Be Still, Heart: Firaxis Tasked With Remaking X-Com

This and new Jagged Alliance game coming out in 3 weeks. Time to party like it's 1999!

Reading this article, X-COM is not something I can read anymore, the word has been ruined. XCOMXCOMXCOM.COM.

Firaxis has never made a bad game. There's no developer I would have more trust in doing justice to X-Com.

The fact that you can only claim to having played a few missions of TFTD and put "Be Still, Heart" in the title of the article is a little precious.

@ChaosDent: Haha, i never realized ALL their games start with "Sid Meier's" :D

On topic, I'm looking forward to this, so hopefully Firaxis won't fail to deliver a quality product.

Please be a good game. I'll temper my expectations, just please be a fun strategy game.

This video made me more hyped for this game than I have ever been for a game. They really seems to get what made the original one of the best games of all time.

I just hope I can build and improve a base of some kind. I enjoyed that aspect of the game.

Can't wait.

Even if Firaxis somehow fucks up, it's bound to still be the best xcom game out since '93.

In the meantime I'll keep playing the open source UFO Alien Invasion.

@Hayamo said:

I don't know why Patrick singled out Civ Rev in the article over all the other Civ games

I am guessing as the remake will be on the 360 and PS3 as well.

Xenonauts, it's an indie remake of the original x-com game. Kinda feel bad for those guys now, they've put some hard work into that game. It is a very true rendition of the original x-com, though, so for real hardcore fans, it might end up better than what Firaxis is making. I bought it the other day and I've had a little time noodling with it, so far it seems very nice. It's a paid alpha, though, so expect bugs.If you're into supporting indie devs, Google Xenonauts.

A perfect match!

I just saw a great interview with some guys from Firaxis that show they really get what made X-COM so good. If they execute, man that game would be interesting. They talk about difficulty, perma death, and the feeling of dread from the fog of war. They touch on destructible environments from the first game as well. One of the guys says he is a huge tactical fan siting Final Fantasy Tactics as his favorite. For me, it sounds perfect storm. Please, don't F this up Firaxis.

I don't know why Patrick singled out Civ Rev in the article over all the other Civ games, but regardless this piques my interest. I never had any experience with X-Com and the FPS just didn't look appealing to me. I'm sure I'll play this one over the FPS because 1. it will probably be cheaper and 2. there's a better chance of it being good. So do your best Firaxis or else everyone will hate you!

Me, personally, I'm going to stick with the FPS XCOM Game that's coming out in March, but I'm very happy that 2K Games has decided to make a strategy game for the hardcore fans.

oh man, this is like my deranged Civ/Xcom obsessed brain's dream finally come true. if it ends up along the lines of Civ: Rev would be a little disappointing, but as long as they keep it turn-based, and keep it fun i'll be happy.

weeeee

this won't end well.... angry x-com fans incoming.

Oh shit. I kept seeing headlines about a new XCOM strategy game, but none of them mentioned Firaxis. Now I get why this is real fucking news. Firaxis are like the only old school turn based strategy developers that not only still exist, but also still make turn based strategy titles. I have confidence they'll make a great game.

Firaxis has never done me any wrong. I can't wait for this. I would put myself into cryogenic storage until its release date if I could.

I'm so happy about this. I understand the muted reaction to this news as spiritual successors have been attempted by so many developers over the years, but come on people. This is Firaxis. If anyone's going to make a good remake of X-Com, it's these guys. Fans can't ask for more.

I just wanted to read the post, but your X-coms and XCOMS had me so confused...you should be ashamed of yourself!

Just to note, X-COM collection is on sale through steam today only.

Hey cool! I'm definitely interested in seeing how that turns out!

Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. I hope this turns out good, but I will believe it when I see it in action.

omg I did just cume in ma pantsu.

Man, they really should have waited till they released XCOM to announce this, because...man...

I couldn't give less of a shit about THAT game now...

Until this actually comes out I'm just going to assume it's going to be completely terrible. That way I'll either be completely right, or completely pleasantly surprised!

I played X-COM and Final Fantasy Tactics on the PS1 after Shining Force turned me on to strategy RPGs. I adored having these games that let me use my mind instead of just my reflexes. Where now there are games like Skyrim that take you to a different world entirely, ala Dungeons and Dragons without the need of a dungeon master, I still yearn for the complex chess like strategy games of yore. BRING IT, Firaxis!

"It’s unclear how much XCOM: Enemy Unknown will borrow from Firaxis’ hugely popular Civilization Revolution, but given that XCOM: Enemy Unknown is coming to PC and Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, there’s reason to believe the approach may be similar."

Hey, Patrick, X-Com: Enemy Unknown (the first game in the series) was released on the PS1. I can see where you were going with that, though.

Archon remake anyone?

Fuck. Yes.

I think people that like xcom would really like MGS Peace walker.
there a lot of similar elements

Marty Lechtansy, you'll have yours. At last!

My last play of Terror from the Deep ended in a tragedy when I thought I could take on a Alien Undercity Base with my team of alien sniper-hunters with plasma grenades and taser sticks. The psychic attacks came from out of nowhere and beserked Marty, who subsequently layed waste to my whole team with his crack shot sniper rifle.

The enemy aliens in this game became increasingly though and relentless, and with my emotional attachment to my teams it became a harrowing experience to go up against them. I never finished a campaign because of that.

Gameplay wise I don't need any 'modern day' adjustments, the game hasn't been equaled in this department. One thing really needs to stay: the destructible environment. This used to open up awesome tactics.

Perhaps storywise they can add a little more personality but otherwise... If Firaxis shipped this game nearly as it was and they'd have my money.

how funny would it be if at launch Firaxis announces SIKE and releases a FPS :P

@heavyplay said:

@Sloktor said:

As a child i played a few of those x-com games at a friends house and I never knew the name of the games. Looking at some of the old screenshots brings back so many good memories. Might buy some of these on steam so any recommendations on what game to start with?

Play the first one. When you're finished, move on the the start of the first game again. Do not touch any of the others.

The 3 first, UFO Defense, Terror From The Deep and Apocalypse were all great. Personally I prefer the updated UI in TFTD, makes it a lot easier to play even though there is that late game bug that can make it unwinnable (you're likely to get wiped out way before that though). And the atmosphere in Apocalypse is just fantastic, very different from the first two, with it's cyberpunk metropolis and megacorporations replacing the world map and nation support, but it just pulls off most of that stuff really well, and the intro cinematic is one of the greatest I've seen in a game.

X-COM Enforcer is crap without any redeeming qualities whatsoever, while X-COM Interceptor is a rather interesting idea hidden beneath a layer of bugs and design issues making it almost unplayable.

This was unexpected but welcome news. If anyone can pull off an old-school yet modern XCOM strategy game, it's Firaxis.

@heavyplay:

Man whatever. I like Terror from the Deep a lot. I had played A LOT of the original at that point so the graphical and gameplay changes were welcome to me.

EDIT: AWW FUCK THE XCOM COLLECTION IS ON SALE ON STEAM. I'M FINALLY GETTING XCOM APOCALYPSE.

@Sloktor said:

As a child i played a few of those x-com games at a friends house and I never knew the name of the games. Looking at some of the old screenshots brings back so many good memories. Might buy some of these on steam so any recommendations on what game to start with?

Play the first one. When you're finished, move on the the start of the first game again. Do not touch any of the others.

Sight unseen, this is my most anticipated game of 2012.

@Swabbleflange said:

This is the perfect solution to that problem of resurrecting an old game series - just make two! Do the inevitable FPS, and simultaneously get someone to do a game that's actually in the same genre as the originals. Win-win.

THIS. Especially when the more-faithful remake can be produced for a fraction of the budget! Have it both ways and please everyone!

I'm so happy.

@PiltdownMan said:

@fisk0 said:

@PiltdownMan said:

@fisk0 said:

@BeachThunder said:

Jeez, how many X-com/X-com inspired games are going to be out this year o_o

Anyway, I'll be really happy if they remake TFTD too.

Yes! Terror From the Deep is surprisingly underrated. Given how popular Chtulhu has been in recent years I'm surprised there have been no indie remakes of that or anything (at least no known to me, and I've seen several 'traditional' X-COM remakes).

I'm not really sure that Terror From the Deep really has all that much to do with Chtulhu, if I remember correctly it's just more of the aliens from the first game but underwater. Also I thought Lovecraft has been popular for quite a while, over perhaps three quarters of a century.

Terror from the Deep was heavily inspired by Lovecraft, it wasn't just the aliens from the original but set underwater, several alien types were named Lovecraftian stuff like "The Old Ones" or stuff like that, and the finale took place in an underwater temple reminiscent of R'Lyeh, with tentacle monster things depicted on the walls. It's hard to get more explicitly Cthulhu inspired than that with isometric graphics in Mode 13H.

Also, while Lovecraft has always been popular among fans of horror literature, that used to be a pretty different niche from the people who enjoyed video games. While there certainly has been a few Cthulhu video games since the invention of the medium, they were few and far between up until about 5 years ago when the indie scene got flooded with them (there were the Call of Cthulhu adventure games in the mid 90's, and certainly a few games with stuff inspired by Lovecraft, but compare that to how there are Cthulhu plushies, humorous appearances by Cthulhu in stuff like Cthulhu Saves The World, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, Eversion and TV shows like The Simpsons, Futurama, South Park). Cthulhu isn't just something every horror fan knows of today, it's a pop culture phenomenon that will probably turn up in a Justin Bieber video any time now.

Well grab your paintbrush and color me corrected. It's been ages since I've played X-Com 2 and I hadn't really read any Lovecraft then, my recent X-Com hours have been put into the first game, and I've never beat an X-Com game, I never assumed that they really had an end, I always played them like 4x games, and assumed that I would just constantly get aliens sent at me.

I can also kind of agree with you now that there may be more people referencing Cthulhu than there used to be. But man there was a pen and paper RPG back in the 80s which is where I first remember hearing about it (I didn't really check it out because I only got into RPGs in the early 90s and that was mostly AD&D and FASA stuff). I still don't think many more people are actually reading Lovecraft, I could be wrong. So after that rambling part I guess I agree with you in that Cthulhu has become an internet meme, he's been around for a long time though, a very long time :) (Pardon my dumb joke)

No, I don't think more people are reading Lovecraft today than previously either, but the Cthulhu mythos in particular has gotten enough pop culture saturation so that everybody know kind of what it is about, at least the big ass tentacle monster part, and reference it constantly in every imaginable situation.

PACKERS WIN THE SUPERBOWL! PACKERS WIN THE SUPERBOWL! WOOO PACKERS!

Hopefully they don't pull a Civ V on it!

I was too young to fully appreciate the gameplay in Terror from the Deep and too impatient to play it but I would sit and watch my older brother play it for hours and it looked super fun.

@fisk0 said:

@PiltdownMan said:

@fisk0 said:

@BeachThunder said:

Jeez, how many X-com/X-com inspired games are going to be out this year o_o

Anyway, I'll be really happy if they remake TFTD too.

Yes! Terror From the Deep is surprisingly underrated. Given how popular Chtulhu has been in recent years I'm surprised there have been no indie remakes of that or anything (at least no known to me, and I've seen several 'traditional' X-COM remakes).

I'm not really sure that Terror From the Deep really has all that much to do with Chtulhu, if I remember correctly it's just more of the aliens from the first game but underwater. Also I thought Lovecraft has been popular for quite a while, over perhaps three quarters of a century.

Terror from the Deep was heavily inspired by Lovecraft, it wasn't just the aliens from the original but set underwater, several alien types were named Lovecraftian stuff like "The Old Ones" or stuff like that, and the finale took place in an underwater temple reminiscent of R'Lyeh, with tentacle monster things depicted on the walls. It's hard to get more explicitly Cthulhu inspired than that with isometric graphics in Mode 13H.

Also, while Lovecraft has always been popular among fans of horror literature, that used to be a pretty different niche from the people who enjoyed video games. While there certainly has been a few Cthulhu video games since the invention of the medium, they were few and far between up until about 5 years ago when the indie scene got flooded with them (there were the Call of Cthulhu adventure games in the mid 90's, and certainly a few games with stuff inspired by Lovecraft, but compare that to how there are Cthulhu plushies, humorous appearances by Cthulhu in stuff like Cthulhu Saves The World, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, Eversion and TV shows like The Simpsons, Futurama, South Park). Cthulhu isn't just something every horror fan knows of today, it's a pop culture phenomenon that will probably turn up in a Justin Bieber video any time now.

Well grab your paintbrush and color me corrected. It's been ages since I've played X-Com 2 and I hadn't really read any Lovecraft then, my recent X-Com hours have been put into the first game, and I've never beat an X-Com game, I never assumed that they really had an end, I always played them like 4x games, and assumed that I would just constantly get aliens sent at me.

I can also kind of agree with you now that there may be more people referencing Cthulhu than there used to be. But man there was a pen and paper RPG back in the 80s which is where I first remember hearing about it (I didn't really check it out because I only got into RPGs in the early 90s and that was mostly AD&D and FASA stuff). I still don't think many more people are actually reading Lovecraft, I could be wrong. So after that rambling part I guess I agree with you in that Cthulhu has become an internet meme, he's been around for a long time though, a very long time :) (Pardon my dumb joke)

@Brackynews:

N-nah man, nah.

Gonna have to go with nah.

I'll play both. The FPS looked like it had some interesting ideas.

I will definitely have to check this out.

Firax-is My Heart?

No? Ok.

@PiltdownMan said:

Hopefully this will turn out well, but by comparing it to Civ Rev my joy will have to wait until I hear more.

Now I just need Atari to realize that they own the rights to Master of Magic and have them do a reboot of that and I can have happy days.

Wait, how do you turn that into a FPS with light but largely pointless and arbitrary RPG elements and tout it as new and exciting gameplay? Damn kids these days.

the comparison to civ rev was made because Patrick is a cretin, not because it's apropros of anything.