Have you missed carefully directing an international squad of elite alien killers (named after your friends) to their certain death? Well, good news: 2K has announced that XCOM 2will be released this November. Double good news: It looks like the same team that made 2012's XCOM: Enemy Unknown is going to be making this one.
Unlike the second entry in the 1990s X-COM series (which shifted the combat underwater and replaced the lovable grey Sectoids with fish people and lobstermen), Firaxis' new game is set in a world where the XCOM initiative failed and alien forces assimilated the Earth into their empire. It looks like you'll be commanding a rag-tag group of rebels against the entrenched alien powers, plus the human forces who are working on their side.
Two things make me raise a brow at this announcement. First, I'm always interested any time a game wants to tackle the notions of colonization and assimilation--even alien colonization and assimilation. There's a great shot in the trailer (below) of one human easily strolling by while another goes through a stop-and-frisk. There's definitely potential for something interesting here, and Firaxis has already proven that the "fragmented humanity" angle works with 2013's XCOM: Enemy Within.
Second, the press release only says that the game will be out on PC this November. There's no mention of console or mobile releases. This is worth mentioning because of the lengths Firaxis went through to make XCOM: Enemy Unknown totally playable with a controller. Is this going to be a PC only release (and if so, how might Firaxis take advantage of that?) Or could we see XCOM 2 on the Microsoft or Sony stage in a few weeks, maybe as a (timed?) exclusive? Hmmm.
Oh wait, actually, I thought of a third thing that raises my brow: A dude cuts an alien in half with a sword in this trailer from IGN. Dope.