Developer: Firaxis Games, Feral Interactive
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Dark Souls III Release Date: February 5th, 2016
XCOM 2 is an upcoming turn-based tactical video game in development by Firaxis Games and published by 2K Games for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux. It is set to be released in February 2016. XCOM 2 serves as a sequel to 2012's reboot of the series, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and will take place 20 years after the events of Enemy Unknown, following the continuity that XCOM lost the war. As with previous games in the series, XCOM 2 casts the player as the commander of the eponymous military organization, now a resistance force opposing the ongoing alien occupation of the planet. Players take control of the Avenger, the new mobile base for XCOM. Players are tasked to give commands to squad members in battles against aliens during missions, while commanding the engineering and research department of the base between missions to create and research improved and new gadgets, weapons and technologies to assist players in battle. Soldiers can be recruited, with each soldier class having their own skill trees and abilities. For example, the Grenadier class can gain access to explosives and grenade launchers, while the Ranger are equipped with melee weapons like swords. Armor and weaponry can also be researched and upgraded by the player in the Avenger base. Each mission's environment will be influenced by the world's state, while maps will be procedurally-generated to create a wide variety of levels, in which every map will feature different terrain and buildings in each play-through. Mods will also be supported. Campaign, class and enemy types can be created by users and can be shared through Steam Workshop. A one-versus-one multiplayer mode will also return from Enemy Unknown. New enemies will also be featured, such as units from the new faction, ADVENT, and more alien types like the Viper.
When players begin each mission, their squad will not be detected by any enemies. They can position their troops to plan their battle and ambush enemies. The player can also loot corpses of enemies to obtain weapons, upgrade parts and artifacts. Melee weapons will also be featured. Players can also hack into enemies' weaponry like turrets and use them for themselves. Soldiers in the squad can be killed by enemies, however, their bodies can be carried back to extraction to keep their equipment should the player deem it necessary to abort the mission. Likewise, if a soldier is critically wounded and it is deemed necessary to abandon the mission, a soldier can carry the wounded soldier to extraction where they will be revived upon leaving the map. XCOM 2 features faster combat than Enemy Unknown, as there will be a lot of "hit-and-run" missions where players must rush into facilities to complete their objective quickly and return to the extraction point immediately. The mission structure of the game will also be different from other XCOM video games, as XCOM 2 will feature secondary objectives for the first time in the series.
Customization also returns from Enemy Unknown, in which players can customize their soldiers' personalities, names, uniforms, and costumes. Furthermore, genders, nationalities, and weapons can also be customized. Bonus customization options are available to those who pre-order the game in the downloadable "Resistance Warrior Pack."
The game is set in 2035, 20 years after the events of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, in a scenario in which humanity was defeated by aliens. XCOM proved incapable of attenuating the alien threat and was quickly betrayed by the council nations, who surrendered to the aliens shortly after the invasion began. XCOM became nothing more than a resistance force, and went off the radar to avoid persecution at the hands of the aliens. Most of its members either submitted to alien rule and left behind their past or, some, like Central Officer Bradford refused the alien administration and went into hiding. Earth is now controlled by the aliens through the puppet ADVENT Administration, and XCOM has been long-forgotten, members silenced and records erased. ADVENT has done much to gradually improve public opinion of the aliens, most notably by the propagation of the belief that the aliens came in peace, and that the forces of Earth retaliated aggressively and with prejudice.
The player again assumes the role of the Commander, who for unknown reasons had up until recently been placed in alien stasis. Players will take command of the Avenger, an alien supply barge that has been converted into XCOM's mobile base, and free humanity from alien rule. In the Avenger, the Commander has the support of rogue ADVENT scientist Dr. Richard Tygan and Chief Engineer An-Yi Shen, daughter of the now deceased Dr. Raymond Shen, whom the Commander was familiar with in XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Central Officer Bradford returns as the key coordinator to the player's anti-alien efforts, emerging from the underground as a grizzled veteran of two decades of constant persecution from the aliens.
