10 Minutes Of ‘XCOM 2’ Shows How Game Has Improved From ‘Enemy Unknown’

Firaxis Studios and 2K Games released a 10 minute gameplay video for XCOM 2 on Thursday. The footage is from E3 and showcase the improvements made to the turn-based PC strategy title.

As previously covered, XCOM 2 is set 20 years after the events in the rebooted 2012 release of XCOM: Enemy Unknown. The aliens have won control of Earth, and the XCOM organization has largely been forgotten. The aliens now use the Advent government to control humanity for their own ends through megacities and the promise of gene-therapy.

This flips the script and makes the human-controlled XCOM the invading force, with the aliens defending their established mega-cities across the globe and the opposing humans living in the wilderness. Players will still find that they are hampered by limited resources and are out-gunned by enemy.

XCOM strikes back against the #ADVENT in the first official #XCOM2 gameplay, as presented during #E32015. https://t.co/jptJCpzdgE

— XCOM (@XCOM) June 25, 2015

The gameplay footage shows an even more cinematic approach to gameplay to break up the turn-based moves. Characters will trigger brief cut-scenes as they move around the map towards their objective. New mission types are being introduced, as well. In the case of this mission, it is a sabotage effort to bring down a Advent statue.

The mission starts as a stealth mission and the player moves the four XCOM soldiers stealthily towards their goal. However, you can see how the stealth mechanic works in the video.

Enemy soldiers have a detection range that can be impeded by objects. Movement squares that are within the soldiers’ detection area are marked in red. This allows the player to move and setup troops just outside detection range. A stealth marker at the top of the screen handily tells the player when they are not detected.

XCOM soldiers have the expected actions available to them, such as shoot and overwatch. However, new options are available based on the character’s class type. The big machete wielding woman is a Ranger and is able to take down one alien in a single blow. Another soldier with a drone companion is a Specialist, and was able to hack an Advent turret and use it against enemy forces. Whether the soldier can shutdown, control, or have improved control appears to be based on the character’s “Tech Score.”

When things get too hot for the good guys, a Skyranger can be called in to extract what remains of the team. In this video’s case, it was one conscious soldier carrying another unconscious soldier — another new feature in XCOM 2.

There are some changes on the alien side, too. If this gameplay footage is any indication, the threat level from the aliens can steadily and suddenly increase during a mission. It started out as just facing lowly human Advent soldiers before upgrading to the Viper snake-like alien and Advent Turret. More Advent human troopers were dropped in before an evolved Muton Berserker entered the scene and wrecked everything.

Not shown in this gameplay video is how the levels in XCOM 2 are procedurally generated now, or how the game is being built with mods in mind.

XCOM 2 is scheduled for a November, 2015, release for the PC. A console port for the PS4 and Xbox One is not currently planned.

[Images via XCOM]