



Unlike 2K Marin's previously announced XCOM shooter, which sparked tempers among longtime fans for turning its back on the series' cerebral roots, this title is a full-on strategy game that puts players in command of a global anti-alien defense force. XCOM's leader needs a worldwide perspective where threats are identified, populations reassured, and national leaders mollified – but a tactical mind is just as critical considering every shot XCOM's soldiers fire on the battlefield is under the player's turn-based control.



"It’s been a dream of ours to recreate X-COM with our unique creative vision. We’re huge fans of the original game and it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to re-envision a game that is as beloved as X-COM," said Steve Martin, president of Firaxis Games. "We were careful to keep XCOM: Enemy Unknown true to the elements that made X-COM such a revered game while delivering an entirely new story and gameplay experience for both die-hard X-COM fans and newcomers to the franchise."



If you're lost, you can find out what all the fuss over the original X-COM is in the in-depth Classic GI feature we printed a few months ago (now available online for the first time), which includes rare insight from series creator Julian Gollop.



The huge feature in February's Game Informer goes into all the gory details of XCOM's destructible tactical environments, the interaction between the real-time strategic view and the turn-based combat, how the XCOM organization improves its capabilities as the war rages on, and much more.





XCOM: Enemy Unknown comes out for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC this fall. Until then, check up on our XCOM Hub Page ( This is the announcement you've been waiting for: One of the most beloved strategy titles of all time re-imagined by one of the best strategy studios in the world. Firaxis Games' XCOM: Enemy Unknown introduces a wider console audience to what made the storied franchise great in the first place.Unlike 2K Marin's previously announced XCOM shooter, which sparked tempers among longtime fans for turning its back on the series' cerebral roots, this title is a full-on strategy game that puts players in command of a global anti-alien defense force. XCOM's leader needs a worldwide perspective where threats are identified, populations reassured, and national leaders mollified – but a tactical mind is just as critical considering every shot XCOM's soldiers fire on the battlefield is under the player's turn-based control."It’s been a dream of ours to recreate X-COM with our unique creative vision. We’re huge fans of the original game and it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to re-envision a game that is as beloved as X-COM," said Steve Martin, president of Firaxis Games. "We were careful to keep XCOM: Enemy Unknown true to the elements that made X-COM such a revered game while delivering an entirely new story and gameplay experience for both die-hard X-COM fans and newcomers to the franchise."If you're lost, you can find out what all the fuss over the original X-COM is in the in-depth Classic GI feature we printed a few months ago (now available online for the first time), which includes rare insight from series creator Julian Gollop.The huge feature in February's Game Informer goes into all the gory details of XCOM's destructible tactical environments, the interaction between the real-time strategic view and the turn-based combat, how the XCOM organization improves its capabilities as the war rages on, and much more.XCOM: Enemy Unknown comes out for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC this fall. Until then, check up on our XCOM Hub Page ( http://www.gameinformer.com/xcom ) all month long as we bring you exclusive new content including video interviews with the team leads and the legendary Sid Meier himself.

Marikir wrote: Countinuing our example, the Skyranger has landed at the UFO site in Kansas. The game loads into tactical combat mode, putting the XCOM squad on the ground on one of the many handcrafted maps. "You could never, in two playthroughs, see the same map [twice]," Solomon declares.

Now, concerning the procedural generation mentioned: Much of XCOM is procedurally generated, just like in the original. Every playthrough presents different challenges, new problems, and unique missions. Where UFOs appear, what enemies are encountered, the missions national governments give XCOM, and more are heavily randomized. The player's actions still matter as they determine the state the world and XCOM are in, which in turn affects what kind of random events occur.

A note about enemies and their location in the maps. XCOM's 3D fog of war shrouds the majority of the map in darkness, any portion of which could house an alien threat thanks to randomized enemy spawns.

And a final sidebar about Procedural Storytelling The vast majority of XCOM's content comes in the form of procedurally generated missions and encounters, meaning that every playthrough unfolds differently. However, all players will see a series of "tent-pole" scenarios that take place at certain points in the narrative. These come in a several forms, from in-engine cinematics showing the growing alien threat through the lens of human newscasts to set-piece tactical battles. Firaxis hopes to use these moments to create some semblance of overarching narative despite the strategic layer being completely player-driven. The idea of pre-fabricated missions with set maps and enemy placements seems like a poor fit for XCOM's core concept, but Firaxis insists that its tactical AI as well as the unique capabilities and squad compositions each player will bring to them will maintain the game's integrity.



So...let the speculation and discussion continue! First, regarding the maps, and I'll bold a particular part, my emphasis only:Now, concerning the procedural generation mentioned:A note about enemies and their location in the maps.And a final sidebar about Procedural StorytellingSo...let the speculation and discussion continue!

1. Not sure if the GAF poster was reading the mag upside down or something, but no. Countries don't research stuff, XCOM does. Countries will give you missions with tradeoffs (send us 4 laser rifles and we'll give you 10 engineers etc).



2. Grappling hook is an armor ability, not a class thing. The sniper in the example was equipped with an armor suit that has a grapple ability.



3. The cinimatic view is purely presentation, just some eye candy for big moments in combat.



4. You start out with only 4 soldiers and then upgrade your limit from there.

'The PC Difference - XCOM obviously has deep PC roots and a hardcore fanbase with strong feelings about strategy franchises moving to consoles. It's natural for them to worry about a game like XCOM being dumbed down during the transition from keyboard to gamepad. Everything that Firaxis has shown so far indicates that any 'dumbing down' is limited solely to removing over-designed rules. For example, the original's Time Units have been removed for a simple move+action (or double move) for each unit. The idea is to let players still make the same decisions - move here, shoot that - without having to precisely calculate steps taken and type of shots fired in order to optimize that final five percent of combat effciency. And fear not, PC players - Firaxis is planning to take advantage of the platform's unique capabilities to provide an enhanced interface. Lead designer Jake Solomon uses DA:O as an example of what he wants to happen with XCOM. He suggested a zoomed-out full-map view of the tactical map as the kind of feature that PC players can expect that might not make it into the console versions. Finally, if you're an XCOM devotee from the old days, take comfort in the fact that the hardest difficulty is simply called Classic Mode.'



Other notable gameplay changes mentioned: no more Aimed/Snap/Auto shots, but there are two special abilities you can choose between at each level up that add more actions (the example is a choice the sniper gets: 'Squad Sight which lets him fire at any enemy a squadmate can see, or Snap Shot which lets him take a quick shot after moving, an ability normally restricted from sniper rifles).



Oh yeah, there are classes; the ones mentioned are sniper, support, and heavy. Rookies don't come with their class identified, you have to level them up to find out which they are. Weapon clips are gone but you still need to reload, it doesn't say if there are infinite reloads but you no longer manufacture or load clips onto the Skyranger.



The 16 individual countries will each have demands and assign missions - the article mentions Japan requesting a shipment of laser rifles as a reaction to XCOM not protecting their territory, and Africa as being a poor continent but rich in raw materials needed for manufacturing (each continent will have a bonus). The missions are mostly procedurally generated, but there are specific "tentpole scenarios that take place at certain points in the narrative. These come in several forms, from in-game cinematics showing the growing alien threat through the lens of human newscasts to setpiece tactical battles. Firaxis hopes to use these moments to create some semblance of overarching narrative despite the strategic layer being completely player-driven... Firaxis insists that its tactical AI as well as the unique capabilities and squad compositions each player will bring to them will maintain the game's integrity."



When a soldier is killed by a destructive enough weapon, "his equipment is so badly damaged that it can't be salvaged." Environments are destructible, and suppressive fire is in the game - the example is a heavy pinning down a Sectoid, denying it a turn during the aliens' turn. There are pictures of Sectoids, Mutons, and Cyberdiscs, which are fairly faithful to the originals, although cyberdiscs also come in spiderlike forms. Sectoids can use their psionic abilities to link up with each other to increase their effectiveness, but killing one will kill any others it is linked with. Mutons have Blood Call, "a battle cry that excites surrounding Mutons into a kind of animalistic fury.



Finally, the gay hipsters are called Thin Men. "The Thin Man is strikingly similar to the Slender Man myths. It may be that some morphogenic race has been secretly studying humanity, and has sent these human facsimiles to Earth as spies. Unnaturally tall and slender, Thin Men are not perfect replicas.... Once engaged in battle, a Thin Man will perform acrobatic maneuvers unlike any human. Thin Men are capable of covering large swaths of ground in a single bound. Snipers should be wary of their ability to jump up several stories in a single leap. Once engaged in close quarters, the Thin Man unhinges its jaw and vomits forth a spray of corrosive putrescence... upon expiration, a Thin Man will explode in an acid shower damaging nearby equipment and field personel."



I have no idea why they chose to feature the Thin Men in the first released screenshots - there are about 30 screenshots and those are easily the worst. The tactical view is moveable from a bird's eye 70 degree view to ground level behind/to the side of the soldier. The picture of the geoscape is incomplete, it only shows the globe. The base screens seem similar - the example is a research screen, with a list of topics and a scientist presumably moving in the background. Soldiers are indeed clad in Gears of War style armor, but both soldiers and aliens are drawn in a very clean comic style reminiscent of the animated cinematics of the original (or the Firaxis house style circa Civ V).

After years of creating barbarians and Mahatma Ghandis for the Civilization series, art director Greg Foertsch was given the task of reimagining the look of X-COM. Shedding the original's Saturday-morning-graphic-novel look for one of slightly stylized "miniatures", Greg Foertsch and his team of artists have pored over the details of everything from the insectoids to the Skyranger. Check out the video below to see concept art and screens from the game and to learn more about how the new game takes advantage of an active camera.



In addition, we've got three more screenshots from the game in the media gallery below for your viewing pleasure.

•Destructible environments

•In the scenario they showed, one member died. Because of this the other squadmates didn't get an experience bonus

•Without the bonus, the sniper leveled up still. He was able to choose from two abilities. Either Squad Sight(which means he can shoot anything a squadmate can see) and Snap Shot(which lets him shoot after moving. Something snipers aren't normally allowed to do)

•You can't recruit specific classes. You can only recruit rookies and then level them up to become specific classes

•The guys in suits in the screenshots are 'Thin Man' aliens. They're able to leap long distances

•Challenge is stressed a lot

•same quick save/load system though they are considering an iron man type mode where you can't load previous saves

•Firaxis states that they're not rebooting it, they're re imagining it. Using the same core gameplay with modern technology, weapons, audiovisuals, etc.

There's apparently a 'Heavy Armed Mobile Cover Platform that serves as a powerful rock on which to anchor any tactical advantage' and you can directly customize the heavy troops armor and weapons individually.



THE VAST MAJORITY OF XCOM'S CONTENT COMES IN THE FORM OF PROCEDURUALLY GENERATED MISSIONS AND ENCOUNTERS, MEANING THAT EVERY PLAYTHROUGH UNFOLDS DIFFERENTLY. (Sorry for the caps, just quoting here.)

•randomly generated missions, terrain. Developer says you'll never play the exact same mission twice outside of a few story missions which feature in-game cinematics

•fog of war is confirmed. area starts off with darkness everywhere, and the average soldier can't see shit

•enemy spawns are randomized

•mobile platform called SHIV; customizable for new chasis

•Sectoids and Mutons confirmed

•The base's screenshot is accurate. It is now a side shot instead of top down. You can also upgrade your base, like the satellite, with alien technology

•There was an example in one scenario where Japan had the laser rifle already developed before the invasion because they felt threatened, so that seems random.

•You have 16 countries in the funding council you need to keep happy. Some provide more money, but others, like Africa, provide more raw resources

•The sniper units have a grappling hook ability to get on top of buildings

•Gunners have a suppressing fire

•you can equip your xcom guys with all kinds of different guns. customization looks like a big deal

•Apparently there's some sort of cinematic view when your guys get killed. They didn't cite VATS or anything, so I doubt it's too in depth

•Unexperienced agents can panic, freak out, etc if something bad happens

•Firaxis designer states that the PC version will have an enhanced interface. He cites Dragon Age: Origins on PC and console as a big inspiration

OK, so as evidently the only flippin' Game Informer subscriber in any forum anywhere, it falls to me to dish the data from the issue I received yesterday.



•No black blobs in Firaxis's XCOM. The guys in suits are called "Thin Men" and they can use weapons, jump large distances, and puke disgusting goo.

•No action points. The game uses a move-and-shoot (or move-and-move) dynamic. They don't want people piddling around counting individual action points. Some will call this a concession to consolitis; others will call it useful streamlining.

•Soldiers gain perk-like abilities when leveling up; some examples given are, for a sniper, Snap Shot (move-then-shoot, not normally a sniper option) or Squad Sight (shoot any enemy anyone on your squad can see -- not sure of the rationale there....).

•Environments are destructible, as we would wish.

•Soldiers can still panic, but not to the point of wiping the squad. Likewise, you'll never get plasma-bombed right out of the carrier. They want to make the game more fair, and those were specifically mentioned.

•The strategic layer is extremely robust. You still need to choose which countries to send missions to, which offers of aid (in exchange for more protection) you'll accept from which countries, which alien technologies you'll research, etc. The back-and-forth between tactical and strategic play remains at the heart of the game.

•Overwatch, duck-and-cover, etc. are all still very much present, tactically.

•You can research vehicles, which take the place of a squaddie. They don't gain XP and when they are destroyed they are lost for good, but they provide serious cover and firepower. One example given is a mobile heavy weapons platform that serves as a good overwatcher for a tactical advance.

•Sectoids and Mutons are in. Cyberdiscs and Thin Men are also mentioned. Evidently psionics are also in.

•Aliens have their own special perk-like abilities as well.

Overall it looks really fucking fantastic and I am now DAY ONE.

The article specifically cites a sniper spending their entire turn to take an aimed shot for Massive Damage. Perhaps it's more accurate to think of the game as having only two action points per turn, for Move-Shoot, or Move-Move, or Aim-Shoot, etc.



Gus, like I said, overwatch is in the game. In, in, in the game. You definitely can set up squaddies who haven't used all their actions in a turn, such that they can do overwatch and shoot the instant something comes into view.

Reloading costs an action, so it is a tactical consideration. Ducking into cover is the main positioning mechanic they mention. They also mention supppressive fire as another mechanic -- your heavy weapons guy can lay down a barrage that can paralyze pinned units (e.g. remove their actions). Grenades are in, wounding is in. Generally it doesn't sound like there are fewer tactical options, but rather that the bookkeeping is simplified.

Apologies if the article was unclear, but the deal is that sniper rifles are unusual in that they take a full turn to shoot. You can unlock a move-shoot perk for snipers at some experience level, but your basic sniper rifle takes a full turn to fire.



Ammo is abstracted. You're assumed to be carrying enough clips to reload as much as you want, but it takes a turn to do so. Suppressive fire is crazy awesome, for instance, but it burns through ammo like a mofo so you're borrowing turns down the road to kick ass now.



Body positions - AIUI you are assumed to be kneeling behind partial cover etc. They didn't go into a ton of detail here. Personally that's a level of control granularity that I'm not concerned about preserving, so long as I have other awesome shit that I can do and creative tactics to explore. Which from what I've seen will not be lacking.

So yeah, you only have one base. Building different bases has been removed, but you still buy satellite coverage (the new radar) and build hangars for interception in different countries. Your single base is like way more crazy awesome than any base from the original, though, and presents lots of opportunities for more decision-making in terms of digging deeper as well as what kind of expansion facilities you add on (see the screenshot of the "ant farm" that we put online Monday).

Scroll past this quote for new info:=======================================================UPDATE - 01/26/2012 - NEW GAME INFORMER ARTICLES WITH COMBAT DETAILS==============================================================================================================UPDATE - 01/24/2012 - NEW GAME INFORMER INTERVIEW WITH LEAD DEVELOPER==============================================================================================================UPDATE - 01/18/2012 - NEW GAME INFORMER ARTICLE ABOUT ALIENS==============================================================================================================UPDATE - 01/16/2012 - NEW GAME INFORMER ARTICLE WITH MUSIC PREIVEW==============================================================================================================UPDATE - 01/13/2012 - NEW GAME INFORMER ARTICLE WITH 2 NEW SCREENS=======================================================Also, here is a few snipits directly from the article from Marikir:=======================================================UPDATE - 01/12/2012 - NEW SCREENS=======================================================Character creation / customization?Research!=======================================================UPDATE - 01/11/2012 - THREE NEW SCREENS FROM GAME INFORMER ARTICLE==============================================================================================================UPDATE - 01/11/2012 - MORE INFO FROM GAME INFORMER ARTICLE=======================================================Ok, it looks like some of the information we got from people who read the Game Informer article was wrong. Apparently those people didn't read it right or something. Anyway, here are some clarifications:More info from people who've read the Game Informer article:=======================================================UPDATE - 01/11/2012 - NEW SCREENS, VIDEO, AND ART FROM GAME INFORMER==============================================================================================================UPDATE - 01/10/2012 - NEW INFO FROM GAME INFORMER=======================================================NEW INFO FROM GAME INFORMER PREVIEW! (Removed link because I think their forum crashed from traffic. Um... oops?)MORE NEW INFO!=======================================================UPDATE - 01/09/2012 - NEW SCREENSHOTS AND INFO==============================================================================================================ORIGINAL POST=======================================================And there was much rejoicing. http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2012/01/06/why-firaxis-loves-xcom.aspx