XCOM: Chimera Squad

 PC
User Score
4.8

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 326 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 96 out of 326
  2. Mixed: 75 out of 326
  3. Negative: 155 out of 326

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. TomasLacerda
    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.    … Expand
  2. Mxm0
    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
  3. Sokol0111
    Apr 29, 2020
    2
    OMG Firaxis what are you doing?! I am very afraid for the future XCOM series.
  4. Jevgenijus
    Jan 27, 2021
    2
    Buggy as hell. Buggs are so seriuos, that makes it impossible to go thourght the game!!
  5. Citizenpete
    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
  6. Mazisky
    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.
  7. G0LD
    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.
  8. jormungaund
    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)    … Expand
  9. Vagiclean
    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.
  10. Rubberfacts
    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.
  11. Arkess
    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.
  12. DaveAus
    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.    … Expand
  13. Arthur88
    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!    … Expand
  14. apolloncheb
    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.
  15. diceee
    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.    … Expand
  16. S-J-Miller
    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.    … Expand
  17. Lother
    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.    … Expand
  18. Slapstick83
    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
  19. 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.
  20. Nahual_Eriol
    Apr 28, 2020
    0
    Another series spoiled by political correctness and contempt for the canons.
  21. fallout7050
    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
  22. TimbKo
    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.
  23. bumble_bee
    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.    … Expand
  24. Ttaman
    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.    … Expand
  25. DENNNN13
    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.
  26. iaroha
    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.
  27. Lithariel
    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.    … Expand
  28. psfdek
    Apr 25, 2020
    0
    Bad DLC.
    Это не тянет на игру, зато тычут в лицо феменизмом.
  29. EmperorProtects
    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.    … Expand
  30. LiseTorvalds
    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'?    … Expand
Page:

Awards & Rankings

31
#31 Most Discussed PC Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 74 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 56 out of 74
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 74
  3. 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. Riot Pixels
    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.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »