The Game Census
Xenonauts cover art

Xenonauts

Goldhawk Interactive · 2014-06-16

SteamGOG

IndieSimulationStrategy

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: Bird view / Isometric

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.

Xenonauts is an Indie, Simulation, Strategy game released in 2014, priced at $24.99, with an estimated 500,000 .. 1,000,000 owners and a Very Positive review sentiment (87% of 5074 reviews).

31
playing now
87%
positive of 5.1k reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
500,000–1,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
70/100
critic score (1 outlets, IGDB)
80/100
IGDB user rating (16 ratings)
66
Nexus mods (157k downloads)
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Unsupported
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Unsupported
$24.99
steam price (US)

31 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 12:00 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.

Trailer

Xenonauts trailer thumbnail

Xenonauts 2 - Official Version 1.0 Launch Trailer

≈47,882 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 31 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 4% of 49,583 Indie games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-30

Estimated sales: 127k–304k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 5,074 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

GOG$4.99-80%
GOG$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 65 of 88 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

5792026-09-15 13:00 — 24 players2026-09-16 21:00 — 37 players2026-09-18 04:00 — 17 players2026-09-19 12:00 — 23 players2026-09-20 19:00 — 46 players2026-09-22 03:00 — 27 players2026-09-23 11:00 — 19 players2026-09-24 18:00 — 39 players2026-09-26 02:00 — 29 players2026-09-27 09:00 — 21 players2026-09-28 17:00 — 29 players2026-09-30 00:00 — 23 players2026-10-01 08:00 — 9 players2026-10-02 15:00 — 35 players2026-10-03 23:00 — 40 players2026-10-05 07:00 — 24 players2026-10-06 14:00 — 39 players2026-10-07 22:00 — 40 players2026-10-09 05:00 — 30 players2026-10-10 13:00 — 30 players2026-10-11 21:00 — 49 players2026-10-13 04:00 — 29 players2026-10-14 12:00 — 31 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
58527Jun 2013Aug 2026Jun 2013 — avg 177 · peak 594Nov 2013 — avg 48 · peak 109Apr 2014 — avg 68 · peak 141Sep 2014 — avg 216 · peak 471Feb 2015 — avg 259 · peak 741Jul 2015 — avg 161 · peak 303Dec 2015 — avg 190 · peak 417May 2016 — avg 66 · peak 133Oct 2016 — avg 76 · peak 145Mar 2017 — avg 76 · peak 159Aug 2017 — avg 98 · peak 192Jan 2018 — avg 156 · peak 352Jun 2018 — avg 125 · peak 324Nov 2018 — avg 102 · peak 213Apr 2019 — avg 79 · peak 170Sep 2019 — avg 75 · peak 151Feb 2020 — avg 78 · peak 175Jul 2020 — avg 84 · peak 146Dec 2020 — avg 79 · peak 150May 2021 — avg 66 · peak 122Oct 2021 — avg 61 · peak 130Mar 2022 — avg 71 · peak 139Aug 2022 — avg 73 · peak 134Jan 2023 — avg 92 · peak 167Jun 2023 — avg 122 · peak 327Nov 2023 — avg 66 · peak 133Apr 2024 — avg 49 · peak 95Sep 2024 — avg 43 · peak 89Feb 2025 — avg 43 · peak 92Jul 2025 — avg 48 · peak 99Dec 2025 — avg 36 · peak 86May 2026 — avg 44 · peak 83Aug 2026 — avg 27 · peak 55
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Price history

$24.99$4.992015-01-012026-10-142015-01-01 — 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 $4.992026-09-02 — best price $4.992026-09-14 — best price $24.992026-09-26 — best price $4.992026-10-08 — best price $24.992026-10-14 — best price $4.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

83162026-06-02 — 47 pageviews2026-06-06 — 47 pageviews2026-06-10 — 49 pageviews2026-06-14 — 32 pageviews2026-06-18 — 32 pageviews2026-06-22 — 26 pageviews2026-06-26 — 46 pageviews2026-06-30 — 31 pageviews2026-07-04 — 27 pageviews2026-07-08 — 31 pageviews2026-07-12 — 32 pageviews2026-07-16 — 31 pageviews2026-07-20 — 29 pageviews2026-07-24 — 25 pageviews2026-07-28 — 32 pageviews2026-08-01 — 23 pageviews2026-08-05 — 22 pageviews2026-08-09 — 19 pageviews2026-08-13 — 28 pageviews2026-08-17 — 31 pageviews2026-08-21 — 37 pageviews2026-08-25 — 31 pageviews2026-08-29 — 62 pageviews2026-09-02 — 40 pageviews2026-09-06 — 30 pageviews2026-09-10 — 43 pageviews2026-09-14 — 31 pageviews2026-09-18 — 26 pageviews2026-09-22 — 29 pageviews2026-09-26 — 21 pageviews2026-09-30 — 32 pageviews2026-10-04 — 28 pageviews2026-10-08 — 16 pageviews2026-10-11 — 19 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxSingle-playerSteam Trading CardsFamily Sharing

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

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 ↗