These games share very little in common. They do however share release dates and platforms released on. My question isn't which you will buy (don't care), but rather which will sell better and which will be more critically acclaimed.

The Facts:

Both have received 9.5's in leaked reviews. Xcom has a 9.5 from Gameinformer. Dishonored has a 9.5 from CVG.

Dishonored is ahead of every Xcom edition on ps3 and 360 in US preorders. Despite this, all XCOM editions are above the pc version of Dishonored. I would take these numbers with a grain of salt since the site that released them doesn't even have the name of the game they are tracking correct, although I may be stupid and the game they are tracking is actually the other XCOM game, but I am less inclined to believe this. Also, these numbers are only indicative of sales of the US.

Assumptions/possibly misconceptions(correct me if something I state is wrong and do so rudely):

XCOM appears to be a revered game on pc(multiple games, but mainly first one.) A larger majority of pc games are downloaded. Since XCOM already has a base on pc, it may have an easier time outselling Dishonored on this particular platform. Also, the pc version of XCOM is tracking higher than Dishonored on pc. This point may be moot because vgchartz doesn't track downloaded sales, so even if XCOM vastly outsells Dishonored on pc, we won't know by how much and can't really guesstimate.

Combined total sales of multiplatform console games typically vastly outsell pc versions. I believe this will easily be the case for Dishonored. XCOM maybe not so much.(not saying pc>360+PS3 sales to clear things up but maybe? Probably not.) Strategy is a niche genre on consoles and XCOM has no true established base on consoles. Since it will sell a larger proportion of its games on pc and vgchartz doesn't fully track pc game sales, it will make XCOM look like it sold considerably less.

Dishonored may get slammed for its length because some people reported completion in 4 hours and lack of new game plus which is a standard for any self respecting RPG esque game.(claims may not be credible)

XCOM may get slammed for difficulty but praised for replayability.

People may compare Dishonored to Bioshock which could really help or hurt it based on how good it actually is.

Digital sales for 360 and ps3 will be so miniscule they won't matter even with day 1 discount.

My Guess:

Dishonored will outsell XCOM on PS3, 360, and overall. XCOM>Dishonored on PC.

Extremely close in reviews. Perhaps they will trade spots on different platforms such as Dishonored >XCOM on ps3 and 360 while pc version of XCOM>Dishonored. Just because I think people will love XCOM and slam Dishonored for a bunch of minor flaws, I'm just going to go ahead and side with XCOM having the higher overall average reviews(add up 3 platforms and divide by 3 with metacritic scores fyi.)

What do you think? Disagree or agree or both or neither?

I'm getting both, I personally hope they both do well. But I also hope XCOM will do better as a statement that AAA stratergy games are viable outside of just the few brands in the PC space like CIV, SimCity, Starcraft etc.

Dishonored will probably out sell XCOM on consoles tho it may be quite close. On PC there is no question XCOM will crush Dishonored, XCOM has been in the top ten sellers on Steam since it was available to preorder where as dishonored has only recently shown up and is still behind.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the PC version of XCOM push some decent numbers TBH and could push it into the overall sales lead in the long run after a few 75% off steam sales, but we will probably never know as valve don't release the sales numbers.

No doubt Dishonored will win both metrics. ioi said that it has a chance at selling 2 million in 2012 alone.

Meanwhile XCOM might sell only 1 million lifetime. Obviously I am hoping for more.

Dishonored seems to have a great chance at a 90% Metacritic but I feel that XCOM will be 85% or so, which is still absolutely great because it must be hard to bring a classic strategy game to consoles and nail it the first time.

These 2 games are my most anticipated this year (together with Of Orcs and Men). Amazing and unique games.

I'd expect Dishonored to sell more.

While X-com may or may not review better. Hard to say. It's got the oldschool crowd, but then again the oldschool crowd can be extra critical and nitpick small stuff not like the original.

The first XCOM game did ok on PS1, and from all reports the controls are great on consoles. As for sales it could pass 1 million this year accross all platforms, I mean Civ 5 managed it on just PC. I don't think 2 million lifetime for XCOM is out of the question, Civ 4 manged 3+ million over 3 years. Assuming it's actually good of course. 

*eternal optimist*

Sticking with Xcom for now. Better value for money. Even if the 4 hour Dishonored campaign rumours are false, you can still pour hundreds of hours into Xcom anyway.

Devs have spoken about the 4 hours thing

“My ghost and no kills playthrough took 22 hours. That’s without exploring every nook and cranny, and knowing the solution to everything beforehand.”

http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1413477-any-word-on-how-long-dishonored-is/page__st__30__p__21595304#entry21595304

"Matt from Bethesda here. Four hours would be an unusually fast for a first playthrough. The average player is more likely to play through the game in 12-24 hours, with the total playtime varying depending on how much side content is played.

Not saying 4 hours is impossible though. Members of BGS did speedruns of Skyrim in 2 1/2 hours."

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/first-dishonored-review-score-leaked-game-finished-by-some-people-under-four-hours/#comment-673754885

But yea XCOM should be amazing even if it's half the game the orignal was at the time.

That is a good point. On the other hand, to the best of my understanding, I thought the series had fallen from grace after the release of several low quality sequels. Maybe this might be viewed as the sequel that breathed fresh air into the series. Maybe...

never heard of x-com,but I've been hearing alot about dishonored,so there you go. that's my un-scientific poll.

Final preorder chart before release in the US.
Dishonored PS3 60,638
Dishonored 360 79,896

Dishonored PC 27,087

Total: 167,621

XCOM 360 52,274

XCOM PS3 41,275

XCOM PC 37,227

Total: 130,776

Difference of 36845 in Dishonored's favor. Does anyone think steam could pick up the slack and make this number even lower? I personally hope that the devs give some indication to how well it sells on steam because the current gap is pretty low in America at least.

Several new reviews for Xcom. Several 9.0s and a 9.2 from CVG, OPM, Gamereactor, and Strategy informer.

Dishonored also getting reviews in the low nines. Dishonored has a metacritc of 89 and 88 on PC and 360 respectively. XCOM is not up.