XCOM: Enemy Unknown’s narrative is a “fairly large part of the game,” will be “completely new to players”

By Stephany Nunneley

XCOM: Enemy Unknown’s lead designer Jake Solomon has said there is still much regarding the game which has not been revealed.

Speaking with RPS, Solomon said much of the undivulged information pertains to alien types and the game’s narrative, which is a “fairly large part of the game,” that will be “completely new to players.”

“I’ve tried to hold things back. Mystery was at the heart of the original, it was just sort of a built-in thing, you would have these moments with these completely unexpected twists and turns just in terms of how the game operated, and the mechanics and all these things that you would experience,” said Solomon.

“As you know, it’s really hard not to give everything away nowadays… but it is hard to hold large segments of your game back. I mean, we haven’t shown all of the aliens, nor will we show all of the aliens, because that’s important, but there are some concepts we haven’t talked about either.”

Solomon said even if he were to describe the mechanics of the game, its not the “mechanics themselves that make up the game,” but the way it interacts ans how the player experiences them via choices made during gameplay.

“We haven’t actually revealed any narrative either, we haven’t talked about that side of the game,” Solomon continued. “XCOM is not Mass Effect in terms of the external narrative, but there is certainly a narrative to the game and cinematic moments. That’s a fairly large part of the game that we haven’t revealed, that will be completely new to players.

“The experience of XCOM can’t be summed up in words – you can even work on the game for four years and then you play it and it just feels completely different.”

XCOM: Enemy Unknown launches on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 October 11.