The tutorial establishes this new XCOM as a ragtag rebel group, abandoned by most of its old allies (who have signed up with the alien rulers) and lacking leadership.
This staple enemy type, though humanoid in appearance, is an unholy genetic hybrid – and just the tip of the iceberg you’ll eventually uncover. It’s a clean and organised dystopia, with people efficiently marched through weapons scanners and dispatched for any infractions real or perceived by Advent’s troopers. Twenty years have passed since the original game’s events, with Earth now ruled by an alien-human dictatorship known as Advent.
Chances are if you played it, you also failed to save humanity.
Firaxis’ 2012 strategy title was a remake of a 1994 original, UFO: Enemy Unknown, which cast you as the commander charged with responding to an alien invasion of Earth – building up the eponymous organisation, responding to attacks across the globe, and hunting down alien operating bases. A mong XCOM’s distinctions is that it is a difficult game, so the sequel’s concept is quite brilliant: the first time around, you lost.
