XCOM: The Board Game Announced

I have often seen Firaxis’ take on the X-Com formula compared to a board game, so I’m not at all surprised to see that Fantasy Flight Games is now working on a real XCOM board game, titled, perhaps not very creatively, XCOM: The Board Game. The game is apparently going to require a free digital app that will coordinate the moves of the alien invasion and dynamically spice up the game:

The most notable aspect of XCOM: The Board Game is the way that it incorporates a free and innovative digital app into the core of its gameplay, then uses the app to promote a unique play experience unlike anything you and your friends have previously encountered in a board game. This digital companion will be available both as a downloadable app and as an online tool.

The app’s primary function is to coordinate the escalating alien invasion, randomly selecting from one of five different invasion plans. Each invasion plan represents a general outline that the alien commanders will use to coordinate the arrival of new UFOs, plan strikes against your base, and respond to your successes or failures as it seeks to conquer Earth. The app manages all of these tasks and heighten’s the game’s tension as it forces you to respond in real-time. Then, after you move quickly to coordinate your response, you engage the enemy in the untimed resolution phase and feed the results to the app. Based upon these results, the app launches the invasion’s next strikes.

Additionally, the app teaches you the rules, controls the information that your satellites provide you, and tracks the progress of your resistance efforts, even as it allows you to enjoy the game at any of three levels of difficulty: Easy, Normal, or Hard.

The use of this app does more than simply streamline your play experience and track your turns in real-time. It also permits a uniquely dynamic turn structure. While the variety of game phases remains the same from round to round, the order in which you and your friends must play through them may change, as may the number of a given phase.

As a result, while you’ll want to know where UFOs appear before you deploy your Interceptors, the alien invaders may be able to disrupt your satellite intel and force you to deploy your Interceptors on patrol with limited or no knowledge of the UFOs current whereabouts. Similarly, you may be forced to think about the costs of resolving the world’s crises before you know how many troops you’ll need to commit to your base defense.

The effect of the app, then, is to immerse you deep into the dramatic tension at the core of XCOM: The Board Game, and it ensures that the game presents a challenging and cooperative (or solo) experience like no other. Just like the XCOM department heads that you represent, you’ll need to keep cool heads in order to prevail.

And it shouldn’t take too long until we can get to test how the idea works for ourselves, as the game is scheduled to come out in this year’s fourth quarter:

XCOM: The Board Game is scheduled to arrive at retailers in the fourth quarter of 2014. Until then, destroy UFOs. Research alien technology. Defend your base. Uncover the alien invasion plan. Should you fail, humanity is doomed.

Thanks, Rock, Paper, Shotgun.