2K and Firaxis Unveil XCOM Digital Pre-Sale

Those of you who, like certain editors of a certain site, may have been waiting almost eighteen years for someone to recognise the greatness of the original UFO: Enemy Unknown and create a remake that actually does it justice, will undoubtedly be chomping at the bit for Firaxis’ re-imagination to hit the shelves.  Today, Firaxis and 2K announced that the game is now available for digital pre-sale with a few extra nuggets thrown in for good measure, as though the thought of getting it at the moment of release wasn’t enticement enough!  To anyone pre-purchasing through participating retailers, the Elite Soldier Pack will add a little extra flavour to the proceedings:

• Classic X-COM Soldier: Players will instantly receive a new recruit in their barracks inspired by the original X-COM: UFO Defense (UFO: Enemy Unknown, if you’re outside the USA). The iconic soldier with the blonde, flat-top hairstyle will return fully modernised.
• Soldier Deco packs: Players can customise their soldier with several aesthetic upgrades to armour suits, including the new Hyperion and Reaper soldier armour kits.
• Complete colour customization: A variety of colours and tints for all armour sets in the game allow players complete control to customize their squad’s look.

Yes, you read that correctly… Sergei Voronin style soldiers make a return!  While they may not be pixelated to hell, or have a vivid colour palette, it’s still a much-welcomed nod to the game that sparked a slew of poor imitations and an opportunity for other XCOM units to rest their pint somewhere while they ponder the future of humanity.  As well as the aforementioned bonuses, we’re also told that PC versions will come with Steamworks so all you achievement whores will still be able to grind your way through another set of icons for your profile, and make use of auto-updating and matchmaking.  Whether this will also open up the possibility of mods is as yet unknown, but there are certainly more than a couple of people holding out for a way to drop those familiar “clunk clunk clunk” footstep noises back in as soon as possible.

If you prefer to take hold of a more tangible product and sniff the packaging, much to the dismay of your fellow gamers, then you’ll have the special edition PC version to look forward to, including an art book, XCOM insignia patch, fold-out poster of the XCOM headquarters (presumably the ant-farm, but perhaps not), and a selection of digital extras such as the soundtrack, wallpapers etc.  Ready to kill the alien scum and save the planet once more?  Those pesky Chryssalids have a different idea!

XCOM: Enemy Unknown hits European shores on October 12th and is released in the USA on October 9th.

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