After Firaxis Games seemed happy to take their success with XCOM: Enemy Unknown as a chance to relax, rumors began circulating earlier this months about a mysterious property known as ‘Enemy Within,’ apparently tied to the franchise. The developers broke their silence in confirming that they would be making an announcement regarding Enemy Within at Gamescom later this month, but that may no longer be necessary.
It seems that 30 new Steam Achievements have been added for Enemy Unknown, implying that whatever Firaxis is up to will not be a brand new sequel to the XCOM reboot, but an expansion. These details are far from official, but given the track record of Steam Achievements outing major releases, we’d expect comment from the developers soon.
While fans and onlookers may have fully expected the critical and commercial success of Enemy Unknown to warrant a complete sequel (read our review for proof), this bit of news requires some context. For starters, there wasn’t much about the first game that critics felt was missing, or fans rallied around in addressing the developers. That’s a true sign of a widely-accepted game, but when it comes to redesigning elements for a sequel, Firaxis wasn’t left with a whole lot of demand for changing their formula.
The mysterious teaser footage shown at PAX East hinted that the developers were intending to continue the story of Enemy Unknown, which ended on somewhat of a cliffhanger, with new enemies potentially emerging from without - and within - to raise trouble for the XCOM Council. Considering how much fans would likely be pleased to hear that the story will progress, it’s hard to argue that an expansion, if a sizable and well-designed one, would be an understandable course of action.
Unfortunately, the thirty achievements added to the Steam Community page for Enemy Unknown are unnamed, meaning anyone hoping for hints at Enemy Within’s story or missions will have to wait. But for now, the evidence seems clear: Firaxis is working on something to add to the series’ fiction, the name Enemy Within has been circulating of late, and now it seems Enemy Unknown has an expansion on its way.
For now we’d recommend that only those facts be taken to heart, regardless of how clear the conclusions may seem. It wouldn’t be the first time that Steam Achievements have ruined a developer or publisher’s surprise, but we’ll keep you updated as more official details arrive.
What are you hoping for from the next XCOM expansion? Will more of the same scratch your itch, or were you hoping for something more than an expansion? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Follow Andrew on Twitter @andrew_dyce.
Source: Steam Community
