14 DAY TRIAL // XCOM 2 was officially revealed yesterday, and one of the big surprises of the announcement is that, in the coming title, gamers will have to once again start as underdogs, trying to take their own planet back from aliens who have managed to occupy it in its entirety.
The premise of the new title from Firaxis and 2K Games is that when the invaders first appeared, the effort to create a coherent force to face them moved too slowly, and after big initial casualties, the public opinion forced governments to ask for peace.
Now aliens have managed to create massive cities in which they house most of the population, which is being kept quiet by the promise that all diseases can be eradicated, and their lives can be improved by the technology of their masters.
Jake Solomon, who is leading the development of XCOM 2, is quoted by IGN as saying that "Players are no longer the commander of this elite military force. They are commanding a very hardened group of freedom fighters and guerrilla fighters, and they’re leading them to ignite a global resistance and wake everyone up, and then try to rescue Earth from the government that now controls it."
Some fans will be unhappy that all their efforts in the first game were for naught, but the premise gives the studio the space it needs to deliver new gameplay mechanics.
The Avenger will be at the center of a new strategic map
The trailer for XCOM 2 showed some very interesting elements about the world of the coming turn-based strategy title, but there were no actual gameplay images included.
Firaxis has not talked about the way the new strategic layer will work, but they are confirming that the player will always be mobile, using a massive plane called the Avenger to stay ahead of the aliens who are trying to take the entire organization down.
It's unclear how the new incarnation of XCOM will be able to hold territory or how it will get the resources that it needs to take the fight to the aliens in their massive cities.
Firaxis says that it wants to create more tension in the new video game and that the array of options gamers will have for each combat situation will be greater than in the initial installment of the reboot.
XCOM 2 will be launched in November and will only be offered on the PC.