Is XCOM 3 Ever Going To Happen?

[@onlywithbuts1781]

The fact that XCOM 3 wasn't just an idea but actually started to shape already until Marvel came in makes it extra frustrating... -_-

[@warwolf3005]

Yeah. I suppose at least it gives me time to write a fic with my version of the theory on what happens after X2 and see how accurate it will be xd

[@namelessnocebo]

@@warwolf3005 What's your idea?

[@warwolf3005]

@@namelessnocebo If you don't see either of the larger comments, I can offer more information via fx AO 3 (Warwolf300)

[@motivateddad]

Midnight Suns was a financial failure although it did well. I doubt the studio even have people in there since the last I heard is there's just a skeleton crew in there.

[@rich63113]

Meh - given the trajectory of Jake Solomon's career and the progression of games (from Xcom2->WOTC->Chimaera Squad->Midnight Suns->His current social sim) I suspect that Xcom3 under Solomon wouldn't be a game a lot of us would enjoy.

[@TheSektor13]

Marvel is poison to the industry. I really hate that "superhero" franchise delayed XCOM3.

[@sjsharp2007]

Each t othei rown I guess but personally I lik eMidnight Suns I liked Xcom as wel s oi tdoesn' tbother me tha tmuch sa I enjoyed both. Stil play them.

[@RichardPhillips1066]

Money talks

[@fearan9406]

Never got another deus ex for same reason

[@afonsoalmeida4975]

I dont like marvel either but the game is really fun ngl, it has a lot of content so im not even mad tbh

[@sjsharp2007]

@@afonsoalmeida4975 I like Marvel more than DC as I find thei rcharactres moer interestin but I can understand.

[@coreyjasper8329]

I just got into xcom because I had a bad accident and can only use one hand at the moment. It’s so fun and refreshing and helped get me back into my hobby so I hope they make a third one day

[@napyet]

Hope you're healing up okay corey - and glad XCOM is helping you pass the time. I did a couple of guides on the game in case they're any use (I know there's already a ton out there!) I put them in an XCOM playlist on the channel.

[@coreyjasper8329]

@@napyet I loved the guides! Do you have any other turned based games you would recommend??

[@napyet]

@@coreyjasper8329 I played Hard West after XCOM and its pretty good. Very similar in a lot of ways but a completely different setting and tone. My fave turn based game of all time is Final Fantasy Tactics if you like retro stuff!

[@grimmlinn]

There's Phoenix Point, Warhammer 40K Chaos Gate, Gears Tactics, Mutant Year Zero, Wasteland 2-3, and of course, Xcom Chameleon squad.

[@coreyjasper8329]

Thank you for your suggestions I’m gonna check them out keep up the great content 😊😊

[@DarTame]

I will never forgive the fact that MID-night suns was prioritized over Xcom 3

[@sampy901]

Boys with time machine

[@MangoMotors]

Nah, midnight sun is pretty solid. It's just that it wasn't x-com but it was advertised as marvel x-com.

[@archlorddestin]

Mid is a little bit disingenuous given the review scores. I'd have preferred Xcom3 but it's clearly a very good game.

[@Chraan]

@@archlorddestin Which review scores though? Outlets like IGN love to give bad games like Star Wars Outlaws or Concord undeserving good scores, so "review scores" don't mean anything in this day and age because of access journalism.

[@archlorddestin]

@@Chraan I was mostly looking at the Steam reviews, where it is very positive with 82% positive reviews.

[@laycamwd238]

Yeah, cancelling XCom 3 to do Marvel was a huge mistake. Sad.

[@damianmcdonald1504]

It was an unforgivable error.

[@warwolf3005]

Typical example of CEOs and sales teams thinking in spreadsheets rather than common sense. Superhero genre is cheap, brainless entertainment, the exact opposite of strategy games. Searching there for strat or tactical game playerbase is like searching for snow on the equator.

[@theexcommunist]

Hopefully not a death knell

[@josemanrique8804]

I’m kinda happy that they did though cuz I actually like both

[@MildTomfoolery123]

Many such cases

[@Khorothis]

So the TL;DR of the story is that Firaxis thought they'd make a boatload of money from Marvels, which people were getting overdosed with, rather than making a sequel for a game there was a reliable, committed demand for. I'm not holding my breath for Firaxis to get its shit together and make XCOM3, it's probably going to be done by another studio in the 2030s.

[@winyonzentrada]

Let's be honest, it's the investors and the absolutely clueless people to the gaming franchise, that see nothing but money in their eyes. Hen e liveservice and other ns measures. For some big companies, gone are the days to make the greatest game and in with the day to make the greatest way to milk money, a good game is an afterthought.

[@PandoShiro]

Larian Studios 👀

[@Khorothis]

@@PandoShiro I fucking wish, at least then we'd get an XCOM game with a plot that actually makes sense, unlike the last one.

[@danielramirez1529]

At that point, another studio will just start over and do another xcom 1 remake.

[@EduFirenze]

Firaxis is like any other company too long in the business, safe and tired.

[@kaknakful]

When the game play trailers for Midnight Sun came out, it got slaughtered for looking like a mobile card game. It was pretty brutal. Also, Marvel fatigue was suddenly a thing just as the game came out which was just baaaad timimg.

[@zeriel9148]

Eh, bad timing is a choice right? They had a choice to not make Midnight Suns. They had a choice to make it not be card-based. Etc. I honestly am baffled at what Solomon says if he's being honest and not just trying to avoid burning bridges; it's like he made all the right choices with XCOM 1 & 2, then decided to make all the wrong ones with Midnight Suns. One critical failure roll after another.

[@DavidBrendan7799]

I didn't like turn based tactics before X COM. One of my favorite game series of all times, hands down.

[@MrLibormortis]

xcom2 is still the best in the genre. The main reason I think why midnight sun failed is all those micro transaction game pass and so on, and we do like to customize our own toons as-well.

[@JohnBLZ]

Game of the 2010 decade.

[@KraiseGaming]

As a creator that has done 12 seasons of XCOM 2 with as many mods as the game can handle each time.... . Your video gives me hope that we will see an XCOM 3 at some point where all but radio silence has been heard. Good vid.. I hope you are right and it is in some stage of development.

[@Emiltecknar]

Yeah But No one from xcom2 are left. Will it acually be xcom 3 If everyone worked on it are gone

[@squgieman]

​@@Emiltecknarthis is the same reason I think that the next dragon age game is going to be absolutely awful it's nothing but a bunch of random people who have never worked on anything good in their lives wearing around the skin suit of BioWare at this point

[@Emiltecknar]

@@squgieman well not really right you dont get a jobb at a tripel A whitout at least one shiped AAA game under your belt

[@squgieman]

@@Emiltecknar yeah but like, not all AAA are equal

[@Emiltecknar]

@@squgieman supply and demand still apply. there are very few jobs in the industry witch makes it very competitive. thats why even a bad studio can deman people with high experience.

[@pix00l]

We need XCOM 3 4 and 5 at the very least

[@NcrXnbi]

So long is not made by who ever came up with the Chimera game. That sucked arshe.

[@Mr_Reset]

And another Red Alert while we waiting for these sequels

[@sheacorduroy5565]

Honestly I’m just here wishing we got a remake of XCOM: Terror From the Deep just for the setting alone.

[@gregbackas987]

if your serious about the old games look into the rosigma mod for defender its amazing

[@martinricardo4503]

No.

[@shuaguin5446]

That's just Phenix point

[@31codyskater]

For what its worth the end of xcom 2 seemed to hint at some under sea threat so if they ever make a third one it will probably be themed like that

[@KST-R]

If XCOM Enemy Unknown/Within is the Official Remake for XCOM UFO Defense, then XCOM 3 should theoretically be a Remake for XCOM Terror from the Deep since XCOM 2's Ending Cliffhanger implies with the underwater activity

[@SomeGuyFromUtah]

I never even heard of this marvel game, and I pretty much don't have anything to do with anything disney does anymore. They should have made xcom 3.. I would have bought that for sure. Plus, a big part of my enjoyment of xcom was customizing my own characters, so if you take that away it's a massive loss, and I agree that if I want to play as wolvering, I want to feel like a beast, I don't want a turn based game for that.

[@etudelivre]

Abandoning XCOM 3 for MARVEL...Really??? Unfuckingbelievable!!!! XCOM 3 would have sold over a million copies...I'm stumped!!!

[@Upsetkiller456]

It’s entirely believable actually. Marvel is internationally reknowned. Xcom while loved by its fans, is niche. We saw the writing on the wall but what could be done?

[@MrMartinNeumann]

Midnight Sun is currently available for free at Epic Games. My biggest issue with the game is that it feels like you have no impact. Characters cannot die (always a problem with tactic games where the characters are the focus) and in the few places where you can make choices regarding who to engage and what to do it feels like it does not matter.

[@technokicksyourass]

Exactly. The point of XCOM was always that in any given mission, you were always 1 poor decision from losing your best character. Then for the next few missions, your team would be struggling, and then one or more new characters would step up and take the fight to the enemy. And you could never be certain who it was going to be. Superhero games are just not like that.

[@Dolganar]

Its not just that they cant die, its the fact that the more powerful you make them, the more powerful the enemies get. There is never any getting ahead.

[@1sparkyj]

I thought the combat mechanics in Midnight Suns was really fun and worked well with the abilities of the Marvel characters. It was the "friendship simulator" part of the game that really jarred for me, it just felt a bit tween

[@kamen42]

Yes, it was fun, but I think it could have been expanded more. About mid-game I realized I already have basically every card that is available and the rest was... a bit boring.

[@chromesucks5299]

And now that developer behind that part of the game wants to make a College-romance simulator game focusing on relationships.

[@dinoblacklane1640]

I feel like what they were going for was something like persona. However where persona had interesting and varied characters, midnight sun's character all felt very same-y and flat. Which is ironic for some big name marvel personalities

[@helipilotEGLW]

I kinda hope that XCOM just goes back to its roots, with normal soldiers taking on Aliens to save the day. It would be cool if it was set in the 80s with the backdrop of the Cold War, where they intertwine real events into the storyline. Phantom Doctrine did a similar concept and it worked really well. Sometimes I feel like dev houses don't listen to the customer base and just plough on with what they think will sell more games at the detriment of the title. This is what tends to play out when a lot of the big dev houses purchase smaller studios that had successful titles (EA and Command and Conquer for example). Firaxis should just stick to what they know works, Xcom has a loyal fan base, great game mechanics and a solid storyline, it has worked for decades across multiple titles - it works, don't change it!

[@DannyBoyZero]

Oh, you mean Xenonauts?

[@timsali3421]

if u want cold war era, play the new Xenonauts 2

[@helipilotEGLW]

@@timsali3421 meh! I have

[@SenseiRaisen]

From the direction the story was taken and from what i read, Xcom 3 was suppose to send the story even more into the future, MUCH more deeper, and probably we will had the 1st interplanetary set up for the story.

[@helipilotEGLW]

@SenseiRaisen that would be really cool TBH, having a moon base would be cool

[@That_Ifrit_Guy]

Main reason I didn't look into Midnight suns (yet) Is just hero fatigue,

[@napyet]

Ditto for me too I think. You kind of know who everyone is and how they're going to behave already. What the devs can do with established characters is limited.

[@That_Ifrit_Guy]

@@napyet I'm keen to check it out at some point, but when I'm not sure~

[@gregbackas987]

@@That_Ifrit_Guy apparently like 60% of the game is great eg combat ect but the other 40% is almost like dating sim haha which is rubbish

[@That_Ifrit_Guy]

@@gregbackas987 Dating sims can be fun~

[@InnerFire6213]

Really wish that midnight suns wasn’t card based. I was ready to spend hundreds of hours on that, but after finishing the tutorial it didn’t give me the same feeling like xcom

[@napyet]

I'm not a big fan of card games either so that was a bit of a turn off for me. I wonder if card-games do better on mobile? They're huge on that platform.

[@Shiftry87]

@@napyet Most gamers when they hear that there are cards in a game they dont get a good feeling. A long time ago it wasent as bad but if u release something like that today especially in combination with established heroes everyone immediately thinks they are 100% trying to cram in a way for u to buy card packs and that isent a good thing for any game that isent a pure card game like Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic or Hearthstone.

[@InnerFire6213]

@@Shiftry87 imagine if midnight suns lets you deploy shield soldiers that you could customize like XCOM troops, and heroes are treated as elites that you can only deploy 1 or 2 in a normal missions (more in special avenger missions). Kinda like the psi op elites and the commander avatar in xcom 2. It doesn't feel tactical if all you get are random card drafts, and the movements are very limited too it makes the mission feel linear

[@Shiftry87]

​@@InnerFire6213 It sounds like a cool ide when u first read it which is why almost that same system u describe was the core gameplay design of Battlefront 2 when it released and look what they did with it. If there are cards that gives u a hero unit or influence the power of units its only a matter of time before they start to sell them.

[@markwatson8714]

Felt the same - for me the reliance on cards made it feel far more like a puzzle game rather than a tactics game which got boring pretty quickly, and not really being a Marvel fan I didn't find the story interesting enough to persevere.

[@thomasswrisky6734]

I’m still playing different versions of X-Com Enemy Unknown Long War to this day, and having a blast! If they ever remade X-Com Enemy Unknown with modern graphics and the modding capabilities of X-Com 2, I would spend so much time playing it!

[@silvermknight]

I remember when Midnight Sons was announced, they promised us that it would not affect XCOM 3 at all.

[@gunnergoz]

Still hoping to see XC3 as I've been a fan of the XC games since day 1.

[@AlphaGamer1981]

I'm literally playing xcom 2 long war of the chosen after doing a marathon of both games (2 months in so far) I am also one of the few who played the originals on amiga back in 95. I was hoping they were going to make X-com 3 terror from the deep, following from the original sequel that went to mars to end the aliens once and for all.

[@kearseymorton2078]

Firaxis imploded after the failure of Midnight Suns. Many XCOM2 devs went to a studio named "Bit Reactor", they are currently working on a Star Wars strategy game. Jake Solomon, the leader of the XCOM2 dev team, left and created is own studio, "'Midsummer", he is working on a Sims - like game, Firaxis might make an XCOM3 in the future, but I would not hold my breath, in any case most of the XCOM dev talent has left the company. Midnight Suns failed because it was at the intersection of two incompatible genres: super nerdy card based tactical combat and normie superheroes slop. Thanks to the mod creators, XCOM2 is still immensely fresh and enjoyable today.

[@MadmanImpersonator]

what I want to know is why they wasted time and good standing with the fan base by letting chimera squad become a thing. "sorry no xcom 3 but here's an xcom game with literally none of the stuff that players expect from an xcom game"

[@MrPibass]

I just bought chimera squad for $2. Hope it’s worth it 😂

[@StephMcAlea]

You were robbed. ​@@MrPibass

[@samokuma9596]

​@MrPibass it's not.

[@hithere5553]

Xcom has that “meat grinder” aesthetic that no other game in its genre can get right. When a game like this is hero based it loses that tension that you could lose your favorite soldier that you’ve been building into a legend forever.

[@Proximo022]

Imagine... larian studio with xcom 3... damn lord

[@mysteriousstranger9496]

They said they were making a TBS game in the Divinity world. Guessing it never materialised.

[@Caruther]

A guy can dream, right?😅

[@dcfavorite]

I don't mind waiting longer for an XCOM 3, reminding myself of the old "X-COM: Apocalypse", where the developers try to speed up the game and make sure things happen every second. The result is, you cannot focus on building or training anyone, because your'e interrupted every 30 seconds by being called to battle, and all the factions were trying to get a piece of you, constantly..... It was a headache I wish to never revisit again.

[@napyet]

I never played Apocalypse - I'm intrigued to try it to see what they were trying to do with that faster style of gameplay. But XCOM for me should always been about careful decision making. Life and death choices!

[@dcfavorite]

@@napyet Recalling how I felt when I first played it, I have to say I feel really rushed and I'm constantly getting prompted to head into battle. Imagine you just come back from a 30~45 min battle, your team's exhausted and injured, and the game is prompting you the next fight is already beginning. Snowball that into unstopping waves of fight with no breaks, eventually all your team members are gonna be exhausted, injured, and your sponsors start to complain and retract funding because you're not protecting their interest.

[@napyet]

@@dcfavorite Sounds to me like they were trying to take out the strategic layer and just have it be a string of battles. Kind of misses the big picture of why the games work

[@dcfavorite]

@@napyet lol don't take my words for it, it's been many years, try it, and let me know if you feel the same.

[@santsfactory]

The work they had put in Xcom2 will probably never be reached, It is a fantastic game. incredibly balanced but also challenging. I hope for the sequel they will manage to get close to its greatness but I doubt it.

[@SenseiRaisen]

And the mod support is probably why the game still alive, even after almost 9 years.

[@santsfactory]

@@SenseiRaisen I didn't try mods to be honest. But yes I agree it plays a role in its survivability!

[@SenseiRaisen]

@@santsfactory i said it because to this day there is still mods made for the game in almost daily basics, included updates to them. The 3 gameplay change ones that still had also support are Long War 2/Long War of the Chosens, Cover Infiltration and RPGO. 2 are for tactical focus, and the last is only focus on classes only, since it let you build you own classes and 2 passives for each solider (i.e: you can have one where is focus on been in stealth, shooting 3 times and go back to stealth again with the right combination).

[@Hammerheadcruiser]

Midnight suns came out 3 years after endgame, which many I and I believe many others believe is the conclusion of the marvel movies. Marvel keeps trying to bring that energy back, with more films about heroes nobody cares about and games nobody wants to play. It really is tragic we lost xcom 3 (for the moment at least) for a franchise that's over.

[@Chuck_vs._The_Comment_Section]

If an XCOM 3 is coming, then I hope that, as with Civ 7, Firaxis will at least make use of the other games of this type. For example, that they incorporate the things that Phoenix Point did better into their game. And that they hire some real authors this time.

[@magpiestraub3387]

The devs did hear the fans' plead to drop the cards, but they said no and went ahead with it and now they know why it failed. That is why it's important to listen to feedback. They were inspired by Slay the Spire, which is why they were trying to mimic the game, but it just didn't work out that way. They should have stayed with the Xcom formula. It's possible Xcom 3 might come out years later or never come out at all, but remember that there are plenty of other great Tactics games and more new ones coming out soon, so it's not the end of the world.

[@Matthewjs33]

Similar situation with Darkest Dungeon 2. They had a great game with unique mechanics, then made the sequel another Slay the Spire clone to the detriment of the game and it's fans.

[@Jackfromshack]

Feedback from whiners who didn't even touched the game ones is no need. To be fair it would be harmful to the game. I'm glad they ignored it and followed their vision of the game

[@PaulRoneClarke]

The fluff between missions in the Marvel game stopped me from playing it after about 10 hours. The actual,gameplay on missions was pretty good. It was the cringey stuff you had to do between missions that made me stop playing.

[@ouroboros6125]

Wait so... the reason we didn't get X-Com 3... is because the devs wanted to make some trashy super hero game called Midnight sons, a game I've never even heard about? This is just too absurd for me to accept. So I'm just gonna pretend I didn't hear any of this and move on.

[@VelcroSnake93]

In my case, part of the fun of a turn based tactics game is developing my characters and getting attached to them. That's not really something I can do with pre-established characters. On top of that, there aren't really a lot of Marvel characters I really like. I'm more of an Image guy, and I also don't really buy comics anymore since they're so expensive for what you get, and I got burned out on the Marvel movies after Endgame when the characters I did like from those movies started getting replaced in new movies by characters I did not like.

[@lachlanhancock5227]

Personally, if they they actually DO make XCOM 3, it’d be after XCOM 2, where a threat to both humanity and their former alien foes forced each other to work together. Like the saying goes, ‘The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend.’

[@s.l.r.9407]

I love this idea!

[@sicknsaneofficial8646]

That trope has been done to death

[@zelbarnap]

as a fan of Marvel, before the multiverse thing, I can say that no offense, but I never wanted a turn based Marvel. I wanted xcom3

[@WompaStompaCyn]

Midnight suns needed a demo. I heard it was a card game and ignored it until it got a free weekend, and was surprised by how much I loved it. "Superhero turn-based card tactics RPG" is just a weird jumble of words that will all turn off different groups people. By having to get past a $60 paywall to even try it out they sabotaged their own game. I'm sure a lot of people would have liked it if they just got to check it out without buying.

[@johnflenaly6322]

For me Midnight Suns was a hard pass purely for being a superheroes game. I was never a big fan to begin with and the massive amount of superhero movies and other media we have had over the last two decades burnt me out completely.

[@RichardPhillips1066]

I avoided it for the same reason, plus I suspected it would have free to play monetisation

[@sjsharp2007]

For me it was a big yes give i tto me as ther reall yisn' tmany singleplayer superhero RPG's Avengers an dSuicide Squad were bot hcompletel yonline which was fo rme why I'm glad Midnight Suns exists. Being disabled and only with one hand on the controls I'm not great a taction games I can play som ewit heasy AI but I prefer games wit hmoe rtactics and strategy s oMidnigh tSuns kind of fits and scratches that itch perfectly.

[@candrian7]

Hopefully with the recent success of Baldur's Gate 3 the suits will start considering Turn-based strategy with an RPG spin as a decent prospect.

[@blackraven3720]

weird this video went up when it did when I started playing Midnight Suns day before yesterday lol. Hope XCOM 3 still happens, or a XCOM quality version of Dead State

[@napyet]

Thanks for watching - and hope you have fun with Midnight Suns!

[@spectralassassin6030]

My reason. I like superheroes. I don't like superhero games. Even if they have good reviews I won't play them. I've always been like this and I don't know the reason why. Perhaps it's the same for others?

[@pierre-mariecaulliez6285]

I think the issue is tied to the medium... We like our superheroes to overcome adversity, solve situations, or fail to do so and have to live with the consequences. That makes good stories and/or good characters that we enjoy witnessing. In games however, the player is in control. You can't take too much agency from them to tell your story, or they will call BS and loose their supsence of disbelief, and likely their investment in the story. Also, playing is supposed to be fun, you need challenges to overcome, but neither a difficulty wall, nor a permanent power trip... Thus, the characters we've come to love and know what they're supposed to be capable of end up severely underpowered, or unable to perform game breaking feats that are part of their basic kit... Thus, the very same gameplay that would be a blast to experience on its own, become a magnets of lore inconsistencies, frustration and so on once you attach it to a recognisable character it doesn't fit ! For instance : the Arkham series is great, Batman is all about infiltration and beating up vilains; the Gotham Impostors game was an absolute flop because no one wants to play an FPS in that setting !

[@spectralassassin6030]

@@pierre-mariecaulliez6285 You make a good point.

[@yxolloxy3273]

3:50 did you end up trying midnight suns? the core gameplay loop of it is really a lot of fun; they dropped the ball on the dlc characters, but the actual meat and potatoes of the game is really solidly fun.

[@napyet]

Not yet - I need to get around to playing it

[@sjsharp2007]

Yeah I actuall yreall yenjoy playing Midnight Suns if anything I enjo yit moer than Xcom but I do enjoy both

[@RichardPhillips1066]

​@@napyetild be interested in your opinion, I don't like marvel, but if the mechanics are good I could hold my nose

[@RauschenPauli]

idk the plot/dialog and the character sim part was really mediocre. the combat was pretty fun tho. wish there was more of that in the game.

[@sjsharp2007]

@@RauschenPauli I personally liked i tbut everyone has thei rown opinion.

[@countryrave]

When they first started talking about midnight sons, they said that the abilities were going to be random skill-based cards I was out from that exact moment. I have enough problems with my luck in XCOM. There was no way I was going to base every battle on it.🤷‍♂️

[@eatingweevils]

I thought the card based turn based of Midnight Sun was interesting but the friendship sim of the home hub downtime was utter drag what went on far too long

[@TECHNICALfalcon]

Midnight suns put me off due to dlc off launch , I just decided to wait till it was way cheaper for everything

[@mikemikeson9173]

Xcom 2 is so good thoguh. how do you improve on that?

[@napyet]

I would like them to look at how fighting close-quarters combat works. Less misses when your gun barrel is literally in the enemy's face!

[@Psilocybin77]

by playing the mods Long War 2 and Long War of the Chosen 😉 Incredible mod packs that greatly extend the playtime of the games.

[@snoboreddotcom]

i think it comes down to trying to take what was in the game at its core and improve it. This is what 2 did over EU well. We all love WoTC, but 2 without it was a very solid game. And it was because they worked on things like -destructible cover being improved and extended to floors, and better rendered -movement being easier to plan out with markers -a concealment mechanic -making weapon upgrades go from buying one of each to squad based upgrades, thus removing some almost busy work (this one can be argued) Part of why i ultimately never went back to unknown/within despite personally preferring its setting and story is because all the little conveniences, ui upgrades, and just in general experience bits of the game made it that much better. You could reset the story for 3, back to defending to pre-invasion, and bring so much QoL from 2 to it, while adding new QoL features and consistency (Line of Sight working better, animation delays etc) that it would be worth getting and playing.

[@Deviljho5]

Midnight Suns is an awesome game! I still play it! The fact that you’re able to create your own character really keeps me engaged and entertained!😊

[@miravlix]

I still haven't noticed the game was released to this day and it's news to me every time a video mention it, it is an incomprehensible level of darkness around an AAA game.

[@tomasz9429]

XCom 2 set the bar really really high. The only way it could be surpassed is if the team composed of the exact same people who made XCom 2 great got together and made XCom 3. Otherwise it will be a flop of a cosmic magnitude. Too many franchises changed teams between games and made the sequels worse. As for Marvel, whatever the name of that game was, I already forgot after finishing watching the video, we have to ask ourselves and for once be honest: Who the hell even wanted that game? Seriously. Corporats making the dumbest decisions, to then fire innocent people who simply made what they got told to make. This is why gaming industry is failing. Too many suits glued to their spreadsheets, deciding on things they have no clue about.

[@napyet]

I understand your point but burn out is a real thing for creative people and nobody can continue doing the same thing forever. I think instead they should have invested money in a second team - let the people who still wanted to work on XCOM do that while Solomon developed the Marvel game.

[@tomasz9429]

@@napyet Exacty why I don't like long running franchises. With a few exceptions, all turn to fecal matter in the span of 4-5 iterations. A trilogy is usually the sweet spot for a franchise, but even then it can be ruined. Look at Mass Effect, ME3 was a dumpster fire, and I still remember the absolutely disgusting EA forum threads full of insults. I won't even mention what came after. Same with Dragon Age, but that franchise was finished after two games. Then came Far Cry, and I believe it was probably named by a prophet, because after FC3 the franchise has become "let's just make FC3 again, but worse, nobody will notice." Assassins Creed is another one from Ubisoft that they gave all 5 inches of smelly semi-hard attention, trying, and failing, to copy Witcher 3 after that game came out. They're still trying, and each subsequent game is worse. So yes, I am aware that burnout is real. Off the top of my head I know of three franchises that are still good despite having more than 3 games in the series. Final Fantasy, Yakuza, and X(space sim). So in other words - it's a subject for a doctorate in gamology, or at least a long form video. But I'm way to old to go back to the university, and too lazy to start a youtube channel.

[@Sonoo19]

after the terrible boated mess that Midnight Suns was, I wouldn't expect much even if Xcom3 does come out.

[@greenhowie]

Just started a new game of xcom 2 and I'm remembering all the problems it has - timesaver mods help but some of the graphical jank is just annoying, like menus overlaying each other or the camera doing its own thing sometimes. Xcom 3 could be great but honestly? They should make another spinoff to test the market first - last one was a bit too "fallout tactics" for the series but a reimagining of Terror from the Deep would kick ass.

[@Upsetkiller456]

After Civ 7. From what I’ve heard though a lot of the team who made the reboots are gone which means we probably aren’t going to get a continuation of the story set up by 2.

[@S.Y.S.64738]

If I was running the show we would have XCOM 5 by now.

[@TRD4RKP4SS3NG3R]

It's honestly really simple as to why Midnight Suns failed. I'm still confused on where people (including the devs) fail to see this. It's the tail of two games. 50% was friendship simulator, the other 50% was tactical combat/card battler. When you combine two genres that just don't belong, instead of focusing on one style of gameplay and doing it right, that's where you have your division. Ask anyone who has played it, and they'll tell you the combat is the best part of the game. They're not wrong. It was Firaxis doing what they do best. Why they incorporated the other model into it is the problem. People would love an entire superhero tactical combat/card battler game. It's the odd friendship simulator that threw everything off.

[@sinjoh53]

I don't think friendship is that much of an issue when you look at game like fire emblem but i think having a regular mode when an unit can die forever and a casual mode when your death unit revive at the end of a mission could have fixe think.

[@fredfredrickson5436]

When X3 finally comes, I hope it has a more robust strategic approach to the mission maps; X2's gigantic flaw was that it was fixated on tight tactical firefights rather than overall strategic problem solving. It would have been a far better and deeper game if a layer of gamified command AI had been included. Fingers crossed.

[@assassinred426]

I can't speak for others. But the reason I never picked up. The game is because I have never played a game based off of the 2 main hero franchises, Marvel or DC. Where the characters you're playing Felt like the comic book or TV characters playing. They're always neutered to make the gameplay make sense. I understand that but I want to play a superhero to play the superhero, That's why I feel the games that were you playing a superhero, But it's not based off of those 2 franchises do better.

[@Rob-to4mu]

I got into XCOM with XCOM2, mostly because its regular price on the PS4 store was over 100$, and it was on sale for 5$. I figured I must find out what makes this game worth 100$. I ended up spending over 200 hours on the game and it is now considered one of my favourites.

[@godlvl1]

To be fair, i only heard about XCOM Chimera Squad a few weeks ago. I dont remember seeing advertising or hearing talks about it until i watched a XCOM2 review that came out 2 years ago. Chimera Squad is technicly a sequel and based on that I dont know how they could continue the story. Are WE going to be the invading bad guys?

[@qwefg3]

To be honest... I thought they went with Midnight Suns (poor marketing) due to their previous two failures. The two failures being Xcom Mobile... And Xcom Chimera. So trying to grab Marvel money while they go over what went wrong sounded like a good idea... That didn't work out well.

[@NcrXnbi]

The story and characters is what killed Chimera. I even drop it mid game, it was just cringe.

[@qwefg3]

@@NcrXnbi Made even worse as they could have made it slightly better if the just did a few changes. Maybe claim that this was an Advent city and they were trying to show that the 'kill all aliens' idea wasn't needed as they tried to make that city work both to keep the aliens alive... and to keep some of the higher ups alive knowing that their necks would be next on the chopping block. It may have been cheesy, but they could have taken notes from other games for writing as the Chimera Squad would be forced trying to make what the player believes to be the best decisions while trying to put out as many fires as they could while their 'support' would be council or faction leaders you are supposed to keep happy. Akin more to X-Com 1 in a sense. The characters... REALLY take a page in the Advant book. Maybe some people are awful and realized they lost and want to save their own butts. Maybe have a few people who brought the propaganda and while the overlords were removed... they want to believe in the ideals that were preached or show that unity is something possible. A lot could have been done to make it work... which is why the game's awful writing makes it even worse.

[@damianmcdonald1504]

I couldn't care less that Midnight Suns is quite fun to play. I refuse to play it ever as it was the reason Xcom 3 may never happen.

[@90snetworkproductions79]

It boils down to profit, they went with Marvel, because its MARVEL. Kids and teens love Marvel, and are guaranteed to throw money on it. XCOM is an older series, so of course it was left in the dark. Not to mention how some beast is about to rise from the ocean in XCOM 3 with that cliffhanger ending. They gave us a glimpse into that SWAT style spin off, and aliens are a part of society now. So I'd imagine being able to recruit them is almost guaranteed.

[@zeriel9148]

You say that, but Midnight Suns proves that idea is wrong. No one (in large enough numbers) threw money at Midnight Suns. Classic case of misunderstanding audiences. People will "throw money" at Marvel tentpole movies even when they suck... but Marvel also spends almost as much on marketing as they get back in profit, so it's a huge logic error to think you can get the "marvel audience" without spending Marvel levels of marketing budget. To say nothing of the whole Zenn Diagram problem of whether or not a Marvel audience wants a turn based strategy game. It's funny how they chased the "big money" play but ended up making less money and had a smaller audience than if they just made another XCOM game. XCOM was the big audience compared to Midnight Suns.

[@anonymousfwefwefwefweff]

midnight sons had agressive mtx. Hiding suits behind a paywall in a single-player full priced game is frowned upon.

[@Kross415]

I'm playing Marvel's Mediocre Suns right now because it's free on epic and all I can think of is: ''Man...I could be playing XCOM3 if it wasn't for this game...''

[@Boritis]

X-Com 3 has happened long ago in 1997. It's called "X-com: Apocalypse" and it's the best X-com game ever.

[@HillHomeGaming]

I deeply doubt we will see another XCOM game for another couple of decades IF then. All the main driving forces (save I think one) has left Firaxis. Jake wanted to tell "More Story Games" and that is how we got Midnight Suns and now his own new studio and here we are. Chimera Squad is a bit of a lead in to that direction also and IMO a test of how it would be received by the community. So no I don't expect to see it before I retire in 20 years lol

[@kevinbetts2720]

I don't want to tick off any X-COM fans, but MIdnight Suns was a great game and it is a crying shame that more people didn't try it. The whole combat system is brilliant. Not a huge fan of the whole friendship system, but man the battles and deck-building were solid and fun.

[@gregsmate1]

always thought it was weird that they went with marvel instead of star wars, seems to fit the XCOM style better

[@dinoblacklane1640]

Honestly you can re-skin xcom2 to be star wars themed and nothing would really geel out of place. Hell a mod has probably done this by now

[@armjustarm]

This is a lesson I have learned. Good things end. (Unless they they dont and become a hollow corpse shabling around feeding on nostalgia like whatever happened after the first toy story)

[@Subject_Keter]

Or dark souls. 😂

[@ambstudios4564]

I feel bad about Midnight Suns failure, I liked the game, but that is a slap to the ones on top, no matter who are the characters, a game genre is always going to be lead by those who enjoy it, not the characters that appear on it. XCOM 3 would have been released by now and I bet it would have had a much bigger success

[@TiaraStarbrighter]

One problem was that it only released on next gen consoles, which has a small install base. The card seems a bit random at first blush and the "build your relationships" with the characters, while a nice take on the strategic side, seemed shallow.

[@zeriel9148]

It wasn't a popular game period. I don't think the consoles had much to do with it. Steam stats show that both XCOM 2 and XCOM 1 were exponentially more popular by all time peak. XCOM 2 by more than 10x, but even XCOM 1 had a 7x higher all time peak. That explicitly does not include console audience. The thing about "casual audience" games is they require huge marketing. You can't make a niche AA game and pitch it to casual audiences--at least not if you're a stockholder-run company that expects big profits. Firaxis tried to make a game for casuals without having the marketing budget and huge production values that make casuals actually turn out. A mid-budget strategy game for casuals is like the exact sweet spot of how to fail.

[@TheRealRaygor]

Huge fan of the XCom games, from the originals to the remakes. I played Midnight Suns, and quite enjoyed it.

[@stevelucido266]

Midnight Suns was a great game. Its possible to enjoy both XCom and Midnight Suns.

[@shoutingstone]

For me I've never been one for film or TV tie-ins. If I watched Superman as a kid I didn't then want to run home and pretend to be superman in a video game, and that still hoods true as an adult. I like marvel well enough but I don't want to play them in a game (or at least it's not a factor, a good game is still a good game on its own merets of course).

[@spectralassassin6030]

Always felt the same. Just never found superhero games interesting. Tv shows, movies, and a few comics here and there sure. But games? Never. Odd really. I wonder what causes that.

[@kittywampusdrums4963]

If we wait a bit longer there will be AGI or superintelligence used in Xcom3 AI... imagine the possibilities!

[@silicoid]

There are multiple reasons why I never bought Midnight suns - Saturation with Marvel - Too many types of games combined. - Card mechanics. - Fixed characters. - Lots of dialogue which makes it more rpg. While I do like the rpg element you can add in XCOM. It's not a must.

[@NandoVP48]

i got and play midnight, it was good but i didnt like the theme much. May be an ironman armor war or civil war would be better mechanically. At least we got the lite xcom3 version chimera squad. Was ok also but didnt was has much depth as past xcom games.

[@JeffBarberDigideus]

Midnight Suns wasn't more popular because it took a niche comic book nobody knew and tried to turn it into a turn based card game that suffered from poor design and poor implementation with a story that was just far enough removed from the movies to be irrelevant to a majority of players. All Marvel needed to do was to resurrect Gazillion's Marvel Heroes Omega which was a hugely successful money pit up until Gazillion lost the rights to host the game and decided to turn the servers off. you don't see people working to resurrect a game that wasn't loved by its user base like Marvel Heroes Omega is now. Firaxis isn't the only developer to lose staff in the last few years, but that's mostly because of the bigger companies trying to buy up IP rights and then firing the actual staff. Firaxis needs to prioritise what its known for, Or we could just wait for a new Phoenix Point

[@kurrwa]

is it possible to cancel stupid animation of attacks? I remember I had to watch killing animation without possibility to cancel it. was so annoying to deal with it

[@MadeagoestoNam]

Midnight Suns was genuinely a good game. Solid 8/10 IMO. I am almost certain that it flopped because it released during the sharp decline of the MCU. Had it released around the time of Endgame it would have made tons of money.

[@LCS1982]

Or it might have somthing to do with the fact the game is still moving units at £35 a pop for the base game, and draws in mega bucks when the DLC goes on sale...

[@TorranceRex]

Learning from the mistakes of MS can only make XCOM 3 better. Hopefully......

[@sirextracrispy5251]

Isn't chimera squad kinda Xcom 3 though? Especially in terms of lore and sll that.

[@Bacxaber]

No.

[@sachad964]

Try Phoenix point, its terror from the deep xcom style

[@TECHNICALfalcon]

That’s one I couldn’t get into , start of mission felt like I had to run for like ten turns before I found any enemies , idk if they ever changed it but maps felt gigantic , I loved gears tactics and othercide tho . They were fun but no word of sequels on them :/

[@sigmared1908]

What I loved about phoenix point, was it seem more like the original XCOM and it helps that the creator of XCOM from the 90s made it

[@firestarter000001]

Maybe it changed, but near release the research part of Phoenix point was really disspointing to me. Basicly the gear you had from the start seemed like the best you could get, the research just introduced some varaitions that wasnt really better.

[@Duchess_Van_Hoof]

The sound design gives me headaches and makes me frustrated. And the characters are bland at best.

[@Anakinuk007]

Honestly it can’t be that difficult to make a new XCOM. We have no.2 with piles of popular mods. New story, new maps, new aliens, possibly portals to alien planets with multiple bases. Procedurally generated maps. Not so hard? Endless hours of gameplay. Game doesn’t need building from scratch does it? Give us XCOM 3 already!

[@toddkorson8207]

I never heard of midnight suns?

[@ThePsychicGamer1]

I prepurchased midnight suns as I thought it would be awesome, I got tired half way through. The problem i had is it was so much like chimera squad and not like XCOM 2. It was just jumping into pure action, the exploration, stealth, and barriers were ripped out - which I consider to be some of the best parts of XCOM. To this day, I still haven't unlocked the dlc that I paid for, really no interest. I have played XCOM 2 more times than I can count.

[@gamingtonight1526]

Never thought there was much of a chance of an X-COM 3, as I don't believe we can have nice things any more!

[@rasser80]

I been playing Xcom games since its first release back in DOS days, and i have been wondering when the next release would be, i have been enjoying the new xcom games alot and the plot do line up for a xcom 3 to be released at some point, they just have to make sure the game can be modded or its a fail of an xcom game.

[@DarthJF]

As someone who loves both tactics/strategy games and Marvel/superheroes, I share the observation that Midnight Suns sits in kind of awkward position regarding the two target audiences. Lot of the Marvel fans want to feel like they "are" superheroes and I've seen many be turned off by the more abstract turn based RPG gameplay of Midnight Suns. Meanwhile, there's a segment of the strategy gaming community who are very derisive of Marvel and superheroes in general and weren't ever going to give the game a chance because of its IP. I never expected Midnight Suns to be more than a niche title for those reasons, but unfortunately it seems like the studio heads at Firaxis got blindsided by the Marvel IP and set unrealistic expectations for the game that were never going to be met. Personally, I eneded up enjoying Midnight Suns quite a bit and I'm glad the game was made. It has its flaws, particularly the exploration and social mechanisms felt unnecessary and distracting from the core gameplay loop, but I always enjoyed the combat system and teaming up some of my favourite superheroes.

[@RobertArmstrong-xm9zg]

I didnt even Know it was a turn based tactics game..maybe advertising was bad?

[@napyet]

Perhaps...the messaging regarding what the "Midnight Suns" actually were seemed unclear to me. Like a sort of magical super-team that live in a castle. I was never really sure.

[@mychemicaljase]

I just can’t wait for a summer game fest when they say at the end of the show “we have one more thing” screen goes black “hello again commander”

[@masterofbloopers]

As a Midnight Suns fan, it hurts me to hear that XCOM 3 was delayed because of it. I guess this means no Midnight Suns 2...?

[@michaell8000]

Man X-com 3 needs to be set in the entire solar system with the challenge being fighting larger UFO crews having to balance teams across multiple planets and having ship-to-ship combat. here's the idea I have: you have huge UFOs arriving near constantly these mobile bases that then set up at a planet so you need to destroy it while your ships are doing this it's launching smaller UFOs to do missions now you have the option to send a boarding party onto the huge one but the damage it takes is the determination of how many enemies and rare loot is available and the final goal is you want to send a fleet to the invasion base in another star system so you need FTL tech and navigation data plus ships and troops strong enough to win that fight on top of this you need to have a reserve because traveling to the base takes time which means enemy UFO in transit could arrive before you fight the final battle so you can still lose while your A team is going to the final battles.

[@ryanandrewbaker]

Another reason to dislke midnight suns. Gotta say though, a turn based Batman game sounds awesome. Out of all of them, he's the one that suits that style lol

[@Amdor]

Midnight Suns was decent - hit some right spots for me - tho it did not scratch my Xcom itch. I hope we will get Xcom after civ 7

[@mattrehu8154]

I've really started getting into basic arcade type games these days that have a tonne of fun and can be somewhat have immersion. The games being bought out of my favourite franchises etc, are just money grabs with dlc that finishes the game, unfinished and needing patches etc. I just don't put money where I shouldn't. I got a feeling the next zcom won't be as great.

[@therollingwheelz]

i play n finished xcom2 many times n never get bored

[@jackakhan]

Midnight suns was awesome! It's a shame more people didn't play it😢

[@kevinjohnwaite9468]

Midnight sons was really good in my opinion. XCom 2 is my favourite game of all time though so I'd definitely have preferred a 3.