Pissed about an X-Com FPS? Firaxis hears ya...

[Malakili]

So, apparently a new Xcom game next month? Set in 1962?

Anyone heard anything about it, beyond the stuff on Steam?

I think that is what the XCOM FPS eventually turned into.  I think we have a thread for it lying around somewhere.

[Sky]

A retro xcom in the Firaxis engine would've been awesome.

I feel bad for the kids in Marin trying to follow up that one.

[Teleku]

Oh, this is the wierd FPS XCOM done by the bioshock people?  Meh, guess we'll see, not to confident.

They really need to release another expansion to this game.  Really enjoyed it, and I need an excuse to go burn another 100 hours on it.

[Morat20]

The trailer didn't look FPS at all. Looked like Xcom with a power wheel to select abilities, rather than the little buttons at the bottom.

I was digging the retro vibe with the 60s g-men and all.

[Mrbloodworth]

It looks pretty Fuckin' awesome if you ask me. However, i still wish it was a "LA NOIR: X-COM". That would be bad ass. But I am a sucker for this Time frame, and subject matter.

[Khaldun]

LA NOIR: X-COM sounds great. Seriously, a mini-game where you interrogate aliens in LA Noir Style would be  .

[satael]

Men in Noir (where some aliens might actually be kind of friendly) 

[Mrbloodworth]

LA NOIR: X-COM sounds great. Seriously, a mini-game where you interrogate aliens in LA Noir Style would be  .

I was thinking a more, X-files like Inquiry game. But sure, I guess. lol.

[Samprimary]

DATELINE: AUGUST 25. The introduction of alien technology, genetics, and psionics have altered society drastically in the wake of the First Alien War and forced the world to cope with dramatic change — often poorly. Then, our sense of security against future alien incursion is threatened by a series of increasingly concerning events and attacks, the source of which cannot be determined. Eventually, X-Com is recommissioned and brought back into service, tasked with blah blah blah also something happened which means you have to start from ground zero in terms of technology sorry brah

[Ironwood]

What is this you're talking about ?

[Samprimary]

from rock paper shotgun

Last night a mysterious entry appeared on the South Korean ratings board website – something called XCOM: Enemy Within. And that was all that was known. Technically, that is still all that is known, except that now we know it’s for real. Publishers 2K have confirmed to Eurogamer that it, whatever it might be, will be revealed at Gamescom later this month.


Obviously people are most strongly hoping this will be a full sequel to Firaxis’s surprise hit of last year, XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Surprise because it did quite so well, despite fears that a turn-based strategy might not prove popular in today’s modern world of sparkly lights and flat-screen skateboards.

It could, of course, also be a new lump of DLC. It would have to be a significant one, since the Slingshot Pack has already appeared containing extra missions. Others have speculated something for tablet or phone, but since Enemy Unknown came out for iOS in June, that doesn’t seem too likely either.

I want it to be a full-fledged sequel so I'm brazenly declaring that it is. Who needs confirmatory proof? This is GAMES JOURNALISM.

[Ingmar]

[Fabricated]

So is it going to be the undersea thing, or the Mars mission?

[Ironwood]

Undersea please.

[Rasix]

Crab people.

[Samprimary]

As Enemy Unknown was to be a spiritual remake faithful to the first X-Com, Enemy Within is going to take the lessons learned from their success in adapting the system to modern tastes, and add the complexity, flavor and mood that really drove the experiences of Terror From The Deep and Apocalypse. Enemy Within will feature engaging and multi-layered overworld management similar to how Apocalypse had you managing a complex world full of independent social and corporate entities; vehicular combat has been expanded into a fully realized and intense experience require a fulfilling set of command skills in the quest to down UFO's and respond to intrusion and alien sightings before your unknown enemy (or enemies) can eat away the foundations of civilization under you. The tactical portion of the game will see you balancing a large variety of psionic, heavy, stealth, long range, support and tactical units with a wide variety of weaponry and tactical tools left over from the First Alien War, but watch out — as is always the case with X-Com, you will quickly find yourself facing off against superior foes, alien craft, and technology which force you to capture, study, and adapt their technologies for your purposes. A complex and engaging full soldier management system ensures that each recruit brings a unique talent set to your team, plenty of options for diverging development, and a series of physical and psychological limits that you should be sure not to push too far — soldier rotation is key in the stressful and danger-filled world of Enemy Within. Over the course of your mission to uncover the alien secrets, bases, and purpose, you will find yourself in places of fantasy and nightmare, from hives in the bottom of the sea to the forgotten underlevels of Earth's megapolises to the dizzying heights of megacorporate superstructures to the surface of Mars. It will also come with a pony.

[Ironwood]

Jesus fuck mate, dial back the mescaline.  That's some paragraph.

[Phildo]

Wait a minute, "Genre: Action"?  I already pre-ordered before I saw that, but now I am experiencing trepidation.

[Samprimary]

Jesus fuck mate, dial back the mescaline.  That's some paragraph.

I have to make this game be described really really fast before they have a chance to start describing it themselves. That way they're playing catch up and they have to make the game completely as awesome as it should be.

If I don't do this you never know they might make it an action game.

[lamaros]

Isn't this the action remake that was slammed and then cancelled/re-done?

Doubt it's a sequal to the fun game.

[Ingmar]

There's some confusion in the ranks here.

THREE GAMES IN TOTAL:

XCom Enemy Unknown, the turn-based one that is out

The Bureau: XCom Declassified, which is the action cover shooter thing

XCom Enemy Within, which is something we just found out about today and is probably related to XCom Enemy Unknown

[lamaros]

There's some confusion in the ranks here.

THREE GAMES IN TOTAL:

XCom Enemy Unknown, the turn-based one that is out

The Bureau: XCom Declassified, which is the action cover shooter thing

XCom Enemy Within, which is something we just found out about today and is probably related to XCom Enemy Unknown

Ah, I didn't realise it had been renamed already. We can only hope this is a sequel then.

[Margalis]

XCom Enemy Within, which is something we just found out about today and is probably related to XCom Enemy Unknown

Spoiler: It's a mobile game.

[Ingmar]

That explains why it has Steam assets and shows up on the South Korean ratings site for PC/Xbox/PS3. 

[Samprimary]

XCom Enemy Within, which is something we just found out about today and is probably related to XCom Enemy Unknown

Spoiler: It's a mobile game.

nooooooo

[Phildo]

I need to remember to actually learn my lesson next time.  The Bureau better be good.

[Samprimary]

I actually think the Bureau is a win-win situation here given the robust success of X-Com: Enemy Unknown. Even if it flops, it just provides a succinct message to the developers that people want the tactical remakes and not the generic action shooters.

Probably better that Bureau succeeds, though.

[rk47]

Bureau is a sad cash grab attempt and another reminder to developers not to cross genres when they're trying to bring in a 'spiritual successor'.
Too bad someone didn't learn that lesson. Starbreeze: Syndicate was "a lost battle from the get-go"

Winning gamers over on EA's FPS reboot of Syndicate was a doomed endeavour from day one, according to developer Starbreeze.

Speaking in an Edge interview, CEO Mikael Nermark argued that whatever approach the Swedish studio had taken with the project, a portion of the fanbase would have been unhappy.

"We knew from the get-go that there was going to be a small but very vocal [group] of gamers and journalists that was going to hate us whatever route we took," he explained.

A retarded excuse to make, considering none of the syndicate fans wanted a FPS reboot.

[Fabricated]

I didn't think it was too bad of a game for a linear sci-fi FPS. The problem is you called it Syndicate and hired Skrillex to do a fucking dubstep cover of the original theme.

You could've changed nothing about the game and tried selling it as a new IP, then released it at a better time and price point and people probably would've liked it better.

[Megrim]

meh, its the usual "blame everyone but yourself for making a shit game" blather. Dude just wound it up a notch by directly blaming the fans. Clearly there must have been a subset that really really wanted an fps. 

[schpain]

meh, its the usual "blame everyone but yourself for making a shit game" blather. Dude just wound it up a notch by directly blaming the fans. Clearly there must have been a subset that really really wanted an fps. 

your avatar's fringe is getting a little long, you're bordering on screamo.

[Samprimary]

Starbreeze's effort did indeed deserve a little more success than it got - it picked up a very respectable 7/10 in Eurogamer's Syndicate review.

Yeah, wouldn't call 7/10 respectable in this industry

[Miasma]

The final reward tier was unlocked for preorders, it's a free copy of the xcom collection including enemy unknown.  Comes out Tuesday.  So does anyone know if there is some kind of toggle to turn this into a turn based game instead of, what is it like a squad based shooter?

[Mrbloodworth]

I believe the fighting is turn based in a VATS like sort of system. Or full on (3d)FPS.

[DraconianOne]

XCOM: Enemy Within - full on expansion with new Mec(h) class and Gene Mod upgrades. Due out November 15th 12th.

EDIT: Got release date from a news site but the announcement trailer gave a date as 11.12.13 and I'm presuming that's in US format.