy more stuff ("The Sims" has been doing this for more than 20 years) - orIt isn't terrible for what it is, but I am tired of seeing franchises streamlined to death. I'm tired of having all the talent that was obviously involved wasted to dumb down yet another experience. But I guess it was either that - designing the game to become boring very fast so that you have an incentive to buy more stuff ("The Sims" has been doing this for more than 20 years) - or another "Live Service"-game.

    This fittingly named "Chimera" was obviously made by people who don't understand the series.

    What makes it even more disappointing is that "War of the Chosen" did so many things right, and was praised for it - so why run in the opposite direction? Taking out customization and replay value, cutting out strategic options, killing basebuilding and management would be bad enough.

    But doing it so that you can chain me to a sub-par plot, trading player incentive and a personal experience against linear fan-fic-fluff when all that people wanted was more of the same is baffling.
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  17. May 18, 2020
    3
    The positives:

    + Smooth and solid gameplay, short rounds, you can play this game for half an hour at a time. + For the price, you get a decent deal in gameplay quality. The negatives: - Boring as hell after a few hours. 95% of the missions feel the same, breach here, shoot them, rinse and repeat. except some late faction missions. - "Epic" weapons are a joke, the added
    The positives:

    + Smooth and solid gameplay, short rounds, you can play this game for half an hour at a time.

    + For the price, you get a decent deal in gameplay quality.

    The negatives:

    - Boring as hell after a few hours. 95% of the missions feel the same, breach here, shoot them, rinse and repeat. except some late faction missions.

    - "Epic" weapons are a joke, the added bonuses don't even improve the basic dmg, you only get a different skin.

    - Upgrades trough the armory or purchased feel worthless.

    - Personally, i don't like the new time-slot combat order system. takes away a lot of tactical thinking.

    - Painful and too obvious "woke" ideology being displayed, i try not to pay attention to those sort of things and just play a game, but after a while i smelled the stench of positive discrimination (which is still discrimination, only more subversive) oozing out of this game.

    - And my biggest gripe: The whole atmosphere feels childish and cringeworthy, the so-called banter between your X-COM personnel is so horrible that, in a way, i wish that i could grab a shotgun and, with 99% accuracy, unload it on their faces (and probably miss).
    The 3D style is too cartoony, and the 2D "art" work looks like it's been drawn by a toddler in MS paint.

    This is meant to be an X-COM lite with a small price-tag, sure enough, but for me it feels like i'm playing a **** mobile phone game on a PC.
    I hope the developers and publishers realise what a shame this is on the X-COM franchise.

    3/10
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  18. Oct 9, 2021
    0
    This game is just a woke s**t. I have never seen anything as woke as this steaming pile of s**t.
  19. Nov 8, 2022
    4
    This game took the old X-com formula and added a few interresting new features. Sadly it also took some of the things I liked about X-com the most. I liked the fact that I could make my soldiers background up just the way I wanted to and had lots of customisation options.
    I appreciate that they tried to create their own characters, but in my opinion most of them are ruther unlikable. I
    This game took the old X-com formula and added a few interresting new features. Sadly it also took some of the things I liked about X-com the most. I liked the fact that I could make my soldiers background up just the way I wanted to and had lots of customisation options.
    I appreciate that they tried to create their own characters, but in my opinion most of them are ruther unlikable. I grew from annoyed with them to straight up hating most of them rather fast. Thera are exeptions to that ( I liked claymore and Axiom, and I loved Torque.) but they are outweighed by the characters i disliked and I ended up wishing most of my characters to die.
    The graphics are ok. They aren't groundbreaking but they are nice to look at most of the time. Most enemys designs are good aswell.
    The music is good but nothing I would go out of my way to listen to (unlike X-Com 2).
    I can't judge the quality of the story as I couldn't bring myself to finish this game.

    Tl;dr: I can see X-Com fans and fans of round based stratey games enjoying this game, but its just not for me.
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  20. Jan 27, 2021
    2
    Buggy as hell. Buggs are so seriuos, that makes it impossible to go thourght the game!!
  21. Apr 30, 2020
    0
    I can't picture a better advertisement for XCOM's new competitor using XCOM's old tried-and-true formula, Gears Tactics. I will be looking to Microsoft Game Studios in the future if Firaxis has lost its way. I don't care for the story and didn't enjoy anything about the game's first 20 minutes. Nothing compelling anywhere. I don't like the breach mechanic. It's basically like...so whatI can't picture a better advertisement for XCOM's new competitor using XCOM's old tried-and-true formula, Gears Tactics. I will be looking to Microsoft Game Studios in the future if Firaxis has lost its way. I don't care for the story and didn't enjoy anything about the game's first 20 minutes. Nothing compelling anywhere. I don't like the breach mechanic. It's basically like...so what are you going to do now that you totally ran out guns blazing and put all of your soldiers in harm's way. Rinse, repeat. Expand
  22. May 8, 2020
    0
    I have no words to describe this disgusting thing. I played All XCOM game from first UFO in 1996...I thought to see the worst in phoenix point..this is worse!
    Seeking for the tension that makes you don't move from chair for hours? Seeking for a tactical game? seeking to be surprised? This game is NOT for you.
    The (very poor) good: 1) Ranged overwatch (finally), but unuseful due to
    I have no words to describe this disgusting thing. I played All XCOM game from first UFO in 1996...I thought to see the worst in phoenix point..this is worse!
    Seeking for the tension that makes you don't move from chair for hours? Seeking for a tactical game? seeking to be surprised? This game is NOT for you.

    The (very poor) good:
    1) Ranged overwatch (finally), but unuseful due to absence of tactical freedom
    2) Misc troop is a good idea, but The lack of freedom reduces it to unuseful!

    The bad:
    Why?
    1)Why wasting time to select soldiers to breach where there is only one door?
    2)Why breach in EACH room and reduce tactic to enter, fire,kill and stop?
    3)Why MINIMAL soldier customization?
    4)Why absurd timeline that make you only confusing?
    5)Why so complicated management?
    6)Why those ugly and static cartoons like a 70s comics?

    WHY WASTING MONEY FOR THIS?

    WHY???
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  23. Apr 25, 2020
    1
    Idea of the work of a special unit from the eyes of a 13-year-old girl.
    With absolutely inappropriate jokes and interruptions to ridiculous dialogues.
    It is better that they continue to remain silent professionals than ridiculous bro that by fan play war.
  24. Apr 26, 2020
    0
    The gameplay is nice enough with some decent innovations, but the writing is beyond horrible and ruins the rest of the game for me
  25. Apr 30, 2020
    0
    It's not XCOM. The game mechanics is simplified and cropped.
    Characters are flat. Moreover, it's not a game. It's very stupid diversity propaganda.

    Girls are good. White men are bad.

    That's ****
  26. Apr 30, 2020
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. 0 for characters, 0 for story, 0 for F-rated illustration, 0 for using X-COM title on this shXX.
    Why, do I have to bear, those disgusting characters? I have plenty other games to play. I don't need to bother with those unpleasant characters.
    Why did they use cartoonish illustration? Why not screenshot of 3D model, like other X-COM series?
    Is X-COM some kind of childish joke? NO.
    And now the story.
    JUST 5 YEARS have past. And now, the invaders are within the invaded's SWAT team.
    What? It's like... Japanese SWAT in 1950 Korean Spec-op of Korean Japan-town. WTH.
    Yeah, yeah, Japanese were mindcontrolled by Tenno, blah-blah-blah, but Japanese were literally wiped out of Korea for some time (not massacred though, just transported to Japan).
    Why don't learn some history, before writing this piece of shXX called 'scenario'?
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  27. Apr 30, 2020
    1
    Imagine you are playing XCOM 2: War of the Chosen. You customize your squad characters as you wish, doing them by your own, gives them names, appearance, clothes and even history, sometimes funny (cruel russian and the disco dancer in the past lieutenant Ivan), sometimes even more serious. And then, you open your eyes and you see XCOM: Chimera Squad, where the most respectful and coolImagine you are playing XCOM 2: War of the Chosen. You customize your squad characters as you wish, doing them by your own, gives them names, appearance, clothes and even history, sometimes funny (cruel russian and the disco dancer in the past lieutenant Ivan), sometimes even more serious. And then, you open your eyes and you see XCOM: Chimera Squad, where the most respectful and cool feature of the game was removed in order to create empty vessels named 'unique characters'. Wtf do I need 'unique characters' (which are really empty) if I could create mine?

    Graphics, style, all of it is so stupid according to the lore of the game. Remember eerie vibe in the XCOM 2: War of the Chosen when you see thousands of killed human bodies in the green vessels which are used by aliens to make dna liquid, remember clearing attacked rebel camps from attacking aliens which are really scary and all these kinds of mystic, horror, alertness.

    XCOM: Chimera Squad ruins all of it and replaces with colorful, funny style, there are not enough only rainbow ponies and unicorns to make this game even more colorful.
    There are more problems in the game (unbalanced characters system, useless training camp and other).
    It's painful to see what they did with XCOM.
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  28. Apr 25, 2020
    0
    Steaming heap. An immature regurgitation of the XCOM series, with terrible dialog and lacking, very unlikable characters. Is this game a precursor for video game replacing Sesame St for children?

    I surely hope Firaxis Games does not go down this terrible path that many other companies are activity shoveling at consumers. It's not worth the 10 buck considering the game is running back
    Steaming heap. An immature regurgitation of the XCOM series, with terrible dialog and lacking, very unlikable characters. Is this game a precursor for video game replacing Sesame St for children?

    I surely hope Firaxis Games does not go down this terrible path that many other companies are activity shoveling at consumers. It's not worth the 10 buck considering the game is running back processes for companies while collecting data from users: It's malware at best.
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  29. Apr 29, 2020
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It's really, really boring. There's not a lot of strategic options, so every encounter is pretty much the same routine due to lack of strategic potential. Some characters are so much more rich and interesting than others, really unbalanced. Expand
  30. May 1, 2020
    4
    I do not usually write bad reviews but, I do not understand the change they have made to the game, with that artistic section of cartoons fornite style, this game is easier than its previous ones and does not generate tension in their confrontations since the characters, in principle, you don't lose them forever when they die. The characters are created and configured and there is nothingI do not usually write bad reviews but, I do not understand the change they have made to the game, with that artistic section of cartoons fornite style, this game is easier than its previous ones and does not generate tension in their confrontations since the characters, in principle, you don't lose them forever when they die. The characters are created and configured and there is nothing you can do to modify them. The story is terrible (are aliens now our friends?). In short, it seems that they have simplified and infantilized the game. I do not recommend it. Expand
  31. May 6, 2020
    1
    В игре нет белых оперативников, если вы топите за равноправие, то должны были добавить их. За такое лицемерие - минус вам в карму.
  32. May 5, 2020
    4
    Dont mind me, game is good, but not what we need. I don't sympathize to this new world, to characters. I dont feel tension as in XCOM 2 or Phoenix point. I dont feel any connections between me and characters. Please make new game more like Phoenix point do or Gears tactics, but with all things from XCOM like globe, tension, dispare, Evolution, Base managment. Thats just all this genre needs.
  33. May 6, 2020
    3
    HUGE fan of Xcom 1 & 2. Have no idea why they released this game for PC - it is visible that this is meant to be a mobile game for phones and tablets. Breach mechanic is ok, but gets boring when doing it every mission. The timeline mechanic can be heavily abused - you can give like 3-4 actions to one squad member + the 2-3 actions that he/she already have + the free actions like grenadesHUGE fan of Xcom 1 & 2. Have no idea why they released this game for PC - it is visible that this is meant to be a mobile game for phones and tablets. Breach mechanic is ok, but gets boring when doing it every mission. The timeline mechanic can be heavily abused - you can give like 3-4 actions to one squad member + the 2-3 actions that he/she already have + the free actions like grenades and items. The comic book animations, voice acting, characters could be much, much better. Even don`t want to mention the bugs - needed to activate the console to continue my game. Yes, I know that this game was 10 euros/dollars at launch, but please don`t tell me that this childish, cartoony, colorful thing they call Chimera Squad is the future of Xcom ... Expand
  34. May 17, 2020
    1
    Pointless. Let's be fair, if you've never played any of the X-Com franchise: 2/10. Otherwise, avoid. Yet again, developers feel the dire need to remove features that worked and present the public with something they don't want. Why do they do this? X-Com 2 was a brilliant game. This effort is not.

    First up, welcome to the early 21st Century, a curious period of human existence where
    Pointless. Let's be fair, if you've never played any of the X-Com franchise: 2/10. Otherwise, avoid. Yet again, developers feel the dire need to remove features that worked and present the public with something they don't want. Why do they do this? X-Com 2 was a brilliant game. This effort is not.

    First up, welcome to the early 21st Century, a curious period of human existence where anything that is commercially available is there to cater for about 1% of the population, and anyone who complains is decried as 'hateful' or 'fascist'. Perhaps I am 'literally Hitler', but frankly the po-faced 'diverse' and 'relevanttothe21stcentury' characters turned me off at the first hurdle. Were they there to engage me in strategic combat or to invite me to a vegan Trump-hating protest in Seattle? Ah, no problem, I can just create my own characters that I like... and... then... no I can't. Nope. You HAVE to play the politically correct, diverse, SJW characters that they want you to play. How I was hoping the more likeable enemy would kill them. You don't even have that pleasure.

    All-in-all, this is a highly truncated version of a brilliant franchise for no apparent reason. No base development, no character creation, nobody can die, totally unlikeable self-righteous lefty characters and a dumbed-down version of the excellent strategic combat of X-Com 2.

    Let's hope this is not a portent of the most eagerly anticipated sequel in strategic combat gaming: X-Com 3. If it is then it looks as though you can kiss it goodbye, along with the Fallout series, The Sims, Mount and Blade and Civilisation, to mention but a few.
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  35. Jul 15, 2020
    0
    While my expectations for this game was tempered due to the lower price and no real build-up to the release, I was still massively disappointed. I recently finished XCom2 and was looking for another, less stressful "fix", so I started doing some research on what to get next to give me this "hit".

    I wanted to try "Narcos: Rise of the Cartels", but then I started reading about the "game
    While my expectations for this game was tempered due to the lower price and no real build-up to the release, I was still massively disappointed. I recently finished XCom2 and was looking for another, less stressful "fix", so I started doing some research on what to get next to give me this "hit".

    I wanted to try "Narcos: Rise of the Cartels", but then I started reading about the "game breaking" decision the developers took in changing up the turns to it being "per soldier" instead of "per squad". Reviewers gave it low scores and based this as one of the main reasons for it, as well as being that a police force should not be using excessive violence - (here I want to note PCGamer as an example for anybody interested, and normally I value their opinions.) I was hence put off of this game by reviews like these and started searching for something else.

    I then noted that XCom: Chimera Squad has been given a good score (72) by them and the and thought what other place could be better than an XCom spin-off from the same developers as XCom to solve my problem.

    I was thus shocked to find that the very selfsame "issues" that Narcos: Rise of the Cartels had been taken apart over, were present here. So this makes me question many things such as why are all but 1 of the Critic Reviews positive for this game, while it was so negative for Narcos? What is the motive?

    Apart from all that, I also read that XCom: Chimera Squad is seen as some sort of "woke" / politically correct game to write the wrongs of the past by its diversity and black female lead. This is a bunch of BS - and no, not because I do not agree with diversity, it is just that it was present in the previous games, but it wasn't forced upon anyone, it was natural as diversity should be. I am sorry if you "woke" generation are not as "woke" enough to see that diversity should be natural.

    Heck, the previous 2 entries in the game was built upon this diversity, randomness and solidarity without anything being forced upon me as this is the way things should be. My recently played through XCom2 squad was full of diverse female squad leaders (I saw 3 of them as my rotational squad leaders, although "leaders" is probably not really a thing in XCom) and they were often my most essential "damage dealers", whereas my male characters were mostly support. And I honestly didn't intend for that, it is just how things turned out - in a natural development of my play though. Just as diversity should be - NATURAL.

    Then there are also the numerous bugs, that is in many ways just shocking and torturous, such as armor being glitched out, CTD issues, below average graphics for a new entry (even for a spin off), etc.

    SO I am giving this game a 0 (yes zero!) for feeling that I was mislead by the reviewers who gave Narcos a bad score for the same issues that were included in Chimera Squad and also for the exact same reason some "woke" users gave it a 10 to essentially balance the overall score out.
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  36. May 8, 2020
    2
    Firaxis - who has allowed xcom to be pushed in this stupid direction?! You are one of the only studios that make serious tactical games, why the hell would your long time customer base (played xcom before firaxis 20 odd years and counting) want to see your excellent game model deteriorated to bring in teenagers? What the hell? Do not do this again. XCOM 2 / WoTC was a masterpiece. Get backFiraxis - who has allowed xcom to be pushed in this stupid direction?! You are one of the only studios that make serious tactical games, why the hell would your long time customer base (played xcom before firaxis 20 odd years and counting) want to see your excellent game model deteriorated to bring in teenagers? What the hell? Do not do this again. XCOM 2 / WoTC was a masterpiece. Get back to what you are excellent at, let the kids play fortnite. Expand
  37. Apr 27, 2020
    0
    The Premise of Xcom Chimera Squad is a very interesting one. There is a City where Aliens, Humans and anything in between coexist. You control a elite Squad, fighting organizations that try to break the peace. Instead of the Player creating Squad Members there are premade ones.
    Those where the good things for me about it.
    Though i was not annoyed/offended by the sassy nature of allot
    The Premise of Xcom Chimera Squad is a very interesting one. There is a City where Aliens, Humans and anything in between coexist. You control a elite Squad, fighting organizations that try to break the peace. Instead of the Player creating Squad Members there are premade ones.
    Those where the good things for me about it.

    Though i was not annoyed/offended by the sassy nature of allot of the banter between the Squad members, i would still have wished for a more mature/professional banter between them. Instead of sjw/wake banter i would have wished for one where you see that those people worked before together, since all you really do when getting a new Squad member is "pull over" a member from your old unit.

    One of the worst things in Xcom Chimera Squad was the way you control the game using a controller. I played Xcom Enemy Unknown where it was fine.

    But here ... when a unit gets it's turn, "move" mode is active automatically. When you push the button for "Action" for some reason the list of available options on the bottom of the screen does not highlight which option you selected at that point in time ... there is a bigger button that shows this below it.
    So how to determine how many times you have to push "right" on your controller if the game not shows you at what spot you are in the list? And/or which options are skipped because unavailable?
    More often then not, i was overshoot the option i wanted to select and the whole control using my controller was very fiddly.
    I would wish for a SIMPLE menu driven experience, where i can select a unit and a menu pops up with the option currently selected being HIGHLIGHTED.
    (Protip, just use Mouse and Keyboard with this one ... it is much less convoluted)

    I really love the Breach Mechanic, especially when there are more then one option to start a mission. But it is sadly under-cooked. When you are breaching there is just so little information for you to see.
    Upon Breaching you take control of the first Unit and then you can shoot one of the Targets in view. What i miss here is that the game shows me which Unit is active right now(helpful if you have to go afk for a moment during the breach).
    Once the Breach is over all your Units search cover ... but instead to give the player the choice where to move what unit(like give them one "move action") the game just lets them run to predetermined positions.

    Sadly each Combat zone is a very small room, with very limited cover opportunities. The thing that annoyed me in this is that while there is cover, most of the time the cover is setup like for the enemy and no matter what you do the enemy can always flank you in one or the other way.

    It gets hilarious if you cover behind a char, and a enemy can still shoot (and hit) your unit while the enemy is behind a car, shooting through a fountain (which is low cover) with fence ... still hitting someone hiding behind a car.
    It seems cover doesn't block line of sight at all.

    The best thing in Xcom Chimera Squad is when an enemy has 1-2 HP and you try to bash it unconscious. For some odd reason even if you first move your Unit into a cover position it ALWAYS runs out of cover, and then does the Bash while out in the open ... and it stays that way ending it's turn. Yeah i know, there is a equipment that makes this unnecessary later, it's still hilarious nonsensical.

    But honestly what i would expect in a Strategy Game that revolves 99% around Shooting and Range Skills ... that Cover actually blocks Line of Sight from the direction it is supposed to cover you from, forcing opposition to Outflank said Cover.

    I would guess people that liked Xcom Enemy Unknown, Xcom Enemy Within and Xcom 2 this will be a far better experience then it was for me.

    I did not enjoy my time with this, but the only other Xcom i played was Enemy Unknown and there i hated that every time you did spot aliens ... they first got a free turn to hop nicely into cover. When i heard that in Xcom 2 allot missions have a turn restriction (time limit) on top of that ... trying to enforce a certain kind of gameplay on to the player i skipped that.
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  38. Apr 25, 2020
    0
    Bad DLC.
    Это не тянет на игру, зато тычут в лицо феменизмом.
  39. May 13, 2020
    3
    incomplete buggy game with short game play :( sadly.
    Would have been nice if they could have more in depth strategy and base building and story and not have such a short half-assed game with truncated short missions .. not to mention taking control away from the players on multiple aspect of the game.
    Like another guy said .. it is like a dumb-down, scaled down, simplistic, mobile
    incomplete buggy game with short game play :( sadly.
    Would have been nice if they could have more in depth strategy and base building and story and not have such a short half-assed game with truncated short missions .. not to mention taking control away from the players on multiple aspect of the game.

    Like another guy said .. it is like a dumb-down, scaled down, simplistic, mobile game version.
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  40. Apr 27, 2020
    2
    It's just... i don't know what to say. It's worst game of this series. Just don't spend your money for this sh*et
  41. Apr 29, 2020
    0
    A cheap attempt to get out on the road while pushing an Intrusive agenda.
    The dialogues are ridiculous and naive with silly jokes with a transition to pleasantries.
    In a couple of years, the aliens have become people's best friends. The only white man in the world who gets bullied and joked about. I think the game should have been released on mobile phones. This is not ixcom but a
    A cheap attempt to get out on the road while pushing an Intrusive agenda.
    The dialogues are ridiculous and naive with silly jokes with a transition to pleasantries.
    In a couple of years, the aliens have become people's best friends.
    The only white man in the world who gets bullied and joked about.
    I think the game should have been released on mobile phones.
    This is not ixcom but a lazy port of Fortnite with colorful bright colors.
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  42. Apr 27, 2020
    2
    First and foremost, the amount of bugs this game has, it really feels unfinished and unpolished.

    It's really, really boring. There's not a lot of strategic options, so every encounter is pretty much the same routine due to lack of strategic potential. Some characters are so much more rich and interesting than others, really unbalanced. Cover doesn't mean a thing in this game. The
    First and foremost, the amount of bugs this game has, it really feels unfinished and unpolished.

    It's really, really boring. There's not a lot of strategic options, so every encounter is pretty much the same routine due to lack of strategic potential. Some characters are so much more rich and interesting than others, really unbalanced.

    Cover doesn't mean a thing in this game.

    The assembly projects are really weird, you just upgrade crappy material instead of getting interesting stuff. It feels they were really lazy.

    The lack of customization is insulting. No character development, at all. Everyone is either black or an alien. Quite the racial balance there.

    Don't buy this game, play XCOM 2: Long War 2 instead.
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  43. May 4, 2020
    1
    We need to do something about liberals/progressives they are literally destroying all entertainment and turning it into propaganda.

    This is just another in a long list of beloved franchises infiltrated and poisoned by “woke” propagandists who don’t care about gameplay or story, just trying to brainwash you.
  44. Apr 26, 2020
    1
    Looks like a mod for X-Com, not even add-on. Extremely poor design, boring characters, zero narrative. Nothing remains of the seriousness of the original, we play as an analogue of "birds of prey", with the same terrible style and a complete lack of immersion.
  45. Apr 29, 2020
    3
    “Heroes never die!” I mean seriously, is this a really tactic about war and battle scenes or some childish girl daydreaming story? But even it’s story is boring as hell. Characters remind dull dolls with nearly no personality and backstory, and you can’t even find anyone to personalise yourself with. I have no idea who is this game made for, but I can tell that official reviewers had been“Heroes never die!” I mean seriously, is this a really tactic about war and battle scenes or some childish girl daydreaming story? But even it’s story is boring as hell. Characters remind dull dolls with nearly no personality and backstory, and you can’t even find anyone to personalise yourself with. I have no idea who is this game made for, but I can tell that official reviewers had been paid or threatened to write their extremely positive opinion Expand
  46. Apr 28, 2020
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is perhaps the most disappointing game I've played so far in 2020. Unlike XCOM 2, XCOM: CS actually took away many of the good mechanics such as research, squad size and tech upgrades. While the turnbased mechanics and breech mode bring something fresh to the series, they do not make up for the lackluster and repetitive gameplay. The most upsetting part about the game is the actual story with an ending that does nothing to make the game more interesting. In fact the entire plot of the game could be removed and be replaced with Central eating a sandwich and the game's ending would not be effected by it. Enemies are bland and not fleshed out, the three enemy factions, while hosting a unique enemy variety, do not have much purpose behind them and have no story behind them. The final boss, Atlas/Sovereign, is barely touched upon when you finally encounter him. Atlas not only has no character but he barely has a presence in the story, despite him and his mercenary squad playing a pivotal role in the game.

    TLDR: The game can be fun to play and the new breech mechanics do make the game unique in its own rights. The game's plot/story is lackluster at best and the enemies have no impact. Many fun mechanics from XCOM 2 were taken away. If you got the game for $10 then go ahead and play it. It's not worth more than that.
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  47. Apr 28, 2020
    0
    Another series spoiled by political correctness and contempt for the canons.
  48. Apr 27, 2020
    0
    Low price is not an excuse for a boring and monotonous game with a bad plot, inappropriate visual style, controversial mechanics and bugs. Such a “project” can bring easy money to the developer, but it spoils the entire series. Absolutely not worth the money and time spent.
  49. Apr 28, 2020
    3
    Huge fan of XCOM 2; You will be disappointed, or worst, with this "spin-off". Gameplay is extremely repetitive; map are ridiculously small which negate 90% of tactics and strategy you normally have in an Xcom game. Characters are childish and flavorless and if one dies; you lose the game. The small maps makes the game EXTREMELY hard (basically; 1 grenade will always kill 1-2 of yourHuge fan of XCOM 2; You will be disappointed, or worst, with this "spin-off". Gameplay is extremely repetitive; map are ridiculously small which negate 90% of tactics and strategy you normally have in an Xcom game. Characters are childish and flavorless and if one dies; you lose the game. The small maps makes the game EXTREMELY hard (basically; 1 grenade will always kill 1-2 of your characters); even in XCOM standard and since you cannot lose even 1 character; I found myself restarting some encounters 1-2-5 times... So you will savescum A LOT.
    Storywise, I... I dont even know since I couldnt care, nor stand, to listen to the poorly written & acted dialogue.
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  50. Apr 25, 2020
    1
    X Com Chimera takes away everything you like about the Xcom franchise and focuses on its weakest parts, the story and linear tactical missions. The writing is very poor and the characters and flat and unlikeable with no option to change them or swap them out for custom characters.
    Some of the mission set ups are interesting and having alien squaddies is alright but mods already did this.
    X Com Chimera takes away everything you like about the Xcom franchise and focuses on its weakest parts, the story and linear tactical missions. The writing is very poor and the characters and flat and unlikeable with no option to change them or swap them out for custom characters.
    Some of the mission set ups are interesting and having alien squaddies is alright but mods already did this.
    It was bad enough Xcom 2 retconned the first ending, now our time is wasted with Chimera Squad. This was a cheap low effort cash grab for the company while we all wait for Xcom 3.
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  51. May 3, 2020
    2
    Another case where the developers were so busy trying to make sure they checked all of the political boxes, that they forgot to make an interesting and engaging game.

    Game mechanics are a watered down version of XCom 2, and the repetitive breaching mechanic is tedious. I guess it's ok if you're just looking for a quick Xcom fix. Might just be better to save the 10 bucks and replay
    Another case where the developers were so busy trying to make sure they checked all of the political boxes, that they forgot to make an interesting and engaging game.

    Game mechanics are a watered down version of XCom 2, and the repetitive breaching mechanic is tedious. I guess it's ok if you're just looking for a quick Xcom fix. Might just be better to save the 10 bucks and replay xcom 2.
    The voice acting and dialogue is amateur at best, and the cartoons look like they were drawn in MS Paint.
    and, of course, as everyone else has pointed out, the politics are so thinly veiled, it's like they're not even trying.

    Super disappointed, Firaxis. Played about an hour before I requested a refund from steam.
    The one thing I will give this is it did open up the interesting possibility of "hero" characters for the next proper xcom game(if there ever is another xcom, after this they likely will have lost a lot of faith)
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  52. May 4, 2020
    0
    XCOM SJW-SQUAD
    I am a great fan of XCOM games from the legendary UFO: Enemy Unknown up to the modern XCOM2.
    But this game is fail. They spoiled everything. Soldiers on missions joke and grimace like infantile teenagers, so atmosphere is absolutely broken. The game is not re-playable. Gameplay is boring and repetitive. The franchise deserves a better game. Fans deserve a better game.
    XCOM SJW-SQUAD
    I am a great fan of XCOM games from the legendary UFO: Enemy Unknown up to the modern XCOM2.
    But this game is fail. They spoiled everything.
    Soldiers on missions joke and grimace like infantile teenagers, so atmosphere is absolutely broken.
    The game is not re-playable.
    Gameplay is boring and repetitive.
    The franchise deserves a better game.
    Fans deserve a better game.
    The game deserves to be better one.
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  53. Apr 29, 2020
    2
    OMG Firaxis what are you doing?! I am very afraid for the future XCOM series.
  54. Apr 26, 2020
    2
    Just a bland and cringy version of XCOM. The characters are all extremely unlikeable, the humor is extremely immature for a game meant for 18+ and the story just bad.
    The gameplay is also a downgrade from XCOM 2.
    Just feels like a quick-buck cashgrab overall.
  55. Apr 28, 2020
    3
    FORGET THIS GAME AND BUY GEARS TACTICS INSTEAD that Microsoft strategy game is much better than Xcom Chimera !! This is not XCOM should be renamed to "Alien Nation police" or something like that. Where to start from the stupid cringy dialogues, the cartoony characters (even the aliens talk exactly like humans) all maps are small, if 1 soldier dies you lose the game, you almost do the sameFORGET THIS GAME AND BUY GEARS TACTICS INSTEAD that Microsoft strategy game is much better than Xcom Chimera !! This is not XCOM should be renamed to "Alien Nation police" or something like that. Where to start from the stupid cringy dialogues, the cartoony characters (even the aliens talk exactly like humans) all maps are small, if 1 soldier dies you lose the game, you almost do the same missions over and over again and plenty of weird glitches and bugs. I hope XCOM 3 is not as bad as this... Expand
  56. May 18, 2020
    1
    SJW politics are a blight stain on the human race and represent devolution of civilization. I have no idea why Firaxis decided to insert SJW progressivist lunacy into XCOM. The decision is beyond absurd and whoever the skinny, kale-drinking bearded left wing activist in charge of this title at Firaxis is who decided to make this a political game needs to find new work at the BidenSJW politics are a blight stain on the human race and represent devolution of civilization. I have no idea why Firaxis decided to insert SJW progressivist lunacy into XCOM. The decision is beyond absurd and whoever the skinny, kale-drinking bearded left wing activist in charge of this title at Firaxis is who decided to make this a political game needs to find new work at the Biden campaign office and be fired from Firaxis.

    This is a disgrace to XCOM!
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  57. May 21, 2020
    4
    This is not an X-Com game. Period.
    They should have made another game title for this, everything except X-Com, because all the feature that X-Com had were stripped down or distorted to te point you feel like playing a totally different product:
    -NO soldier customization -BAD choice of interface and ingame color -UNINSPIRED story that push you to see the aliens as innocent bystander,
    This is not an X-Com game. Period.
    They should have made another game title for this, everything except X-Com, because all the feature that X-Com had were stripped down or distorted to te point you feel like playing a totally different product:
    -NO soldier customization
    -BAD choice of interface and ingame color
    -UNINSPIRED story that push you to see the aliens as innocent bystander, except you kill those same aliens when it come to forward your agenda.
    -REPETITIVE gameplay.
    -APPALLING and uncharismatic character you're forced to play with.

    They say it's a spin-off for a new X-Com serie: i surely won't buy it.
    The say it's a spin
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  58. May 8, 2020
    0
    XCOM Enemy within + XCOM 2 + Arcade of the same type scripted assault on a small room, which can be implemented manually in any other tactics of the game. ****
  59. Jan 23, 2021
    0
    Stupid sh*t of stupid sh*t. I hope they won't use features from this game in xcom 3.
    Dont buy, Dont play. I regret that bought this sh*t.
  60. Nov 10, 2020
    0
    To say this game is repetitive would be to say this game is repetitive would be to say this game is repetitive would be to say this game is repetitive would be to say this game is repetitive would be to say this game is repetitive would be to say this game is repetitive would be to say this game is repetitive would be . . . a bit of an understatement.
  61. Feb 25, 2023
    4
    Infelizmente, as novidades mais limitam o game do que ajudam na diversão.
    Em vez de combater uma força invasora com suas tropas, dessa vez você comanda tipo uma SWAT, Tem algumas novidades legais como a fase de entrada numa área, mas acabaram errando na mão.
    Eu insisti o quanto deu, mas chegou uma hora que achei melhor abandonar mesmo. Pontos Positivos: + Um pouco de frescor à série
    Infelizmente, as novidades mais limitam o game do que ajudam na diversão.
    Em vez de combater uma força invasora com suas tropas, dessa vez você comanda tipo uma SWAT, Tem algumas novidades legais como a fase de entrada numa área, mas acabaram errando na mão.
    Eu insisti o quanto deu, mas chegou uma hora que achei melhor abandonar mesmo.

    Pontos Positivos:
    + Um pouco de frescor à série Xcom
    + Nova sequência de iniciativas individual por personagem

    Pontos Negativos:
    + Apesar de interessante, o momento de entrada numa área (Breach) acaba de limitando mais, já que a maioria das fases é separada em 3 áreas, forçando essa mecânica em cada uma delas.
    + Apesar dos personagens serem interessantes, acabou super personalização que tinha nos outros.
    + Os mesmos bugs bizarros de animações, travamentos e instabilidades dos outros Xcom.
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  62. Jan 27, 2022
    4
    When I first saw the trailer for this game I starting laughing because I was certain it was a joke. Oh no, it wasn't a joke, that was the actual game. What?! I guess these dudes think it's really cool to shine on and show complete contempt to their multi-decade loyal fan base. Good luck with that in the long run, if this is where they're taking our games, we won't be sticking around.
  63. Nov 29, 2022
    3
    Ne şimdi, bu ne yani???????????????????????????????????????????????????????
  64. Jul 26, 2020
    3
    XCOM: CHIMERA SQUAD really disappointed me. Instead of a large map in a mission of 1-2 rooms. Everything is very simplistic. More like a mobile game. Some kind of budget version of XCOM.
  65. Mar 24, 2022
    4
    XCOM: Chimera Squad is a turn-based tactical video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K Games as part of the XCOM series. It is set as a sequel to XCOM 2: War of the Chosen, after a tenuous peace accord between warring human and alien forces has been achieved. The player controls a mixed squad of human and alien special forces soldiers that help maintain the fragile peace ofXCOM: Chimera Squad is a turn-based tactical video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K Games as part of the XCOM series. It is set as a sequel to XCOM 2: War of the Chosen, after a tenuous peace accord between warring human and alien forces has been achieved. The player controls a mixed squad of human and alien special forces soldiers that help maintain the fragile peace of City 31, an experimental city where humans and aliens are attempting cohabitation. While Chimera Squad follows similar tactical elements of the XCOM series, it introduces new gameplay concepts to accelerate the pace of gameplay. Expand
  66. Jun 19, 2023
    1
    You start with two stunning and brave women on the team, one asian, one african-american(don't even know what word is considered "correct" anymore) and a bunch of aliens that act like human simps, not at all like aliens of a different culture would act. The mayor is a woman, your BOSS is a woman. When you fail a mission, your boss says "you did not fail, you did SO well getting there inYou start with two stunning and brave women on the team, one asian, one african-american(don't even know what word is considered "correct" anymore) and a bunch of aliens that act like human simps, not at all like aliens of a different culture would act. The mayor is a woman, your BOSS is a woman. When you fail a mission, your boss says "you did not fail, you did SO well getting there in under 3 hours, I'm PROUD of you". In woke culture, women are never allowed to show weakness or be criticized. Ever.

    Wkeness is ruining our franchises. Stop making wke trash for SJWs who do NOT support the franchises WE do.
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  67. Nov 22, 2020
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Game không đán chơi, không thể thêm lính, hoạt hình quá nhiều, không được lựa chọn như xcom and xcom 2 Expand
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 74 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 56 out of 74
  2. Negative: 1 out of 74
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jul 24, 2020
    80
    A small tactical game that plays well and looks good. If you like XCOM and you don´t have a problem with more stereotypical missions and sometimes a bigger role of RNG, you will probably like it. [Issue#304]
  2. CD-Action
    Jun 25, 2020
    85
    It’s a fantastic, albeit rushed, XCOM for beginners. And a whole lot of freshness in the franchise. [07/2020, p.43]
  3. Jun 22, 2020
    65
    I do not regret the time I spent playing Chimera Squad, but it’s a definite downgrade compared to the excellent XCOM 2: War of the Chosen.