When comparing Xenonauts vs XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the Slant community recommends XCOM: Enemy Unknown for most people. In the question“What are the best Top-Down games on Steam?” XCOM: Enemy Unknown is ranked 24th while Xenonauts is ranked 31st. The most important reason people chose XCOM: Enemy Unknown is:
There are quite a few add-ons available for XCOM, including the Enemy Within expansion pack.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Back to the roots: The original UFO: Enemy Unknown
This game goes back to the original roots the UFO: Enemy Unknown, as the whole X-com franchise should, and raised it to another level.
Without a doubt this is the best "X-com" type of game.
Pro Spiritual successor to original X-Com franchise
Xenonauts took its inspiration from the original X-Com game, giving fans a new game in similar style but expanded on the finer details of the game to give an even more deep experience. This should appeal to those familiar with X-Com as well as those looking for a fun yet deep strategy game.
Pro Assortment of add-on content available
There are quite a few add-ons available for XCOM, including the Enemy Within expansion pack.
Pro Effective resource management mechanics
Resource management feels like a juggling act, in the best way possible. Users have to make hard decisions on what options to give priority to, as they all will effect gameplay in some manner.
Pro Death is permanent
Death is very permanent in XCOM, meaning if a player looses a high level player mid game that they may have a pretty tough time advancing past that point.
Cons
Con Can be difficult for newcomers of the genre
There is no in-game tutorial and there is only an online manual for the game, which means users who are not familiar with this game type and what is expected in play may have a difficult time learning all of the ins and outs. Online video tutorials may help as well, but of course this is all time spent not playing the game n order to learn its mechanics, which some people may not enjoy or have the time for.
Con Lack of additional animation and more original ideas
Seems like they copied all the mainstream ideas from original UFO: Enemy Unknown, and added up some of their own which do not reflect well, like mechanized enemy units, instead of implementing original Snakeman and Muton species.
Game also lack a possibility of taking back fallen continents with some kind of anti-infiltrator missions.
Con Proper choices not obvious until after the fact
Choices that effect the game are not obvious when they are happening and once realized is too late.