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New XCOM: Chimera Squad game targets April 2020 release

2K and Firaxis Games have announced a new game, XCOM: Chimera Squad, continuing the story five years after XCOM 2.

TJ Denzer

April 14, 2020 7:05 AM

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A few years after Firaxis Games closed the book on XCOM 2 with the stellar War of the Chosen expansion, Firaxis and 2K are ready to return to the franchise with XCOM: Chimera Squad, and it’s coming sooner than you might expect. The game was revealed today and it’s been set with a launch date in late April 2020.

Firaxis and 2K Games announced XCOM: Chimera Squad on April 14, 2020 via a press release and announcement and gameplay trailers. Set five years after the final events of XCOM 2, XCOM: Chimera Squad is not a DLC or true sequel, but rather a standalone entry in the series set to launch on April 24, 2020 on Steam. The war between Earth and its invaders has ended, leaving a shaky peace between humans and the alien races once under the hostile ADVENT regime. In City 31 where humans and alien species tumultuously coexist, players will take control of the Chimera Squad, a group of human and alien soldiers who work tirelessly to keep the peace and maintain trust among all sides, even as unknown underground forces work to drive the city towards panic, chaos, and anarchy.

Welcome to City 31. Humans, aliens and hybrids now live together in a fragile post-war peace but conspiracy groups threaten to upend it all. You must stop them in XCOM: Chimera Squad, a new combat experience in the XCOM universe.

Out April 24 on Steam: https://t.co/CvSTBOcchu pic.twitter.com/zYWirMqomc

— XCOM 2 on Switch 5/29 (@XCOM) April 14, 2020

XCOM: Chimera Squad will play out with the tactical strategic depth found in previous modern XCOM games with the addition of several new factors that set it apart. For one, the characters are static this time. Instead of random recruits, you take control of a named crew of humans and aliens each with their own personalities, specialties, and abilities. Each operative is critical in some way or another to the game and losing even one of them to death in combat will be unacceptable.

To that end, you have new ways to engage both inside and outside combat. XCOM’s battles feature a new Breach mode in which you will choose where to place your operatives in missions, giving them various bonuses or disadvantages, including some special breach points like air vents that only snake-like vipers like Agent Torque can access. Choosing who goes where can give you a leg up in the fight before it has even begun.

Meanwhile, outside the combat, you’ll engage in various aspects of investigation and planning as you fight to keep the peace in city sectors. This includes sending agents on patrols, tasks and investigations to acquire information or settle turmoil in city sectors, purchasing special equipment from the shady underground Scavenger’s Market, and completing everything from special missions to uncover hidden intel to general goodwill missions to keep city districts from falling into anarchy. As with any XCOM game, you can’t do it all in Chimera Squad's campaign, but balancing the city’s conflicting attitudes district to district as you uncover the forces pushing it towards collapse will be key to the Chimera Squad’s victory and peace between humans and their new alien neighbors.

With XCOM: Chimera Squad launching at the end of this month, it will come in at a special deal price of $9.99 on Steam as Firaxis and 2K Games celebrate this launch and the support fans have given to the series. After May 1, the price will rise up to a still palatable $19.99. For everything shown in the game so far, it looks like a promising offering that will continue the pedigree Firaxis has shown since taking over the modern XCOM franchise so far. Stay tuned for more details and further coverage on XCOM: Chimera Squad as we prepare to gear up with humans and aliens against a common enemy on April 24 in this newest update to the 2020 gaming calendar.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.