XCOM: Enemy Unknown
0XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a turn-based tactical video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K Games. The game is a "reimagined" remake of the 1994 cult classic strategy game UFO: Enemy Unknown (also known as X-COM: UFO Defense) and a reboot of MicroProse's 1990s X-COM series.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown was released in North America, Europe, and Australia for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in October 2012. An "Elite Edition", containing all previously released downloadable content, was released as a Mac OS X exclusive by Feral Interactive in April 2013. In June 2014, Feral released both XCOM: Enemy Unknown and its expansion pack XCOM: Enemy Within for GNU/Linux.[7] A port for iOS was released in June 2013 and an Android conversion was released in May 2014. An expansion pack, titled XCOM: Enemy Within, was released in November 2013.
Set in the near future during an alien invasion of Earth, the game puts the player in control of an elite multinational paramilitary organization called XCOM and is tasked with defending the Earth. The player commands troops in the field in a series of turn-based tactical missions; between missions, the player directs the research and development of new technologies from recovered alien technology and captured prisoners, expands XCOM's base of operations, manages XCOM's finances, and monitors and responds to alien activity.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown was critically acclaimed, with several reviewers commenting on the game's difficulty, replayability, and addictiveness. A number of publications, including GameSpy, GameTrailers and Giant Bomb, named it Game of the Year. A sequel to the game, titled XCOM 2, was released on February 5, 2016 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux.
After success with shooting down alien scout ships and securing the crash sites from surviving alien crews, as well as interdicting alien attempts to abduct human civilians for unknown purposes, XCOM manages to also obtain the corpses of various different alien troops. Autopsies reveal that all these types have been genetically and/or cybernetically altered, which seems to indicate they are merely foot-soldiers for unseen leaders. XCOM's head of research, Dr. Vahlen, requests that a live alien be captured for interrogation. This also involves developing a specialized weapon capable of capturing a live alien, and constructing a facility in XCOM's subterranean base capable of safely holding a live alien prisoner.
Capturing one of the alien troops and conducting the interrogation reveals vague information about another type of alien called the Outsiders, artificially-created crystalline beings encountered aboard UFOs, that appear to serve as pilots and navigators. Dr. Vahlen then requests that XCOM capture an Outsider for study. Upon capturing one of these, the examination reveals that the Outsiders' exotic crystalline structures behave in a manner similar to antennas, receiving a signal broadcast from a location buried underground on Earth. XCOM dispatches a team to investigate the signal; it is found to be coming from a base that the aliens have secretly established on Earth, where experiments are performed on abducted humans.
XCOM develops a method for gaining entry to the alien base and assaults it. During the mission, the alien serving as the base commander is discovered to have psychic abilities, but is nevertheless defeated by the soldiers. The commander's psychic communication device is recovered and reverse engineered. Tapping into the aliens' communications reveals a previously hidden, stealth "Overseer" UFO making rounds across the Earth. When the UFO is shot down, it is found to hold an alien species that had not been previously encountered, as well as a strange psionic artifact. The newly discovered species, called Ethereals, possess powerful psionic abilities.