XCOM 2 [official site] is a hugely exciting prospect (so much so that I’m genuinely grumpy about the delay), but XCOM and X-COM are so very different things by now that it’s unlikely to slake anyone’s thirst for a true-blue, Gollopy experience. Fortunately, sounds like we might also be in for a sequel to unofficial X-COM spiritual sequel Xenonauts [official site], 2014’s Cold War-set alien invasion strategy title. … [visit site to read more]

I… Uh. Erm. Must be polite. As much as I love it, I don’t know if I’m into XCOM/X-COM for the fiction? Like, at all? It certainly didn’t work for me when they wrote a tie-in book for the original 90s game. But, here we go. XCOM 2: Resurrection is a whole damned novel which explains what happened between XCOM 1 and XCOM 2 – i.e. how the aliens ended up in charge of the Earth and besties with humanity. I feel like an introductory cutscene might have been enough to explain that, but then again I’m pleased that XCOM is clearly enough of a success that it’s getting spin-offs. … [visit site to read more]

Is it you? No? What about you? Or you over there, with the… oh God, what is that on your face? Oh, sorry, you’ve just been at the cronuts again, haven’t you? Well, I know it’s one of you. One of you hasn’t played XCOM: Enemy Unknown [official site] yet. Just the one, though. This means that this post will surely be our lowest-trafficking of all time, but I shall write it anyway as a public service. XCOM’s free on Steam this weekend. … [visit site to read more]

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.>

Oh no! XCOM 2: Be The Baddie has been delayed until next February. If you’re anything like me that wait is agony>. There is no stronger recommendation I can give to get through it than XCOM 1 mod Long War. … [visit site to read more]

A message, beamed into the RPS mobile base from an unknown source:

“Hello, Commander. In light of our desire to ensure that the upcoming extraterrestrial reign of terror is a significant improvement on the gloriously successful incursions of 2012, this council of developers has convened to approve the activation of the XCOM 2 Delay Project. You have been chosen to spread word of this initiative. To oversee our first… and last* change to the release date. You may believe that releasing this year would have made all of your planet’s dreams come true but we are looking to the future. We urge you to keep that in mind as you proceed.”

Actually, I spotted the news on Twitter. XCOM 2 [official site] won’t be with us until February 5, 2016.

… [visit site to read more]

Once a week most weeks, team RPS gathers, eyes itself warily across the table then debates. Sometimes it’s about SCANDAL, like slow-motion Batman or No Man’s Sky hype, other times it’s about perennials, like best levels ever or if Early Access means the end times.

This week, we’re discussing the pitfalls and merits of platform exclusives, in the wake of Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture being PS4-only, despite its devs making their name with the PC-only Dear Esther. In recent months similar has happened with Tomb Raider, and of course there’s a long history of this sort of thing, from your Marios to your Halos. Is this right? Is it sensible? And what about the other side of the coin, with XCOM 2 being PC-only? Not so grumbly then, are we? Let’s see if we can figure this one out, eh? … [visit site to read more]

I suspect our Adam will be filing a fulsome hands-on XCOM 2 report from the Gamescom frontline before too long, but as my frail vegetarian body couldn’t possibly cope with another week of watching people eat sausages, all I have to go on in these here 19 screenshots and a video. They’re particularly exciting screenshots for me, however, because they focus on soldier customisation, what goes on back at base and how the aliens are now essentially playing XCOM themselves. I want it I want it I want it, and I’ve written some thoughts about what’s been revealed below. … [visit site to read more]

XCOM 2 [official site] looms, but despite its many enticing changes it seems unlikely it’ll take Firaxis’ X-COM reboot much closer to the Golloptastic source material. As such, complicated, hardcore and remarkably extensive mod Long War is, I suspect, going to remain your best bet for a game which furthers the uncompromising, unsympathetic spirit of the original games. It expands so many elements, introduces many more, remixes almost everything, makes an XCOM campaign ten times longer and, if you so wish, repeatedly bloodies your nose in the process. And now, several years and 15 major releases later, it is more-or-less finished. Next, its makers will turn their hands to their own “grand strategy alien invasion game.” … [visit site to read more]

It’s a good day for watching videos of exciting upcoming games that isn’t polluted by jibber-jabber. Getting to appreciate the sound design of No Man’s Sky was a fine thing, and now I can see some of my most-anticipated game this year, XCOM 2 [official site], without interruptions from interviewers and soundbyteers. This ten minutes of alien-bothering appears to offer a meaningful glimpse of how a mission can play out. It looks significantly more XCOMy than some of the talk about big changes – especially in terms of role-reversal – might have suggested but, I think, in a good way. … [visit site to read more]

Another lifeboat for me reach out to in the endless sea of E3 hype is Firaxis’ XCOM 2 [official site]. Clearly it’s hardly a dead cert they’ll get it right, especially given that Civ Beyond Earth eroded some faith that the studio is willing to go outside its comfort zone, but there’s no game in vidyaland that I’m more excited about right now. Even though all we’ve been given so far is context. That’s just changed: here’s footage there’s footage footage now hooray footage

… [visit site to read more]