X-COM UFO Defense Retrospective | Terror Without a Script

In this video, I dive deep into the history and design of X-COM: UFO Defense (1994), a game that delivered some of the most intense, unscripted terror in strategy gaming — and arguably still hasn’t been matched.

From its humble board game origins and the scrappy early days of Julian Gollop’s game development career, to last-minute publisher drama and the creation of one of the most atmospheric turn-based strategy games of all time, this video tells the full story of how X-COM came to be — and why it still holds up today.

I’ll also share my own experience playing it on original hardware and discuss what makes the tension and game play loop of X-COM so enduring, from soldier permadeath and panic mechanics to base management, research, and the horror of Chryssalids in the dark.

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Chapters:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:02 - Humble Beginnings
00:04:27 - A Tactical Shift
00:09:36 - Startups and Shakeups
00:13:39 - Julian Gollup's Civilization
00:23:18 - A Secret Continuation
00:26:45 - UFO and X-COM
00:34:34 - Initiating Defenses
00:37:25 - All your base are belong to X-Com
00:40:07 - eXtraterrestrial COMbat
00:43:01 - The Frightening Unkown
00:47:45 - Never Tell Me the Odds
00:51:34 - Brains, Bullets, and Bureaucracy
00:56:00 - Terror in the Streets
1:01:25 - Sights and Sounds
1:07:03 - More Info, More Danger, More Money
1:10:52 - Psych
1:13:20 - Bases: Attack and Defend
1:17:36 - SPOILERS: Endgame
1:22:00 - Closing thoughts