Here I was thinking it wouldn't be my birthday for a couple of weeks yet there pops up Firaxis, out of the blue and with a brand new X-Com game to get me all excited. I can honestly say this is one that caught me completely by surprise and saved me from another potential downer blog (you know how much I hate to write those) because now I get to gush about another franchise I'm head-over-heels for. (And for once I won't be kowtowing for Capcom. Good thing too, my knees were starting to chafe.) On the eve of Gears of War's newest attempt to diversify with their 'Tactics' (A game which hopes to copy much of the 'turn based tactical' framework that X-Com built), they'll have to contend with the surprise drop of this X-Com universe title which seeks to undermine them in all the major ways.
Now of course this isn't a straight up sequel to X-Com 2 but a side story, but unlike the canonically dubious events of 'The Bureau', I think that 'Chimera Squad' is set to detail the next steps of the franchise and that does have me quite excited. For those who haven't had the pleasure I'm about to lightly spoil the ending of X-Com 2. (The games aren't really about the developer made-story anyway, but I feel it's best to share that upfront.) Basically, at the end of X-Com 2 the commander uses their avatar link to confront the ADVENT Elders, whom at this point have been revealed to be tyrannical alien overlords who have enslaved countless alien races over the cosmos to serve in their army. The Commander manages to sever their neural network, essentially breaking the psychic control those Elders had over their forces, allowing the human resistance to force a surrender out of them. The closing shot of the game features the aliens in retreat, the humans taking back earth and a final eerie shot on a glowing crevice at the bottom of the ocean, lightly hinting at a new threat closer than we think...
Obviously that's a cliff hanger that'll have to wait (It's probably just teasing a remake of 'Terror from the Deep' anyway) as this title actually takes place in a post ADVENT controlled world wherein the pieces of society are being picked up and put back together. This time, however, there are entire menagerie worth of stranded alien species with no more psychic link to their overmasters looking for a place to call home. Obviously, with humans being as dumb as we are, we've accepted them into our home although that does not come without caveats; which in this case means making a lot of concerted efforts to bridge cultural gaps, join the right hands together and help the populace get over the fact that we're now supposed to be 'buddy buddy' with the same aliens who nuked all of our cities and enslaved us for years. (So there's going to be a few growing pains, clearly.)
In this effort there has been the founding of City 31; a model city which is created in the hopes of showcasing how humans and aliens can live together side-by-side without being at each others throats. This means that this is a politically pivotal city, and that it's under everyone's best interests that this city works flawlessly and doesn't descend into chaos within the first week. In comes Chimera Squad, a sort of future police force comprised of officers both human and alien who are trying their best to keep the city safe for the good of it's citizens and broader human-alien relations. (How very wholesome.) As players, we'll be tasked with guiding this force and picking their fights for a comparatively lower stakes campaign that still promises to be just as fun to shift through.
One of the aspects about the X-Com franchise that I truly love is the way how each game has a different approach to the metagame, (as well as the moment-to-moment) that ensures that even as each game vastly improves, it never invalidates one's desire to play the older entries. 'Enemy Unknown' had a greater focus on reacting to the aliens, making for a balancing game wherein the players could hold off the collapse of the world government practically indefinitely with the right tactical forethought and RNG. 'X-Com 2' changed that up with a complete switch to the power dynamic so that players would have to be the ones on the offensive. Suddenly the game was about racing a clock and pushing for ground before you ran out of time, making for an entirely fresh gameplay experience. Chimera Squad looks like it's going to lean more toward the initial game's model but with some changes; players will have to manage the city districts from descending into chaos whilst, I assume, unravelling the guiding hands behind this developing crime wave.
All that being said, at it's heart it would seem that 'X-Com: Chimera Squad' is the exact same game that we know and love with it's tactical planning and RNG based shooting, only with some new additions. One such addition is this new 'SWAT-Style' breech mode which allows players to set up their squad around the different entry points into a location for a surprise hit. It adds that extra layer of planning into the equation and allows for games to kick off in that flanking formation which makes X-Com so fun. There also appears to be quite a slew of new weaponry to discover and research and I'd imagine such development projects are going to take a vastly different approach to how we last saw them realised in previous X-Coms. (Something tells me that performing autopsies on the City 31 citizens might not be on the table anymore.)
There are some decisions which are bound to be somewhat contentious, however, and for me I think that'll be the idea of making ever single character in the campaign (As far as we know) a fixed character. This allows for some more story and character-based development, as well as permitting for unique powers for each ally, but it takes away some of that classic X-Com individuality. No longer will you find yourself naming soldiers after friends before watching them perish before your very eyes, as they'll all have their names and personality pre-set, effectively cutting off one of the franchise's most endearing qualities. However, given the community that's sprung up around X-Com, I wouldn't be surprised if some enterprising individuals aren't already cooking up a quick mod to patch that particular feature back in.
But what's that last cherry on top of the cake? The one thing that'll knock my socks off and let me know that I have to pick this game up? How about the fact that it's coming out on April 24th and is debuting for $10 at launch! On May it's going back up to 20, but even then that seems like an absolute steal for what is being promised to be a 20 hour game. (And that's not even taking into account the huge-replayablity value inherent with this genre of game.) So if you've never pulled the trigger on the excellent X-Com franchise before there is literally nothing stopping you from doing so this time around. 10 bucks for an X-Com game? That really can't be beat and I just cannot wait to get a glimpse into this brand new world that Firaxis are building. (And heck, I only have to wait a few days to do so!)
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