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Firaxis has announced XCom Chimera

https://xcom.com/

The game realeases next week. Gameplay will be similar to standard XCom tactical gameplay. But this game is more character-focused, and will feature a pre-selected team of characters. The game is set five years after XCom 2, and the team is a mix of humans and aliens.

At launch, the game will be available for $10US, but the price will rise at the start of May.

Game Reveal Trailer -


GAMEPLAY OVERVIEW -


Showing as £8.49 in the UK, so probably worth a punt...

Next week? I know firaxis has one of the worst issues about talking to their customers, but you don't go from 0 to released in a week.

Voss wrote:
Next week? I know firaxis has one of the worst issues about talking to their customers, but you don't go from 0 to released in a week.

Oh yeah - it doesn't even have a Wikipedia page yet

Starships had an "announcement to release" cycle that was almost as fast. Given the minimal price tag, this seems like a similar "we thought this might be fun" release. Though hopefully, since it uses XCom's tactical engine, it'll be better than Starships.

Also, I suspect that this is a lead-in to XCom 3.

I think I may enjoy this, will most likely get it. I liked the look and a somewhat radical change from the grimness of Xcom 2 is welcommed

Eumerin wrote:
Starships had an "announcement to release" cycle that was almost as fast. Given the minimal price tag, this seems like a similar "we thought this might be fun" release. Though hopefully, since it uses XCom's tactical engine, it'll be better than Starships.

I'd really hope so. Starships was absolute dog-manure.

Also, I suspect that this is a lead-in to XCom 3.

An interesting thought.

If I'm reading it right (on the store page), it looks like there are 11 pre-set agents, with no real customization. And you're defending a human/alien coexistence city against 'underground threats'. Functionally, the opposite of Xcom in many ways.
I'm actually somewhat intrigued- didn't like 2, but this seems to ditch a lot of the nonsense I didn't like.

Will wait and see what the reaction (and some gameplay) is like for the first couple days, if it looks promising, may pick it up before the month turns over.

Voss wrote:

If I'm reading it right (on the store page), it looks like there are 11 pre-set agents, with no real customization. And you're defending a human/alien coexistence city against 'underground threats'. Functionally, the opposite of Xcom in many ways.

Yup. Your team is a set of unique characters, each with their own abilities and personality. There's no recruiting, and no one is expendable. Presumably, there's a basic story arc of some sort, which is one of the reasons why they're going this route.

Now that I've finally been able to watch the gameplay video, I've a couple of additional comments -

1.) It looks like the battle areas might be noticeably smaller than in XCom 2. Instead of huge, sprawling maps this time around are more self-contained. So you might be fighting in a large warehouse, instead of a sprawling desert compound.
2.) Breach looks an awful lot like a similar mechanism in Phantom Doctrine, The difference is that in Phantom Doctrine, it was something that you could do at any point during a mission, so long as you hadn't triggered any alarms (and doing it with silenced weapons while simultaneously killing everyone in the room that you were breaching would keep alarms from going off), and could only be used to designate the targets of your breaching shooters (along with the entrances that they would be using). In Chimera Squad, it's something that you do at the start of every mission, and you can use it to maneuver around the inside of the breached area instead of just picking targets..

Looks kinda fun. I wonder what Xcom 3 will have but it looks like a good game between the time.

So this seems like a small game which would kill some time. I dunno how long the game would be. I'm a little worried about gameplay even if I like xcom and somewhat the story. The main issues I have is enemy unknown was legit that. It was totally alien and fear of the unknown. Xcom 2 was a bit of that as well as things not being what they seem and kind of sinister as well as authoritarian. This game seems to make the aliens a little too familiar. It looks fun but it may as well be a breach and clear game with a swat team except with humans and aliens. It could be fun but the threat isn't so mysterious or alien right now and that was part of the appeal for me. The feel of the game seems a little too hopeful and bright.

I wonder if they’ll ever do the Terror from the Deep reboot that was hinted at?

 Nostromodamus wrote:
I wonder if they’ll ever do the Terror from the Deep reboot that was hinted at?

That would be quite something. I've heard that Terror from the Deep was actually extremely difficult, since you had to manage operation both on land and sea. It would be interesting to see how they adapt it to the more modern gameplay.

Hopeully this is a prelude to an X-Com: Apocalypse style game, rather than a replacement for one.

 SkavenLord wrote:

 Nostromodamus wrote:
I wonder if they’ll ever do the Terror from the Deep reboot that was hinted at?

That would be quite something. I've heard that Terror from the Deep was actually extremely difficult, since you had to manage operation both on land and sea. It would be interesting to see how they adapt it to the more modern gameplay.

IIRC, part of the difficulty is that you had to capture live aliens to progress your research in certain areas. But not just any live aliens, you also had to capture specific classes (commander, engineer, etc.) of specific races. So this often made for some very risky moves in missions to get those captures.

 Tannhauser42 wrote:

 SkavenLord wrote:

 Nostromodamus wrote:
I wonder if they’ll ever do the Terror from the Deep reboot that was hinted at?

That would be quite something. I've heard that Terror from the Deep was actually extremely difficult, since you had to manage operation both on land and sea. It would be interesting to see how they adapt it to the more modern gameplay.

IIRC, part of the difficulty is that you had to capture live aliens to progress your research in certain areas. But not just any live aliens, you also had to capture specific classes (commander, engineer, etc.) of specific races. So this often made for some very risky moves in missions to get those captures.

You also had to make sure you captured a certain live alien before a few months have passed, because if you don't you can't research armor.

 Tannhauser42 wrote:

 SkavenLord wrote:

 Nostromodamus wrote:
I wonder if they’ll ever do the Terror from the Deep reboot that was hinted at?

That would be quite something. I've heard that Terror from the Deep was actually extremely difficult, since you had to manage operation both on land and sea. It would be interesting to see how they adapt it to the more modern gameplay.

IIRC, part of the difficulty is that you had to capture live aliens to progress your research in certain areas. But not just any live aliens, you also had to capture specific classes (commander, engineer, etc.) of specific races. So this often made for some very risky moves in missions to get those captures.

You had to do that in the original, as well. But TFTD took that (and pretty much everything else) and ramped it up to eleven, requiring a lot more of them. I never played very far into TFTD game, but my understanding is that most of the elements of it were essentially "this is like the original game, but more needlessly complicated".

This game certainly hints at an Apocalypse-style mega-city, suggesting an Apocalypse-style game in the future. But there are a few things to keep in mind -

1.) Jake Solomon is not involved with this game. So while this game can be seen as providing information about what happens on Earth after Liberation Day, be more careful regarding clues about the focus of upcoming games in the franchise based solely on Chimera Squad.
2.) One of the new endings in War of the Chosen reemphasized the idea that something was coming, and that the harbinger of that was from underneath the ocean. That would suggest that the original hint still holds.
3.) It's highly unlikely that whatever is coming has been hiding under the ocean for a very long time, as was the case with TFTD. The Ethereals in the reboot are running from something. It's unlikely that they'd run to the planet that this unknown threat was hiding on. So while the new threat might emerge from underneath the ocean, it's unlikely to be the original source of it.
4.) Coupled with number 3, and contra number 2, it's entirely possible that the only reason that we saw something under the ocean is because that's where the final base was hidden. It could emerge anywhere.

In any case, we'll learn more when Chimera Squad releases next week.

I dunno this game seems to be starting to rub me the wrong way somehow. I'm a bigger fan of the new xcom series than most and played xcom 2 over 3000 hours total but the aliens are too well known instead of mysterious. The trust between human and alien at least among the chimera squad feels too solid in the comic looking trailer about squad biographies. All of that aside the game is more of a swat squad tactics breaching game rather than a planetary defense simulator.

Perhaps the xcom reboot series hit it's high point and is going downhill like it's predecessor series.

Maybe I should try out Phoenix point to see if it scratches the same itch as xcom: eu and xcom 2.

 flamingkillamajig wrote:
I dunno this game seems to be starting to rub me the wrong way somehow. I'm a bigger fan of the new xcom series than most and played xcom 2 over 3000 hours total but the aliens are too well known instead of mysterious. The trust between human and alien at least among the chimera squad feels too solid in the comic looking trailer about squad biographies. All of that aside the game is more of a swat squad tactics breaching game rather than a planetary defense simulator.

Perhaps the xcom reboot series hit it's high point and is going downhill like it's predecessor series.

Maybe I should try out Phoenix point to see if it scratches the same itch as xcom: eu and xcom 2.

Well it's a spinoff. That's kind of why it's only 20$ (10$ on sale till may 1st). If this was X-com 3 it'd be a bit of an issue but it's not claiming to be.

Also PP is just.. currently pretty unbalanced.

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:

 flamingkillamajig wrote:
I dunno this game seems to be starting to rub me the wrong way somehow. I'm a bigger fan of the new xcom series than most and played xcom 2 over 3000 hours total but the aliens are too well known instead of mysterious. The trust between human and alien at least among the chimera squad feels too solid in the comic looking trailer about squad biographies. All of that aside the game is more of a swat squad tactics breaching game rather than a planetary defense simulator.

Perhaps the xcom reboot series hit it's high point and is going downhill like it's predecessor series.

Maybe I should try out Phoenix point to see if it scratches the same itch as xcom: eu and xcom 2.

Well it's a spinoff. That's kind of why it's only 20$ (10$ on sale till may 1st). If this was X-com 3 it'd be a bit of an issue but it's not claiming to be.

Also PP is just.. currently pretty unbalanced.

Considering Interceptor was a thing, I can kind of understand how this might look like the start of a downhill slope. On the other hand, judging from the trailer it feels like this is to X-Com what Blood Dragon was to Far Cry. Some goofy side project not meant to be taken all that seriously and completely divorced from the main line in terms of setting and story.
Still hoping the fish monsters get here soon.

It seems pretty explicit that it is part of the story line:

About this Game wrote:XCOM: Chimera Squad delivers an all-new story and turn-based tactical combat experience in the XCOM universe.

After years of alien rule, humanity won the war for Earth. But when the Overlords fled the planet, they left their former soldiers behind. Now, five years after the events of XCOM 2, humans and aliens are working together to forge a civilization of cooperation and coexistence.

Its the opposite of Blood Dragon in that regard. 'In the XCOM universe' and '5 years later' don't leave much room for doubt.

The setting makes sense. Unlike in fhe original game, the invasion succeeded. So a lot of aliens were settled on Earth. Earth was liberated following a decapitation strike that took out the Ethereals who were enslaving the other alien races. That meant that there were a lot of aliens still on Earth folowing the Liberation. A lot of those will likely surrender if given the opportunity. In fact, one of the ending videos for War of the Chosen shows hybrids doing just that. So what do you do with the alien survivors?

You only really have two choices with the survivors. You can't send them back home. So you can either kill all of them, or try and co-exist with them. A mass slaughter has ethical issues (and would cause them to start fighting again). And co-existance would likely lead to the situation we see here.

Some things to keep in mind -

1. This city may be an experimental outlieir. This city might be the test to see if integration works. It's possible that most cities don't have more than a trace alien presence in them.
2. The hints in the game suggest that the Ethereals are running from something. So unlike in the original setting, there is probably no empire out there composed of the original races.
3. The next game will likely feature an entirely new cast of aliens completely unrelated to the current group. While it may be underwater themed, I would be surprised if any of the races are "just like that XCom 1 race, but aquatic!" as was the case with some of the TFTD races.

The next game could be an interesting cross between TFTD and Apocalypse, in that the new alien enemy will be aquatic in nature, but coming from another dimension. Or, if not another dimension, they're using portals to travel to Earth rather than coming by space.

Voss wrote:
It seems pretty explicit that it is part of the story line:

About this Game wrote:XCOM: Chimera Squad delivers an all-new story and turn-based tactical combat experience in the XCOM universe.

After years of alien rule, humanity won the war for Earth. But when the Overlords fled the planet, they left their former soldiers behind. Now, five years after the events of XCOM 2, humans and aliens are working together to forge a civilization of cooperation and coexistence.

Its the opposite of Blood Dragon in that regard. 'In the XCOM universe' and '5 years later' don't leave much room for doubt.

Ah, I didn’t notice that part. Thanks for pointing it out. I must admit that I haven’t gotten around to XCOM2 yet, so I’m probably missing some context as to the current state of affairs.

Either way, hoping it works out well.

Xcom 2 was pretty bleak and serious. I just feel the tone and focus of this one are off. You were always the underdog. I don't even mind interstellar humans fighting much stronger aliens but the underdog feel has to stay there. Perhaps I'm just not into these off-shoot games. It's still similar to xcom 1 and 2 but the tone just doesn't feel the same. It is more a swat tactics game in the xcom universe. It might work but the old off-shoot games were supposedly often not good.

Either way if you get it early it's only 10 USD down the drain which isn't a huge loss. I'm more interested for gears tactics and Phoenix point personally. I have my fingers crossed for gears tactics and the new xcom game though. I'm waiting for some reviews to come out from friends before I throw down 60 USD for gears tactics due to cost.

Back to the topic I might be ok with terror from the deep style. Is this like swamp monsters and cthulu beasts? If I recall we've explored either the moon or mars more than our own ocean floor. That definitely would put the mystery feel back in. It could be a bit claustrophobic too which would definitely make it tense and good.

If you don't like the tone, then don't buy it. No one here is trying to convince you that you must buy it. The price point indicates that this is not a regular game. Nor is it an off-shoot like Interceptor. Interceptor was a full-on space combat sim set in the X-Com universe. It was priced just the same as any other normal game. The X-Com FPS would have been priced similarly had it been completed (and no, I'm not referring to The Bureau). Chimera is priced like a DLC. It's meant for people who are willing to shell out ten or twenty bucks for twenty hours worth of turn-based tactical play. It's not pretending to be XCom 3.

Again, if that doesn't appeal to you, then don't buy it. It does appeal to me.

"Terror from the Deep style" can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. Those who didn't play it just think "underwater aliens". Those who did play it think "reskinned X-Com with small changes made just to make your life more difficult, a dramatic increase in difficulty, much longer just for the sake of being longer, and game-breaking bugs."

We shall see. But we still don't know when.

As I said it's just 10 dollars so no big. I'm more on the fence than disgusted by it. I might give it a shot but I need a little convincing.

 flamingkillamajig wrote:
As I said it's just 10 dollars so no big. I'm more on the fence than disgusted by it. I might give it a shot but I need a little convincing.

I'm not here to convince you. I'm only here to tell you that it exists.

 flamingkillamajig wrote:
Xcom 2 was pretty bleak and serious. I just feel the tone and focus of this one are off. You were always the underdog. I don't even mind interstellar humans fighting much stronger aliens but the underdog feel has to stay there. Perhaps I'm just not into these off-shoot games. It's still similar to xcom 1 and 2 but the tone just doesn't feel the same. It is more a swat tactics game in the xcom universe. It might work but the old off-shoot games were supposedly often not good.

Either way if you get it early it's only 10 USD down the drain which isn't a huge loss. I'm more interested for gears tactics and Phoenix point personally. I have my fingers crossed for gears tactics and the new xcom game though. I'm waiting for some reviews to come out from friends before I throw down 60 USD for gears tactics due to cost.

Back to the topic I might be ok with terror from the deep style. Is this like swamp monsters and cthulu beasts? If I recall we've explored either the moon or mars more than our own ocean floor. That definitely would put the mystery feel back in. It could be a bit claustrophobic too which would definitely make it tense and good.

Well, its easier to do flyovers with probes in space than it is to deal with the interference of all that water and pressure.

As for mystery... eh. It depends on how its done (assuming it happens)- the most logical approach is to just dock with an enemy ship underwater (because stomping across the ocean floor in fights isn't really practical), in which case mystery and exploration aren't really a thing.

Sponsored video playthrough:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ94VU_EAgw

Jumps right in after a short cinematic that reminds me a bit of the not-particularly-animated videos for the Genestealer cults update.

Incidentally, XCom 2 is free to play right now on XBox One and Steam. This lasts until the 29th for XBox players, and the 30th for Steam players.

I heard a fairly positive review of somebody that already has the game. That makes me feel somewhat better.