Firaxis' XCOM: Enemy Unknown announced

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 5 January, 2012

Turn-based strategy game re-imagined by Civilization dev.

Civilization developer Firaxis is making XCOM: Enemy Unknown, a re-imagination of the classic turn-based strategy game.

US magazine Game Informer revealed Enemy Unknown, saying it "introduces a wider console audience to what made the storied franchise great in the first place". It launches on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this autumn.

"Unlike 2K Marin's previously announced XCOM shooter, which sparked tempers among longtime fans for turning its back on the series' cerebral roots, this title is a full-on strategy game that puts players in command of a global anti-alien defense force," Game Informer said.

"XCOM's leader needs a worldwide perspective where threats are identified, populations reassured, and national leaders mollified - but a tactical mind is just as critical considering every shot XCOM's soldiers fire on the battlefield is under the player's turn-based control."

Firaxis boss Steve Martin added: "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."

Firaxis' XCOM has destructible tactical environments, and fuses a real-time strategic view with turn-based combat.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (88) Latest comment 1 month ago

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  • millerlfc #1 2 months ago

    If this is even half as good as the original XCOM then it's an insta-buy from me.

  • neilka #2 2 months ago

    I've just XCOME.

  • Mox #3 2 months ago

    Bit early for April Fool's gags, isn't it?

  • Psychotext #4 2 months ago

    Awesome. I really hope they make a good job of it.

  • antelopetube #5 2 months ago

    Best. News. Ever! Roll on Autumn...

  • BearFishPie #6 2 months ago

    Nnnnggghhhh...

  • KayTannee #7 2 months ago

    This is the best news ever! I am sold!

    The original UFO is possibly the beat game ever made, and an official remake will be outstanding.

    Im not even talking about the orignal through rose tinted nostalgic beer goggles, I've completed it numerous times over the years, and its still as good as ever. Especially liked it when had it on my Windows Mobile XDA.

    Umm, wish someone would release the original on Android :/

  • superfurry #8 2 months ago

    This is awful! Everyone knows that for an old franchise to be successful again, it HAS to be another generic FPS. Thank God those Syndicate guys are here to save us.

    In unrelated news, Day 1 purchase.

  • MattEdWithCheese #9 2 months ago

    Great! Now we need EA to commission a more loyal Syndicate game and then maybe people will stop moaning for a while...
    Edited by 2 at 05/01/12 @ 16:28

  • Concrete #10 2 months ago

    This is very good news, finally a re-make that doesnt just turn the original game into a generic fps.

  • ThrowingTuba #11 2 months ago

    Please make it a little bit easier...

  • Nanocrystal #12 2 months ago

    Hell yeah! This is instantly my most anticipated game.

  • StolenGlory #13 2 months ago

    Oh for fuck sake. Don't they know it's meant to be a shooter?

  • ShiftyGeezer #14 2 months ago

    @ThrowingTuba : Easier? On easy mode it was a doddle, and with midlevel save and reload, there was no reason to fail on any level. Just keep reloading until luck is in your favour. ;)

    Awesome news. Hope they capture the spirit as well, and not make it all gritty or such. the original was pretty camp.

  • jonbwfc #15 2 months ago

    Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh!
    <runs round waving arms in the air>
    Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

  • Casserole #16 2 months ago

    Firaxis + UFO Enemy Unknown = Gaming Nirvana

  • Lancezh #17 2 months ago

    *cough* http://ufotts.ninex.info/
    *cough*     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ3d09D_Wko&fea ture=player_embedded

    This is so much win trust me and read carefully guys, i cant be more specific hehe, anyone who loves the game should check it out aswell... and i'm VERY keen on what Firaxis can improve upon or if they can pull it at all. Best News for 2012
    Edited by 2 at 05/01/12 @ 17:11

  • WJF #18 2 months ago

    Brilliant news! Hoping it isn't too streamlined from the original to compensate for console controllers, though.

    Oh, and that you still get to rename the soldiers.

  • udat #19 2 months ago

    Yeah, this is good news. Firaxis made Alpha Centauri which is one of the most addictive games ever, and one of the few to swallow quite as many hours of my life as UFO/XCOM has.

  • varkdm #20 2 months ago

    Planetside 2 .. and X-Com.. in the same year.. too.. much.. goodness!

  • orpheus #21 2 months ago

    Pfft, already been a really decent, turn based remake of this coming via indie devs for AGES:

    http://www.xenonauts.com

    Firaxis on the bandwagon? Rather have the indie one methinks.
    Edited by 4 at 05/01/12 @ 17:23

  • UncleSmoothie #22 2 months ago

    This is the best news of the decade already.

  • steviepunk #23 2 months ago

    I thought everyone hated remakes....


    Still, can't help but be excited about this one :)
    The right developer with the right approach, what a difference it makes.

  • paulf #24 2 months ago

    I remember this when it was Rebelstar Raiders. great news

  • jonbwfc #25 2 months ago

    @orpheus Call me weird, but I prefer a game that actually comes out, from a team of professional games designers with a great track record, to an indie game project that's been 'coming' for so long I'd actually forgotten it even existed.

  • Khab #26 2 months ago

    Please be good.

    Thankyou.

  • Bigangryshoe #27 2 months ago

    "re-imagination" and "introduces a wider console audience"? Don't get your hopes up, it sounds like they're dumbing the game down to Dragon Age 2 levels.

  • GamesConnoisseur #28 2 months ago

    Praises be!!

    Played this on Amiga 500 and was in the lovely hefty boxed game and thick manual inside, thank heaven for Firaxis!

    I m still keen to see how the FPS version getting along, but boy I m really excited with this proper interpretation!

  • Der_tolle_Emil #29 2 months ago

    I'd be more than sceptical if someone said they were touching XCOM but I trust Firaxis not to screw this up completely. Make it half as good as the original and I'll take it!

  • fletch7100 #30 2 months ago

    Never played enemy unknown but loved the sequel terror from the deep. Used to replace all the soldiers names with names of my friends. Sadly one by one my friends were getting killed off. Kept one of my friends alive right to the end, until the final enemy killed him and I screamed out "NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOO". Bloody lobster creature Kill em all I say

  • steveb07 #31 2 months ago

    Great news! Loved playing this back in the day. I have been tempted to buy it off GOG but might wait now.

  • tenebrae #32 2 months ago

    Yes! Yes! This pleases me greatly. Now the biggest hurdle: it needs to be good.

  • Bremenacht #33 2 months ago

    no pew?

  • ShiftyGeezer #34 2 months ago

    @fletch7100 : "Never played enemy unknown but loved the sequel terror from the deep."

    The sequel was *exactly* the same game with different graphics. ;)

  • Scimarad #35 2 months ago

    Absolutely nothing against the X-Com shooter but this is fantastic news:)

  • Whizzo #36 2 months ago

    I can hear the screams of poorly equipped, under-trained and hopelessly out of their depth squaddies already.

    Glorious.

  • Casserole #37 2 months ago

    What really annoyed me about the game is that your rookies could have those alien bastards lined up, but as soon as they fire back they go beserk, drop their weapons and run away. Jeez, it's like they've never seen an alien before.

  • Kostas #38 2 months ago

    Please, please, please let this be good. Please do not let this legendary name be done and done with in a manner tottaly inappropriate to the series name...

  • Rogueywon #39 2 months ago

    @ShiftyGeezer - Well... kind of. The sequel bumped up the challenge quite a lot. The mission maps were a lot larger - something like 4 times the size, if I remember. Plus the research tree could be a little trickier. So while the games were very similar, beating TFTD was a much bigger challenge.

    Oh, and everything was blue. Or green.

  • RandomTerrain #40 2 months ago

    One of the best games ever made, I can't wait to see this, let's hope they do it justice and make it better than ever. :o)

  • Scimarad #41 2 months ago

    Now we just need to get them to sort out Syndicate...

  • jeeweej #42 2 months ago

    But...but...I...
    *wipes away tear*

    I think i can die happy now... THANK YOU FIRAXIS!!!!

    Btw, whatever happened to that other XCOM abomi...eeh...game? Is it still on hold?? Or was the nerdrage becomming too much for the devs to bear?

  • makeamazing #43 2 months ago

    Firaxis and Turn based, sounds great, just from that.

    Let's hope its a full game type release and not some FTP with micro transaction Age of Empires type crap.

    If its anything like Firaxis's previous releases I am going to be one very happy person indeed! Hope it's a success and they then allow them to make Terror from the Deep... :)

  • Gastrian #44 2 months ago

    I wonder if Firaxis will be using Atari's/Micropose's original reimagining notes? Prior to the series being canned they were going to redo UFO: Enemy Unknown with a fully structured narrative and a set cast of operatives

  • deded #45 2 months ago

    Best. News. Ever.

    Fingers crossed these guys nail it. :D

  • Po1ymorph #46 2 months ago

    Get in!

    Glad Faraxis are at the helm for this. I have every faith in them.

  • MichaelDark #47 2 months ago

    Sounds too good to be true. Maybe it is too good to be true. Maybe they will make a casual game for the average casual gamer that plays a bit like good old XCOM. I really hope this will not be the case...

  • BillGaitas #48 2 months ago

    UIUIUUIUIUIUIUIUIUUIUIUIUIUUIUIU
    there is a god

  • Puppaz #49 2 months ago

    To be honest they could just re-release the original with a slightly higher res and I'd love it to death. Not sure this will version will work, but I'm very happy to be convinced when its released.

  • TheJuriel #50 2 months ago

    Turn-based combat? Destructible environment? I AM SO THERE

  • RandomTerrain #51 2 months ago

    And it's great we'll be getting a decent turn based title on the consoles. I've been so sad that there's so few these days, and only the PC seems to get them.
    I tell you what would make this even better is either mouse or Move support for the PS3 version, hint hint.

  • Daikon #52 2 months ago

    Glorious news! Time to dust off the A1200.

  • HarryTuttle #53 2 months ago

    That headline had me from six to midnight. Happy days!

  • ShiroBen #54 2 months ago

    Now do Syndicate!

  • blicko #55 2 months ago

    I've got my expectations in check after the disappointment of Apocalypse, Interceptor, and (groan) Enforcer. Not that they haven't had merit, but they've never reached the quality of the original two.

    Silent Storm is worth checking out if you're in to squad-level turn-based malarky.

  • uninspiredcup #56 2 months ago

    @RandomTerrain Or, you could just get it on the pc, the proper gaming platform for strategy.

  • TazerFan #57 2 months ago

    Uh, wait. Did that other XCOM reboot get binned? Did it already come out? I haven't thought of it in about a year it seems...

  • Harmonica #58 2 months ago

    All my wallets.

  • Murton #59 2 months ago

    Can we please drop this asinine belief that console gamers are stupid and are incapable of playing deep strategy games or RPGs? A lot of console gamers are old PC gamers who can't be bothered to keep a PC running or have gone to consoles for the social aspect. I was a PC-only gamer for 15 years and bought a console so I could play couch co-op with friends, after getting that console it became my main gaming platform for pure convenience, I have long since lost interest in being treated like a pirate by every games publisher on the planet for having the gaul to actually buy their game rather than actually pirate a copy that works without issue.

    Firaxis could just take the original, replace the artwork and update the code for modern platforms and then release it and it'll do just fine. It's not like UFO required any precision or keyboard dancing like some RTS games do, it'll work just fine on a controller.

  • paganarh #60 2 months ago

    best news since forever

  • Der_tolle_Emil #61 2 months ago

    @Murton: I totally agree. I have a high end PC but I still end up buying most multiplatform releases for my 360 because couch+tv+hifi are more important to me these days.

    Also, I really don't see how XCOM would need to be dumbed down. It never was THAT deep to begin with. Sure, it's a sophisticated game but the main difficulty came from relying solely on the manual or learning the tech tree. A few on screen pointers and the game is quite easy to get into.

  • SleazyDragon #62 2 months ago

    Just finished XCOM and TFTD recently again. barring the graphics, the game still holds up today. It is a spare time magnet. As long at it keeps true to the original, I'll be getting this on day one.

    I'll take a punt on the FPS version too, but only because it's in the XCOM universe. In fairness, who wouldn't like to waste some sectoids with a heavy plasma???

  • madmaardigan #63 2 months ago

    Fantastic!

    I never understood why turn-based games went out of fashion. I still go back to games like XCom, Silent Storm and Jagged Allaince mainly because there are so few contemporary games available.

  • Madder-Max #64 2 months ago

    So....is there a generic FPS version coming out too?

  • madmaardigan #65 2 months ago

    @uninspiredcup If we're going to get all elitist lets get out our miniatures, tape measures and 12-sided dice for *serious* strategy gaming.

    There's nothing wrong with strategy gaming on the console, at least in theory. Civ on the PC was massively improved because there really thought hard about streamlining the interface for the console versions.

  • jeeweej #66 2 months ago

    If i remember correctly, the first X-COM (or UFO: Enemy Unknown as we called it back then ;)) was released on the PSone and played quite well! I believe it did even better than expected sales wise, but not sure about that.

    Anyway, my point being, turn based games work great on consoles. Just look at the Advance Wars games, FF Tactics or the more recent Valkyria Chronicles games on the PS3 and PSP.

    I think its even fairly safe to say that a TBS game works better on consoles than a RTS game. :)

  • Monkey_Puncher #67 2 months ago

    Urgh, talk about watering down a once great 1st person shooter!

  • Leolian #68 2 months ago

    YES!!

  • Gastrian #69 2 months ago

    @SleazyDragon sadly the FPS has nothing to do with X-COM, there's no sectoids and it seems to be an alternate timeline where its an American only initiative as opposed to a UN one and is set about 50 years before the original X-COM

  • PlugMonkey #70 2 months ago

    This is awesome news! No, this is the best news ever!

    @Lancezh

    *cough* They've pulled the plug. *cough*

    @Orpheus

    From what I've seen of Xenonauts, it's clunky even by comparison to the original, which at least has the excuse of being over 15 years old now. It's a sort of precise recreation of what the original already did, plus some extra fiddly bits, and with absolutely none of the charm or soul.

    Personally, I'm much more excited about a 're-imagining'. I don't need a remake. I have the original. It's right there on Steam.

    Believe it or not, turn based games have moved on since 1994. There is some room for refinement in the original UFO formula, which while excellent, could be painfully laborious at times. I want someone to pick the ball up and run with it, not just rehash the same exact thing over and over and over.

    If the idea of the world's greatest turn based strategy developers re-imagining the world's greatest turn based strategy game doesn't get you excited, you are possibly beyond help.

    As someone else has already said, there's actually not that much room to make UFO dumber. Especially for someone like Firaxis. UFO already is dumbed down and console friendly compared to Civilisation. I never played Civ Rev, but it seemed to go down well with the people I know who did. Was it really that much 'dumber' than the original UFO? I find that quite hard to believe.

    So, we have the perfect developer for the gig, and so far all they've confirmed is that they're staying true to the turn-based combat of the original. What exactly are the grounds for rejecting it out of hand?

  • figgis #71 2 months ago

    YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

  • Snaggletooth #72 2 months ago

    First time around, this was one game I missed and have always regretted it. So good news then! I look forward to playing it.....finally.

  • PlugMonkey #73 2 months ago

    @Snaggletooth

    The original is still eminently playable, and is available in the Steam sale for just Ł1.01 for the next 7 hours, in full pre-dosboxed for easy compatibility glory.

    You've got months to wait for this. Get yourself in there.

    Just remember to keep your guys in cover at all times.

    And that arms trading is an excellent way of covering budget shortfalls.
    Edited by 1 at 06/01/12 @ 10:44

  • jeeweej #74 2 months ago

    @PlugMonkey Agreed, a exact remake with new graphics would just be a big dissapointment, as the gameplay just wouldnt live up to the demands of the current generation of gamers.

    Hell, if you havent played one of the original X-COM games before (so no sentimental feelings which blur out any shortcomings) you'd prolly think that its a crappy designed game.

    Most important is that they keep the good stuff of the original (setting, turnbased, geospehere, base management, R&D, squad management (with the option to rename your squaddies), terror sites, base assaults and semi-interactive air combat (might miss a few here)) and add stuff like 3d graphics, deeper story (more story missions maybe?), more streamlined GUI and more of that stuff that make current games "good".

    Thing is, they shouldnt add too much new stuff. XCOM should remain like X-COM: simple but so damned fun...

  • jabberwoky #75 2 months ago

    Unless they screw up, its a guaranteed sale for me. Wouldn't it be ironic if it sold by the bucket load and the suits at EA etc said, gosh, that sold well, lets do something like that. And we got wall to wall xcom clones.

  • PlugMonkey #76 2 months ago

    @jeeweej

    I tried getting a younger colleague to play it once, and he didn't get on with it all. I think the design is still excellent, but it requires a lot of patience. I think you could cut a lot of the faff without "dumbing it down".

    For me, the main charm of the original was how perfectly balanced the combat and the geoscape overview were. The way they both carried equal weight and importance. The way you'd find yourself taking heavier and heavier casualties in battles, and then you'd have a breakthrough in the research and the tables would turn. As long as they achieve that again, I think we're onto a winner.

    The battles themselves are still fun, but they could be streamlined a lot without losing anything that made the original game good. Moving your troops to make first contact, or find the last enemy survivor, either required painstaking patience, or basically using the save system to cheat. The introduction of a real-time-movement and then turn-based-combat system as used in Jagged Alliance 2 or Silent Storm would at least make it 5 years less out of date, and I don't doubt a talented design team could find other ways of improving the experience without losing the depth and strategy.

    This is so very, very exciting. I'm very excited.

  • PlugMonkey #77 2 months ago

    @jabberwoky

    It does rather look like the suits at 2K Games have heard the clamour the original XCOM announcement created for a new game that stayed true to the original, and that's sent the dollar signs spinning in their eyes.

    They've certainly changed their tune from from when their Il Presidente was saying "pure strategy games are just not contemporary".

    Somebody must have tapped him on the shoulder and pointed out that they do actually own a studio that makes absolutely nothing apart from pure strategy games.

    I do wonder if it might make EA rethink their approach to the Syndicate franchise. I mean, there has been quite a large call for a Syndicate that stays closer to its RTS roots, and they do own fairly large RTS studio that is currently floundering a bit...
    Edited by 1 at 06/01/12 @ 11:39

  • hiddenranbir #78 2 months ago

    Not to be a snob but there has been a history of "introduces a wider console audience" ending up ruining what made the game great. And that isn't a hit on consoles itself, but the mindset developers take when thinking they need to cater to it specifically.

  • Khari #79 2 months ago

    I was incredibly excited about this until I saw that this is available for consoles.

    Not wanting to sound like a PC gamer snob (love my 360 and PS3) but strategy games - real time or turn based - don't tend to work very well with a controller for me. It's a personal thing; I just like the precise control of the mouse and keyboard. I would hate to see a shoddy PC interface (see Skyrim for a prime example of this) just copied and pasted from the consoles.

    On the other hand Firaxis are one of my favourite developers so I should have more faith that this will be good.

    There's something about turn based strategy games that I really enjoy. I think it's that I can spend more time mulling over my decisions with less of "Quick, build another barracks, queue a shed load of units. Oh crap, they're attacking my anti-air towers. PANIC!"

    SMAC2 next please Firaxis. SMAC being one of my favourite games of all time; the opportunity to crush Sister Miriam and Chairman Yang in a sequel would be marvellous.
    Edited by 2 at 06/01/12 @ 13:00

  • BearFishPie #80 2 months ago

    HIDDEN MOVEMENT

  • PlugMonkey #81 2 months ago

    @Khari

    I completely agree, re: TBS vs. RTS. A strategy game, for me, HAS to let me stop and think what my next move is going to be, or it stops being a game of strategy and becomes a game of efficiency.

    This is why I don't play RTSs online. It's not about who outmanoeuvres who, but about who has the most optimal build strategy. By the time the actual strategy part comes into play, my opponent is three more tiers down their research tree, and I find out that I've been a dead man walking since about 5 minutes into the game.

    The console aspect really doesn't trouble me, especially with Firaxis at the helm. Valkyrie Chronicles worked fine on a console. Miasma worked fine on a console. UFO worked fine on a console.

    So excited. If the world ends before autumn, I'm going to be really pissed off.

  • Nodka #82 2 months ago

    Cool I hope they copy Valkyria Chronicles as that is about the best way to do a turn based strategy game in this day and age plus it works on any platform so there are no control issues for anyone to moan about.

  • Gastrian #83 2 months ago

    One thing I'd like them to introduce is mission objectives. There's a rumour about a new alien weapon or xenotype so you need to do a snatch and grab because either the enemies are too powerful or respawn. Stealth missions whereby you can interupt meetings between governments and aliens. Evacuate a town of citizens, etc so every map is not just a case of hunt each enemy down which is a pain in the arse when you have a psychic hidden behind a wall.

  • PlugMonkey #84 2 months ago

    @ Gastrian
    There's a rumour about a new alien weapon or xenotype so you need to do a snatch and grab because either the enemies are too powerful or respawn.
    Oddly enough, that's almost exactly how the gameplay for the XCOM FPS was described when it was first announced.

  • KayTannee #85 2 months ago

    @Khari

    It is pretty snobish. I do not worry about console from Firaxis. and just to put an end to it, UFO and TFTD were both on playstation 1. So its already had a console release.

  • YenRug #86 2 months ago

    What I would love to see now is this version outsell the FPS "tribute"!

  • CatWeazle #87 1 month ago

    Hooray!!! Best news this year (and last) :)

  • uk_john #88 1 month ago

    It's coming out at Xmas - so I hope you all know what to buy all your friends and family this year - to make sure it's a bigger hit than the FPS version!

    My only problem is which game do I re-play in honour of this? My copy if X-Com Enemy Unknown by Microprose, or Alpha Centauri by Fireaxis? Both superlative strategy games that cannot be beaten!