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Wonderful Surprise for Xcom Fans
Xcom: Chimera Squad has come out of nowhere. In near shadow drop like fashion Xcom‘s youtube page uploaded a reveal trailer for Xcom: Chimera Squad on April 14th. Less than two weeks later the game is available to buy on Steam (for a temporary price of $9.99 so snatch it up now before it goes up to $20).
Being a big Xcom fan I decided to give it a purchase and pay that the game runs on my mediocre PC build. Happy to report that the game runs extremely well for me and better yet, Xcom: Chimera Squad pretty darn good!
Xcom: Chimera Squad is still Xcom but different
The Story of Chimera Squad picks up several years after Xcom 2: War of the Chosen. The war with advent has been won and the humans, aliens, and hybrids are working living together to forge a new future.
For the first time in a modern Xcom games the player starts out with squadmates who aren’t entirely human. It’s a really cool twist to be controlling some of the aliens we have been battling against for years, it’s a really cool way to add some spice to the series.
Right away you know you are playing an Xcom game. There is a familiar aesthetic, the UI is fairly similar to what you have seen before in previous Xcom games, and the core gameplay is much the same.
Xcom: Chimera Squad and 12 Great AA Games to Play in 2020
The differences come in the games art style and some drastic gameplay tweaks that differentiate this Chimera Squad from its predecessors. The art style has shifted to a slightly more cartoony or comic book style and much of the story is presented through comic book like panels.
At first blush the game comes off as lower budget, a smaller project than the previous Xcom games but as you quickly learn, the core gameplay and depth of an Xcom game is still there.
Interesting Gameplay Tweaks
The biggest change I have seen so far in the early stages of the game is how your squad mates work. There is no more permadeath for characters, no more nail biting scenarios where you may lose your favorite soldier to a plasma blast to the face you didn’t see coming.
Now when a player gets downed, you have a limited time to finish the mission or stabilize them. If you fail to do so and they die, it’s mission over. Time to start again.
When I first heard about this change my face instantly morphed into a lugubrious expression, one of the things I love most about Xcom is the fact that each soldier is a unique fragile unit. The knowledge that any mission could go pear shaped, resulting in emotional devastation. The novel thrill of losing something valuable in a videogame is a big draw for the Xcom franchise.
After playing the game for just a couple of hours, what at first seemed like a huge drawback has swiftly turned into one of the games biggest strengths. Yes the cool fragility behind permadeath and that sense of your squad being an ephemeral unit you desperately want to keep intact is gone but in its place, we get a richer, more charismatic slew of operatives to enjoy and they fundamental shape how the game plays.
Xcom: Chimera Squad Has Character
Every character in Xcom: Chimera Squad is crafted by the developers. No more random generation, no more naming or creating them. These characters are fleshed out with their own backgrounds and abilities. You can still level them up and grow their abilities. You can also still customize their look to an extent but in all they are wholly their own, unique irreplaceable, and essential to the core mechanics of this game.
What you lose in pure customization you gain with personality. Every squad member has a level of depth and richness to their characters that we haven’t seen in an Xcom game before. Every character has a specific voice with their own individual lines that you will hear during gameplay, through scenes back at the base, and in other areas of the game.
The extra detail put into the characters leads to some interesting results.As you play the game you will find yourself gravitating towards certain characters for a multitude of reasons. Maybe you like their play style, maybe you like their personality. Whatever the reason it’s a nice little thrill to unlock a new character and see how they change the dynamic of the squad.
Characters still get promoted and learn new abilities and you can also pu them into training to accelrate their growth and give them other enhancments.
Characters can also be assigned to different departments at the base in order to help research or move the facility activities along. It’s an interesting little metagame to determine who you will put in what facility and who you will take out on a mission. I am sure that as I get deeper into the game this dynamic will play out even more prevalently.
Several Small Tweaks Change the Xcom Formula
While Xcom: Chimera Squad is undoubtedly a Firaxis made Xcom game in every aspect, the slew of small tweaks noticeable throughout the game add up to fundamentally change the formula of the series.
At the start of every mission encounter you have to breach into the mission area. You usually get a number of choices when it comes to which entrance you choose and which squad member will go through them. Maybe you want squad member Axiom to go through the main entrance because it’s the most dangerous and he has the most health.
Perhaps you want Terminal to go in through the window because she will get a guaranteed hit through that entrance and you want to take advantage of the power of her SMG’s?
The extra layer of strategy presented at the onset of every mission is a really nice touch and man, it just looks really badass when a breach is going down, that can’t be understated!
Some other changes are the way actions work. Each squad member gets two turns like before but no longer does one team take its full turn while the opposing team takes theirs. Now turns usually alternate between a player character turn and an enemy character turn after the initial opening of the fight.
This changes how you approach missions ever so slightly as now you have to factor in what the enemy may do after every move you make. This also creates an interesting, hurried pace where you are reacting a bit more to situations than you would be in previous Xcom games.
Xcom: Chimera Squad is a deep, rewarding, addition to the series
It is still early days but so far Chimera Squad seems to be another big hit for the Xcom franchise. I was a little hesitant at first because some of the core changes but there is nothing to fear if you are an Xcom fan.
This game feels like a sleeker, much faster paced (several missions so far have only been 5-8 minutes long, giving Chimera Squad an almost arcady feel), concentrated shot of Xcom goodness.
The changes to the game are just enough to bring old franchise vets like myself back in and hook us all over again. If you are new to the Xcom franchise this game seems like a pretty good entry. Easier to jump into but it doesn’t seem to be lacking any of the depth.
So far Xcom: Chimera Squad is a very welcome surprise to the Spring 2020 video game landscape. Check it out and snatch up now while it’s only $9.99, it is absolutely worth every penny.
Are you a big Xcom fan? What do you think of Chimera Squad? Be a part of the conversation by leaving a comment below!
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