2K Games released The Bureau: XCOM Declassified this week, to mediocre reviews. Now that the publisher has finished promoting that strange amalgamation of strategy and third-person shooting, it has now turned its attention to the game that revitalized the XCOM brand last year.
XCOM: Enemy Within was officially announced this week at Gamescom. The title is an expansion to last year’s hit XCOM: Enemy Unknown. It will feature new weapons, soldier upgrades, and enemies. 2K and XCOM developer Firaxis claim that seeing all the new content will require “three to four” playthroughs. Enemy Within launches on November 12 (November 15 in Europe) for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.
“The incredible critical and consumer response to XCOM: Enemy Unknown inspired us to offer new content that would deepen the strong bond that has been created for our XCOM brand,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “Firaxis Games is renowned for delivering massive, highly immersive PC expansions in the Civilization series, and XCOM: Enemy Within builds on that lineage and expands the experience for console gamers as well.”
A new resource, called “Meld,” is collected from aliens on the battlefield to unlock the new content in-game. New upgrades include mech suits and genetically-engineered powers for soldiers.