Xenonauts 2 is finally heading for full release. Hooded Horse and Goldhawk Interactive are pleased (and so am I) to announce that their Cold War alien invasion tactics game will leave Early Access on April 2, 2026.
That move closes a long testing period for a project that has spent the last couple of years sharpening its geoscape systems, ground combat, and air war into something much closer to the finished version strategy fans were waiting for. At its core, Xenonauts 2 is still built on a very specific fantasy.
You run a covert multinational defense force, expand a web of hidden bases across the globe, scramble interceptors to bring down UFOs, and send soldiers into turn-based operations tactics, research priorities, and equipment choices all feed into the wider campaign.
The game unfolds in a version of 2009 where the Cold War never really ended, and the Berlin Wall is still standing, which gives the whole campaign a more grounded and uneasy tone than a lot of modern sci-fi tactics games.
The developer, Goldhawk, has spent that stretch revising core systems through a long chain of milestone updates, and the studio already made clear in its February development update that Milestone 7 was being built as the foundation for the full 1.0 release.
The whole appeal of Xenonauts 2 is in the campaign layer, where base placement, radar coverage, aircraft range, recovery of alien materials, and the survival of trained soldiers all ripple into later missions, but be careful of the pro-alien human faction known as the Cleaners.
The 1.0 version will feature further performance work, updated maps, new late-game alien threats, and mod support as part of the package that will carry the game over the line.
April 2, 2026, is the date for the full release. In the meantime, Xenonauts 2 is available via Steam in early access. Below is the release date announcement trailer.
