XCOM: Apocalypse

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

XCOM: Apocalypse is set in 2084, over 40 years after the events of XCOM: Terror from the Deep. Humanity has rebuilt and expanded into a network of megacities, but a new alien threat emerges: the Micronoids, a hive-minded species that can possess humans and technology. The player commands a revived XCOM organization, operating from a base within the city of Mega-Primus. Gameplay focuses on tactical missions within the city's buildings and streets, as well as strategic management of resources, research, and diplomacy with the city's factions. Unlike previous XCOM games, Apocalypse features a real-time combat option alongside turn-based mode, and the city's economy and politics are dynamic, reacting to alien activity and player actions.

In Their Own Story

The game begins with Bradford leading a raid on an ADVENT building to rescue the Commander, who had been captured and put into stasis. The Commander is brought to XCOM's mobile headquarters, where they meet scientists Dr. Richard Tygan and Lily Shen. Tygan tells the Commander that while they were in stasis, ADVENT used their brain to gain tactical data and facilitate the conquering of Earth. The Commander is contacted by the Spokesman, the last loyal member of the pre-conquest XCOM Council, now a mole inside ADVENT. The Spokesman orders the Commander to unite the resistance groups around the world and to discover the true purpose of the Avatar Program, a slow alien research initiative that if completed is an automatic loss. Progress can be delayed by sabotaging alien research facilities and other semi-random events. The campaign's narrative arc builds toward a climactic confrontation, reinforcing the XCOM ethos that victory is never guaranteed and that the cost of failure is measured in the lives of the soldiers the player has trained and led.

Reader's Guide

XCOM 2 was released in February 2016 for personal computers; PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions were released in September 2016. Following players' feedback on Enemy Unknown, Firaxis added procedural generation of maps and mod support to the game. The developers set the game after the bad ending of the 2012 reboot because it allowed them to change gameplay, introduce various new features and redesign some enemies. To encourage players to play more offensively, the developers introduced time-based objectives to boost the game's pacing. Compared with its predecessor, XCOM 2 has more emphasis on narrative. The artists drew inspiration from sci-fi movies including Elysium and Oblivion when creating the game's aesthetic. The game is powered by Unreal Engine 3.5. The game offers four difficulty settings: Rookie, Veteran, Commander and Legend. After players complete the campaign, they can start a new game with the "Ironman" mode enabled. In this mode, the player's save file is overwritten whenever the player performs an action, making it impossible for players to revert to an earlier save after making a poor decision. Players can create campaigns, cosmetics and enemy types, which can be shared through Steam Workshop. The game features a one-on-one multiplayer mode in which the player chooses the side of either XCOM or ADVENT, receives a pool of points with which the player can build the composition of their force (similar to a tabletop wargame), and then attempt to eliminate the opponent's squad on a battlefield. At the start of most missions, the player's squad is concealed and will not be detected by enemies unless they attack or move too close to an enemy unit. This allows players to ambush enemies, which provides combat bonuses. The game has five character classes: the Ranger can make melee attacks in addition to shooting, the Grenadier carries a grenade launcher and explosives that can destroy enemy cover, the Specialist acts as a combat medic and uses a drone that improves the team's defense and can hack robotic enemies and electronic devices, the Sharpshooter is the team's sniper, and the Psi Operative—which is unlocked late in the game—uses a selection of telepathic and psionic powers in combat. Enemies from the first game in the series, including the Sectoids, returned while Firaxis introduced new enemies including the Vipers, a snake-like enemy who can drag soldiers out of their cover or constrict them, inflicting damage over time. Firaxis supported the game with downloadable content and released XCOM 2: War of the Chosen, the game's expansion, in 2017. It was released for Nintendo Switch and iOS in 2020, and Android in 2021.

Did You Know?

• XCOM: Apocalypse was the first game in the series to feature both real-time and turn-based combat modes.
• The game's alien race, the Micronoids, are a hive-mind species that can possess humans and control technology.
• Apocalypse introduced a dynamic city simulation where player actions affect faction relations and the local economy.
• The game was developed by Mythos Games (creators of the original XCOM) rather than Firaxis.
• XCOM: Apocalypse was released in 1997 for MS-DOS and Windows, with a later port to the PlayStation.