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Remake XCOM is a reboot rather than a sequel to X-COM / UFO, the only image shown is the branding from the remake so I think apart from the odd homage (like the Guile haircut) you're unlikely to see any designs from the 90s game.

I hope it isn't just a skirmish wargame (though interesting market for modular terrain sets given the limited combat maps in the games) because why play that instead of Halo, or Deadzone, or killteam etc. beyond look? But the campaign aspect of xcom hasn't been captured, even more if you make it against other players.

My money's on something like the Mass Effect game, with a quest book of battle maps and a story that summarises the way a typical campaign pans out and escalates

Details remain incredibly sparse, but the game is listed under the Five X header on the Modiphius website. This increases my hope and excitement greatly.

Five X is solo focused, right? That... makes sense, so nobody has to sacrifice themselves playing the alien mooks... but also makes me have to ask, why would I faff about with crafting terrain and tracking my progress with a pencil and all that work when I can just play the PC game?

 lord_blackfang wrote:
Five X is solo focused, right? That... makes sense, so nobody has to sacrifice themselves playing the alien mooks... but also makes me have to ask, why would I faff about with crafting terrain and tracking my progress with a pencil and all that work when I can just play the PC game?

I mean, same reason you faff about with painting miniatures, crafting terrain, and tracking your progress with a pencil in any wargame rather than just playing a turn-based tactical strategy game on the PC. Because all that other stuff is hobby, and you want to.

Also, the Five X series tends to be emergent narrative campaign generators attached to a solo/co-op wargame. Being a solo/co-op experience, there's much more leeway to tweak, change, or houserule without regard to army/scenario balance as in PvP wargaming. So, invent a new alien species or tech. Write your own three-mission mini-campaign/quest. Add boss monsters from Five Leagues from the Borderlands. Add tank combat from Five Parsecs: Tactics. Use Five Parsecs player species to see what XCOM would be like with friendly alien allies. Come up with your own underwater combat rules and recreate Terror from the Deep. Your table, your story, your game.

I too am of the camp where if playing solo I wonder why i don't play an RTS instead. For me the physical nature of wargaming is linked tot he uman part. I don't begrudge people their solo game fun, it just isn't for me.

I hope there is a hardcore mode like in Enemy Unknown where you get to destroy the opponent's minis once you kill them in game. They'd have to be bag o' green army men cheap though in that case...

I love the idea of solo games but would be lying if I said they grab me long-term in the same way a game with more players does. Co op games that can also be played solo are the sweet spot

 warboss wrote:
I really hope you'll have all three version of the MEC trooper (or I suppose four if you count them outside of the armor).

I remember always putting helmets on those, because having a tiny human head on a huge robot body looked stupid as hell.
I also remembered there being a lot of gnashing of teeth over them on the forums because of how extreme the process was...which was like, the whole point of that expansion.

Personally, I think Firaxis made a mistake when they abandoned the earlier concept of the meld soldiers looking unhealthy and unnatural.


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 warboss wrote:
I hope there is a hardcore mode like in Enemy Unknown where you get to destroy the opponent's minis once you kill them in game. They'd have to be bag o' green army men cheap though in that case...

GW would love to have that precedent, and that alone is reason enough for that to be a bad idea


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Billicus wrote:
Remake XCOM is a reboot rather than a sequel to X-COM / UFO, the only image shown is the branding from the remake so I think apart from the odd homage (like the Guile haircut) you're unlikely to see any designs from the 90s game.

Tbh, I would be more interested in a TFTD miniature game than Firaxcom. Because Lobstermen and T-Rexes with sonic cannons are cool.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

I remember always putting helmets on those, because having a tiny human head on a huge robot body looked stupid as hell.
I also remembered there being a lot of gnashing of teeth over them on the forums because of how extreme the process was...which was like, the whole point of that expansion.

Personally, I think Firaxis made a mistake when they abandoned the earlier concept of the meld soldiers looking unhealthy and unnatural.

I frequently did as well for asthetics as well but not always. My favorite line from Enemy Unknown/Enemy Within was when you converted your first MEC trooper and Dr. Chen says he'll get started immediately on the necessary amputations. Gramps was hardcore!

 warboss wrote:
I hope there is a hardcore mode like in Enemy Unknown where you get to destroy the opponent's minis once you kill them in game. They'd have to be bag o' green army men cheap though in that case...

GW would love to have that precedent, and that alone is reason enough for that to be a bad idea

No chance, lol. The key to that working is the word "cheap" which isn't in their corporate vocabulary.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

Tbh, I would be more interested in a TFTD miniature game than Firaxcom. Because Lobstermen and T-Rexes with sonic cannons are cool.

Heck yea. And, for being just a reskin of the same game, TFTD added a lot of new gameplay.

Being at the bottom of the sea is also relatably terrifying so it really dialled up the horror aspect (something that fell by the wayside a little bit in firaxis' game)

Though blowing the ammo reserve on levelling an alien ship with those directional missiles was always fun...

What's funny is that the DPLs were nerfed compared to OG blaster launchers.
In TFTD you can only use DPLs underwater.
In UFO Defense there were no such restrictions.


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Billicus wrote:
Being at the bottom of the sea is also relatably terrifying so it really dialled up the horror aspect (something that fell by the wayside a little bit in firaxis' game)

I found that Firaxcom dialed down the horror aspect in general. It became very apparent in XCOM 2 where they just outright introduced super saiyans, complete with the hair.

In War of the Chosen they doubled down with having your soldiers being able to potentially kill 20 zombies in a turn with a pistol, Protoss-wannabes who can parry literally everything, and permanently stealthed troopers that can solo some maps if you are careful.

It's one of the reasons why I was looking forward to Phoenix Point which promised a more horror themed aesthetic...until they toned it down on release and made your soldiers look like football players instead of scavengers who are just barely getting by and reduced the body horror on the Pandorans.

It certainly has plenty of horrific elements (like, people getting liquified in big vats horrific) but yes the overall tone/style is more aligned with something out of the MCU (which figures, as Jake went on to make Midnight Suns).

Well, I finally got something back from signing up to the mailing list.

It's an open call for play testers with prior testing experience.

So, it's going to be a while before we get the game.

There's also a grainy gif of what looks like a sectoid from firaxis XCOM Enemy Unknown (the first reboot game) that I think it's probably okay to share since it is in marketing material:

 Psychopomp wrote:
Well, I finally got something back from signing up to the mailing list.

It's an open call for play testers with prior testing experience.

So, it's going to be a while before we get the game.

We're doing some final balance testing on the enemies and missions - the game is written and in layout so won't be that long. PDF's will go out prior to printing for a final chance to check as well.