About

X-COM is a science fiction video game franchise revolving around an organization that combats various waves of alien invasions. Many of the games feature real-time strategy and turn-based tactics gameplay, allowing the player to control a variety of combat units at once.

History

In 1994, the strategy game UFO: Enemy Unknown, also known as X-COM: Enemy Unknown was released by Mythos Games and Microprose for the PC. In the game, the player controls members of the X-COM (Extraterrestrial Combat Unit) paramilitary organization to battle against aliens who have invaded the planet Earth. In 1995, the sequel X-COM: Terror from the Deep was released, in which the player combats a new type of alien inhabiting the Earth's oceans.

From 1997 to 2001, several sequel games were released for the PC, including X-COM: Apocalypse (1997), X-COM: Interceptor (1998), X-COM: First Alien Invasion (1999) and X-COM: Enforcer (2001).

Reboot

In 2012, XCOM: Enemy Unknown was released to critical acclaim on Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. In 2013, the third person tactical shooter game The Bureau: XCOM Declassified was released. In November that year, the expansion pack XCOM: Enemy Within was released for XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

XCOM 2

On May 25th, 2015, the teaser website Advent Future^[1] was launched, featuring a mock advertisement for the "Advent Administration."

On June 1st, IGN released the reveal trailer for the upcoming sequel XCOM 2 (shown below). That day, the Advent Future site began forwarding to the official XCOM website.

Reception

The original game UFO: Enemy Unknown was received positive reviews and sold more than 600,000 units on the PC. The sequel Terror from the Deep received mixed reviews, with some arguing that it was nearly the same game as the original. Interest in the franchise was reinvigorated with the 2012 release of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which won numerous awards from gaming publications and has a Metacritic^[5] rating of 89 as of June 2015.

Online Presence

On December 24th, 2010, the XCOM Wiki^[3] was created, which garnered upwards of 590 pages over the next five years. On May 20th, 2011, the /r/Xcom^[2] subreddit was launched for discussions about the video game franchise. On October 14th, 2012, the AngryJoeShow YouTube channel uploaded a review of the 2012 game XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which gathered upwards of 1.2 million views and 7,100 comments in the first three years. On December 21st, a page titled "Video Game: XCOM: Enemy Unknown" was created on TV Tropes.^[4]

Search Interest

External References