Missing 95% chances to hit and facing insurmountable odds are the cornerstones of a fantastic XCOM experience. With the success of XCOM 2 and its War of the Chosen expansion, many fans of the franchise have been patiently waiting for a♎ new entry in the turn-based strategy series.
Thankfully, Firaxis has announced a new title, although it isn't quite like the rest. Titled XCOM: Chimera Squad, this game focuses more on XCOM's core gameplay loop and less on customization or managing a base. Those elements are still here, but the changes in systems this game makes can be rather jarring to veterans and newcomers alike. Here are 10 things we wish we knew before starting XCOM: Chimera Squad.
10 ♎ Takes Place After XCOM 2
Set 5 years after the events of XCOM 2, XCOM: Chimera Squad focuses on the aft🔯ermath of the war to reclaim Earth. Aliens and Humans are working together to keep the peace.
You control Chimera Squad, a special team filled with some of XCOM's best. Humans and iconic aliens in the series are yours to control. City 31 is the main location of this inst🐽allment, having subsectors that the player must keep under control just like the continents .
9 🌌 Shorter Missions ☂
Levels in XCOM: Enemy Unknown and XCOM 2 could drag on sometimes with how many mechanics and enemies were on screen, mad꧙e worse with expansions adding new systems and foes.
Instead of adding on to XCOM 2's massive array of systems in each level, Firaxis have stepped back and focused on making short, pulse-pounding levels. Combat engagements are now relegated to small rooms and buildings instead of entire city blocks, resulting in more focused gunfights where positioning is paramount. Do not mistake this as dumbing down the franchise, though. This game still makes great use of XCOM's wide range of abilities and weapons.
8 �ಞ� This Is Still XCOM
Having a game focused on a small group of soldiers fighting in one city might sound like a massive departure for the XCOM franchise, and you would be right.
Chimera Squad is not a major sequel like you would expect. It does take place chronologically after the second entry, but its mechanics and narrative are more reminiscent of a small-scale spinoff than a proper XCOM 3 or sequel. Players still control a base of operations researching gear and completing missions, but base building is gone and its relegated to one city. Players still control a small squad and complete tense missions, but these missions are now much shorter. If the price tag didn't give it away, this game is much smaller than previous titles, but that doesn't mean it isn't a traditional XCOM experience.
7 🌠 Focus On Squad Tactics ﷽
Coordinating attacks with your squad is the bread and butter of XCOM's gamepl🦋ay, with each soldier having unique abilit🌠ies based on their class.
That hasn't changed in Chimera Squad and has arguably been amplified. With only 4 soldiers in a squad unlike XCOM 2's 6 at the endgame, this will make each soldier more valuable than ever. Proper use of elevation, flanking, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:skills will be key to succeeding in this installment.
6 🌃 No Classes 🔯
With unique characters, you can infer that classes are missing in Chimera Squad. Sadly, this 💝is the case, but the depth of what those classes bring is not lost.
Players can still control psionically gifted soldiers or use an aggressive character 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:reminiscent of the Assault class. Thanks to aliens being in the mix as controllable characters, you can use things such as the Viper's Tongue Pull or unique skills that com🥃bo with each other. This should be easier for Firaxis to balance and🃏 make for some more intense gameplay.
5 Breaching
Many fans of XCOM 2 complained that the excessive timers made it rather hard to play for newcomers. Setting up ambushes was incredibly 🐼engaging, but the baggage that came with time-sensitive missions didn't jive well with the coreꦯ game.
Breaching is the answer ꩵto all of this. At the start of an encounter, players can position their soldiers at various entryways to ambush and surprise the enemy. Certain characters can reach areas exclusive to them, such as the Viper crawling through floor vents to get inside. You don't know what's on the other end, so these sections end up much tenser than the previous game's infiltration mechanic.
4 🎉 Control Ali🐻en Soldiers
Unless you played XCOM's multipl🔜ayer offering or Mind-Controlled enemies, you never got to embrace the alien's devious arsenal of abilities and guns.
That is changing with Chimera Squad. Fan-favorite enemies such as Mutons and Sectoids are now XCOM operatives that come with their abilities from XCOM 2. Spitting acid at a target with a Viper or entering a frenzy as a Muton is now possible in the campaign withoutꦫ psionic shen﷽anigans.
3 Narrative And C𒈔haracter Expansion
Judging from the trailer, Chimera Squad is much more focused on creating a cast of memorable characters in a unique setting than any XCOM entry before it.
Players always made stories with XCOM's unforgiving yet flexible sandbox, renaming characters to friends or co-workers and seeing them blow enemies to pieces. In Chimera Squad, you play with a pre-made group of soldiers that you can lightly customize. This might sound jarring at first, but War of the Chosen did this surprisingly well with f♌action characters like Konstantine Volikov, the leader of the Reapers.
2 🐠 Initiative
The first thing you will notice playing XCOM: Chimera Squad is the new initiative system. Similar to Dungeons & Dragons, each character ha🤪s a place in the turn order rather than the entire 💜team.
Gone are the days of alpha-striking a pod of enemies in a single turn or Overwatch spamming every turn. Now, your characters and the enemy aliens can both act on the same turn.🐠 It's still turn-based, but this back-and-forth that is now possible will make the game dramatically harder but much more exciting. Setting up tactical combos will require more thought than in previous games.
1 ♚ No Permadeath 🍨
Likely due to the initiative system, permadeath is no longer a thing in Chimera Squad. You do not have to worry about your favorite Sectoid getting blown to pi🔯eces and never comiꩵng back.
When an ally goes down, they begin to bleed out. During this state, you will need to stabilize them in the next few turns or they die. On death, you must restart the mission instead of XCOM's traditional advice to simply deal with the consequences. This might seem like a massive reduction in difficulty, but the iℱnitiative changes likely made this change necessary to make the ga🐬me less frustrating.