New XCom game: Chimera Squad

[Jag]

A new XCom game coming. Like, now.

XCOM: Chimera Squad is heading to PC via Steam on April 24th, priced at $10 at launch. Starting May 1st, it’ll cost $20.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/8821 ... era_Squad/

[coopasonic]

Was coming to post this. I know you will all be surprised to hear that I am all over this... hmm releasing 4 days before Gears: Tactics. It's going to be a very tactical end of the month for me.

[Paingod]

This is a high interest game. Doubly so for a $10 price tag.

It looks like a way to play XCOM without interfering with playing XCOM.

[Grifman]

This is totally out of nowhere, and it looks amazing. And they've added some new mechanics to keep it fresh. Really looking forward to this.

[Grifman]

More info here:

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/ ... 005259/en/

“With XCOM: Chimera Squad , we felt there were exciting gameplay opportunities yet to be discovered within the XCOM universe,” said Mark Nauta, Lead Designer at Firaxis Games. “Gameplay like Breach Mode, interleaved turn order, and the introduction of agents as fully fleshed-out characters will revolutionize how the game plays while still retaining the combat experience that makes the XCOM series so loved by gaming communities around the world.”

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.

As part of 2K’s XCOM franchise sale that will celebrate the support of its global community, XCOM: Chimera Squad will be available at launch as a single digital download for Windows PC on Steam at the special limited-time introductory price of $9.99. It will be available at its suggested retail price of $19.99 on May 1, 2020.

[NickAragua]

Well, that's a nice surprise. 50% off on Steam right now, so for ten bucks it's a no-brainer.

[Newcastle]

Am so in...its not funny!!!! Loved XCOM 1 & 2. Looking sooo forward to this...was waiting on XCOM3 news...this will do nicely.

[dobberhd]

Saw the first post and bought it before even reading the rest of the posts. IMO, the XCOM games are the best game produced in the last decade.

[dbt1949]

Well, I'm not so impressed. I don't care for the graphics but I'll need to see more to be convinced.

[Paingod]

Well, I'm not so impressed. I don't care for the graphics but I'll need to see more to be convinced.

It's ... uh ... XCOM 2 graphics. Like ... same engine? That might be why it's $10. They got to re-use a mountain of old assets and heap on some new features?

[Grifman]

It's interesting how many OO'ers have already bought this game (as seen on my Steam feed)

[coopasonic]

Am so in...its not funny!!!! Loved XCOM 1 & 2. Looking sooo forward to this...was waiting on XCOM3 news...this will do nicely.

It will do as a holdover, but I am still dying for a new full XCOM game.

[coopasonic]

It's interesting how many OO'ers have already bought this game (as seen on my Steam feed)

No-brainer for $10. You can save another 70 cents or so if you order it from green man.

[dbt1949]

Well, I'm not so impressed. I don't care for the graphics but I'll need to see more to be convinced.

It's ... uh ... XCOM 2 graphics. Like ... same engine? That might be why it's $10. They got to re-use a mountain of old assets and heap on some new features?

I wasn't as fond of XCOM 2 as the rest of you probably. Including the graphics.

[Fishbelly]

Yes, yes, yes! Thank so much for this thread--I hadn't heard a peep about this.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Am so in...its not funny!!!! Loved XCOM 1 & 2. Looking sooo forward to this...was waiting on XCOM3 news...this will do nicely.

It will do as a holdover, but I am still dying for a new full XCOM game.

FWIW, if you haven't yet tried it, I find the squad configuration options and outstanding turn-based tactical combat used in Divinity: Original Sin 2 vaguely reminiscent of XCOM. The leveling system is just insanely rewarding. And there's a tremendous amount of fun to be had in trying out new abilities and new combos, and figuring out new strategies. This video shows a little of what it offers:



Suffice to say it's definitely worth checking out, and may scratch you where you itch in terms of providing some highly satisfying tactical squad turn-based combat.

[Butterknife]

I was just about to start another campaign of XCOM 2! Couldn't have come at a better time. So much for my "no preorders" rule.

[coopasonic]

I have 147 hours in DOS2. Never did finish it though. Despite the play time it never really clicked with me. The world just didn't draw me in.

[TheMix]

I just realized that for some reason I don't think of the fantasy games as "squad" games. Though they clearly are. Instead, fantasy ones have "parties" while the modern/future ones have "squads". I'll have to do better about grouping them all together in the future when I just want to control a handful of characters.

[jztemple2]

It's interesting how many OO'ers have already bought this game (as seen on my Steam feed)

No-brainer for $10. You can save another 70 cents or so if you order it from green man.

Normally I'd use my go-to cheap site Green Man Gaming, but as this is a pre-order I'll use Steam in case before two hours is up I find I'm not happy.

Kudos to 2K for a half-price sale right off the bat. How did nobody know about this game till now? Seems incredible in this day and age that no info seems to have leaked.

[Victoria Raverna]

Bought it for two reasons:

1. I loved XCOM 1 and 2.
2. It is not an Epic store exclusive.

[Holman]

I have 147 hours in DOS2. [...] The world just didn't draw me in.

[Yojimbo]

Purchased. Thanks for the heads-up. $10 is an easy decision for TB Tactical play.

"Breach mode" made me remember Breach 2 + Rules of Engagement (1991). Does anyone else remember this setup? You would setup a boarding event in the star ship game RoE and then play out that event in the other game Breach (or Breach 2?). I have vivid memories of these two games interacting with floppy discs involved.

[coopasonic]

I have 147 hours in DOS2. [...] The world just didn't draw me in.

Yeah, I know.

I think that was 3 different attempts to get into the game. I guess they were each very good attempts. I suspect outside of the retirees, I spend more time playing games than most anyone else here.

Back to Chimera Squad, the biggest difference I see (other than the fixed roster) is the per soldier alternating combat. In XCOM and XCOM2 the key to doing well in the game was to never (or at least very rarely) get attacked. The way they are doing individual turns here will likely make that impossible. I'm interested to see how that plays out. Maybe they are testing ideas out for XCOM3.

[coopasonic]

How did nobody know about this game till now? Seems incredible in this day and age that no info seems to have leaked.

I seem to recall they surprised us pretty well with War of the Chosen too. I mean obviously we were all expecting an expansion, but it was announced and released pretty quickly.

[Butterknife]

How did nobody know about this game till now? Seems incredible in this day and age that no info seems to have leaked.

I seem to recall they surprised us pretty well with War of the Chosen too. I mean obviously we were all expecting an expansion, but it was announced and released pretty quickly.

Personally I prefer the surprise route, where the games just come out with little or no lead time. Blizzard's shtick of announcing a game 2 years before it comes out is silly. I'd much rather have an announcement a week or two ahead of time.

[jztemple2]

Personally I prefer the surprise route, where the games just come out with little or no lead time. Blizzard's shtick of announcing a game 2 years before it comes out is silly. I'd much rather have an announcement a week or two ahead of time.

Me too!!

[LordMortis]

Ten schmeckels? That's my favorite blind buy price for an out of nowhere new game.

I don't have XCOM 2 yet but I think I'll be OK.

[Holman]

Personally I prefer the surprise route, where the games just come out with little or no lead time. Blizzard's shtick of announcing a game 2 years before it comes out is silly. I'd much rather have an announcement a week or two ahead of time.

I think I prefer a slightly longer lead time.

Since they're developing the game over the same amount of time anyway, I'd like to see reviewers have sufficient time to study and assess things before any pre-order discount runs out.

[gbasden]

Bought. I'm positive I'll get $10 of enjoyment out of it.

[Paingod]

Bought. I'm positive I'll get $10 of enjoyment out of it.

Ditto. I just grabbed it before going to bed. I'm still deep in Animal Crossing while the family is awake and Skyrim when they're in bed, but I expect this gets play when Skyrim dies down.

[Lassr]

I'll be grabbing this as soon as my internet is back up. Hopefully today.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[jztemple2]

Agent Profiles: Godmother, Blueblood, Terminal and Verge

[Sawyer]

I'll be honest, this expansion scares me. In the way that Highlander 2: The Quickening scares me. This may be the way that I play XCom, but let me explain and see if this resonates with anyone else.

For starters, I love making my own toons. I mostly play on ironman, which means getting used to even sweet toons sometimes dying. All rookies get put in redshirts until they hit level 3, then I customize them once they've proven they're going to live. XC:CS seems like all toons are pre-generated? And maybe not so expendable? Damn, I hope not. And pre-rolled characters aren't really XCom, are they? This almost feels like they think we're too dumb to make our own interesting toons.

Additionally, I am concerned about the whole reused assets thing. I don't mind reused assets, but we've been reusing assets for how many expansions now.

XCom is one of my favorite series of all times with XCom2 being the pinnacle of this type of game play (so far). If the expansion is just reused assets with a pre-rolled squad, that is not going to be my thing.

[Lassr]

I'll be honest, this expansion scares me. In the way that Highlander 2: The Quickening scares me. This may be the way that I play XCom, but let me explain and see if this resonates with anyone else.

For starters, I love making my own toons. I mostly play on ironman, which means getting used to even sweet toons sometimes dying. All rookies get put in redshirts until they hit level 3, then I customize them once they've proven they're going to live. XC:CS seems like all toons are pre-generated? And maybe not so expendable? Damn, I hope not. And pre-rolled characters aren't really XCom, are they? This almost feels like they think we're too dumb to make our own interesting toons.

Additionally, I am concerned about the whole reused assets thing. I don't mind reused assets, but we've been reusing assets for how many expansions now.

XCom is one of my favorite series of all times with XCom2 being the pinnacle of this type of game play (so far). If the expansion is just reused assets with a pre-rolled squad, that is not going to be my thing.

I agree, of course, I'm not going into this thinking it's going to be an upgrade to XCOM2. I read where if a main character dies then you have to replay the mission. So I am viewing this as XCOM Lite, some what on rails, I'm just going to enjoy some new tactics and have a little fun, while waiting on XCOM3.

[coopasonic]

I'll be honest, this expansion scares me. In the way that Highlander 2: The Quickening scares me. This may be the way that I play XCom, but let me explain and see if this resonates with anyone else.

For starters, I love making my own toons. I mostly play on ironman, which means getting used to even sweet toons sometimes dying. All rookies get put in redshirts until they hit level 3, then I customize them once they've proven they're going to live. XC:CS seems like all toons are pre-generated? And maybe not so expendable? Damn, I hope not. And pre-rolled characters aren't really XCom, are they? This almost feels like they think we're too dumb to make our own interesting toons.

Additionally, I am concerned about the whole reused assets thing. I don't mind reused assets, but we've been reusing assets for how many expansions now.

XCom is one of my favorite series of all times with XCom2 being the pinnacle of this type of game play (so far). If the expansion is just reused assets with a pre-rolled squad, that is not going to be my thing.

It's not your thing. It's also not my thing, but it 's still more my thing than 80% of the tactical combat games that appear just be being xcom adjacent and familiar. Just be aware this isn't XCOM3, this is just filler and take it for what it is, or pass on it.I DO NOT see this as a light showing us where XCOM3 is going. If it is, there will be riots.

[Archinerd]

The pre generated characters doesn't bother me. To me, this looks a bit like Invisible INC crossed with XCOM, which is a good thing imo.

[YellowKing]

I went ahead and bit on it. I had $5 in Steam credit, so $5 out of pocket for a brand new XCOM-lite was pretty much a no brainer. I tend to suffer from analysis paralysis, so if you give me too many choices and options I tend to get so overwhelmed I shut down. So even if it's a little on the rails, it will be right up my alley.

[Kraken]

I briefly thought a new XCom might be just the thing to draw me back into gaming, after many months (approaching a year) away from the hobby. But nope. Creating and building a squad is the best part of the game, and this doesn't have that. Clever idea at a good price, just not for me.

[jztemple2]

Count me in as well. I got it on Steam so if I really hate it I can get a refund, but it looks like it might scratch an itch for me... I really must shower more often...