Programmer Creates An XCOM Game In Excel

Some people use Microsoft Excel to keep track of their budget, or to organize multiple schedules. This takes it a few steps farther. Redditor crruzi, (as found by Polygon) a programmer learning Visual Basic for Applications, decided to make an XCOM game with Microsoft Excel. The game, cleverly titled EXLCOM, takes place between the events of XCOM: Enemy Within and the forthcoming XCOM 2.

Crruzi says the game works quite well, despite not being finished: "Only the tactical game is finished so far, but I am happy to say that what is there works quite well." The user goes on to say that the game incorporates some familiar features from the recent PC/console releases, such as specialist classes, destructible terrain, and the standard turn-by-turn combat. The interface is a top-down perspective on a low-resolution map.

Most surprisingly, Ccruzi says that he or she was unable to write a single line of code in Visual Basic for Applications two months ago. The Reddit community is celebrating his programming prowess. If you want to check out the game for yourself, click here.

If that’s not enough for you, there’s still a few hours left to pick up XCOM: Enemy Within for sale on Steam. There’s also not too much of a wait for the next full XCOM release. XCOM 2 will launch on February 5, 2016 for the PC.