Strategy
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Give it 7 hours
Gets good by 7h then rated almost like by veterans
Fully opens up by 20h rated like by long-time players
Reach the ending 37% of players who started
Started playing 87% of owners
Steam reviews 93% positive of 58,821
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 3 reviews are negative (32%); after 20h it's 1 in 20 (5%).
- Fully opens up by hour 20.
- 36% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “And So It Begins…” (Complete the tutorial mission) and “Off My Planet” (Recover the Hyperwave Beacon): from 96% to 59% of starters.
- 87% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 58,827 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 298 reviews: 45.3h for positive, 20.5h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (86.9% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- And So It Begins… Complete the tutorial mission. 96% −4
- Off My Planet Recover the Hyperwave Beacon. Most players quit here 59% −36
- Drums in the Deep Gain access to the lowest level in your base. 53% −7
- And Hell's Coming With Me Successfully assault an Overseer UFO. 47% −6
- Humanity's Savior Beat the game on any difficulty. 37% −10
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (85)
story milestone ending side
- We Happy Few Complete a mission without losing a soldier. 100%
- Combat Ready Build an item. 99%
- What Wonders Await Complete a Research Project. 99%
- And So It Begins… Complete the tutorial mission. 96%
- Eye in the Sky Launch a Satellite. 94%
- Tables Turned Shoot down a UFO. 94%
- Up and Running Build a base facility. 91%
- Happy to Oblige Fulfill a Council request. 82%
- Prisoner of War Capture a live alien. 80%
- The Gatekeeper Stun an Outsider. 72%
- ...and Practice. Build a Workshop. 72%
- Welcoming Committee Kill 150 aliens. 72%
- X Marks the Spot Uncover the alien base's location. 70%
- Theory... Build a Laboratory. 66%
- The Hardest Road Advance one of your soldiers to Colonel rank. 65%
- Off My Planet Recover the Hyperwave Beacon. 59%
- As A Scalpel Earn the "Excellent" rating in every performance category on a terror mission. 59%
- All Together Now Get satellite coverage over every country on one continent. 58%
- Man No More Build a suit of powered armor. 56%
- Worth Every Penny Acquire 1000 credits in one month. 56%
- Ride the Lightning Build a Firestorm. 54%
- Drums in the Deep Gain access to the lowest level in your base. 53%
- See All, Know All Build the Hyperwave Relay. 52%
- Beyond the Veil Find a soldier with the Gift. 49%
- Pale Horse Kill 500 aliens. 47%
- And Hell's Coming With Me Successfully assault an Overseer UFO. 47%
- All Employees Must Wash Hands… In a single game, complete every Autopsy. 46%
- You Have 5 Seconds to Comply Build a S.H.I.V. 45%
- Bada Boom Kill 50 aliens with explosive weapons. 45%
- On the Shoulders of Giants Build the Gollop Chamber. 43%
- Taking A Load Off Stop a squad member from suffocating in single player 43%
- New Friend Complete Friends in Low Places. 41%
- The Volunteer Make contact with the Ethereal hive mind. 40%
- One Gun at a Time Staff the Engineering Department with 80 engineers. 38%
- Humanity's Savior Beat the game on any difficulty. 37%
- Bait the Hook Complete Confounding Light. 36%
- Oppenheimer Staff the Research Labs with 80 scientists. 35%
- A Little Bit Alien Modify a soldier in single player 34%
- Who Needs Limbs? Augment a soldier in single player 34%
- The Bigger They Are Complete Gangplank. 33%
- Flight of the Valkyries Win a mission with an all-female squad. Single player only. 32%
- Elite Defense Beat a new special mission without losing any assets 32%
- Zom-B-Gone Eradicate the infestation 31%
- Shieldbuster Eliminate an enemy's shield and kill it on the same turn in single player 30%
- G’day Kill an elite enemy Sniper with one of your own snipers in single player 28%
- They Shall Not Pass Eliminate all alien waves 27%
- Angel of Death Kill an alien while flying. Single player only. 26%
- All Hands on Deck Get at least 4 kills with XCOM Base Security personnel 25%
- Solid Prospect Complete Deluge 24%
- Regenerate This Kill an elite enemy Medic with explosive damage in single player 23%
- Apotheosis Denied Deal with the newest global threat 23%
- Steel Martyr Deploy three tactical subsystems on a single soldier in single player 22%
- Ours are the Furies Complete Furies 22%
- Hunter/Killer In a single game, shoot down one of each alien craft. 21%
- Pain in the Neck Cause an enemy to suicide 20%
- Where in the World Make certain of the new threat's location 19%
- Mind the Step Jump two stories in one move in single player 18%
- Enemy Within Get a Soldier to have 5 modifications in single player 16%
- Skunkworks In a single game, complete every Foundry project. 16%
- Nice Cover Use Collateral Damage to blow up a car in single player 15%
- Remington… Max Remington Have your special-duty soldier kill three enemies in the same mission 15%
- Someone Your Own Size Kill a Muton Berserker in melee combat in single player 14%
- The Meld Squad Field a fully enhanced squad and win the mission 14%
- Anger Management Proc Combat Rush on the entire squad (min. 4) 14%
- All Aboard Complete Confounding Light with more than 3 turns left on the timer. 13%
- Rising Dragon Take your new ally into the final challenge. 11%
- Shooting Stars Shoot down 40 UFOs. 9.9%
- Edison In a single game, complete every Research Project. 9.8%
- Meet New People. Then Kill Them. Win a multiplayer match. 9.7%
- Wet Work Complete a Very Hard abduction mission in five turns or less on Classic or Impossible difficulty. 7.1%
- Xavier Mind Control an Ethereal. Single player only. 7.0%
- Bubonic Play a multiplayer match against someone with this achievement. 7.0%
- Earth First Beat the game on Classic difficulty. 6.7%
- Tingling Sensation Kill an unseen enemy detected by a specially modified soldier in single player 6.7%
- Mental Minefield Kill an enemy as it is psionically attacking you in single player 5.9%
- Mutatis Mutandis Field a squad where all members have at least two modifications (min. 4) and win the mission 5.4%
- Rise of the Machines Field a squad consisting entirely of augmented soldiers and SHIVs (min. 4) and win the mission 4.0%
- Guardian of Earth Designate a highly decorated soldier as the Volunteer 3.1%
- By Our Powers Combined Field a squad with 4 augmented soldiers, each with a different base ability and win the mission 2.8%
- No Looking Back Beat the game in Ironman mode on Classic or Impossible Difficulty. 2.6%
- Ain't No Cavalry Comin' Have a soldier survive every mission in a full game. 2.6%
- Lone Wolf Clear a UFO crash site with one soldier on Classic or Impossible difficulty. 2.3%
- Our Finest Hour Beat the game on Impossible difficulty. 2.0%
- An Army Of Four Beat the game without buying a Squad Size upgrade (Classic+ difficulty) 1.4%
- A Continental Fellow Win the game from each of the 5 starting locations. 1.2%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-18.