X-COM: Terror from the Deep

Terror from the Deep is the first sequel to X-COM: UFO Defense, made by MicroProse in-house and released in 1995, only a year after the original. The aliens defeated in the first game left something behind on the sea floor, and it has woken up. X-COM returns, this time with bases on the ocean floor, submarines in place of interceptors, and an enemy that attacks ports, ships and coastal towns.

The structure is the same as the first game. You manage bases, fund research, build equipment and send squads to fight turn-based battles on destructible maps. The aliens are new, the weapons are new, and many terror missions are fought across two stages, such as the deck and then the hold of a ship.

It is more X-COM, and for many players that is enough. The underwater setting gives it a mood of its own, with a darker palette and some of the most unsettling enemy designs in the series. It is also known for being harder than the original, with tougher enemies and longer missions that can stretch out as you search the last corners of a large map for the last alien.

That length is its main fault. Some missions drag, and the campaign repeats itself more than the first game did. It is sold on Steam and GOG, and the open-source OpenXcom engine runs it with modern conveniences.

It is the closest thing there is to the original X-COM, because it is built from the same game. Play it after UFO Defense if you want the same structure again with the difficulty raised. If you want to see the series change, X-COM: Apocalypse is the one to play.