Hmmm... GMG here still lists it at £29.99 same as Steam...

Yeah that guy playing in the stream was not the most tactical hehe, I haven't heard of a demo, but will definitely be pre-ordering, just waiting to see a decent preorder sale, so far GreenManGaming has it ~10% off... (it's a Steamworks game).

If indeed there are no base defense missions (can't seem to find official confirmation just some forum posts from fans discussing being worried about it due to only one 2D base in the previews) then those defense will be missed as they were fun in the original game, but what I see there still beats 99% of the modern games I see coming out these days so I am definitely still interested.

@Master have you seen confirmation on that base defense question?

Before zooming back into the tactical level, here’s how base and squad management works. There’s just the one base, XCOM HQ, although you do get to choose which continent it’s located in. There’s a geographical bonus for the placement. These include Asia’s ‘Future War’ boost that reduces the cost of advanced weaponry and training, and South America’s efficient questioning and dissection techniques, which allow the player to complete autopsies and interrogations instantly.

Being based in one location doesn’t mean it’s not important to expand coverage though and this happens in two different ways. First of all, new satellites and uplink facilities must be constructed. The satellites can then be launched over different countries, which reduces the panic level in that part of the world and provides a bonus from the ruling government. Any UFOs in the nearby skies will also now be detected and this is where the second part of geographical coverage comes in to play. Detecting UFOs is all well and good, but to bring them down you’ll need to station Interceptors, or more advanced fighters, on that continent as well. They can be transferred or purchased, and to stop the world from turning its back on XCOM, it’s necessary to expand coverage frequently and intelligently.

The single base doesn’t dumb down the strategic side of the game and it has the advantage of looking utterly stunning, the side-on ant-farm design a perfect introduction to the game’s chunkily believable B-movie aesthetic. An alien containment chamber is instantly recognisable because it has a massive transparent chamber in the centre, with science bods prodding clipboards all around. Engineering workshops are full of automated machinery, robotic arms ready to build massive guns. And the guns really are massive – a heavy weapons squaddie can’t be mistaken for anything else because he is toting a bloody great machine gun, a rocket launcher strapped to his back.

This made me sad and probably lost them a sale. Yea the antfarm is nice but the multiple bases and base defense/reclaim was such an important part of the original. It was actually one of the ONLY reasons I enjoyed the original as much as I did.

Looking forward to playing this.

Yeah I will miss that too, but the sum of the new parts still make it a compelling game for me compared to the drought of good turn-based tactical games these days, maybe they will be able to add base defense later on.

Looking forward to playing this.

How are you going to have any time to do so?