2025-01-12 Game purchased during the Steam Winter Sale 2024

Although an old game I find it quite fun to play. If you're a fan of the X-Com series of games you might want to give this one a try. Out of all of the UFO: AfterXXXX series I consider this one to be the most enjoyable.

Like X-Com, UFO: Aftershock has a strategic layer (composed of a map of earth), and a tactical layer where combat takes place. Combat is in pausable realtime and is not a click fest like many RTS games. Time can be sped up or slowed down depending on the amount of action taking place at the given time. The reason why combat is not a clickfest is due to, depending on how you set the options, the action pausing when one of your soldiers requires new orders or is taking fire. This gives the player plenty of time to assess the situation and react accordingly. Very stress free combat experience.

The strategic layer will have you interacting with the various factions of earth. There is a simple diplomacy system that while not as advanced as the diplomacy in Civilization or Total War is more than adequate for gameplay in this game.

You'll be spending a lot of time managing resources, production, and research all while trying to expand your territory. I like this aspect of the game as you can 'build an empire' on the strategic map which is not what you can do in X-Com or Xenonaughts.

In short UFO: Aftershock ticks all the check boxes for a 'save the planet from alien invasion' game.