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Talk about a surprise announcement! 2K and Firaxis announced an entirely new, standalone XCOM game today. It's called XCOM: Chimera Squad and it is set five years after the events of XCOM 2. Perhaps the best and most surprising part about today's announcement is the fact that XCOM: Chimera Squad is slated to be released on April 24, 2020 with a limited-time introductory price of just $9.99 (USD).
As this is a game set five years after the events of XCOM 2, things are a bit different than what you may expect them to be. Humans, hybrids, and aliens are now all working together "to forge a civilization of cooperation and co-existence." Of course, just as is the case in the real world, there are people in the videogame world that aren't too thrilled about the idea of this interspecies alliance.
Serving as a "model of peace in a post-invasion world," the location of City 31 is being threatened by "mysterious groups." You will take control of Chimera Squad in an effort to take out any of these mysterious threats. Chimera Squad is a group that blends together human, hybrid, and alien agents. There will be 11 unique agents, each having their own personality and tactical abilities. This also means that they have "species-specific" attacks that they can make use of.
As with other titles, team composition is often the key to victory. There are a number of combos that can be executed depending on the composition of your team.
Firaxis released two separate trailers for today's announcement. One is the reveal trailer while the other is a gameplay overview video. This announcement is coming in real hot given that the game is set to be released in just 10 days (from the time of this posting).
On April 24, the game will be purchasable for the PC via Steam for $9.99. If you are interested, you can pre-purchase it right now. Once May 1, 2020 rolls around the game will go up to its regular price of $19.99.
XCOM: Chimera Squad includes the following features:
- Unique Alien and Human Agents:Each of the 11 agents have their own distinct personality and tactical abilities, including species-specific attacks like the Viper’s tongue pull;
- Specialized and Complementary Classes: Execute devastating combos by teaming the right agents and utilizing cooperative actions. The difference between mission success and failure can depend wholly on team composition;
- Re-Envisioned Tactical Combat: Missions are structured as a series of discrete, explosive encounters, keeping the action intense and unpredictable;
- Breach Mode: Players will shape the battlefield to their advantage with a new combat phase that injects squads right into action. They will strategically assign agents to different entry points and coordinate their assault plans with a range of Breach-specific skills;
- Interleaved Turns: An automatic initiative system will slot individual agents and enemies into an alternating turn order, creating new strategic possibilities based on what unit is queued to act next – and what unit is at the greatest risk when they do so;
- Suspenseful Strategy Layer: Outside of combat, players will manage the operations of a high-tech HQ, where they must prioritize competing tasks, investigations and agent assignments in the face of a ticking clock: the constantly rising unrest in the city’s various districts, driving City 31 closer and closer to total anarchy.
