Links

There are quite a few X-Com sites out there. They vary in how useful they are, how extensive they are and how good they look, but all have some use. There are also some very interesting X-Com related games in development. You should find links to them all here, but if you see one missing, please tell us.

Download Sites

These days, X-COM is really cheap to get legally from one of the myriad of sites offering it for sale. Below are a few of the most popular.

GamersGate
This site offers all the X-COM games series for sale, either singly or as a pack. StrategyCore offers affiliate shopping through the link above, so we get a small portion of each sale. If possible, please download from this site as it helps to fund ours!

Steam
Like GamersGate, it offers all the games for sale alone or as a pack. Steam runs a lot of sales, so keep checking for a good deal. If you are afraid the games will not run on your machine, think again. Staff here at StrategyCore helped Steam to get the games running perfectly way back when they were first being offered. Steam has a good forum and support as well. What's not to like?

GameFly
Previously known as Direct2Drive, GameFly offers UFO Defense, TFTD and Apocalypse for download. Enforcer too (for free) - if you are a member. It doesn't offer the games as a bundle, but some people like to purchase games a la carte.

Games In Progress

There are many X-Com inspired games in progress. Some are commercial, while others are fan-made. We'll also keep you posted on their progress in the news. Please note that some of these have beta versions available for download!

X-Force: Fight For Destiny (playable)
This is a remake based on the two first X-Com games. If you haven't looked at it already, do so now! There's a beta version available for download at their site.

UFO Alien Invasion (playable)
This is a fan-made game inspired by X-Com and built on the Quake 2 engine. There's a beta version out, and it's quite nice! Head over to their page to read more and download the beta!

Invasion2021: Last Line of Defense (beta, discontinued)
Invasion2021 is a remake of X-Com with some new features added. It is currently in a beta stage, and several features are yet to be implemented, but it's progressing nicely. Sadly the project seems discontinued, but we still have the beta in our files section.

UFO2000 (playable)
From their site: "UFO2000 is free and open source remake of tactical part of 'X-COM: UFO Defense' game. It currently has no Geoscape and economics, but it has the feature many X-COM fans dreamed for - multiplayer support". For UFO2000 tournaments, visit 7kplay.net.

X-Com: Tactical (board game) (playable)
From their site: "X-Com: Tactical is a tabletop war/board game based on the popular X-Com: UFO Enemy Unknown (UFO Defence), computer game by Microprose. You play either the commander of X-Com, the Extraterrestrial Combat unit, or the alien commander come to conquer and enslave the Earth."

Project Xenocide (preview build, discontinued)
This project is trying to recreate the spirit and feel of X-Com: UFO Defence (UFO:Enemy Unknown). It's fan-made, and anyone is welcome to contribute, though it's currently discontinued.

X@COM (Alpha Demo)
X@COM is a a cross between X-COM and a RogueLike (an XCOMRL). Though certainly not a "pure" roguelike, X-COM possesses several important RL qualities such as turn-based strategy, semi-random battlefields, high replay value, permadeath (of a sort), and more. The initial goal of X@COM is to put together a more-or-less faithful recreation of the original, though rendered using simple ASCII graphics.

Xenonauts (Playable alpha for those who pre-order)
Xenonauts is a single-player PC strategy game, heavily inspired by the classic X-Com / UFO: Enemy Unknown, released in the mid-90s by the now-defunct Mythos / Microprose. It is not a straight remake though,  more of a ‘reimagining’. A standard package is $19.99 (USD), while a premium package is $29.99. It is schedued for a 2012 release, though it appears it might be delayed.

X-COM: Origin
X-COM: Origin project started in 2010 and based as 3D-remake of UFO:Enemy Unknown (X-Com:UFO Defense) with new game-play elements. Check out their website for some cool artwork, screenshots and videos.

Aliens vs Humans (playable)
This is a remake of the popular game for your iPad or iPhone! That's right, now you can take your favorite game with you everywhere you go! Check out some writeups here and here, and when you're ready, downlod it from iTunes for only $2.99!

 

Essential Sites

There are many fan-sites out there, but some are more comprehensive or otherwise important than others. They are listed below.

XComUFO.com
This is probably the most extensive X-Com site out there. You can even play UFO:Enemy Unknown on site! UFO floorplans, strategy guides, downloads, news, forums and so on. They got it all!

Danial's UFOpaedia Website
This site has the entire UFO:Enemy Unknown UFOpaedia online. Absolutely all the information that you find in-game on crafts, base facilities and so on can be found there. Recommended!

Gareth Griffiths X-Com Wikipedia
This encyclopedia for X-Com aims to gather all relevant information on all the games in the series (as well as the new one). It was started in February of 2005, and has a ton of good information. Anyone can contribute, so get to work! Now hosted by StrategyCore!

XcomUtil by Scott T. Jones
This is the official site for Scott T. Jones's XcomUtil. This neat utility enables you to do all sorts of crazy stuff with the X-Com games. This tool is essential for any X-Com fan! Development of XcomUtil has been discontinued by Scott, but Blade FireLight continues development.

Fan Sites

Unlike official sites, there are a lot of good fan-sites out there. It's been a long time since we last saw a proper X-Com game released, but the fans haven't forgotten.

X-COM Support

Arky's X-COM Page
This page has a lot of good information on X-Com. Strategy guides, downloads, timelines and more can be found there.

Devisraad X-COM Page
This site has some good downloads for the X-Com games, including mods. It's been around forever and still keeps going.

The X-COM Games

General sites (cover more than one game)

XCommand
Another extensive X-Com site. Some of it's features like downloads are unavailable at the moment, but most of it is still accessible. It has screenshots, weapon tables, and base facility information, and the site covers all the X-Com games.

X-Com @ llamalicious.com
This site has a lot of good strategies for the X-Com games, as well as other good info.

The XCOMainiac Site (site currently down, flagging for further review)
Not much here except an excellent history of the X-COM series. A must read for any discriminating fan.

X-COM Russian site
Lots of great stuff here: UFO floor plans, a research tree, game information, strategies, tactics, screenshots and UFOpaedia. And although the site is in Russian, navigating the areas is fairly easy.

X-COM Fan Site (site account suspended for some reason, flagging this for further review)
Even though this site is in Slovakian, it is one of the best sources of facts anywhere. It covers all the X-COM games in-depth as well as sections on the UFO series.

XCOM Trilogy UFOPedia
Contains a UFOPedia for UFO Defense, TFTD and Apocalypse. Very nicely created!

X-COM Series at MobyGames
Has a lot of useful information on all the games in the series as well as pictures of different versions. Some scans were used from Zombie's collection on this site.

TV Tropes
This is a wiki that "collects and expands on various conventions and devices (tropes) found within creative works. Since its establishment in 2004, the site has gone from covering only television and film tropes to also covering those in a number of other media such as literature, comics, video games, and even things such as advertisements and toys. It is known for approaching topics in a casual and humorous tone". Quite humorous and fun to read!

Kotaku
A video game blog which is a great place for looking up news. Just search for "X-COM" and you should be on your way.

Lparchive
GuavaMoment dishes up a written "Let's Play" of UFO Defense, TFTD, Apocalypse and Interceptor.

UFO: Enemy Unknown (X-COM: UFO Defence)

EldritchEvil's Battle Report 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
This site contain battle reports from various games. EldritchEvil has written reports from his UFO:EU missions. They are a combination of explaining the game and fiction. Well written, and great if you feel like a different sort of fiction.

Other

The Last Outpost
Cyke has done several very good interviews on X-Com. There's a series of 3 interviews with David Ellis that anyone with an interest in X-Com should read!

David Ellis' Website
Dave was lead designer on X-Com: Interceptor and the defunct Genesis. He also wrote the official X-Com strategy guides. If you wish to know more about him, his homepage is the best place to start.

John Broomhall's Website (may be temporarily down)
John was the Head Of Audio at Microprose/Spectrum HoloByte in the 1990s and wrote the music for such classic games as the X-Com series and Transport Tycoon.

Drew Northcott's Website
Drew did the graphics for UFO, TFTD, Apocalypse and the em@il X-COM games. If you want to know more about him, this is the place.

Tim White's Website
Tim was responsible for creating the alien world and model designs for X-COM Apocalypse. Check out his galleries for various futuristic and X-COM images. Interesting and beautiful.

X-COM (Porn) on rule34
X-COM in pornographic situations; a mix of strange, raunchy, comedic and disturbing images. If you are underage or easily offended, don't even bother visiting here. It's an adult site with adult advertising. I warned you!

X-COM Fan-Fiction

X-Com @ FanFiction.Net
This is where you'll find all the X-Com related fan-fiction available at FanFiction.net.
Some very good stories there, like "XCOM: The Unknown Menace" by Hobbes.

Scifi Emporium
This is Daniel Blakemore's Scifi Emporium, a site dedicated to fan-fiction. It's got a lot of good X-Com fiction, as well as Warhammer 40k and Battletech.

Moloch's Place
One of the rare places which feature Apocalypse and Alliance fan-fiction.

X-COM Modding

X-COM: Area 51
This is Hobbes X-Com site. It has terrain, buildings and other add-ons for the X-Com games, as well as fiction and other goodies.

Jennana.com
Jennifer Stein (aka Jenny from the xcomufo.com forums) has this website with an excellent UFO/TFTD editor as well as well as a ton of creative art and drawings of various themes, plus news and info on games like Jagged Alliance. She also routinely posts videos on Twitch.tv on various games like Apocalypse, XCOM and Jagged Alliance. Check it out!

Hatfarm's Website
The author of a very popular UFO/TFTD editor, Chris Voss (aka Hatfarm) was one of the first hardcore modders of UFO Defense. Much of the information he deciphered on the game file structure is now incorporated into the X-COM Wiki.

YouTube Videos

X-COM UFO Defense PSX version playthrough by DarkMandrill
No narration by the author, but this shows the PSX version of the game in all it's glory. Nice strategies too.

Let's Play The X-Com Superhuman Antarctica Challenge by Kikoskia
Kikoskia does this Let's Play on Superhuman difficulty with only a single base in Antarctica.

Let's Play X-Com UFO Defense Again by Kikoskia
Another later Let's Play where Kikoskia lifts the restrictions and starts a veteran campaign

Let's Play The X-Com Terror from the Deep Pacific Challenge by Kikoskia

Official Sites

Since MicroProse is long gone and the Gollops do not own the license, we'll end up listing the official sites here.

2K Games
Current licence holders of the X-COM series, and developers of the new XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Check out the official XCOM site here for info, updates, media, downloads and forums.

LaserSquadNemesis.com
The Gollop brothers (yes, they made X-Com) have spent the last few years making LSN. It's a good game. Who would believe e-mail games are fun? There were talk of a single-player version of LSN at one point but it's been awfully quiet lately...