I think only a very small minority of modders wants to stay true to xcom1994.
Which is absolutely OK... modding = changing to your desires.
I would however welcome a small disclaimer in the description of each popular mod saying what kind of game genre they are aiming for. E.g. instead of being a strategy game, they want to make an rpg game, or a puzzle game, or a nucom clone, or a storytelling game, etc.