XCOM Spin-Off Chimera Squad Announced, And It's Coming Very Soon

A new XCOM spin-off is coming very soon from developer Firaxis Games, and it's landing at a budget price. The standalone game XCOM: Chimera Squad is coming as a digital-only Steam PC release on Friday, April 24. It will launch at $10, and then go up to its regular price of $20 on May 1.

In the announcement, 2K notes this isn't a full sequel or an XCOM 2 expansion, but it is set five years after the events of XCOM 2. Humans and aliens have been working together to rebuild, but some of Earth's human natives don't support the alliance. Chimera Squad is an inter-species task force built to investigate these threats, and each squad member has a distinct personality and abilities.

The focus on squaddies with unique abilities, rather than randomized rolls, is a big departure for the previous XCOM games and expansions. 2K says this puts a focus on team composition and formulating complementary roles. The stages themselves are also discrete encounters, and you can plan your attack with a new Breach Mode that lets you select your entry points for attack. In another big change from the norm, the turn order for unit attacks is interleaved between your units and the enemy.

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"With XCOM: Chimera Squad, we felt there were exciting gameplay opportunities yet to be discoveredwithin the XCOM universe," said lead designer Mark Nauta, in the announcement. "Gameplay like Breach Mode, interleaved turn order, and the introduction of agents as fully fleshed-out characters will revolutionize how the gameplays while still retaining the combat experience that makes the XCOM series so loved by gaming communities around the world."