Firaxis releases gameplay walkthrough video for XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Strategy games are a hard thing to find in this day and age, especially turn-based strategy games. So, when Firaxis had announced that it will be working on a true sequel to the classic turn based strategy series XCOM, titled XCOM: Enemy Unknown, fans all over the world did a collective synchronised fist pump. Recently, Firaxis has released a video that show cases some of the enemies and soldiers in the game, along with some of the gameplay mechanics, with narration by Jake Solomon – lead designer of XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

The video displays some of the strongest enemies in the game, including the berserker, the heavy floater and the chryssalid. Solomon also showed how your characters in the game will have permanent death, so jumping in to battle without any strategy or tactics won’t be the best idea. Solomon also showed off some of the abilities of the enemies, like the chryssalids killing a soldier and morphing him into another chryssalid – much like the xenomorph from the movie Alien. Interestingly, Solomon also showcased a soldier who had psionic abilities, which he could use to invade the minds of enemies, and who looked very similar to Sid Meier, the founder of Firaxis.

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Last month, Firaxis had released a new trailer for XCOM: Enemy Unknown titled “Casualties of War”. The game, showcased at E3 this year and other gaming conventions, is being developed my Firaxis. Gamers might recognise the name as the same studio responsible for the Civilization series of games.

Enemy Unknown gets a video that shows gameplay

Here is a description of the game according to the website for the game: “Threatened by an unknown enemy, the Earth’s governments unite to form an elite paramilitary organization, known as XCOM, to combat this extraterrestrial attack. As the commander of XCOM, you control the global defense team in a battle against a terrifying alien invasion by creating a fully operational base, researching alien technologies, planning combat missions, and controlling soldier movement in battle.”

XCOM: Enemy Unknown was announced earlier this year as a result of Game Informer’s cover for the month of January. Unlike the X-COM first person shooter being developed by 2K Marin, this one will be an out and out a strategy game, something that should get unanimous approval from fans of the franchise.

Firaxis’ love for the franchise reflects in what Steve Martin, President of the studio says, “It’s been a dream of ours to recreate X-COM with our unique creative vision. We’re huge fans of the original game and it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to re-envision a game that is as beloved as X-COM. We were careful to keep XCOM: Enemy Unknown true to the elements that made X-COM such a revered game while delivering an entirely new story and gameplay experience for both die-hard X-COM fans and newcomers to the franchise”.

The game is set to release on 11 October, 2012 and is available for pre-ordering on Steam.