10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts You Never Knew About The XCOM Franchise

The original UFO Defense Force had players travel to space to eliminate the alien threat, and we wouldn't be surprised to see the sea-based aliens attempt to utilize the moon in order to bring destruction to humanity. Many veteran gamers have been expecting some kind of space mission ever since the series was first revived, and one has to feel like it's due at some point - and logically, the moon has a strong connection to anything water-ba


For the curious, the ending of Terror From The Deep resulted in a victory for XCOM , but it came at a price: the ecosystem of Earth is more or less destroyed, forcing most humans to move into urban city centers much like ADVENT had encouraged in XCOM 2 . This led into the plot from XCOM: Apocalypse , but we're going to keep our speculation to one game at a time. Of course, it's possible that Firaxis left the underwater glimpse as a massive misdirection for fans, but we doubt they would show alien technology underwater and abandon the subject entir


Insane enemies will run around the battlefield and panic, preventing them from developing strategies to take you down. They can fire at their own allies, duck into cover and cower in fear, or even become mind-controlled for a few turns. Thanks to its large area, Void Rift remains one of the best crowd control and damage abilities in XC


Domination will permanently mind control one enemy for the rest of the mission, which is a stronger skill than the mind control aliens get. As long as your will is high enough, you can mind control any organic being from Sectoids to the terrifying Andromedons . No other skill in XCOM 2 can change a fight in your favor so quickly and grant a plethora of new skills at the same time. The alien you control can use all of their abilities that infamously give you trou


These alien menaces never get easy to defeat, no matter how well-equipped of a squad the player has. Chryssalids are four-legged insectoid creatures that have several vicious, and unique abilities. First off, Chryssalids are extremely fast; most players encountering them for the first time might be shocked how far they can travel in a turn. To make it worse, they can use their leap ability to get to a higher elevation. The ability that makes them particularly dangerous is their ability to implant a Chryssalid embryo into their victims. This turns the victim into a mindless zombie that attacks the player’s squad and civilians. After only a few turns a Chryssalid, at full strength, emerges from the zom


In the meantime, Firaxis is supporting XCOM 2 with what ultimately amounts to a Season Pass. Players have the option to purchase the Reinforcement Pack DLC, which will release three bonus collections of content between Spring and Summer later this year. In the meantime, modders are actively supporting the title with puppy-based weapon


Julian Gollop wanted to make a sequel with an isometric view. Since MicroProse was publishing the hit Civilization at the time, they asked if Mythos Games could implement more strategy elements to the game. This is how the foundation of XCOM's strategy layer was born. Firaxis paid tribute to Laser Squad as well by imitating the game's cover art for XCOM: Enemy Unknown's box


What We Said: "The real strength of The Division is that it offers something for so many different types of gamers. The game plays incredibly well as a single player experience, the PvP zones are unique and game changing, and the end game offers a challenging grind that is complex enough to keep the hardcore fans engaged. All of that, in combination with the game’s many little touches like a brilliant sound system (play this SLG game releases with headphones or surround sound and you won’t ever go back), great sense of humor, and a mysterious story, make The Division a must play for just about any type of game


Early on, pistols deal lacking damage and have few ways of bypassing armor, making this skill somewhat lacking. Once you unlock plasma weaponry or, better yet, get the Hunter's revolver, this skill becomes one of the best in the game. Few things are more satisfying than seeing your Sharpshooter single-handedly kill nearly a dozen enemies in a single act


What We Said: "For younger gamers who missed this franchise the first time around, Ratchet and Clank is a perfect starting point. By the same token, veteran fans will be equally pleased at the opportunity to return to a familiar environment that doesn’t feel repetitive. With a stellar new game and a movie on the horizon, hopefully this is the first in a new chain of adventures for our favorite Lombax and robot tea


During the game's development, Firaxis had difficulty determining how to handle core systems such as weapon range, displaying information to the player, and how to handle actions. As a means to quickly fix the game's unfun state, Firaxis imposed a "Mutator Mondays" event where staff could add a single change to the game that lasts a week. It is thanks to these events that grenades instantly explode, set weapon ranges were removed, and the game's UI is much cleaner. Eurogamer goes into more detail on how this system saved the game's troubled developm