XCOM: Enemy Unknown Message Board

Once upon a time Julian Gollop was one of the principle minds behind the original X-Com. Yes, with a dash. A dollop of Gollop’s design wizardry spawned a legendary strategy series, and now – somewhat fittingly, I suppose – he’s making a game about actual wizards. Chaos Reborn is mere days away from casting off its mortal Kickstarter, so Gollop and I are going to play a few rounds of a recent prototype while discussing the ups and downs of running a Kickstarter, the power (and lack thereof) of legacy, what made people fall so madly in love with X-Com, and which of said secret ingredients Chaos Reborn does and doesn’t apply. Expect a heady brew of history and reflection with a powerful note of fuuuuuuture.

We’re kicking off at 10 AM PT/6 PM BST. Tune in below.

… [visit site to read more]

13 days and $65,000 – that’s the scores on the doors for X-COM creator Julian Gollop’s Kickstarted Chaos remake (which I previewed here). Not a bad situation for the turn-based wizard battler to be in, given it’s already $115k to the good, but a photo finish looks likely. The game’s also up on Greenlight now, so you know what to do if you’re excited about it.

There’ve been eight updates since the project went live a few weeks back, and it’s heartening to see that they primarily focus on explaining features and concepts. Also one of them has a unicorn with a sword for a horn, so big bonus points for that. … [visit site to read more]

Chaos Reborn is the next game from Julian Gollop, lead creator of the original X-COM: UFO Defense – the greatest videogame of all time. This is a remake of and sequel to Gollop’s earlier, magical duelling game Chaos: The Battle of Wizards. It It takes to Kickstarter today, but unlike other nostalgia-led projects, it’s been in active development for some time already. I played a prototype recently, and I have this to say about it. … [visit site to read more]

The XCOM: Enemy Unknown Complete Edition is available now for PC and Mac in North America, and it launches worldwide on March 7. Most game retailers carry the Complete Edition, but for those with an itchy trigger finger, check it out on Steam. Also, buy some Gold Bond or something.

The new bundle comes with XCOM: Enemy Unknown, XCOM: Enemy Within, the Elite Soldier DLC, Slingshot DLC and Second Wave DLC. This pack is desktop-only, no console versions planned.

Speaking of XCOM: Today we hosted a livestream with franchise creator Julian Gollop and his latest strategy game, Chaos Reborn. Check out the replay of our live gameplay and chat here. [Image: 2K Games]

Greg Miller and Justin Davis run down IGN's list of contenders for our best Mobile game of the year award.

Apple awarded Vlambeer's Ridiculous Fishing its much-coveted iPhone Game of the Year award today, while Frogmind's silhouetted platformer Badland picked up the iPad award. With App Store exposure being so crucial to an app's success, the awards are big wins for the two indie studios, both comprised of just two people.

The duo of duos beat competition from major studios in 2K Games and EA PopCap, with runner-up spots going to XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Plants vs. Zombies 2. Kevin Ng's rollercoaster puzzler The Impossible Road and the stylish wordplay of Simogo's Device 6 also picked up runners-up prizes.

If you thought those awards, while deserved, were a smidge predictable, be prepared for further non-raising of eyebrows: This year's most downloaded free app (not just games but all apps) was Candy Crush Saga, while Minecraft: Pocket Edition was the best-selling paid app of 2013. It's also worth noting that while Candy Crush Saga is free-to-download, it was also the highest grossing app of 2013 - Minecraft: Pocket Edition came in 11th.

2K is discounting a number of its mobile games this week, the publisher announced. The Mobile Fall Sale runs from November 27 through December 2 and applies to six iOS games.

Among the 2K-published games on sale this week are NHL 2K11, Civilization Revolution and Sid Meier's Pirates, each discounted to 99 cents. Lucid Games' racer 2K Drive, which launched in September for $7, will be $1.99 on iOS as of Wednesday. Lastly, NBA 2K14 will drop down to $2.99 while XCOM: Enemy Unknown will be $9.99.

It's a big week for PS3 content on the PlayStation Store. XCOM: Enemy Within makes its debut on PS3 today, as does the latest entry in the Ratchet & Clank series, Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus, from Insomniac Games.

Two new Wonderbook adventures, Diggs Nightcrawler and Walking With Dinosaurs, are also available today, as is Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition and a special everything-but-the-kitchen-sink version of Grid 2. The first episode of BioShock Infinite's Burial at Sea DLC is also up for grabs.

Ibb and Obb is free on PS3 for PS Plus members, who will find a new plethora of deals to sift through on PSN this week. Highlights include cheap fighters like Divekick and Street Fighter X Tekken, plus Ubisoft franchises such as Scott Pilgrim, Beyond Good & Evil HD and From Dust.PSN Tuesday: XCOM: Enemy Within, Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus

Firaxis has elevated XCOM: Enemy Unknown's intensity through the bulkier risk-reward strategy system in its expansion, XCOM: Enemy Within. The expansion's potency is at worst intriguing and at best traumatic. Its net effect is as captivating as its launch pad with new items, juiced-up soldiers, alien mechs, a new branching series of side quests, and 47 fresh battlegrounds ripe with opportunities for tactical excision.

Enemy Within's single-player campaign starts the same way as Enemy Unknown -- bunkered in an underground military base at the brink of the end of the world, following the escalating war with the aliens to its climax. Think of the expansion as a lateral addition to a core game and mission list that remains unchanged. It's possible to play Enemy Within almost exactly like Enemy Unknown, but Enemy Within adds an optional quest line early on: Defend the XCOM nations and XCOM itself from a transhuman threat... an organization called Exalt.

To further humanity's evolution, Exalt attempts to disrupt XCOM operations and promote the assimilation alien technology into human biology. Thick with narrative irony, XCOM simultaneously develops two tracks of transhuman upgrades, the exact kind of alien-human integration that Exalt wants: MECs and gene mods. Each unlocks after the construction of cybernetics or genetics labs, respectively, enabling the manufacture of XCOM super soldiers to combat both Exalt and the Sectoids' breed of elite soldiers.

Few things fill me with dread like the first terror response mission in XCOM. Kidney stones, for sure. The DMV. But that terror mission—which costs you a nation on the spot if you flunk it—comes when your force is young and underpowered. I know I'm gonna lose someone. I'm probably gonna lose two someones.Read more...

Enemy Within is a proper expansion – like in the olden days – for last year’s XCOM: Enemy Within, which was a very different reworking of 90s ultro-classic X-COM: UFO Defense. This time around, we get robo-folk and genetic modification, and one giant leap further away from XCOM’s parentage. Good idea/bad idea? Let’s find out! Saving the world with a big, pink, French cyborg: this perhaps isn’t the XCOM expansion we asked for, but I think it’s the one we needed.(more…)

If you want to surprise your loved ones with a generous and value-conscious bouquet of shooters and strategy games on Christmas morning, 2K Games has you covered with its newly announced lineup of $29.99 Holiday Bundles for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

Players who missed out on some of this generation's best first-person shooters (and who aren't averse to the occasional tactical strategy game) may enjoy 2K's Essentials Collection, which includes the original BioShock, Borderlands, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown. The Rogues and Outlaws Collection is an obvious choice for any rogues and outlaws in your immediate family, serving up copies of Borderlands 2, Spec Ops: The Line and Mafia 2. Finally, those who enjoy games with the number "2" in the title will love the 2K Power Pack, which offers BioShock 2, Mafia 2, and The Darkness 2.

2K is also offering a Definitive Strategy Collection, which includes the PC versions of XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Sid Meier's Civilization V. All bundles (except for the Rogues and Outlaws Collection, which is a Walmart exclusive) are available at Amazon, GameStop, Walmart, and Best Buy.

I’ve been playing unfinished code for major XCOM expansion Enemy Within.Here are some early impressions for you.

XCOM has a confession to make. All this time it’s been carrying on like it’s a militaristic strategy game (albeit with aliens and robots and psychics), but really, really it’s been a superhero game all along. With major expansion Enemy Within, it proudly rips open its shirt, throws its spectacles to the wind and brazenly displays the lurid spandex beneath. My current squad, for instance, is led by a Mexican in a bright pink mech suit, wearing a matching tribly. He can spray flames from his hands. He can leap over small buildings. He can seep healing gas from whatever’s replaced his pores. He is, in short, about as far away as soldiers get from the mopey-looking, meandering dudes in overalls who characterised X-COM.

With Enemy Within, XCOM and X-COM almost entirely part company. While that’s a statement that would have seen 2011 me immediately take my seat in the Angry Tank, here’s why 2013 me is absolutely convinced this accentuated divergence is only a good thing.(more…)

I was away when body-horror XCOM expansion Enemy Within was announced, so that means you’ve tragically been denied my thoughts on it. Clearly, I am outraged that Firaxis are going to pervert their beautiful and unique snowflake with CHANGES and I beseech you to sign my online petition demanding that they cancel months of work immediately and develop a 100% faithful remake of Terror From The Deep instead.

Nah, there isn’t a game I’m more looking forward to right now. I can’t wait to play it. I’m especially enamoured of the idea that now is when they truly make XCOM their own game instead of beholden to its noble origins, and the new soldier-modding stuff sounds fascinating. A smaller added feature is that they’re offering the option to deactivate what’s something of a Firaxis house rule – pre-determined outcomes, regardless of how many times you reload the game.(more…)

A new update adding multiplayer is available for XCOM: Enemy Unknown on iOS. Multiplayer in XCOM on iOS is asynchronous, allowing players to conduct turns at their convenience.

The update also adds multiplayer leaderboards, optimizes the game for iOS 7 and fixes a few lingering bugs. And to celebrate this new update, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is on sale for $10 until October 13.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown made its debut on iOS back in June, in a full mobile port we found to be on par with the console and PC offering. XCOM: Enemy Within, a new expansion for the PC and console version of the game, is due on November 12.

Strategy games have a tendency to straddle an area between slow, decisive moves and the chaos of action happening seemingly out of your hands and all around you. Some strategy games are slower-paced than others. As tense as things can get in XCOM: Enemy Unknown, it’s more or less leaned towards the ease of turn-based decisions than the rush of other games of its kind. So Firaxis did something different this time. They came up with XCOM: Enemy Within and managed to amp up the action with one simple change: you don’t have to kill all the enemies within.Read more...

Exalt, the third faction introduced in the XCOM: Enemy Unknown expansion, XCOM: Enemy Within, is a renegade human organization whose ultimate goal is the genetic perfection of the human race. They view themselves as the rightful rulers of Earth, ushering the species into a new era of evolution.

They're an organization that strikes from the shadows, enacting nefarious and secretive plots to disrupt XCOM operations and weaken the organization's presence worldwide.

For Exalt, it's all about achieving that goal - regardless of how many human lives are lost in the process.

Commander, FIraxis' XCOM: Enemy Unknown is currently free to play on Steam through Sunday until 16:00 Eastern. The franchise is also on sale until Monday, October 7, until 10:00 Eastern. Players should also be aware that if they start a game through the free offer, they'll need to buy it before the weekend is over for $10 to retain their progress.

The free-to-play weekend is actually part of a publisher sale going on with 2K Games over at the digital distribution network. Amazon is also having a similar deal. We'll be watching your progress with interest, Commander.

Looking for an opportunity to jump in on the XCOM franchise? Amazon is currently offering the PC versions of Firaxis' turn-based strategy game XCOM: Enemy Unknown and 2K Marin's first-person shooter The Bureau: XCOM Declassified as a discounted bundle priced at $24.99. Both games are redeemable via Steam.

Downloadable versions of XCOM: Enemy Unknown and The Bureau are available individually for $9.99 and $19.99, respectively.

If you prefer the classic stylings of the XCOM games from the '90s and early 2000s, you may want to check out the $3.75 XCOM Complete Pack, which collects XCOM: Apocalypse, XCOM: Enforcer, XCOM: Interceptor, XCOM: Terror from the Deep, and the 1993 debut entry XCOM: UFO Defense.

Look, we know things have been rough ever since the government shut down. Cars have become sentient; peach cobbler is now physically impossible to produce - it's not easy out there. Still, there are some things we can depend on in these tough times, such as the persistence and regularity of sales on Steam.

From now through 10 a.m. Pacific on Monday, October 7, a growing selection of 2k Games-published jams have gone under the discount knife, including BioShock Infinite ($26.79), XCOM: Enemy Unknown ($9.99) and a whole bunch of others. Meanwhile, Final Fantasy 7 is half-off at $5.99 and Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition can be snagged for a thin $5.

Granted, these sales may not make up for the fact that our nation's stop signs now act as portals to Ung'Thagar's Darkest Dark Moon, but every little bit helps until the government comes back online and this all gets straightened out.

Commander, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is currently $10 through Amazon's digital distribution network. We don't believe this is a Sectoid conspiracy, but that's a pretty good deal, especially since it includes both the Elite Soldier and Slingshot downloadable content packs.

XCOM's Enemy Within expansion, which will add new tech, enemies and maps, is currently scheduled for November 12. The expansion is priced at $30 on PC, so if you've yet to pick up XCOM, this deal would be the same as getting the Xbox 360 or PS3 "Commander Edition." That version includes a copy of Enemy Unknown, along with the Slingshot and Elite Soldier content packs for $40.

Commander, you shouldn't be required to wait in line, so here's the XCOM: Enemy Within gameplay demonstration from Gamescom and PAX Prime 2013 direct to your personal device. In it, Lead Designer Ananda Gupta briefs you on new weapons, abilities and enemies.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown's expansion, Enemy Within, will be issued as DLC on PC and Mac for $30, but the only way to get it on consoles is through a new Commander's Edition - a retail re-release that includes the XCOM: Enemy Unknown game, the Slingshot and Elite Soldier add-ons, plus the Enemy Within expansion.

The reason for issuing the Commander's Edition is because Enemy Within is simply too large a file to patch into the console game as DLC. "For the expansion on the PC, it was fairly straightforward," Garth DeAngelis, senior producer at Firaxis Games, said during a PAX Prime interview. "But when it came to the consoles, it was too big. If we wanted to deliver the same content to the console players, we had to do it this way as a standalone expansion on a disc. We couldn't simply just patch it in."

DeAngelis added that Enemy Within includes so many changes to the base XCOM: Enemy Unknown experience - new unit types, upgrades and even skill changes - it necessitated an entire re-issue of the game. "These things are tied deeply into Enemy Unknown so we wanted to release [the Commander's Edition] as sort of the ultimate edition, with all the previous DLC on this one disc. It was either deliver it this way or not deliver it at all."

XCOM: Enemy Within, announced at Gamescom nearly a week ago, launches on November 12.

The XCOM initiative is up against new, vicious extraterrestrials, but enemies aren't the only ones with aces up their cybernetically enhanced sleeves. Choose between alien psychic powers or heavily armored mecha exoskeletons and get to augmenting your soldiers in this XCOM: Enemy Within trailer.

This November, Kotaku game-of-the-year-winner XCOM: Enemy Unknown is getting its first substantial expansion, Enemy Within. It'll feature a bunch of new abilities, weapons, enemies, and other changes. It sounds really good.Read more...

Time for more real XCOM! Firaxis, developer of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, has announced XCOM: Enemy Within, which will be a $30 expansion for PC gamers and a $40 stand-alone game for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 players, all on November 12, 2013.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown will seek out the "Enemy Within" when the critically acclaimed reboot receives its first major expansion on November 12. Enemy Within will be available on PC and Mac for $30, while Xbox 360 and PS3 get the $40 "Commander Edition" that includes a copy of Enemy Unknown and the Slingshot and Elite Soldier content packs.

Enemy Within takes place in the confines of Enemy Unknown, so it's the same game with more stuff. That descriptive noun includes new soldier abilities earned through alien research, such as gene mods and MECs, more commonly known as "mechs," even more commonly known as awesome mechanical exoskeletons that include flamethrowers and grenade launchers.

The expansion also adds new weapons and equipment, new enemies - like the "Mechtoid," a machine-encased Sectoid soldier, more resources, additional "tactical challenges" on maps and much more content for multiplayer.

Finally, in celebration of the international Gamescom convention going on right now, Firaxis found the perfect time to add the most important feature to XCOM: More soldier accents! The developer has reorganized the voicebank, so soldiers now have access to all their localized languages. We always did find it odd that XCOM used an international team with only perfect American accents.

Ah well, not a full sequel then. But a hefty expansion, nonetheless – Firaxis style. (Actually, it’ll be a standalone game on consoles, but not PC, oddly.) Rather obviously XCOM: Enemy Within will have new maps (40 of them), and new soldier class (stompy mech) and multiplayer stuff (cuddles), but also introduces a rather significant new mechanic, changing how you approach the game.

(more…)

Just when you thought you were out… they pull you back in! Into another war against an invading alien menace, that is. This November, Firaxis' fantastic (and Kotaku Game of the Year-winning) strategy game XCOM: Enemy Unknown is getting its first major expansion, titled XCOM: Enemy Within. Read more...

XCOM: Enemy Unknown will seek out the "Enemy Within" when the critically acclaimed reboot launches its first major expansion on November 12. The expansion will be available on PC and Mac as a standard expansion for $30, with the console expansions on Xbox 360 and PS3 a standalone product for $40, it will also include the Slingshot and Elite Soldier content packs.