14 DAY TRIAL // The development team at Firaxis might have disappointed a lot of fans with its announcement that XCOM 2 was being delayed to next year, but they are still ready to offer more details about the coming game, with the focus now on the crew that will be housed in the new Avenger mobile base.
Gamers will be able to interact with three core characters, coordinating the activity of the organization as they seek to find weaknesses in the alien defenses and take back Earth from the invaders.
An-Yi Shen, aka Lily, is the chief engineer for the XCOM organization, following in the footsteps of her father, who was involved with the organization during the first war.
Firaxis states on the official site that "Chief Shen is a results-oriented individual who rarely shies away from conflict and finds it impossible to be complacent; a moment not spent working with her hands is a moment wasted. At the beginning of XCOM 2, she has yet to meet the Commander, but after hearing your praise from trusted allies over the last 20 years, is ready to trust that XCOM is in the right hands."
Dr. Richard Tygan is the new chief scientist, who was involved with Advent for a while after the invasion and was troubled by the way they were controlling humans and decided to join the resistance movement.
The crew of XCOM 2 features one returning character
Central Officer Bradford is reprising his role from the first game, as he was able to escape from the original headquarters when the aliens assaulted it.
Firaxis says alcohol became a problem for him, but once news arrives that the Commander was located and would lead the resistance, he decided to get back to work and to try and get some wins over the aliens.
The new game will expand on the tactical turn-based elements seen in the original, with more variety when it comes to the maps and five new character classes that gamers can tweak in a variety of ways.
The new mobile base, the Avenger, is a sign that the strategic layer has also changed, with gamers now forced to rely more on surprise attacks in order to take out alien outposts as they look for openings in their defenses.
XCOM 2 is now set to arrive on February 5 of 2016 and will only be offered on the PC.
