Over the last week and a bit, we've been steadily releasing a bunch of stories from our big, hour-long chat with XCOM and Marvel's Midnight Suns director Jake Solomon that took place at this year's GDC. It was a wide-ranging interview, looking at what Solomon plans to do next now that he's left Firaxis, and how he feels about his 20+ year career there. You can read the condensed version of that interview here, but as a treat for RPS supporters, I thought you might like to read our chat in full. There's still a lot I couldn't quite squeeze into separate news stories here, and I think (and hope) you'll find it interesting to read as a whole. So here it is. All 8760-odd words of it. Enjoy.
]]>When I meet Jake Solomon at GDC, it's his third day of unemployment. The XCOM and Marvel's Midnight Suns director and designer announced he was leaving Firaxis back in February, but his final day at the studio where he made his name and worked for more than twenty years was still very fresh in his memory. "It's surreal," he says. "For probably the next ten years, I'll refer to it as 'we' when we talk about Firaxis, and it's sad to think it's not the right pronoun anymore. It's exciting, but a little terrifying."
On the face of it, that panic might seem unfounded. Over the last decade, Solomon has become one of the most revered names in turn-based strategy games. Having cut his teeth on many of Sid Meier's Civilization games in his early years at Firaxis, he went on to become the designer who spearheaded the revival of XCOM with Enemy Unknown in 2012, before going on to direct its even more beloved sequel XCOM 2 and its War Of The Chosen expansion a few years later. Most recently, he was creative director on Marvel's Midnight Suns, which allowed him to marry his life-long love of Marvel comic books with the thrilling tactical combat he's so well known for.
Solomon's next adventure, though, won't have the certainty of Midnight Suns' supercharged attack cards, or even the tease of an XCOM hit percentage backing him up. For not only is it Solomon's third day of unemployment when we speak; it's also the day after he revealed his plans to leave turn-based tactics games behind altogether. Instead, his sights are now set on the life simulation genre, a move that, at first glance, seems at odds with his career as a strategy designer. But over the course of our hour-long chat, it becomes increasingly clear that life sims have been a life-long obsession for Solomon, and he might have even made one by now had the development of XCOM 2 gone a little differently.
]]>Jake Solomon was a longtime designer and director at studio Firaxis, and he was pretty publicly the figurehead for big strategy games like XCOM 2 and Marvel’s Midnight Suns. So last month, it was pretty big news to hear he was leaving Firaxis behind to chase a “new dream.” At the time, it was unclear what that dream was, but thanks to a podcast interview with My Perfect Console (spotted and transcribed by VGC) we now have an idea of what Solomon will do next. It involves opening a new studio and working on strategy games, unlike the ones he made at Firaxis.
]]>Humble Bundle’s latest is raising money for relief efforts in southern Türkiye and northern Syria due to the earthquakes which have killed over 50,000 people and displaced thousands more. The bundle compiles over 60 games, including some heavy hitters such as Gotham Knights and XCOM 2, alongside some smaller gems like Backbone and Cris Tales. The Earthquake Relief Bundle is available for £25/$30 (or any higher price) until March 8th and all proceeds will be going to charity.
]]>Earlier this month, we asked you to vote for your favourite strategy games of all time to celebrate the launch (and glorious return) of several strategy classics this month, including Relic's WW2 RTS Company Of Heroes 3, Blue Byte's The Settlers: New Allies and Cyanide's fantasy Warhamball Blood Bowl 3. And cor, I've never seen such love for individual expansions and total conversion mods among mainline RTS games and 4Xs. As with all strategy games, however, there can only be one victor - and you can find out what that single strategy game to rule them all is right here. Here are your 50 favourite strategy games of all time, as voted for by you, the RPS readership.
]]>Director Jake Solomon is leaving Firaxis after two decades of work on Marvel’s Midnight Suns, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and XCOM 2. This comes amid a studio shakeup with multiple senior roles sliding around the corporate conveyor belt. Firaxis also revealed that they’re in early development on the next Civilization game.
]]>Last time, you decided that dynamic music is better than hex grids. Heart won over mind, and honestly I myself would struggle to know which to follow. Given that hexes aren't going anywhere and dynamic music is scarce, sure, let's celebrate dynamic music and hope for more. This week, I ask you to decide between two very different types of attack. What's better: overwatch reaction attacks (not Overwatch the game, okay), or the ridiculous gunfire overload that is dakka?
]]>Anyone who's played one of Firaxis' XCOM games in the last ten years will have a story about missed shots. Shots that, even with a 90% chance of hitting their target, still end up going wide and punching a hole in your carefully laid plans. In the moment, they induce feelings of white hot injustice, but for many, they're an integral part of what makes XCOM, well, XCOM. Looking back on his time making XCOM 2, however, Firaxis' creative director Jake Solomon tells me that he, too, now feels the pain players have felt for close to a decade.
"It was really interesting for me to return back and play XCOM a couple of years ago, and man, when I missed shots, I was unbelievably frustrated. I felt the ghosts of everybody everywhere looking over my shoulder," he says.
]]>This week's headline free game on the Epic Games Store is a goodie: XCOM 2. You have one week to grab Firaxis's sequel to their alien-busting turn-based tactics game, the streamlined reboot of ye olde X-COM games. XCOM 2 is a good game, well worth grabbing for free! Also free right now is Insurmountable, a roguelikelike mountaineering game.
]]>Fancy a spot of turn-based tactical violence this weekend? Hie thee to Steam to try a free full-game trial of XCOM 2 complete with its excellent expansion, War Of The Chosen. While the free trial only runs for a few days, if you want to keep playing, the game has some daft discounts right now—like '£6 for XCOM 2 and all the DLC and everything' daft. Ridiculous bargain.
]]>A small group of former Firaxis developers who worked on the XCOM games, led by the series' art director, have opened a new studio dedicated to making turn-based tactics games. Bit Reactor is their name, and turn-based tactics really is their only type of game. They haven't announced any specific game yet but say they have several titles in development.
]]>Strategy games is an enormous genre in PC gaming, with real-time, turn-based, 4X and tactics games all flying the same flag to stake their claim as the one true best strategy game. Our list of the best strategy games on PC covers the lot of them. We like to take a broad view here at RPS, and every game listed below is something we firmly believe that you could love and play today. You'll find 30-year-old classics nestled right up against recent favourites here, so whether you're to the genre or want to dig deep for some hidden gems, we've got you covered. Here are our 50 best strategy games for 2023.
]]>Commander, it's once again time to save the Earth - but this time you can do it from the comfort of your toilet seat. XCOM 2 today launched on iPhones, iPads, I don't know anymore. The iOS release comes with all the DLC too, enough game to occupy your attention for potentially thousands of bowel movements. And I think technically you're allowed to play phone games in other places too?
]]>The strategic squad-shooting antics of XCOM return today by way of XCOM: Chimera Squad, a standalone spin-off that takes place amidst a new world order. Whereas in previous games the player fought directly against the alien menace, in Chimera Squad, developer Firaxis Games have fast-forwarded events to five years after XCOM 2’s campaign. Now humans and aliens have made peace, and characters from both factions must fight side-by-side against separatist groups who oppose the interspecies alliance.
It’s a big shift for XCOM, and one Matt enjoyed in his XCOM: Chimera Squad review, albeit with caveats. I spoke to the game's lead designer ahead of its release, however, to find out why they decided to make a spin-off rather than an expansion, and one that makes so many changes to the beloved formula.
]]>Fancy a follow-up game to XCOM 2? Well you're in luck, because there's one coming out next Friday. 2K Games surprised everyone today by announcing a new spin-off, XCOM: Chimera Squad - it's not a proper sequel, but a shorter standalone story set after the events of XCOM 2.
It's bringing a bunch of new and improved features to the series - like letting you select your squad from 11 agents each with their own personalities, and an update to the turn-based combat to make encounters more "intense and unpredictable".
]]>It’s Friday the 13th, the day of Saint Badluck, patron saint of ladders and casinos. And it is a fabulous holiday. Out there, parades are getting ready to be rained on, and children are looking forward to tonight’s shenanigans, when they will dress up as mirrors and knock on doors, declaring: “sweets or I’ll smash myself”. I love Friday the 13th. So many cherished memories. So many splinters of reflective glass.
So, Happy Bad Luck Day. Here’s a list of the 9 unluckiest characters in videogames. Spoilers for pretty much every game mentioned. So, watch out.
]]>Winter brings out a part of me that immediately seeks a mountain of blankets in which to burrow. Even in my seasonally confused state of Texas, the weather has tended towards the chilly and left me with little excuse not to have a kettle boiling interminably as I layer on socks and pull the biggest comforter from the top of the closet. But this presents a problem likely familiar to other cozy connoisseurs: how does one game while properly bundled?
I will admit it does limit possibilities considerably. That's why I've curated a small selection of games perfectly playable while your other hand keeps coffee or tea always within sipping range.
]]>Welcome back, Commanders. I've returned to an expanded and finalised XCOM 2 this week. Since the launch of 2017's War Of The Chosen expansion and last year's Tactical Legacy Pack, things have been quiet on the XCOM front. The game is finally stabilised, giving modders a nice static test-bed to add new weapons, aliens and features to the squad tactics sandbox. Here's a deep dive on the boldly named "A Better Everything" - a modular overhaul mod package - plus a few fun extras to freshen up your next scuffle with Advent.
]]>I reckon that when I was growing up I spent longer reading the manuals for games than I did playing them. The thicker the better (as the someone said to the etc.), and if it were up to me every game would come with a chunky instruction booklet. The standard these days is the in-game tutorial, and many of them feel like afterthoughts. Either they’re too bare bones to properly teach you how to play, leaving you to scroll through Wikis, or they’re so boring that you rush through them and then forget everything you’re told.
]]>My favourite XCOM is XCOM: Enemy Unknown*, a pure and direct, no mess/no fuss modern-day remix of metagame-augmented turn-based tactics. My second-favourite XCOM is the polar opposite, XCOM 2 DLC War Of The Chosen, an absurd explosion of superheroics that throws internal logic to the wind.
]]>Standard-issue XCOM 2 is probably my least-favourite of the four different flavours of XCOM now available to us (i.e. including the Enemy Within and War Of The Chosen expansions), but that's a bit like saying I don't enjoy 29 degrees of heat quite as much as 26, 27 and 28 degrees. They're all great! Make it like that all the time, please. Only, y'know, without the heat-death of the planet. And, yeah, keep on releasing more XCOMs.
If you've avoided Firaxis' reimagining of The Greatest PC Game Of All Time (If You're An Old Man Like Me), XCOM 2 can be a rather full-on point of entry. On the other hand, it's currently free all weekend (and 75% off if you want to keep it forever), which is the easiest point of entry of all.
]]>Hurry, hurry. There are only 37 Steam sales each year - miss a bargain now and you'll regret it for the rest of your days. (Until the next one).
As always, the latest Steam Autumn sale is a sensory overload of cut-price delights. We're here to guide you through the white noise and make a few informed choices.
]]>More XCOM 2: War Of The Chosen is such an exciting prospect to some that our Alec, despite being away on months-long sabbatical, appeared wanting to write about the new DLC released today (Brendan shooed him away with a broom). Tactical Legacy Pack is its name, and adding loads of new missions and maps and items and modes is its game. It's free for keepsies right now too (though it does require the WOTC expansion), then in December Sally-come-latelys will start needing to pay a couple quid for it. Eat it, Meer. Enjoy not doing work ha ha, sucker.
]]>Six years ago, Firaxis pulled off the impossible with XCOM, re-envisioning a DOS classic - next week, they're celebrating this feat with the Tactical Legacy pack for XCOM 2: War Of The Chosen. It's pure fan-service of the less-sexy kind (unless Carapace armour turns you on, in which case fly your freak flag high), featuring old favourite equipment and environments used in a new series of tactical mini-campaigns. Better still, it'll be initially free to owners of War Of The Chosen. It's out next week, October 9th. Check the reveal trailer below.
]]>We've just passed the half-way point of 2018, so Ian Gatekeeper and all his fabulously wealthy chums over at Valve have revealed which hundred games have sold best on Steam over the past six months. It's a list dominated by pre-2018 names, to be frank, a great many of which you'll be expected, but there are a few surprises in there.
2018 releases Jurassic World Evolution, Far Cry 5 Kingdom Come: Deliverance and Warhammer: Vermintide II are wearing some spectacular money-hats, for example, while the relatively lesser-known likes of Raft, Eco and Deep Rock Galactic have made themselves heard above the din of triple-A marketing budgets.
]]>Whatever your weapon of choice--plasma rifle, axe, M1 Garand, or raw capitalism, baby!--you may well be able to dabble in your favoured violence this weekend for free. The full versions of XCOM 2, For Honor, Call Of Duty: WWII's competitive multiplayer (okay, so not really the full version), and Offworld Trading Company are all available in free trial weekends for the next few days - mostly through Steam.
]]>Snapshot Games, lead by David Kaye and X-Com creator Julian Gollop, is a runaway success. Or at least I would think $100k a month in pledges would give a game studio some breathing room. But Snapshot isn't sleeping at night. The prevalence of cheap games and promotional bundles has the studio spooked because, while this is a time of incredibly bounties for consumers, not every game can have the financial safety net of, say, Sea of Thieves. This makes creating a game of the scale of Phoenix Point exceptionally perilous.
]]>The mutant spider queen ripped through another building and I knew my team was dead. This didn’t bother me, I’ve played enough of nu-XCOM to accept the loss of humanity’s last hope. But there’s something more unsettling than being impaled by a large arachnid in Phoenix Point. Its the game’s uncanny and unnerving resemblance to its XCOM cousins. It’s like seeing a doppelgänger of your mate suddenly appear behind him, walking to the bar. You sit there stuttering, looking over his shoulder, wondering who's really sitting in front of you.
]]>Another year over, a new one just begun, which means, impossibly, even more games. But what about last year? Which were the games that most people were buying and, more importantly, playing? As is now something of a tradition, Valve have let slip a big ol' breakdown of the most successful titles released on Steam over the past twelve months.
Below is the full, hundred-strong roster, complete with links to our coverage if you want to find out more about any of the games, or simply to marvel at how much seemed to happen in the space of 52 short weeks.
]]>Back in the summer, I boldly declared that 'I will play XCOM 2: War Of The Chosen's daily challenge mode every day.' Er. Whoops. I've only played a handful since then, and I'm not alone there. Though the mode still pumps out a new challenge every day, it hasn't blossomed into a new religion in the same way The Binding of Isaac and Spelunky's daily random-o-map scoreboard challenges have for those communities.
So, what happened?
]]>Bundle Stars is offering up some rather nice discounts on a big batch of 2K Games' finest wares this week, with up to 80% off some selected titles from the XCOM, Borderlands, Civilization and Bioshock series, among others.
]]>We already knew that Pavonis Interactive, the team behind the RPS-approved, game-changing Long War mods for XCOM and XCOM 2, were working on a complete new game of their own, but seeing as Long War 2 has been in the wild for a while now, I thought I'd catch up with 'em about Terra Invicta. This takes the essential XCOM concept - humans fending off an alien invasion - then expands it to a grand strategy scale.
"It's a little like what you might imagine the XCOM spokesman's job to be," Pavonis head John Lumpkin tells me, "trying to unify Earth's nations against an alien threat." And then it moves to cover the entire solar system.
Long War? More like longest war.
]]>Though it suffers from having as many different tones as the last thirty years of Dulux catalogues sellotaped together, I found in my XCOM 2: War Of The Chosen review that the latest expansion for Firaxis' game is an extremely effective remix of, basically, everything. But there's one very small change in WOTC that I didn't mention - a tiny thing with massive, massive repercussions for XCOM 2: War of the Chosen [official site]'s replayability.
]]>I'd long suspected it, but it's nice to have tangible evidence: I am the best in the world at XCOM.
For one moment of one day, on one of XCOM 2: War of the Chosen [official site]'s daily challenge maps. It could happen again another day, and, yeah, I guess this is going to be my life now.
]]>As predicted, I spent most of the weekend playing XCOM 2: War of the Chosen [official site]. It's good to be back, fighting against the faux-benevolent burger-making overlords of future Earth, but I haven't actually made a great deal of progress in my new campaign. That's because there have been several new campaigns, and that's because I'm an idiot who can't resist the lure of an Ironman mode, while secretly hating the reality of an Ironman mode.
]]>The Steam Charts aren't, as you may have been led to expect, large sprawling maps depicting the locations of all the world's known steam. They were, but due to government pressure we've altered them to list the top ten selling games on Steam, in reverse order, like a rocket taking off.
]]>Hark, it's the sweet vocal vibrations of the humble RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show. The lads (lads lads) are back from the bright lights of Gamescom and ready to chat hard about the games they saw. But Pip is only giving us a maximum of three words about each one. Madness. Never mind, we can talk more verbosely about the alien-shooting of the Destiny 2 beta, or the otherworldly kickboxing of Absolver, or the other-alien-shooting of XCOM 2: War of the Chosen. It's been quite a good week.
]]>I had a whale of a time with XCOM 2: War of the Chosen [official site] (out today), despite finding its tonal ping-ponging between gritty resistance saga and preposterous superheroics a little jarring.
Speaking of the latter, here's a video I made showing just how off-the-chain crazy the various new abilities, weapons and features can be. In the space of a single turn (the first turn of a mission), one soldier covers almost the entire length of the map, 'wakes' pretty much every enemy on it, kills around 15 of them, winds up at the main mission objective and then proceeds to take zero damage on the alien turn. Meanwhile, most of his team never even leave their starting position. All in one turn. It's bonkers. This is War Of The Chosen.
]]>Other sites will bombard you with "facts" and "details" about the top-selling games on Steam, but not us. We won't patronise you with such things. We know you're better than that, taller, more attractive than the readers of those sites. We know you know we know you better, and as such reach for higher, smarter, more eloquent brilliance.
]]>XCOM 2: War of the Chosen [official site] could almost be named XCOM 3, our Alec thought in his review of the new expansion pack for the alien-mashing tactical game. It adds new factions, new classes, new abilities, new enemies, new bosses, new mission types, and so much more to form a delicious tactical feast. But hark, you no longer need rely upon following Alec's Instagram platesnaps and his Yelp reviews to get a sense of what War of the Chosen is like. The expansion launched overnight and is now out for all with £35 to spare.
]]>If you've not played XCOM 2 [official site] yet but Alec's War of the Chosen review has you excited for the game it'll be once the expansion hits, er, this weekend you can see what the turn-based tactics 'em up is like before that. Not as good? But still possibly up your spacestreet. Until Sunday evening, the full version of XCOM 2 is free to try. If you want it for keepsies, it's on sale too.
]]>I can’t help but think of a sausage. A huge, fat, glistening sausage, bulging with meat (or the nearest vegetarian equivalent) to the point that the innards have burst through the skin, forming deliciously fatty globules on the surface. There is surely no room for more, but nonetheless even more has been stuffed inside it. It clearly shouldn’t work. It's almost obscene. It looks like it will fall apart or even explode if even the slightest pressure is applied. It is sausage-based madness. The sausage is XCOM 2: War of the Chosen [official site], and it is as delectable and satisfying as it absolutely bloody insane.
]]>As someone who knows what twitter is, I have seen many brands invite people to manipulate images or add their own text to things imagining that the internet will adhere to the company’s #brand #values and not e.g. draw genitals all over the place or make jokes at the brand's expense and then the brand discovers that you maybe need to hope and pray that the adage about all publicity being good holds true.
That's why I'm interested in this XCOM 2: War of the Chosen [official site] Propaganda Center promo tool, because Firaxis seem to have hit upon a way of obviously asking the internet to do their marketing for them but without accidentally building in the capacity for making themselves the laughing stock in all of this or immediately losing all goodwill they may have accumulated.
]]>You and I can't play the big new XCOM 2 [official site] expansion War of the Chosen until August but we can now watch a gert chunk of it. We've got aaages to wait before we can recruit new factions and classes to our cause while taking down new enemies in new areas. But after several weeks of coughing up small trailers focusing on individual classes and enemies in the expansion, 2K have opened the marketing floodgates and let sites such as our business chums Eurogamer post huge preview videos. Here, watch 80 minutes:
]]>The Steam summer sale is in full blaze. For a while it even blazed so hot that the servers went on fire and all the price stickers peeled off the games. Either that or the store just got swamped with cheapskates looking for the best bargains. Cheapskates like you! Well, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some recommendations - both general tips and some newly added staff choices.
Here are the things you should consider owning in your endless consumeristic lust for a happiness which always seems beyond reach. You're welcome.
]]>Fallen cities swarming with the dangerous remnants of their human populations, alien battlefield commanders who resemble fantastical heroes, new rulesets for friendship and fear, and an actual active resistance out on the Geoscape. XCOM 2 [official site] is changing.
The War of the Chosen is "definitely the biggest expansion we've ever done", lead designer Jake Solomon told us at E3. Introducing unique enemy champions doesn't strike me as an obvious move for XCOM, so I asked Solomon how the concept of the expansion had developed, and whether he'd drawn any inspiration from Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis system. And whether we can expect any terrors from the deep in the future.
]]>As expected, Firaxis announced a full-fat XCOM 2 [official site] expansion at the E3 2017 PC Gaming Show, promising "new environments, new enemies and new XCOM forces". It's called War of the Chosen and the trailer shows those Chosen, the "ultimate enemies of XCOM". They are three champions - nemeses perhaps - and they will grow up in strength through the game, learning new skills and abilities.
On top of that, there are resistance groups to win over, new zombie-like hordes that will attack aliens and humans alike, and a whole lot more. It's "twice the size" of the original XCOM's expansion.
]]>I'd been glumly thinking it was all over for XCOM 2 [official site], as we've had a clutch of DLC followed by the officially-endorsed Long War mod. I figured it'd now be all quiet on the Solomonian front for a couple of years, until such time as Firaxis broke cover with a full new XCOM game. But no! Something is stirring. XCOM 2 is making an E3 reappearance next month, showing off something being referred to with the slogan 'the real war begins.' It could even be a title, you know. Whichever: it's beginning to look a lot like expansion pack Christmas.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
There was a time when I'd buy anything X-COM. I sometimes look at people who have an entire room dedicated to collectibles and tat based on a specific franchise and think, "there but for the grace of Gollop go I". If there'd been X-COM cereal, I'd have bought it. Action figures, of course. Comics, watercolour paintings, boardgames, plushies, chocolate bars...the Saturday morning X-COM cartoon would have been a precious thing indeed. Actually, yes, I'd still like an X-COM cartoon.
As it turned out, I just ended up with a copy of X-COM: Interceptor. Enforcer too, but Interceptor is the one I remember best.
]]>The original X-COM (UFO: Enemy Unknown), Julian Gollop tells me, "succeeded in spite of itself". I asked him how he felt about the game now, twenty three years after its initial release, and particularly about the way it's often placed on a pedestal. He didn't expect it to be a success and certainly didn't think he'd be making a game heavily based on its legacy almost a quarter of a century later.
Yet here we are. The crowdfunding campaign for Phoenix Point [official site], a sci-fi horror strategy game about an alien onslaught, has just begun. Gollop is back where many people feel he belongs, and this time round he seems extremely confident in his game's design.
]]>Those of you familiar with XCOM 2's Long War 2 [official site] mod will know it needs little introduction. Crafted by Pavonis Interactive (formerly Long War Studios), it's the indirect follow-up to Enemy Unknown's Long War - a total conversion mod that expands upon Firaxis' core concepts and ideas, making just about every little detail more difficult along the way.
Long War 2 offers much of the same, and, as Adam aptly noted in his hands-on last month, stars "tougher recruits for a tougher war." Given its broad size and scope Long War 2 feels as much a standalone game as it does a total conversion, therefore it's of little surprise modders of the base game have been updating their works so as to be compatible with Pavonis' ambitious venture. Shy of regurgitating our best XCOM 2 mods list from last year, the following collection gathers those which have helped me (attempt) to conquer the long, Long War.
]]>Oh sure, it's basically been pennies for years, but nothing motivates the merely curious like free-free-free. For that is the case for X-COM: UFO Defense aka UFO: Enemy Unknown, the 1994 alien-bothering strategy game that kicked off a series now made something of a household name by Firaxis' remakes. Only until tomorrow, though.
]]>From the very first mission of The Long War 2, the stakes are different. Your enlarged squad isn't doing anything as brash as blowing up an Advent statue; instead, they've managed to track down an under-strength patrol and are determined to take it down. Two things are immediately clear: the insurgency aren't as bold as at the beginning of vanilla XCOM 2, but, as individuals and as squads, they're far more cunning.
Mission one: eight soldiers, all with protective vests, frags and flashbangs. Tougher recruits for a tougher war. The fight for Earth isn't just longer, it's broader and more involved at every level. The Long War is available now and we've been in the thick of the right for the past few days.
]]>XCOM 2: Long War 2, the officially-sanctioned sequel to the venerated XCOM mod, will expand the 'Geoscape' global strategy layer in new and awful ways. Long War 2's initial announcement this month was a little light on details, leaving us guessing at how it'd give XCOM 2 that complex and gruelling Long War flavour, but interesting factbits are now surfacing. For starters, the Geoscape is now a battlefield of its own, with push, pull, and BETRAYAL!
]]>Many people thought that the comprehensive and tough as nails Long War mod was the best thing to come out of XCOM: Enemy Unknown so the news that the team behind it would be producing mods for the sequel, in partnership with Firaxis. If only they were working on a full-blown Long War mod though for XCOM 2 [official site], wouldn't that be something?
Well, they are. Intriguingly, the announcement comes from Firaxis rather than Pavonis, the team formerly known as Long War Studios. Whether that means this will be a super mod with in-house assistance or a full-fat expansion (the difference between those two things might be nothing more than a pricetag) we don't know, though more info is due "in the coming weeks".
]]>Valve capped off 2016 by revealing the year's 100 highest-grossing games on Steam, which is a pretty interesting list. If you've been following Alec's prolonged breakdown over the weekly charts you'll not be shocked by revelations that Grand Theft Auto V and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive are near the top, but you might not expect them to be joined by the likes of No Man's Sky or the free-to-play Dota 2.
When I asked Alec if he fancied writing up this chart too, he began hissing "The Venga Bus is coming the Venga Bus IS coming the Venga Bus is coming to take me away ho-ho hee-hee ha-haaa" so you get me and my GIFs instead.
]]>We command you to open the next door in our calendar, Commander.
It's 2016's best strategy game, XCOM 2.
]]>Aside from starting a new tradition of unusually-named Steam Awards, Valve have also pulled out their worn and adored bargain bucket and have begun to fill it with games you’ll enthusiastically buy and probably never play. Yes, it's their Autumn Sale. In the streets, the apocalyptic jockeying for TVs and blenders has started. The moon has turned blood red. And I looked and behold a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Black Friday, and sales followed with him.
]]>As the Commander in XCOM 2 [official site] played simulated battles from inside what was essentially a combination onesie/bubblebath/bed, why shouldn't you slump on the sofa to play? A new patch today has added proper controller support to Firaxis's turn-based tactical alienblaster. It may be handy for sofaplay, for giving that clawed mousehand a rest, and for players with certain disabilities. The makers suggest another use too: using a controller with the debug camera to have a nosey through the Avenger, seeing what your soldiers are up to.
]]>Two-player co-op has arrived in XCOM 2 [official site] with the first beta release of a mod which hopes to one day support twelve-player co-op. Two seems a good number to start with, though. You have someone to bounce ideas off, someone for moral support and encouragement, someone to plan and scheme with, and someone to blame when snakes are choking out your champ.
]]>Hullo! One day later than usual because I spent yesterday on a beach next to an industrial estate, but as always, here's what sold best on Steam last week. It is ever so faintly possible that you might have a very slight inkling as to what is number one. I could not possibly comment myself.
]]>The gang behind revered XCOM mod Long War have released yet another mod for XCOM 2 [official site], bringing loads of new enemies and enemy variants. Fancy facing a snakelady sharpshooter, an overwatch-happy Advent Sentry, or a honking great Hive Queen? They'd love to have a crack at you. Head on over to the Steam Workshop to grab the Long War Alien Pack.
]]>The Long War is one of the great mods, expanding Firaxis' XCOM reboot in ways that called back to the campaign of the original game while also building on what was brilliant in the new version. The team behind it formed a studio and are now working on their own aliens vs Earth game, Terra Invicta, as well as Firaxis-approved mods for XCOM 2 [official site]. The first set of mods arrived on launch day and two more appeared a couple of days ago. One of them is good, the other is spectacular.
]]>Five months and one day, in fact. XCOM 2 was a big huge hit at release, and mostly very well-received - although, variously, there were complaints about performance, difficulty, time-wasting and the opacity of its complicated systems. The picture's a little different now we're here in July. There have been three DLC packs, a bunch of patches, a mod community and most of all, plenty of time for repeat visits to see how it feels now we know how all the pieces fit together. I've just emerged from the requisite sleepless nights to wage the main part of another campaign, and I have indeed found a significantly changed game - for reasons both good and bad.
]]>Mechanical men have arrived in XCOM 2 [official site] with today's release of the DLC pack Shen's Last Gift. I'd expected the DLC would add cyborg MEC Troopers like those in XCOM: Enemy Within but nope, the potential new squadmates are proper robits. That's paid DLC but everyone can benefit from the new patch which also launched tonight. It brings performance improvements, bug fixes, and balance tweaks including buffing the sword-swinging side of the Ranger skill tree.
]]>One of the most exciting games in Los Angeles this week won’t be featured at press conferences or on the showfloor. Phoenix Point [official site] is the new tactical-strategy hybrid from Julian Gollop, the creator of the original X-COM, and we met yesterday to discuss its procedurally generated alien threats, simulated human factions and much more. Here’s the world’s first in-depth look at the game.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
Dear God, why?
]]>Alien bosses beamed down into XCOM 2 [official site] today with the release of the Alien Hunters DLC pack. These 'Rulers' are nasty variants of alien species who can turn up in missions unannounced, duff you up good, then scamper off to return in later missions. Which sounds great/horrible. They also bring new weapons and, if you're feeling bold, you can hollow the Rulers out and casually wear their skins.
A patch is also out today with improvements for all players, DLC or no.
]]>I really shouldn't use the word 'rad.' I'm an Englishman - not in the alarmingly out-of-touch Zac Goldsmith sense, just in the nebbishly undemonstrative sense. I just can't get away with boisterously hurling around ironic '80s terms like they do in San Francisco. But by God, the new XCOM 2 [official site] DLC sounds rad. The Alien Hunters pack features, basically, boss aliens who show up at random and give you hell, and, if you fail to kill 'em, will get out of dodge and return to give you more hell another day.
]]>Long War Studios, the folks behind the loved/feared XCOM 1 mod Long War, have joined up with Firaxis again to make more mods for XCOM 2 [official site]. They had three ready for XCOM 2 at launch, which Adam quite liked, and have been working on another five since then. No, none of them appear to be Long War 2. The first of these extras came out today, adding options like larger squad sizes, randomised soldier stats, and 'red fog' lowering the stats of wounded units. Beyond that, look forward to custom classes, new weapons, new aliens, and more.
]]>In my intro to Silent Storm, I mentioned both modding scenes and UFO (used to distinguish the 1994 original X-COM from the 2012 Firaxis one, and not only out of increasingly sad Eurocentric obstinance) without tying the two together. That, it turns out, was stupid, because X-Piratez, a UFO mod in active development by Dioxine, is the best total conversion for any game I've ever played.
Based on OpenXcom Extended, a long-running open source clone of UFO, it takes the story and gameplay structure of the original, and a huge stock of resourcefulness, and turns them into something that's simultaneously very similar and completely new. The result is a dangerously addictive compound of comfortable old UFO with constant surprise, discovery, and content.
]]>We already knew that Valve was planning something called Steam Desktop Theater, in which non-VR games could be used within their Vive headset (and, indeed, any other headsets which end up supporting the SteamVR APIs), but I wasn't expecting to see it until the first giant boxes full of matte-black hardware arrived at pre-orderers' houses.
Turns out that Valve snuck out a beta update to Steam over the weekend, part of which was an early version of Desktop Theater. In like Flynn, me. The good news: it works. The bad news: I'm now more certain than ever that the hardware needs another generation or two before it's truly ready for the world.
]]>Yer actual breaking news (by which I mean I currently have few details but wanted to inform you as soon as possible because I am very excited). Julian Gollop, legendary co-creator of the X-COM series, plus Laser Squad, Chaos and most recently Chaos Reborn, just revealed the next game from his Snapshot Studios. We only have a name, Phoenix Point, and the following description:
"Turn based tactical combat - world based strategy."
Please tell me that means what I think it means. Is Mister X-COM doing a new, if unofficial, X-COM? Have approximately 37 Christmases all come at once?
]]>Happy Saint Paddy's Day one and all! A day for dressing up in garish green hats, novelty glasses, and orange wigs. Which is what I assume we'll be able to do in the latest XCOM 2 [official site] expansion, Anarchy's Children, which promises "100 new exotic customization options for your soldiers, including new hair styles, face paints, armor, lower face props, decals, helmets, masks and more." I guess we'll find out either way when it launches later today. Top o' the mornin' to ya, Advent soldiers.
]]>Continuing an XCOM 2 [official site] Iron Man diary starring the staff and readers of RPS. Full explanation and the story so far here here, and you can download the characters for your own game here.
It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times. John, Graham, Pip and Alice are all dead, as are some of our most senior readers, leaving Team XCOM in the perpetually-wounded hands of just Adam and Alec. Could there possibly be a way back?
Damn right there was.
]]>Firaxis have released a big ole patch for XCOM 2 [official site], aiming to improve everything from performance to balance. Even as one of the lucky folks who hasn't had many problems with XCOM 2 (I mean, aside from when I had the final mission turn into a colourful glitch-o-rama), I'm glad to see some of these changes. The new 'Zip Mode', which trims a lot of the dramatic pauses and delays in combat, sounds great. If you are someone who had bigger problems... tell me, does this help?
]]>Well, in fairness, they've still got a week to squeak out a much-needed fix for the otherwise great XCOM 2 [official site]'s assorted technical issues before the Anarchy's Children DLC arrives next week. They might yet do right by us. Leaves a bit of a bad taste in the mouth to even be talking about flogging extra content before the base game's fully ship-shape, though - especially as said extra content makes me twist my lips into a sort of bemused pout. I really dig XCOM 2's current and generous character customisation options, which manage to be playful without capsizing into arbitrary weirdness. I'm not sure the same can be said about the Anarchy's Children pack of cosmetic add-ons.
]]>Resuming an XCOM 2 [official site] Iron Man diary starring the staff and readers of RPS. Note: this diary went on hiatus for a while, because post-patch XCOM 2 kept crashing on my PC. That problem has resolved itself as suddenly as it arrived, so back into the meatgrinder we go. Full explanation and the story so far here here, and you can download the characters for your own game here.
You're damn right I'm shaken.
]]>In which Adam and I sit down with XCOM 2 lead designer Jake Solomon to dissect the strategy sequel. We discuss what it does well and some of the complaints levelled at it, hear about ideas tried and discarded during development, why story had more of a focus this time around and the continued importance of the original X-COM games.
]]>XCOM 2's soldier classes are one of the best examples of how Firaxis have carefully overhauled the systems introduced in Enemy Unknown. Rather than simply adding further classes to the established roster, XCOM 2 performs an intricate restructuring of Enemy Unknown's archetypes. It remixes the abilities of the original classes, while also adding new skills that radically change how these soldiers are best used. Classes that were enormously powerful in Enemy Unknown now only function well with appropriate support, while others that were tactically difficult to use are now a vital component of any team of alien hunters.
So we've taken a more detailed look at XCOM 2's class system, and ranked them in order of their importance in the field. We'll examine how each class functions, what their best and worst abilities are, who looks down on who, the works.
]]>XCOM 2 was made significantly more difficult late in its development cycle after playtesting suggested it was too easy, says the game's lead designer. "I remember saying 'you know what, we're going to make the game a lot harder. We're going to go back and make the game a lot harder on every level, because this game is not engaging people the way it should,'" Firaxis' Jake Solomon told RPS. "Of course it triggered a fairly mad rush to balance things out, but I think when the game got more difficult then you started to see people engaging, you felt that spark of life."
However, he acknowledged that some players might be struggling with the game as a result. "There were definitely moments of 'is this too much?' and how do we cater to people that maybe don't want that experience?"
Solomon also felt that the presentation of the game's difficulty settings might be to blame for this frustration. "I made a mistake, I think, by calling the lowest difficulty Rookie".
]]>I finished XCOM 2 [official site] last night and had, up until the final mission, evaded the troubles some suffer. Then the end neared and everything glitched out into a psychedelic wonderland, flashing and morphing through loads of different types of graphics glitches. These bugs are great! I wish I'd had them all along! What are you all complaining about? Sheesh! Here, I snapped a gallery of screens for those of you unlucky enough to not see this bug.
]]>XCOM 2 is out, we are playing it, and we are writing about it. You might be struggling to find that writing though because it's being washed away in a flood of other posts. If that's the case, then step inside here for everything we've written about the game so far.
]]>XCOM 2 [official site]'s technical problems are "the first thing we talk about about when we come in in the morning", claims lead designer Jake Solomon. "We take it incredibly seriously. Me and all the leads, that's what we work on all day and that's what we're committed to right now."
While very well-received critically, XCOM 2 has run poorly for a significant number of players, this correspondent included (though it ran well for our reviewer Adam). Speaking to RPS yesterday, project lead Solomon stated that Firaxis were unaware this would be the case when they shipped the game. "I can honestly say that we didn't know it would be this way at launch."
While a small hotfix, released yesterday, did not address the major framerate issues, larger fixes are "coming soon". Solomon also revealed that the post-animation pauses some have criticised XCOM 2 for are being worked on.
]]>The year is young but we've already had the pleasure of welcoming two gruelling tactical slaughterfests into the world: XCOM 2 [official site] and Darkest Dungeon [official site]. We've written a great deal about Firaxis' latest already and our ongoing diary has just hit the point where the alien threat starts to chip away at our beloved squadmates. Darkest Dungeon is more obviously punishing, every element built to communicate a sense of hopelessness and despair.
But how do the games compare, in their treatment of failure and death, both mechanically and thematically?
]]>I'm playing and diarising XCOM 2 [official site] on Commander difficulty in Iron Man mode, using characters based on the staff of RPS, replaced by readers as and when they die or go out of action. Full explanation and the story so far here here, and you can download the characters for your own game here.
Perhaps you would blame random number generation. Perhaps you blame my mismanagement of my squad. Perhaps you would blame it on the natural consequences of attempting a mission named 'Operation Death Tomb'. But I'm blaming this tragedy on Graham Smith, the Sharpshooter who missed 13 consecutive shots.
]]>The technically-troubled XCOM 2 [official site] squeaked out its first patch last night, but if you were praying for some kind of omni-fix for its chaotic framerate, I'm afraid you're going to have to grumpily return to Overwatch.
The patch does squash a couple of nasty crash-bugs, but doesn't do anything meaningful to performance despite the claim that it smooths some of the spikes off the framerate. Some people are even reporting that the game's running worse in the aftermath of the hotfix.
]]>I'm playing and diarising XCOM 2 [official site] on Commander difficulty in Iron Man mode, using characters based on the staff of RPS, replaced by readers as and when they die or go out of action. Full explanation and the story so far here here, and you can download the characters for your own game here.
And I was doing so well (thanks in part to my own advice). As complacency crept in, an RPS writer fell in battle - and they're not the only casualty of my recklessness. Bloody Sectoids, basically.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
Well, 'tis the season and all that. What with XCOM 2 currently overheating a few million graphics cards across the world, it seems a fine time to think back upon Firaxis' original attempt to reboot Julian Gollop's classic strategy+everything game for a new generation. (And for an old generation. Primarily an old generation, maybe).
There is a very real chance I've played XCOM more than any game other than Quake III, World of Warcraft and City Of Heroes. Granted, part of that is chance and timing: previews, reviews and expansion packs, then doing the whole thing over again on iPad during paternity leave (baby in one hand, the lives of a dozen pretend soldiers in the other), but part of that is because I wanted to.
]]>It’s been 20 years since the events of XCOM: Enemy Unknown and while you’re sat there wondering where it all went wrong, the alien occupation of the world as we know it is A Thing now. I saved the world the last time round, did I not? I hear you mumble under your breath. No, no one did and that’s the end of it. Get it over it, man.
The aliens are here, they’re up to no good, and now it’s time to get rid of them. This list is the best mods XCOM 2 [official site] has to offer so far and should help you achieve that goal, or at least help you to fail (again) in style. This list is also best served alongside Alec’s XCOM 2 Guide: How To Survive And Thrive.
]]>One of the weirder performance-improving tips you may have heard for XCOM 2 [official site] is speeding up load times by hitting the Caps Lock key. It sounded unlikely, but it has worked for me. Others found it made them wait even longer, as XCOM 2 would crash and they'd need to relaunch it and reload and probably say some rude words on top I bet. What even is this trick? How does it work? Why don't developers Firaxis make XCOM 2 automatically do... whatever this is? They've now explained.
]]>Pip has never been a fan of turn-based strategy games but Alice is knee-deep in XCOM 2 [official site]. She keeps sending Pip videos of surprisingly competent psychic attacks on aliens and, despite herself, Pip is now not sure whether to try again with the series. Alice attempts to offer a useful primer. The text contains spoilers for some enemy types:
Pip: ALICE
Alice: Philippa.
Pip: Alice, I don't get XCOM. Please help me to get XCOM! I feel left out.
]]>I've been playing XCOM 2 and not having a great time so far. One of the reasons why is the constant delays in the tactical layer, which leave the camera to linger over a whole lotta nothing in between different actions. Thankfully, there's now a mod for it, appropriately named 'Stop Wasting My Time'.
]]>I've played around 300 hours of XCOM 1, and 50 of XCOM 2 [official site], for my sins. I know full well that this does not make me any kind of expert but I'm experienced enough that XCOM 2 has not yet kicked my flabby little bottom. A lot of people are finding the game very punishing though, so I thought I'd try to help - both by sharing my own advice on how to keep your soldiers alive for longer and by inviting anyone else to share their own tips in comments.
This isn't a definitive guide, but instead a grab-bag of assorted wisdom, both early and advanced, that I'm certain will help if you're having a tough time with this wonderful (if sadly malfunctioning) strategy game.
]]>I'm playing and diarising XCOM 2 on Commander difficulty in Iron Man mode, using characters based on the staff of RPS, replaced by readers as and when they die or go out of action. Full explanation and intro here, download the characters for your own game here.
Important lessons learned: Alice is a dangerously incompetent hacker, Pip can't run very far and Adam is a dirty, dirty boy.
]]>A big ugly fly in XCOM 2 [official site]'s deliciously deadly ointment is that Firaxis' game runs like a Psy-Zombie on quite a few folks' PCs - even those with relatively monster systems. It's not universal woe - for instance, it runs fine for Adam, hence his only mentioning passing problems in his review, but on my slightly superior PC I can't even hit the golden 60 frames at minimum settings, while high sees it drop to single digits. In either case there are huge, frustrating lag-spikes throughout, and my PC's running so uncharacteristically hot that I'm pretty sure I could roast a marshmallow over the rear vent.
I'm far from alone, as a glance at the Steam forums, official boards or Reddit will very quickly reveal. It's a damn shame, crossing the line from ultimately meaningless visual sacrifices into actively annoying slowness. Firaxis and 2K aren't giving anything away about what the problem is or when a fix will land, though they do tell us that they're "aware some players have experienced performance issues" and that they're looking into it. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do in the meantime - including one particular off-the-beaten-track fix which damn-near doubled my own frame rate.
]]>Firaxis have unveiled an XCOM 2 [official site] stat-tracking page that shows how many soldiers have died, how many aliens have been killed and other such details. Four and a half million XCOM soldiers dead in less than a week since launch. Good work, Commanders. Five percent of those soldiers met their end at the hands and teeth of a zombie. Really great work, Commanders, seriously. You are nailing it. The stats page currently tells me that none of you have managed to complete the game but that is, apparently, an error.
]]>It’s tradition now: when an XCOM game comes out, you recreate your friends, colleagues and record-collection-stealing former lovers then send them out to be murdered by aliens. Basically, it’s the Sims with Sectoids rather than sex.
So let’s do it again: an XCOM 2 [official site] Iron Man/perma-death diary starring the staff of RPS, who you can download and add to your game below.
But they'll only star briefly. Whenever someone dies, they’ll be replaced by one of this site’s readers. Who will also almost certainly die. That’s how much we love you.
]]>XCOM 2 [official site] isn't just a big pile of tactical brilliance, it's also a big mod-friendly pile of tactical brilliance. Theoretically, that means someone will iron out the things that annoy you and build on the things you love. It also means we can expect anything from an increase in moustache variety to a revamped campaign or series of total conversions.
To kick things off, Firaxis commissioned the clever folks who made the Long War mod for Enemy Unknown to produce three day-one mods for XCOM 2. They are neat additions but, more than that, they're signposts toward an exciting future.
]]>I don't mean "I'm excited that this videogame sequel is coming out," but rather that the game itself works so hard and does so much to create a constant sense of near-euphoric drama. In an age where sequels=darker, because far too many people believe that The Empire Strikes Back is the highest watermark of popular culture, XCOM 2 [official site]s lurch towards brightly-coloured celebratory heroism is a welcome one - and it does this even though, thematically, we're talking a post-alien-invasion Earth and all the horror that implies. It wouldn't be unfair to invoke Independence Day comparisons, but it wouldn't be quite correct either: XCOM 2 does have that hoorah-heroism, but fortunately it's bereft of flag-waving. This is the bright dystopia, the heroic rebellion rather than the forlorn resistance.
When I play XCOM 2, I feel incredibly excited most of the time, and it's not just because of soaring military march soundtrack - there are dozens of tiny things it does to make me feel like an action hero (or a least a commander of action heroes).
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