The Game Census
Xenonauts cover art

Xenonauts

Goldhawk Interactive · 2014-06-16

SteamGOG

IndieSimulationStrategy

Modes: Single player

Releases: Jul 17, 2014 (Mac), Jul 17, 2014 (Linux), Jul 17, 2014 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

Xenonauts is a strategy game in which you control a multi-national military organisation defending a Cold War-era Earth from alien invasion, using small squads of persistent soldiers to eliminate the extraterrestrials and recover their technology in turn-based ground combat.

33
playing now
87%
positive of 5.1k reviews
Very Positive
steam rating
500,000–1,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
70/100
critic score (1 outlets, IGDB)
80/100
IGDB user rating (16 ratings)
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
$24.99
steam price (US)

33 players in-game as of 2026-08-30 02:00 UTC (census sample)

Xenonauts is a turn-based science fiction video game developed and published as the maiden title of London-based independent game studio Goldhawk Interactive. Inspired by the 1994 game UFO: Enemy Unknown, gameplay involves the player taking the role of the commander of a clandestine organization known as the Xenonauts, and attempting to defeat an alien invasion of Earth in the alternative history year 1979. The game was released on June 17, 2014 for Microsoft Windows. Ports to Mac OS X and Linux were initially based on the Wine compatibility layer, until native ports became available in September 2015. A sequel, Xenonauts 2, was released through early access in 2023.

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 33 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 92 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~12/week).
  • · Review velocity up 8% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 9% of 18,104 Indie games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-30

Estimated sales: 127k–304k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 5,069 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

GOG$4.99-80%
GOG$4.99-80%
lowest across shops (ITAD)$4.99-80%

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $3.79 at GOG (2018-12-19) · bundled 3×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $24.99 · on sale 35 of 51 observed days · $1.20 above the all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
666620182026Week of 2018-01-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2018-01-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2018-02-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2018-02-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2018-03-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2018-10-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2018-10-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2018-11-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 66 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 48 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 49 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 37 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 48 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 3 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

42102026-08-06 22:00 — 35 players2026-08-07 06:00 — 18 players2026-08-07 14:00 — 26 players2026-08-07 22:00 — 32 players2026-08-08 06:00 — 21 players2026-08-08 14:00 — 33 players2026-08-08 22:00 — 42 players2026-08-09 06:00 — 19 players2026-08-09 14:00 — 32 players2026-08-09 22:00 — 30 players2026-08-10 06:00 — 19 players2026-08-10 14:00 — 33 players2026-08-10 22:00 — 29 players2026-08-11 06:00 — 10 players2026-08-11 14:00 — 23 players2026-08-12 22:00 — 31 players2026-08-14 05:00 — 17 players2026-08-15 13:00 — 32 players2026-08-16 21:00 — 33 players2026-08-18 04:00 — 20 players2026-08-19 12:00 — 25 players2026-08-20 19:00 — 35 players2026-08-22 03:00 — 27 players2026-08-23 10:00 — 32 players2026-08-24 18:00 — 41 players2026-08-26 02:00 — 31 players2026-08-27 10:00 — 21 players2026-08-28 18:00 — 29 players2026-08-30 02:00 — 33 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).

Price history

$24.99$4.992015-01-012026-08-302015-01-01 — best price $16.242015-06-09 — best price $12.492015-09-11 — best price $12.492016-01-15 — best price $24.992016-06-23 — best price $9.992017-01-12 — best price $9.992017-07-10 — best price $24.992017-11-28 — best price $24.992018-04-17 — best price $24.992018-11-27 — best price $24.992019-05-10 — best price $6.242019-08-29 — best price $6.242019-12-19 — best price $6.242020-05-07 — best price $6.242020-09-10 — best price $24.992021-02-11 — best price $6.242021-07-07 — best price $6.242021-11-20 — best price $24.992022-01-31 — best price $24.992022-06-28 — best price $24.992022-11-23 — best price $6.242023-02-13 — best price $6.242023-05-28 — best price $4.992023-09-01 — best price $6.242023-12-06 — best price $24.992024-03-20 — best price $6.242024-06-19 — best price $6.242024-09-10 — best price $24.992024-11-21 — best price $24.992025-03-11 — best price $6.242025-06-18 — best price $6.242025-10-06 — best price $24.992026-01-23 — best price $4.992026-05-12 — best price $4.992026-08-15 — best price $4.992026-08-30 — best price $4.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxSingle-playerSteam Trading CardsFamily Sharing

Player tags

IndieAliensSci-fiStrategyTacticalIsometricManagementSimulationTurn-BasedSingleplayer

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

X-COM: UFO DefenseFTL: Faster Than LightLegends of EisenwaldDarkest Dungeon®XCOM® 2Unclaimed WorldENDLESS Legend™RimWorld

Similarity via IGDB.

Official site ↗