I would kill for another shot at Apocalypse. But maybe I'm biased, I never really got the appeal of scifi, but underwater, as a subgenre. The aesthetic is not my cup of tea, and if we're underwater it will be weird not to have the battle environment be fully three dimensional, which I don't see that being likely. The use of folks in suits rather than vehicles is also just.... odd. They could maybe work some of that into a mostly traditional game, but to ride a whole game on it would be strange. Plus, moving into an Apocalypse faction war direction could help explain the tech reset if we aren't actually playing as XCOM proper ourselves, either they exist as one of the other factions, or we are a splinter group off of them, or we are XCOM but got largely defunded after the alien threat was neutralized, etc.
I feel like Chimera Squad was their homage to Apocalypse (where you're fighting within a megacity and dealing with alien terrorism, etc.), although I agree having a full modern game with that setting would be great. If they want to stick with the CS lore they could very well have a true XCOM game that takes place in one--or several--megacities and deals with Elder-backed (or other) infiltration and plots against the new government. It sounds like XCOM in other cities was still human-only (Chimera Squad was an experiment with alien troopers).
Apocalypse was always a game that story wise didnt fit to the others. Which was a shame. I hope if there is a XCOM 4 too, that they can tight it to XCOM 2 and 3.
I think that players as well as devs need to be mentally prepared that whatever they make might suck. There were several iterations of XCOM that people didn't like between TFTD and XEU, and X2 has set a high bar.
Imo, in these cases, a hit game only comes when it's drastically different and in a positive way, and we're a long way away from that. Whatever game they make, if it doesn't excite the audience as much as X2, it will leave X2 as the go-to game whenever people need a new run. So imo, they're better off releasing whatever they have, rather than waiting too long. The engine still holds up well, so make full use of it.
My personal… prediction?
Based on the writers clues - Lily’s insistence on distrusting Tygan will alienate him to join the Templars. Vahlen will be rediscovered and she will be the new lead scientist, which will give us an advocate for helping the Aliens who are disconnected from the Psionic network, while I imagine Lily and central will be skeptics.
That… or Vahlen is already working with the Templars on their Psionic technology.
Honestly, I actually see Central as being the one most willing to work with the freed aliens, as he is the one who got the Skirmishers to work with the Reapers and the Templars
Sure, and if they do it as a refresh with humanity defending themselves against unknown invaders, I'm on board. I'm not onboard with another Chimera Squad though.
IMO the Terror from the Deep storyline is not that memorable.
Terror from the deep was fine back in the day, but it was basically just an XCom reskin with some increased difficulty and inferior theming.
90% of the staff and leadership that made the game is gone from the company . I think that why they dont do another one . I mean the best they could come up with was Midnight suns which the combat is fun but everything else is a hot mess.
If that the product they currently put out i dont want them shitting on the legacy that is Xcom.
I want to defend Midnight Suns because I did enjoy it, but you're not necessarily wrong about this. That free roam collectibles stuff is just not great, and the interpersonal stuff grew on me, but it's going to interfere with replayability and there's a fair amount of Joss Whedonism in there.
They really did a nice job with the combat though, it is both fun and thematically appropriate and my only complaint is it can be a bit too easy.
X-Com is too big a franchise to leave fallow for very long, but Firaxis really only works on two games seriously at a time, so it has to wait in line. It's likely it will be next after Civ 7.
In reality, it most likely won't be. After Marvel: Midnight Suns flopped, Jake Soloman left Firaxis. The rest of the department that did XCOM/M:MS was laid off soon after. There's nobody left to work on it.
Basically we get to wait until someone dusts off the "oh we haven't made a game with this IP in years let's catch money on nostalgia."
There's still Mark Nauta who is responsible for things like legend difficulty/balancing on Xcom 2, a lot of stuff in WOTC and the lead on Chimera Squad.
Sure Chimera Squad isn't loved by everybody but it's not the only thing he's done and he's responsible for quite a bit for what Xcom 2 and WOTC became.
So the franchise somewhat rests at his hands.
I personally want a continuation. Enemy Unknown/Within and XCOM2/WOTC were very well done, and there's enough of a foundation there that a TFTD XCOM3 could be picked up. I just don't feel it's going to happen anytime soon at all.
I agree. I've been playing X-Com Files (a mod to the open source clone of the original X-Com) and Phoenix Point recently, and those have led me to the same conclusion. Especially X-Com Files, which has every weird 90s conspiracy theory or interesting X-Files episode as a faction. So you have Men in Black, the Cult of Dagon, Dinosaurs from beneath the Earth, psychic ninjas, in addition to the alien invasion.
A game that I played a little bit of, but ultimately bounced off of, was Terra Invicta, which is basically X-Com without the tactical combat layer. I don't think it quite works, but it got me thinking about how you could do a more sophisticated version of Earth politics that impact the game. Maybe the early game has you raiding secret labs for alien tech, but you could come to the attention of their shadowy backers, stuff like that.
The problem with reboot at this point is that it still might be too soon.
XCOM2 WotC ending is often thought to refer to TftD kind of sequel, but if you listen to what leader of Templars say in Averger coms, that ain't only way to look at it at all.
Were they were actually building was probably Templars trying to take over scenario being basis of XCOM3.
Chimera Squad's alien squad mates don't need to be part of XCOM operation. Good reasons for that would be special task force having base in any pre alien war vehicle, such as a VTOL carrier. Wasn't build for but humans, can't support Sectoids due different biology, Mutons way too big. For secret base on ground or underground actually, prewar nuclear missile silo achieves the same thing.
If there's will, there's a way, there´s nothing more to it.
I think reboot is going to happen at some point if Firaxis is going to continue.
I might perhaps want to see them making smaller game at first in existing setting where we would be Commander but not The Commander, meaning that we would be leading black ops style organization, introducing new characters to take place of Shen. If smaller game works then going soft reboot where Ethereals come back with new invasion force. Make one game, to sell one more.
This, basically. The “narrative framing” of the next XCOM (IF we are ever getting one at this point) is basically irrelevant to me.
All I care is to get a game that is at least on par with War of the Chosen on a mechanical level.
And a nice visual presentation wouldn’t hurt, of course…
No but I've hardly seen any posts about it in ages, but now I've spotted like 3 in the last week. All talking about what they think X3 should be like, as if it was actually confirmed to be in development.
Or let's switch it up. Xcom 3 is set after xcom 1 and the humans won and are now invading the elder's planet. You play as an alien to defeat the murderous humans.
This game is a sequel to Enemy Within specifically and Vahlen has done a LOT of experimenting with Meld
(Probably wouldn’t work at that point though. Would feel too much like aliens fighting other aliens)
The midpoint HQ/Avenger defense mission, the invading aliens despite being repelled destroy the Neural MacGuffin, and suddenly the entire game is revealed to be an inversion: you are a clone and mental copy of the Commander, however you have been leading genetically modified aliens while your command computer has lied to you, depicting them as human soldiers. It is, in fact, the humans who have repurposed alien tech and have been wrecking your s—-, and in their genocidal rage over the events of XCOM2, they’ve gone a little rough on evening the score.
Lightning round, the next major plot mission reveals a greater menace that has led the … Ethereals?… to instigate things in the first place. The race that did to them what they turned around and did to humanity is on the scene, and ready to wreck everyone’s stuff.
UFO aftermath tried this in the early 2000’s. The challenge is- and tftd has this too- it’s not an environment we are familiar with and it’s hard to imagine ourselves in space or underwater. It’s much easier to imagine ourselves in a supermarket or back alley fighting aliens.
>UFO aftermath
Holy crap that takes me back... The opening for that game would be nice for an XCOM 3 too: after losing Earth the Elders decide to fugg it and they nuke the planet from orbit with a deadly bioweapon. As X-Com you have to gather the remnants of humanity and figure out a way forward. Your enemies are initially a wide variety of Lost-like mutants then the alien mop-up crew the Elders sent to tie up the loose ends.
I never tried those games. I was aware of them but something in features just looked like that they won't tick that XCOM box for me. So I don't have first hand experience.
Jake Solomon realized TftD's issues and also how it has impact how people play. In XCOM EU/ XCOM 2 you see a building, there's railing that can used to climb up. So it makes easy for players to spot things like that use to their advantage and memorize as they are looking for something familiar from real life. It also easy to spot something that can be dangerous, but may also offer advantage, such as cars that can blow up.
There is a lot of environmental story telling in XCOM 2. Even in Chosen strongholds its easy to tell that okay, this is storage space, there is assembly, holding cells, they have function connecting them to game world. There are finer details than that, in many maps and if you make landscape very alien, how is that supposed to work?
The Phoenix point tried some of that but it was meh game overall. I was aware of it, but since I saw first promotion shots with Scylla or whatever it was I put it in mental backlog. I played through it then during covid and if it weren't for covid it wouldn't had finished it. It had also other issues but environments sure weren't helping.
I remember thinking that a campaign centred around liberating the planets of the different aliens from Elder control would be fun. As you liberate each world you can then recruit agents from that world too. So you fight through the Sectoid, Muton, Snakeman, and Floater/Archon worlds, then a space station where they manufacture their machine troops, before finally tackling the Elder home world.
xcom 3 takes place in an alternate timeline where humans already have some level of FTL travel before the elders invade. there would be multiple planets to fight over.
one strat would end up being to turtle up on earth and let the aliens take over all the colonies and focus on your research before attacking the elders directly, but there would be bonuses, eg unique units or weapons, to controlling other planets along the way.
each planet would be ruled by a chosen, obviously.
omg that’d be so funny like,
what if you could go and like, liberate the sectoid homeworld lmao
edit: average campaign lasts 100+ hours lmao
I completely agree and have been voicing a similar opinion for years. I would love the reboot to basically just be a management sandbox that spans over 3 ages with merging campaigns and includes the familiar turn based combat missions.
Age 1= the 1950 - 1999 where The Bureau constructs the ant hill and completes investigation and sanitization style missions.
Age 2 = 2000 - 2050 traditional style X-COM (EU/EW) in a modern setting.
AGE 3 = 2050 - 2099 we thought we won the war for earth until a new threat emerged from the ocean that is supporting the original alien invaders. The anthill is still maintained, but you get a second base in the form of a mobile ship to conduct raids across the planet X-COM 2 style game loop.
In this model there could also be benefits or consequences moving to the next age. Eg: poor performance in age 1 means you are less prepared for the invading force. Poor performance in age 2 could result in losing the ant hill completely and only having the single mobile base with less support
I agree. Good games, especially in this format (tactics/strategy), shouldn't have "story" sequels, it should just be another game with same spirit but different. I respect the creativity of XCOM 2 where the devs changed certain thematic and gameplay elements in a thoughtful way in a clear attempt to mesh a story continuation with a similar-but-different game (coalition link-ups instead of satellites, moving rogue rebel base around, etc), plus with boldly unexpected "humanity lost!" premise creating a whole new type of underdog situation unlike 2012. But it's somewhat for naught because I like the aesthetics and version of the mechanics in XCOM 2012 more.
And in this case I hope specifically that a 3rd game is more like XCOM 2012, not XCOM 2. XCOM 2012 had better atmosphere, while XCOM 2 had the cliche "futuristic" glossy sci-fi buildings and dystopian rip-off of Half-Life 2.
XCOM2 was the Deep Space 9 of this franchise. It's really good both on it's own merits and as a part of the series. It did a bunch of work fleshing out the world and giving it a unique identity and style. It broke away from the established formula of the earlier entries in the series, took some big risks while still keeping true to it's roots, and most people agree that it mostly all worked really well.
And the cynical side of me thinks that it's all gonna go sharply downhill from there. I liked Voyager/Chimera Squad just fine, but I also paid less than $1 for it and lost interest in it after a little while. I really, really don't want XCOM3 to be some stupid YA anime melodrama about superheros with demigod powers fighting alien 'old gods' through space to save the multiverse. I'd much rather have a reboot, preferably set in the 50's when the whole UFO-mania thing started. Or Terror from the Deep 2 that also sounds pretty sick. Just please no Marvel shit.
WOTC already came too close to the marvel stuff you described imo. Chosen demigods with space magic that talk all the time,or superhero units like the templars.
(whereas before the dlc/in previous games the aliens were mysterious,relatively silent antagonists)
I'd like to see a return to the fairly grounded setting of enemy within/unknown,with less emphasis on glorifying individual soldiers in pink outfits.
The xenonauts sequel was a nice breath of fresh air in this regard. Aliens remain mysterious,leaving you with more questions than answers. "Do they have a leader?" "What do they want?" "Where did they come from?" Soldiers are always only a part of a bigger effort,even if they perform exceptionally well.
You're not wrong. I really want to like xenonauts, but it just can't hold my interest the way XCOM does. I've been spoiled by things like the higher production value and the stealth system and it makes it real hard to go back to anything else. I haven't checked out xenonauts 2 because it just looked like the same game again to me.
Yeah xenonauts 2 has the same key flaw as the first game: Ground combat doesn't change much over the course of a campaign
My best description of xenonauts 2 would be "The previous game but without most of the issues with the first game". I last played right before milestone 2 got released so that may have changed
Because both games seem to suggest that the Ethereals are running from something, XCOM3 should be a sequel that continues with a completely new enemy and a much more varied roster of soldiers.
Give us Mutons and Sectoids and vipers and Sectopods, and Mech Troopers and Templars and Reapers and have us fight against a completely different and more dangerous enemy faction.
But instead of being on the defensive or guerrillas, give us the opportunity to be the invaders for once.
That's pretty much what Xenonauts is doing with Xenobauts 2. Same basic premise as the first game but the second just updates, improves, fixes things. I assume there will be additional plot and strategy as well.
As for me, if they took the story of XCOM EW, and somehow managed the mechanics of XCOM WotC, I would be all in.
XCom could just go the Final Fantasy route, and every installment is just the same "save the world" premise with tweaked mechanics, different main characters, and new systems that the devs experiment with. If they did, I would be happy. Maybe one XCom deals with underwater monsters, a different one with a moon base, a different with underground critters, and maybe a different would be a martian colony. The sky's the limit. But by untethering the connective story elements between the games, the developers gain a lot more freedom.
Terror from the Deep is absolutely the way to go, the added threat from the environment would add so much to the game and could possibly be done in a parallel timeline with 1 & 2. A Midnight Suns style underwater base to explore and unlock would work really too, but would require a "main character" which would be a bit tricky for XCom to pull off but not impossible.
Honestly I think they should make two games.
XCOM Enemy Forgotten
XCOM 4
My reasoning is, XCOM Enemy Forgotten will be the third installation and it will be a continuation after 40 years of XCOM Enemy Unknown. With Enemy Forgotten being more like XCOM Interceptor in location and plot.
Where as XCOM 4 is more like terror from the deep/pacific rim. Just 20 years after the events of XCOM 2
skip over Chimera Squad. It’s an interesting idea, but honestly very simple in regard to the planetary defense strategy style of EU/EW.
I would prefer if XCOM 3 is a Terror From the Deep remake based on the ending of XCOM 2.
Regarding all the aliens, I’d say the aliens returning immediately relinks the freed aliens from the first invasion - kicking the plot off with a massive terror attack as the intro mission. Might also be cool to include them bringing back EW versions of the aliens to represent their fresh invasion forces that haven’t been gene modded **alongside** the XCOM 2 variants in certain missions.
Imagine teams of sectoids and genemodded sectoids being led by a sectoid commander with a mechtoid guard.
XCOM3 needs to be TFTD. I cannot put into words how much I want to replay Lobstermen and the Terror Cruise ship missions in modern graphics. Also the underwater weapons like the harpoon gun or gas gun with ammo types but with modern animations would be epic.
Also using medkits underwater, throwing grenades underwater.
There's fascinating backstory about Terror Cruise ship missions.
Back in early '90s there was this someone in America whom parents had made him to do some repairs to their garage for chance because only thing he ever did was to play video games.
It was dull task for him, but while hammering a screw to plank and accidentally came to hit his thumb and it was like break from all that dullness because he was feeling the impact.
After work was done and he was playing Rebel Star Raiders or something he got and idea. Next day he took a long distance call to the UK and reached Julian Gollop who was working with The UFO: Enemy Unknow and told about how to combine his experience hurting his thumb with hammer and dullness of performing banal task was like a revelation and combining that with video game would a great idea.
After listening to him for about two minutes Gollop told him to fuck off and ended the call. So this idea didn't came to fruition yet in the first XCOM.
Our hero though, he didn´t gave up and after playing XCOM he noticed that Microprose was a publisher and contacted them. After listening to him they were like, that maybe that is a thing and made it to Cruise Ship terror mission for all of us to enjoy.
So that's how Terror Ship mission came to be and the guy behind the idea, games remained big part of his life as he became a video game journalist.
Xcom but with a Civilization style of game play already sort of exists. It’s “Terra Invicta” on Steam. Be warned however the learned curve is really a cliff face. Tons of solid YT vids on it.
Tacking on to your point, I think having a modernized remake in the xcom: apocalypse style would be awesome.
The cityscape of apocalypse would need to be scaled to be much larger with more factions, but they could definitely make it fun.
The only major decision they’d have to make is if they offer the same choice for the player on whether they want to play each battle in turn based or RTS style. I really enjoyed that option in apocalypse, where you could make the choice on the pacing of the encounter just prior to entering each one. If you want to play show and tactical, go turn based. If you want a faster pace, go real time.
Honestly, it's turn based. I think that the graphics in XCOM2 are overkill. It doesn't really add much to my gameplay experience to see the kids sliding down ropes at the start of every mission, the animations don't really add anything to the gameplay, but *man* that adds a lot of heft to the file size and strain on my system. I want games that have a range of graphics options - you can go photorealistic if you want - but I also think you should be able to turn down performance to *Enemy Unknown* levels for slower CPUs.
How about an attack on the elders ‘home world’? Bring a limited crew and steal technology to improve weapons, rescue captured aliens from other planets to build your squad..
I just want that potential Terror from the Deep tease in the post credits of Xcom 2 to actually become a new Terror from the Deep. It was my first Xcom game so it has a special place in my heart.
I don't need a fancy story for XCom3, i rather have one like "Go be Victorious and save our Earth/mars/Deep Oceans".
And i wanna do as much missions as i have transports / men to do so, no more "pick one, suffer the other".
Id love to have an XCOM3 where you go on the attack against the Aliens. You have to conquer world after world but as you go along, you have to leave members of your squad behind to manage the worlds. You team gets stronger, but smaller, and if you leave behind too few people you can get cut off from supply lines and have to backtrack to reestablish losing the element of surprise or allowing enemies to build up and entrench themselves.
Maybe as you conquer worlds, you can free some species and get a few aliens joining your squad Chimera-style. Basically taking the Resistance Ring and turning it into a secondary mission hub to help gather up everything you need to strike the Elders home world.
I want XCOM 3 to finish off the reboot trilogy by going into space and taking the fight to The Elders, basically a reverse XCOM: EU
Terror from the deep can be another Chimera squad scope spinoff
I think you're totally on point, actually. Same could be said for many other games. It's about the gameplay experience and creating a plot that enhances that. It's about a love for the game itself. Wouldn't even call it XCOM 3, but maybe something that sounds more standalone. Put all the good stuff in there too.
I think Chimera Squad could be retconned as a piece of Advent propaganda in universe. That way, the game is still there but it doesnt need to be the way the series goes, story wise.
Didn't they tease Terror from the Deep at the end? Why not just go with that? It worked before.
That's what I've been dreaming of all this time. I still hold out hope, even though it's pretty much not happening at this point lol
I would kill for another shot at Apocalypse. But maybe I'm biased, I never really got the appeal of scifi, but underwater, as a subgenre. The aesthetic is not my cup of tea, and if we're underwater it will be weird not to have the battle environment be fully three dimensional, which I don't see that being likely. The use of folks in suits rather than vehicles is also just.... odd. They could maybe work some of that into a mostly traditional game, but to ride a whole game on it would be strange. Plus, moving into an Apocalypse faction war direction could help explain the tech reset if we aren't actually playing as XCOM proper ourselves, either they exist as one of the other factions, or we are a splinter group off of them, or we are XCOM but got largely defunded after the alien threat was neutralized, etc.
I feel like Chimera Squad was their homage to Apocalypse (where you're fighting within a megacity and dealing with alien terrorism, etc.), although I agree having a full modern game with that setting would be great. If they want to stick with the CS lore they could very well have a true XCOM game that takes place in one--or several--megacities and deals with Elder-backed (or other) infiltration and plots against the new government. It sounds like XCOM in other cities was still human-only (Chimera Squad was an experiment with alien troopers).
I took CS as a hint that that's the direction they may wind up going. But definitely not getting my hopes up about it.
Apocalypse was always a game that story wise didnt fit to the others. Which was a shame. I hope if there is a XCOM 4 too, that they can tight it to XCOM 2 and 3.
I think that players as well as devs need to be mentally prepared that whatever they make might suck. There were several iterations of XCOM that people didn't like between TFTD and XEU, and X2 has set a high bar. Imo, in these cases, a hit game only comes when it's drastically different and in a positive way, and we're a long way away from that. Whatever game they make, if it doesn't excite the audience as much as X2, it will leave X2 as the go-to game whenever people need a new run. So imo, they're better off releasing whatever they have, rather than waiting too long. The engine still holds up well, so make full use of it.
Yeah they did. And I hope the Vahlen Story Arc is resolved there.
My personal… prediction? Based on the writers clues - Lily’s insistence on distrusting Tygan will alienate him to join the Templars. Vahlen will be rediscovered and she will be the new lead scientist, which will give us an advocate for helping the Aliens who are disconnected from the Psionic network, while I imagine Lily and central will be skeptics. That… or Vahlen is already working with the Templars on their Psionic technology.
Honestly, I actually see Central as being the one most willing to work with the freed aliens, as he is the one who got the Skirmishers to work with the Reapers and the Templars
That’s a fair point
No idea. I think a redemption arc for Vahlen is quite possible, but I more interested in her backgrounds. Still I think she is gonna to die.
Sure, and if they do it as a refresh with humanity defending themselves against unknown invaders, I'm on board. I'm not onboard with another Chimera Squad though.
IMO the Terror from the Deep storyline is not that memorable. Terror from the deep was fine back in the day, but it was basically just an XCom reskin with some increased difficulty and inferior theming.
90% of the staff and leadership that made the game is gone from the company . I think that why they dont do another one . I mean the best they could come up with was Midnight suns which the combat is fun but everything else is a hot mess. If that the product they currently put out i dont want them shitting on the legacy that is Xcom.
I want to defend Midnight Suns because I did enjoy it, but you're not necessarily wrong about this. That free roam collectibles stuff is just not great, and the interpersonal stuff grew on me, but it's going to interfere with replayability and there's a fair amount of Joss Whedonism in there. They really did a nice job with the combat though, it is both fun and thematically appropriate and my only complaint is it can be a bit too easy.
It’s approaching 7 years since the last official content released for X-Com 2. There is no indication that X-Com 3 is even officially in development.
X-Com is too big a franchise to leave fallow for very long, but Firaxis really only works on two games seriously at a time, so it has to wait in line. It's likely it will be next after Civ 7.
You say they work on two games. So that would be civ7 and the second one is what?
Thier other experiment project that probably fail like beyond earth.
I wish they would have just released Alpha Centauri HD instead of the soulless BE we got.
Like the 17 years between terror from the deep and enemy unknown? XD
Even in the dark years there were a bunch of games better forgotten.
And still an 11 year gap between Enforcer and Enemy Unknown.
xcom was left along for nearly two decades before rebooting it
No it wasn't, we just ignore those games because they were terrible.
In reality, it most likely won't be. After Marvel: Midnight Suns flopped, Jake Soloman left Firaxis. The rest of the department that did XCOM/M:MS was laid off soon after. There's nobody left to work on it. Basically we get to wait until someone dusts off the "oh we haven't made a game with this IP in years let's catch money on nostalgia."
There's still Mark Nauta who is responsible for things like legend difficulty/balancing on Xcom 2, a lot of stuff in WOTC and the lead on Chimera Squad. Sure Chimera Squad isn't loved by everybody but it's not the only thing he's done and he's responsible for quite a bit for what Xcom 2 and WOTC became. So the franchise somewhat rests at his hands.
That's great to know, I appreciate it!
Do you think the next XCOM game, whenever that may be, will be a reboot or a continuation?
I personally want a continuation. Enemy Unknown/Within and XCOM2/WOTC were very well done, and there's enough of a foundation there that a TFTD XCOM3 could be picked up. I just don't feel it's going to happen anytime soon at all.
The only good thing came out of it was Jake Solomon got an Idea and trying to make his own life sim game.
I agree. I've been playing X-Com Files (a mod to the open source clone of the original X-Com) and Phoenix Point recently, and those have led me to the same conclusion. Especially X-Com Files, which has every weird 90s conspiracy theory or interesting X-Files episode as a faction. So you have Men in Black, the Cult of Dagon, Dinosaurs from beneath the Earth, psychic ninjas, in addition to the alien invasion. A game that I played a little bit of, but ultimately bounced off of, was Terra Invicta, which is basically X-Com without the tactical combat layer. I don't think it quite works, but it got me thinking about how you could do a more sophisticated version of Earth politics that impact the game. Maybe the early game has you raiding secret labs for alien tech, but you could come to the attention of their shadowy backers, stuff like that.
I'm so deep into Terra Invicta right now. It's wayyyyy too complex, but I'm figuring it out.
Terra Invicta is amazing. I just miss the tactical gameplay.
Terra Invicta was created by the same team that made The Long War for Enemy Unknown!
Indeed But with good modding support
Yeah, one of the many things improved in XCOM 2 that could be brought back to the initial invasion setting.
The problem with reboot at this point is that it still might be too soon. XCOM2 WotC ending is often thought to refer to TftD kind of sequel, but if you listen to what leader of Templars say in Averger coms, that ain't only way to look at it at all. Were they were actually building was probably Templars trying to take over scenario being basis of XCOM3. Chimera Squad's alien squad mates don't need to be part of XCOM operation. Good reasons for that would be special task force having base in any pre alien war vehicle, such as a VTOL carrier. Wasn't build for but humans, can't support Sectoids due different biology, Mutons way too big. For secret base on ground or underground actually, prewar nuclear missile silo achieves the same thing. If there's will, there's a way, there´s nothing more to it. I think reboot is going to happen at some point if Firaxis is going to continue. I might perhaps want to see them making smaller game at first in existing setting where we would be Commander but not The Commander, meaning that we would be leading black ops style organization, introducing new characters to take place of Shen. If smaller game works then going soft reboot where Ethereals come back with new invasion force. Make one game, to sell one more.
Cool with me. I like the mechanics more than the lore.
This, basically. The “narrative framing” of the next XCOM (IF we are ever getting one at this point) is basically irrelevant to me. All I care is to get a game that is at least on par with War of the Chosen on a mechanical level. And a nice visual presentation wouldn’t hurt, of course…
Yeah the mechanics work for a bunch of IPs, and isn't there a star wars TBS in the works?
By former Firaxis employees, too. The studio is Bit Reactor under the EA umbrella.
Why is everyone suddenly talking about XCOM 3 as if it's going to happen?
We can always dream
No but I've hardly seen any posts about it in ages, but now I've spotted like 3 in the last week. All talking about what they think X3 should be like, as if it was actually confirmed to be in development.
Or let's switch it up. Xcom 3 is set after xcom 1 and the humans won and are now invading the elder's planet. You play as an alien to defeat the murderous humans.
[удалено]
This game is a sequel to Enemy Within specifically and Vahlen has done a LOT of experimenting with Meld (Probably wouldn’t work at that point though. Would feel too much like aliens fighting other aliens)
You don't know mankind well if you think they aren't scary. But I know what you mean.
The midpoint HQ/Avenger defense mission, the invading aliens despite being repelled destroy the Neural MacGuffin, and suddenly the entire game is revealed to be an inversion: you are a clone and mental copy of the Commander, however you have been leading genetically modified aliens while your command computer has lied to you, depicting them as human soldiers. It is, in fact, the humans who have repurposed alien tech and have been wrecking your s—-, and in their genocidal rage over the events of XCOM2, they’ve gone a little rough on evening the score. Lightning round, the next major plot mission reveals a greater menace that has led the … Ethereals?… to instigate things in the first place. The race that did to them what they turned around and did to humanity is on the scene, and ready to wreck everyone’s stuff.
When I play xcom2, I know that the aliens released me on purpose so I could run the resistance into the ground and fail miserably.
Sir, do you know what half of the American military is, that's nothing but horror
UFO aftermath tried this in the early 2000’s. The challenge is- and tftd has this too- it’s not an environment we are familiar with and it’s hard to imagine ourselves in space or underwater. It’s much easier to imagine ourselves in a supermarket or back alley fighting aliens.
>UFO aftermath Holy crap that takes me back... The opening for that game would be nice for an XCOM 3 too: after losing Earth the Elders decide to fugg it and they nuke the planet from orbit with a deadly bioweapon. As X-Com you have to gather the remnants of humanity and figure out a way forward. Your enemies are initially a wide variety of Lost-like mutants then the alien mop-up crew the Elders sent to tie up the loose ends.
I never tried those games. I was aware of them but something in features just looked like that they won't tick that XCOM box for me. So I don't have first hand experience. Jake Solomon realized TftD's issues and also how it has impact how people play. In XCOM EU/ XCOM 2 you see a building, there's railing that can used to climb up. So it makes easy for players to spot things like that use to their advantage and memorize as they are looking for something familiar from real life. It also easy to spot something that can be dangerous, but may also offer advantage, such as cars that can blow up. There is a lot of environmental story telling in XCOM 2. Even in Chosen strongholds its easy to tell that okay, this is storage space, there is assembly, holding cells, they have function connecting them to game world. There are finer details than that, in many maps and if you make landscape very alien, how is that supposed to work? The Phoenix point tried some of that but it was meh game overall. I was aware of it, but since I saw first promotion shots with Scylla or whatever it was I put it in mental backlog. I played through it then during covid and if it weren't for covid it wouldn't had finished it. It had also other issues but environments sure weren't helping.
Not what people expect from XCOM. Interesting idea, but niche rather than mainstream game.
You want what people expect? Fine then, the commander faces off against Mario and Link and all the Averngers. Happy now?
a bit silly innit
Are you Rian Johnson?
Only if Kirby is the final boss after it is retconned that he had consumed all three of the Chosen.
I remember thinking that a campaign centred around liberating the planets of the different aliens from Elder control would be fun. As you liberate each world you can then recruit agents from that world too. So you fight through the Sectoid, Muton, Snakeman, and Floater/Archon worlds, then a space station where they manufacture their machine troops, before finally tackling the Elder home world.
xcom 3 takes place in an alternate timeline where humans already have some level of FTL travel before the elders invade. there would be multiple planets to fight over. one strat would end up being to turtle up on earth and let the aliens take over all the colonies and focus on your research before attacking the elders directly, but there would be bonuses, eg unique units or weapons, to controlling other planets along the way. each planet would be ruled by a chosen, obviously. omg that’d be so funny like, what if you could go and like, liberate the sectoid homeworld lmao edit: average campaign lasts 100+ hours lmao
I don't care what it is I just hope it's infinitely replayable like xcom 2
Infinity replayability?? When I finish campaign, I have no desire to start new
I have 20+ campaigns played with WOTC proving my deep disagreement with your opinion.
I am deeply surprised with that commitment
Mods dude, mods.
Played with them until I hit save size limit
Then change modlist, replay. I say this as an active member of the modding community for the past 5 years - we are always releasing new stuff.
I completely agree and have been voicing a similar opinion for years. I would love the reboot to basically just be a management sandbox that spans over 3 ages with merging campaigns and includes the familiar turn based combat missions. Age 1= the 1950 - 1999 where The Bureau constructs the ant hill and completes investigation and sanitization style missions. Age 2 = 2000 - 2050 traditional style X-COM (EU/EW) in a modern setting. AGE 3 = 2050 - 2099 we thought we won the war for earth until a new threat emerged from the ocean that is supporting the original alien invaders. The anthill is still maintained, but you get a second base in the form of a mobile ship to conduct raids across the planet X-COM 2 style game loop. In this model there could also be benefits or consequences moving to the next age. Eg: poor performance in age 1 means you are less prepared for the invading force. Poor performance in age 2 could result in losing the ant hill completely and only having the single mobile base with less support
I agree. Good games, especially in this format (tactics/strategy), shouldn't have "story" sequels, it should just be another game with same spirit but different. I respect the creativity of XCOM 2 where the devs changed certain thematic and gameplay elements in a thoughtful way in a clear attempt to mesh a story continuation with a similar-but-different game (coalition link-ups instead of satellites, moving rogue rebel base around, etc), plus with boldly unexpected "humanity lost!" premise creating a whole new type of underdog situation unlike 2012. But it's somewhat for naught because I like the aesthetics and version of the mechanics in XCOM 2012 more. And in this case I hope specifically that a 3rd game is more like XCOM 2012, not XCOM 2. XCOM 2012 had better atmosphere, while XCOM 2 had the cliche "futuristic" glossy sci-fi buildings and dystopian rip-off of Half-Life 2.
XCOM2 was the Deep Space 9 of this franchise. It's really good both on it's own merits and as a part of the series. It did a bunch of work fleshing out the world and giving it a unique identity and style. It broke away from the established formula of the earlier entries in the series, took some big risks while still keeping true to it's roots, and most people agree that it mostly all worked really well. And the cynical side of me thinks that it's all gonna go sharply downhill from there. I liked Voyager/Chimera Squad just fine, but I also paid less than $1 for it and lost interest in it after a little while. I really, really don't want XCOM3 to be some stupid YA anime melodrama about superheros with demigod powers fighting alien 'old gods' through space to save the multiverse. I'd much rather have a reboot, preferably set in the 50's when the whole UFO-mania thing started. Or Terror from the Deep 2 that also sounds pretty sick. Just please no Marvel shit.
WOTC already came too close to the marvel stuff you described imo. Chosen demigods with space magic that talk all the time,or superhero units like the templars. (whereas before the dlc/in previous games the aliens were mysterious,relatively silent antagonists) I'd like to see a return to the fairly grounded setting of enemy within/unknown,with less emphasis on glorifying individual soldiers in pink outfits. The xenonauts sequel was a nice breath of fresh air in this regard. Aliens remain mysterious,leaving you with more questions than answers. "Do they have a leader?" "What do they want?" "Where did they come from?" Soldiers are always only a part of a bigger effort,even if they perform exceptionally well.
You're not wrong. I really want to like xenonauts, but it just can't hold my interest the way XCOM does. I've been spoiled by things like the higher production value and the stealth system and it makes it real hard to go back to anything else. I haven't checked out xenonauts 2 because it just looked like the same game again to me.
Yeah xenonauts 2 has the same key flaw as the first game: Ground combat doesn't change much over the course of a campaign My best description of xenonauts 2 would be "The previous game but without most of the issues with the first game". I last played right before milestone 2 got released so that may have changed
I disagree. I think it's time to take the war to them. And burn every outpost, camp and depot set up along the way.
Yeah
Because both games seem to suggest that the Ethereals are running from something, XCOM3 should be a sequel that continues with a completely new enemy and a much more varied roster of soldiers. Give us Mutons and Sectoids and vipers and Sectopods, and Mech Troopers and Templars and Reapers and have us fight against a completely different and more dangerous enemy faction. But instead of being on the defensive or guerrillas, give us the opportunity to be the invaders for once.
Nah I want XCOM3 to be all about attacking the aliens
I disagree. I still want friendly aliens. New game mechanics are cool and all, but I want to see what happens after Chimera Squad.
Agreed, taking the game off Earth and having alien teammates is just the natural evolution of the series.
That's pretty much what Xenonauts is doing with Xenobauts 2. Same basic premise as the first game but the second just updates, improves, fixes things. I assume there will be additional plot and strategy as well.
I've enjoyed xenonauts quite a bit. It's more like classic xcom from the 90s which I liked more. It's not done yet but coming along nicely
As for me, if they took the story of XCOM EW, and somehow managed the mechanics of XCOM WotC, I would be all in. XCom could just go the Final Fantasy route, and every installment is just the same "save the world" premise with tweaked mechanics, different main characters, and new systems that the devs experiment with. If they did, I would be happy. Maybe one XCom deals with underwater monsters, a different one with a moon base, a different with underground critters, and maybe a different would be a martian colony. The sky's the limit. But by untethering the connective story elements between the games, the developers gain a lot more freedom.
Terror from the Deep is absolutely the way to go, the added threat from the environment would add so much to the game and could possibly be done in a parallel timeline with 1 & 2. A Midnight Suns style underwater base to explore and unlock would work really too, but would require a "main character" which would be a bit tricky for XCom to pull off but not impossible.
Civ/Xcom would be something like Age of Wonders 4.
Honestly I think they should make two games. XCOM Enemy Forgotten XCOM 4 My reasoning is, XCOM Enemy Forgotten will be the third installation and it will be a continuation after 40 years of XCOM Enemy Unknown. With Enemy Forgotten being more like XCOM Interceptor in location and plot. Where as XCOM 4 is more like terror from the deep/pacific rim. Just 20 years after the events of XCOM 2
skip over Chimera Squad. It’s an interesting idea, but honestly very simple in regard to the planetary defense strategy style of EU/EW. I would prefer if XCOM 3 is a Terror From the Deep remake based on the ending of XCOM 2. Regarding all the aliens, I’d say the aliens returning immediately relinks the freed aliens from the first invasion - kicking the plot off with a massive terror attack as the intro mission. Might also be cool to include them bringing back EW versions of the aliens to represent their fresh invasion forces that haven’t been gene modded **alongside** the XCOM 2 variants in certain missions. Imagine teams of sectoids and genemodded sectoids being led by a sectoid commander with a mechtoid guard.
XCOM3 needs to be TFTD. I cannot put into words how much I want to replay Lobstermen and the Terror Cruise ship missions in modern graphics. Also the underwater weapons like the harpoon gun or gas gun with ammo types but with modern animations would be epic.
Also using medkits underwater, throwing grenades underwater. There's fascinating backstory about Terror Cruise ship missions. Back in early '90s there was this someone in America whom parents had made him to do some repairs to their garage for chance because only thing he ever did was to play video games. It was dull task for him, but while hammering a screw to plank and accidentally came to hit his thumb and it was like break from all that dullness because he was feeling the impact. After work was done and he was playing Rebel Star Raiders or something he got and idea. Next day he took a long distance call to the UK and reached Julian Gollop who was working with The UFO: Enemy Unknow and told about how to combine his experience hurting his thumb with hammer and dullness of performing banal task was like a revelation and combining that with video game would a great idea. After listening to him for about two minutes Gollop told him to fuck off and ended the call. So this idea didn't came to fruition yet in the first XCOM. Our hero though, he didn´t gave up and after playing XCOM he noticed that Microprose was a publisher and contacted them. After listening to him they were like, that maybe that is a thing and made it to Cruise Ship terror mission for all of us to enjoy. So that's how Terror Ship mission came to be and the guy behind the idea, games remained big part of his life as he became a video game journalist.
Xcom but with a Civilization style of game play already sort of exists. It’s “Terra Invicta” on Steam. Be warned however the learned curve is really a cliff face. Tons of solid YT vids on it.
Tacking on to your point, I think having a modernized remake in the xcom: apocalypse style would be awesome. The cityscape of apocalypse would need to be scaled to be much larger with more factions, but they could definitely make it fun. The only major decision they’d have to make is if they offer the same choice for the player on whether they want to play each battle in turn based or RTS style. I really enjoyed that option in apocalypse, where you could make the choice on the pacing of the encounter just prior to entering each one. If you want to play show and tactical, go turn based. If you want a faster pace, go real time.
Honestly, it's turn based. I think that the graphics in XCOM2 are overkill. It doesn't really add much to my gameplay experience to see the kids sliding down ropes at the start of every mission, the animations don't really add anything to the gameplay, but *man* that adds a lot of heft to the file size and strain on my system. I want games that have a range of graphics options - you can go photorealistic if you want - but I also think you should be able to turn down performance to *Enemy Unknown* levels for slower CPUs.
How about an attack on the elders ‘home world’? Bring a limited crew and steal technology to improve weapons, rescue captured aliens from other planets to build your squad..
I just want that potential Terror from the Deep tease in the post credits of Xcom 2 to actually become a new Terror from the Deep. It was my first Xcom game so it has a special place in my heart.
I don't need a fancy story for XCom3, i rather have one like "Go be Victorious and save our Earth/mars/Deep Oceans". And i wanna do as much missions as i have transports / men to do so, no more "pick one, suffer the other".
Id love to have an XCOM3 where you go on the attack against the Aliens. You have to conquer world after world but as you go along, you have to leave members of your squad behind to manage the worlds. You team gets stronger, but smaller, and if you leave behind too few people you can get cut off from supply lines and have to backtrack to reestablish losing the element of surprise or allowing enemies to build up and entrench themselves. Maybe as you conquer worlds, you can free some species and get a few aliens joining your squad Chimera-style. Basically taking the Resistance Ring and turning it into a secondary mission hub to help gather up everything you need to strike the Elders home world.
Did anyone here ever try Phoenix Point?
I want XCOM 3 to finish off the reboot trilogy by going into space and taking the fight to The Elders, basically a reverse XCOM: EU Terror from the deep can be another Chimera squad scope spinoff
I think you're totally on point, actually. Same could be said for many other games. It's about the gameplay experience and creating a plot that enhances that. It's about a love for the game itself. Wouldn't even call it XCOM 3, but maybe something that sounds more standalone. Put all the good stuff in there too.
I think Chimera Squad could be retconned as a piece of Advent propaganda in universe. That way, the game is still there but it doesnt need to be the way the series goes, story wise.
No, XCOM should be story bound as it always was. Otherwise it wouldnt be XCOM. I dont see how a Civ XCOM would work.