XCOM Chimera Squad is coming later this month
Talk about a surprise, having only announced that XCOM 2 The Collection would be coming to Switch the other week, 2K and Firaxis are back at it, announcing an all new standalone expansion for XCOM 2 on PC, check out the reveal below. As for when this newly announced title will be available, that would be April 24, just over a week away.
Welcome to City 31, a model of peace in a post-invasion world. However, not all of Earth’s inhabitants support interspecies alliance. Chimera Squad, an elite force of human and alien agents, must work together to destroy the underground threats driving the city toward chaos.
As Chimera Squad is a standalone expansion, you don’t need to own the original game, or any of the previous expansions for this, you can just right in, but as this is set 5 years after the events of XCOM 2, it is advised that playing that, will help you understand this better, but so will watching the gameplay overview video below.
There is a lot to unpack in this, thankfully 2K provided a nice dot point list, of some of the more interesting elements.
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 – Shape the battlefield to your advantage with a new combat phase that injects your squad right into action. Strategically assign your agents to different entry points and coordinate their assault with a range of Breach-specific skills.
Interleaved Turns – An automatic initiative system slots 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.
Suspenseful Strategy Layer – Outside of combat, manage the operations of a high-tech HQ, where you 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.
