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The application takes a couple of minutes: a few questions about you, your PC and your X-COM experience. You get a private link to check whether you've been picked.
Apply to playtest
xcom-3d.pages.dev/playtest/apply
Playtesting is open
Play the development builds.
We're looking for players to try the latest builds and report what they find. Everyone is welcome to apply, at any experience level. Testers are picked in rounds, so places are limited each round.
What you need
- Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit)
- A graphics card with Vulkan support
- Your own copy of X-COM: UFO Defense (Steam or GOG): the game reads its original files, none are included
What testers get
- Development builds to download
- An issue board to report bugs with logs, saves and screenshots, and to comment on reports
- Report an Issue, which ships with the game: after a crash, one click sends that session's logs
- How your account and data are protected
Development update 2 · October 17-29, 2026
What's new in 3D.
Every shot is real gameplay. Before/after comparisons use the same camera path in both builds.
Route preview and HUD
- The first click shows the route on the ground, coloured by the best shot you'll have left when you arrive (aimed, auto, snap, move only), with the TU left on each tile; the second click moves
- Waypoint firing: the Blaster Launcher gets a Waypoint firing panel and a LAUNCH button
- The roster shows morale; enemy markers explain what they mean and what a click does
- Over HUD buttons the pointer turns back into an arrow, even while aiming
Visibility
- Unit silhouettes: units you can see that are hidden behind walls, roofs or trees show as a flat silhouette, green for your squad, red for enemies, blue for civilians; click or hover them like the unit
- Smooth level changes: the camera eases between floors and the floors above dissolve in and out
- At night each soldier's own personal light lights the ground around them
Classic sprites mode
- An option to draw every unit as its original animated sprite, standing in the 3D world
- Sprites turn with the camera to show the right facing, and are sized to match the 3D soldiers
- Firing, hits and deaths play the original animations; the dead stay as corpse sprites
225 asset fixes
- Shops restocked; streets with two asphalts, kerbs and drains, no visible repeats
- House walls are two-sided: block facades outside, wallpaper inside
- Avenger and Skyranger hulls, trees and bushes, cacti and rocks reworked
Procedural grass and every unit
- The game grows the grass in every biome, with no tile grid
- Units without a 3D model yet (Sectopod, Reaper, Celatid, Silacoid, hover tanks) stand in the world as their original sprites, fully playable
Fixes
- Units on camera walk at a steady pace; units off camera hurry, as in the original
- The route line and soldiers' feet ignore walk-through clutter
- The 3D view ignores input while the inventory, options or any 2D screen is open
- No more pebbles through smoke, flickering windows, ridged plowed fields or crash on quitting
Earlier: Weekly update 1 · October 10-16, 2026
Environments
- Shared ground materials projected across many tiles: the ground no longer repeats every tile
- Wavy, natural borders between ground types
- All grass is now procedural, with density, height and type set per tile, plus flowers, leaf litter, clods, stones and dead weeds
- Grass is trampled around soldiers' feet
- Each biome tuned: sand sparkle and low-contrast plants in the desert, fronds and leaf litter near jungle trees, grit and curb weeds in city gutters
- Visual noise matched to the original sprites, so soldiers stay easy to read
Vegetation
- Living plants have a waxy, natural sheen; dead, dry and burnt plants, bark and straw stay matte
- Hedges rebuilt with large veined leaves and red twigs
Terrain
- Sun-following slope relief: slopes facing the sun brighten and slopes facing away darken, so hills read as clearly as in the sprites
- Mountain rock blocks and ramps restored as solid hills
Lighting
- Real darkness: sun and ambient light follow the game's own shade levels, so night missions are dark again
- OpenXcom's light sources (street lamps, flares, fires) are now real 3D lights, each reaching as far as the game's light power
- Soldiers carry a soft personal light that grows with the darkness
- Higher shipped render quality: Ultra shadows, full-resolution Ultra SSAO and 4x MSAA, at the same GPU cost
New units
- New 3D models for the Tank (Cannon, Rocket Launcher and Laser Cannon) and the Cyberdisc
- Large units fill their whole 2x2 tile footprint
- Tank destruction: an ammunition cook-off with simulated fire, burning down to a charred wreck
- Cyberdisc self-destruct: OpenXcom's own blast (power 120, radius 6 tiles) bursts the disc into six charred, burning segments
- Blast scars now cover the full blast area
Animations
- NaturalMotion Euphoria shot reactions from GTA IV, ported for non-lethal wounds on soldiers and aliens
- A hand reaches for the wound, arms collide with the body instead of passing through it, and the head looks at the wound before easing back
- Hits land anywhere on the body, most often the chest and belly
- Blood hits the floor for every 10 HP lost
- Lethal hits: a short dying window to clutch the wound and catch the fall, then death throes that fade to stillness
- Head shots and explosions drop the body limp at once
Then and now
Slide into the new view.
Move the divider to compare classic sprites with the 3D battlefield. Browse the carousel to see different worlds and combat moments.
Drag the divider or use arrow keys to adjust itSame battlefield. A different view.
From touchdown to contact
Take the fight anywhere.
The squad fans out in different directions to reveal the terrain, while the open landing-craft deck remains in view.
Fields and farmhouses
Fan out through orchards and hedgerows, with the landing craft ready for the return.
A desert landing
Bright sand, cactus groves and long sightlines.
Woodland contact
Open clearings and wooded cover turn reconnaissance into a tense approach.
Under the canopy
Palm groves, thick foliage and close encounters.
Across the ice
Spread out over the snowfield while the remaining squad holds the craft.
Contact in the city
Storefronts, windows and courtyard cover bring the fight into the streets.
In the thick of it
Every shot has a presence.
Watch rifle bursts connect, follow a rocket from launch through the blast and smoke, and catch a Chryssalid under fire. Choose a clip for a closer look at the fight.
Rifle burst
A closer view of automatic fire cutting across the courtyard.
1 / 9
Choose a moment below. Each clip loops; use the player to pause, scrub or go fullscreen.
UFOpedia / Field intelligence
Know what you’re facing.
From the original archive to a new dimension. Inspect the alien threat, the squad’s equipment, and the people sent to bring them home.
Xenobiology / Visual identification
Sectoid
X-COM CENTRAL ARCHIVE
VISUAL IDENTIFICATION RECORD
FILE 001 / 22
VISUAL IDENTIFICATION RECORD
FILE 001 / 22
ARCHIVE IMAGE UNAVAILABLE
No detailed full body portrait exists in the original archive.
3D reconstruction
Preparing the 3D archive…
A familiar encounter. A closer look.
An enlarged cranium and large dark eyes make this small alien immediately recognizable.
Drag to turn · Right-drag to pan
Touch: two fingers to pan
Original detailed artwork, matched to the model’s initial height.
A fresh angle
See more of the battlefield.
Keep the familiar tactical view, or switch to perspective for a stronger sense of space.
The cutaway view keeps the landing craft’s interior visible, with troops spread across the surrounding ground. Rotate, zoom and find the angle that helps you read the encounter.