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Easy gets easier in upcoming XCOM: Enemy Unknown patch

Earnest Cavalli
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XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Over the past few weeks, you have been playing XCOM: Enemy Unknown, right? I don’t have the time or inclination to detail the various reasons why you really, really ought to own this game, but fortunately for my sense of brevity we reviewed the title in full and as you can see from that impressive 9.5 out of 10 score, we’re pretty keen on how Firaxis Games resurrected the long-dormant XCOM franchise for modern gaming systems.

That’s not to say the game is without flaws. Though rare (and even more rarely game-breaking), there are a few bugs in XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Fortunately, Firaxis is most notable as a developer of PC games, so issuing post-release patches for a title to clear up lingering problems is a relatively common practice for the studio. Further, that PC development background also means that Firaxis is used to explaining every aspect of its upcoming patches in exacting detail, lest fans freak right out when they discover undocumented changes. Thus, a post has appeared on the official 2K Games forums, detailing exactly what Firaxis has in store for the game’s upcoming, second patch.

Have a look:

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Major Fixes
• Abductor roof visibility problems resolved 

• Interception game hang issues resolved

  • If two interceptors are sent after UFO
  • If Skyranger is returning from combat after an Interceptor was already deployed

• SHIV inaccessible issues resolved 

• AI Alien Activity Hang resolution 

• Multiplayer connectivity optimization 

Related

Other Fixes
• TempleShip optimization: All Soldiers properly spawn when restarting the mission after clearing the second room of TempleShip 

• Snapshot penalty should no longer apply when Overwatching without first moving. 

• Easy Difficulty is now easier.

Despite the relatively short list of changes, the effects of these alterations seems as if it might be dramatic. Optimizations and corrections to how the AI processes line of sight for characters standing on the rooves of alien craft is relatively standard stuff and should serve to make the game a more solid, engaging experience for the playerbase as a whole, but it’s not until we get down to the “Other Fixes” section that we see something really exciting. We’re not talking about the change to the Easy difficulty mode to make it even easier (though that will probably go a long way toward keeping new XCOM players interested in the game), but instead are referring to that change to Overwatch. Any experienced XCOM player will tell you how useful the skill is — in short, it allows a character to immediately fire on any enemy entering his or her field of vision — and we’re giddy to see Firaxis improve it in this way.

Unfortunately, the forums post isn’t all good news. There is one other bug that Firaxis knows about, but was unable to fix, and unfortunately it’s pretty major. For a very small minority of players, beating the final mission has been causing an unexpected “Game Over” screen to pop up, as if all of their troops had died. Obviously this makes it difficult to properly finish the game. According to the forums post, the company has received a few save files in which this bug is present and are currently working on a solution. Firaxis currently has no timeline on when it might officially patch this problem.

Firaxis has yet to offer a release date (or even an estimated release window) for this patch, though we expect it relatively soon. On release it should be available to all XCOM players, regardless of platform, and as per usual the patch will be totally gratis.

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Earnest Cavalli
Earnest Cavalli
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Earnest Cavalli has been writing about games, tech and digital culture since 2005 for outlets including Wired, Joystiq…
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