Players waiting patiently for XCOM 2 can whet their appetites with a new XCOM game – one that runs entirely inside Microsoft Excel.

Entitled EXLCOM, the game uses Visual Basic for Applications to recreate XCOM's complex, tactical turn-based combat in the same software most use to handle the likes of financial calculations.

Graphics are rendered via shaded spreadsheet cells, with features such as equipment loadouts, movement, attacks, and destructible "scenery" handled via calculations in the back-end.

It even includes a map editor.

Developer Crruzi (real name Constantin) is studying economics while working part time in the financial sector.

He says he started the game as a way to practice coding in VBA, but the project ended up growing from there.

There's still more to do, as well: Crruzi intends to add randomised missions, save games, and even the strategic base-building component of XCOM.

EXLCOM is worth a try for novelty's sake alone, and is downloadable as an Excel file here.