You name your soldiers, and the game takes them from you one by one.

This is the profile of a game with teeth. Attachment lands ahead of 96% of titles, fun does too, and desert island ahead of 91%. Three very high lines, which is rare, though read them with care since they rest on few votes. Controller feel follows, ahead of 82% of games. The paradox comes after: the soundtrack collapses, ahead of only 21% of titles, and rediscovery sits very low as well. That is the odd truth about XCOM. It does not hook you with its music or the promise of a magical first time. It hooks you because your squads die, and you start over, again.

Next to classic tactics, often cold, XCOM injects loss, cruel randomness, stories you write yourself. That is where its grip lives, in the tale the game lets you build, not the one it tells you.

So, who is it for? For you if you love the tension of an 85% shot that misses, decisions that cost dearly, and campaigns you restart the moment they end. Much less so if you want a soundscape that stays with you or a narrative gut-punch to close the controller on.