Firaxis has released a profile of three main characters that will assist the player on-board their trusty ship the Avenger, when the recently delayed XCOM 2 drops early next year.
There’s a couple of new faces, and one old friend that XCOM: Enemy Unknown players will remember fondly.
First up is An-Yi “Lily” Shen, your engineering expert. She was 15 when XCOM failed to save the world from the original alien invasion (shame on you), and learned her tech skills from her late father. Chief Shen is a “results-oriented individual who rarely shies away from conflict and finds it impossible to be complacent”. Sounds handy.
Dr. Richard Tygan is your chief scientist, a former bio-chemist who – interestingly enough – formerly worked for human collaborators ADVENT. Once he found out that they liked to inject themselves with alien genes and shoot people, he understandably changed his allegiance. He’s described as “self-assured and confident in his own knowledge and expertise.”
Finally, it’s good old Central Officer Bradford, your XO from Enemy Unknown. In this game’s universe, most of the XCOM command was killed in an assault on its secret base. Bradford survived, but as Firaxis explains, he’s no longer the preppy, optimistic character from the first game.
“It took a tip from what little resistance remained that you, the Commander, had possibly been located to bring Central back into the fold. He is somewhat of a broken man, Commander, but your return can hopefully provide him, and humanity, new hope that we can reclaim our planet.”
XCOM 2 was recently pushed back to February 2016.