XCOM: Chimera Squad is an experimental hybrid yielding mixed results
Source: Windows Central
Whether you’re heading up a special organization against unknown threats popping up all over the globe, or fighting back against invaders who have taken over the Earth, XCOM has always been about a fear of what lurks in the dark. That’s changed with this latest entry. XCOM: Chimera Squad eschews the overarching, globe-trotting adventures of past titles with a singular focus: protecting City 31.
It’s a mixed bag of changes, with some of the new features being quite welcome. Quality of life changes improves gameplay, while squadmates that are full-fledged characters with banter and personality provide welcome depth and comic relief. The addition of alien and hybrids to the roster is also quite enjoyable.
On the other hand, the narrow focus on the breaching concept as a repeated setup, compact maps, and the complete lack of permadeath all add up. It’s worth trying out; however, not everything here is something Firaxis should carry forward.
Changing tactics
XCOM: Chimera Squad
Bottom line:
Pros:
- Alien and Hybrid squadmates provide an excellent variety
- Small quality of life changes
- Fun banter between team members
Cons:
- The Breach concept, while neat, is overused
- Extremely linear maps
- Lack of permadeath option
- Simplistic, repetitive mission structure
What I liked about XCOM: Chimera Squad
The story setup here is simple but engaging enough. Five years after the events of XCOM 2, the titular Chimera Squad are a mixed unit of humans, hybrids, and aliens working to keep the peace. After a disastrous assassination takes place in City 31, Chimera is assigned to figuring out who is beyond the attack while investigating and dismantling various criminal organizations.
It’ll take around 20 hours to finish, give or take a little depending on the difficulty.
It’s reasonably clear Firaxis approached the making of Chimera Squad as an experiment because even though it’s still a turn-based strategy game, there are lots of new ideas here. Some of them, like the new types of squadmates, work quite well. Instead of being limited to a roster of human soldiers with differing nationalities, several aliens and hybrids are available alongside the human characters. If you’ve ever wanted to unleash a Sectoid’s mind powers or strangle out a foe with a Viper, you can do just that.
Category | Spec |
---|---|
Developer | Firaxis Games |
Publisher | 2K |
Players | Single-player campaign |
Genre | Turn-based strategy |
Age-rating | Teen |
Game Pass | No |
Microtransactions | No |
Price | $20 |
Source: Windows Central
By and large, it looks similar to XCOM 2, though there’s more visual polish in some areas, with some surprisingly good textures and lighting. While it’s not quite as long as past games, there’s still going to be a fair bit to chew through. It’ll take around 20 hours to finish, give or take a little depending on the difficulty.
What I disliked about XCOM: Chimera Squad
Source: Windows Central
Squad members having dialogue is cool, but now, a character can’t be lost permanently. I understand many potential fans are stressed about permadeath wrecking their enjoyment, but completely removing that feature has the major side effect of stripping out a fair bit of tension. In past games, it was the player’s choice to continue on through a mission even when a soldier was lost. Now? You never have that option. I hope that moving forward, Firaxis at least includes an option to bring permadeath back, even if the focus is on more in-depth, characterized team members.
On a technical note, I encountered a fair few bugs. In addition to several hard crashes, the game would “soft” crash from time to time. Upon loading into a mission, the camera would get stuck, and the game wouldn’t resolve itself, requiring me to load a previous save. The camera also repeatedly fails to let you see anything while aiming an ability. Needless to say, you should be saving between every mission.
Should you buy XCOM: Chimera Squad?
Source: Windows Central
If you are one of the people who have in the past been turned off by the concept of permanently losing your squad members but are still interested in the turn-based gameplay, I recommend giving this a go. If not, I’d only recommend this to XCOM veterans with an open mind. The low price certainly helps, as it’s quite nice that this game isn’t $60 but is instead available for $20.
New strategy
XCOM: Chimera Squad
You cannot fail this city
XCOM: Chimera Squad is different in a lot of ways, and while some are undoubtedly interesting, others bog down the gameplay and strip away the tension. Hardcore strategy fans or anyone previously turned off by permadeath will still find fun here, though.
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