The XCOM timeline is much more complex than we thought, here's how the Chimera squad comes in

Original X-COM: Defending UFO,, which appeared in 1994, has a very straightforward history: Aliens came in from orbit and began to terrorize the earth. It's up to you and your small band of soldiers to kill them or die trying.

The modern incarnation of the XCOM franchise from Firaxis Games, on the other hand, is much more complex. Over the years there have been many downloadable pieces of content, a few expansion packs, and a full recovery of the past game. Issue of XCOM: Chimera squad, a stand alone title in the budget, only makes things confusing.

Editing the record straight, I found Chimera squad Lead designer Mark Nauta on the phone. Where does the modern story of XCOM begin? What modules and restrictions on downloaded content are considered to be the best? And how does that set the stage Chimera squad and, potentially, the next basic game in the Franchise?

Photo: Firaxis / 2K Games

Nauta explained that XCOM's first modern location XCOM: Unknown Enemy, which It came out in 2012. That story begins abnormally in the spring of 2015 with a series of imports. Including several different races – ancient sectoids, mutons, and more – all are controlled by the puppet master behind the scenes. It is all about the best technology game the Earth can combine, but give that title about 50 hours of your life and you can seriously reduce the attack.

Canon stuff isn't so easy. In the wake of the XCOM franchise, humanity has fallen into single attackers.

It means XCOM: Enemy Within – an extension of 2013 XCOM: Unknown Enemy – it never really happened. The game's narrative, which focuses on the design of nanomachines called Meld to explore transhumanism issues, is a completely different area of ​​XCOM. It is a separate branch, Nauta explained, one that is even performed at leading events XCOM 2.

Hardcore fans of the plucky extraterrestrial combat Force will have to download the novel by Greg Keyes entitled XCOM: Resurrection learning the circumstances in which humanity falls into the alien threat. After all, the next canonical game XCOM 2.

Photo: Firaxis / 2K Games

XCOM 2 was successfully updated in 2017 by another version of its story. XCOM 2: Battle of the Chosen adds three new teams to the game. Including superhuman hunters called hackers, human hybrids and aliens known as Skirmishers, and a powerful psionic battle known as the Templars. But the overall storyline is the same. The rabbit kings who control other unknown races, known simply as the Elders, are destroyed. Without them to pull the ropes the Earth was successfully released.

However, as XCOM: Chimera squad explores in detail, our planet is completely transformed by a war against the ancients. By the year 2040, when the game takes place, it is home to an alien species full of blood and unknown offspring of aliens and aliens. Heavy weapons and dangerous psionic forces are still hiding among the population, and XCOM itself has had to integrate all these different types in its ranks to counteract them.

Firaxis / 2K Games

Nauta explained that the restart, The Battle of the Elected, which leads directly to XCOM: Chimera squad. This is why many of his titular characters play as members of the Reaper, Skirmisher, and templar team that are first introduced to the expansion. Chimera squad similarly builds on overflow writing internally The Battle of the Elected by adding more than a dozen characters to lore.

So, if you have your pencils and card ready, know that the XCOM video game universe now includes XCOM: Unknown Enemy, XCOM 2: Battle of the Chosen, again XCOM: Chimera squad.

When do we find the right one XCOM 3? I pressed Nauta on the topic, but not to mention that fans shouldn't see the change in the new gameplay on Chimera squad – which emphasizes less fighting in indoor spaces – such as showing where the Franchise is heading. Instead, it's more of a "test bed" of gameplay ideas. However, if the past is a precursor, fans should expect the next game of numbers in the modern XCOM series that it will have much more narrative depth.

XCOM: Chimera squad Windows PC is now on sale.