It’s been 20 years since the alien invasion, and things have not gone well. What was once a violent, invading force has infiltrated the government to become a much more insidious, dystopian regime. Humanity needs your help again, commander. XCOM 2, a full sequel to Firaxis’ extraordinary 2012 reboot of the classic turn-based strategy series, comes to PC this November.
2K recently teased us with a cryptic website for the Advent Administration, a government promising better, more secure living through technology, with a strong whiff of dystopia. Apparently the alien invasion from the previous game was a success, and now XCOM is relegated to rogue status. The roles have been reversed from the previous game, with XCOM now as the invading force, secretly staging guerrilla operations out of a flying air base just like SHIELD/Hydra‘s, while trying to manage limited resources and evade alien detection.
The reveal trailer, shared by IGN, does not contain any actual gameplay yet, but does offer a tantalizing taste of what’s to come. There’s a flying drone that knocks out a power-suited enemy with an electromagnetic pulse, a snake alien, and even a ninja-looking fellow on your team with a sword on his back. The battle also breaks out in a bustling city center, which is in sharp contrast to the usually abandoned battlegrounds of the previous game. Civilian casualties and collateral damage might become a greater concern with the move to guerrilla, urban warfare.
Jake Solomon, who helmed the previous game, has returned as lead developer. True to Firaxis’ roots, XCOM 2 will come first to PC exclusively, but it will almost certainly follow onto other platforms like consoles and tablets. More details will be shared in the coming weeks, with the big gameplay reveal scheduled for E3. 2012’s XCOM is one of the most critically adored games in recent memory, and a personal favorite, so I am extremely excited to share more details with you as they come out.
