Posts tagged “Jake Solomon”

Fallen cities swarming with the dangerous remnants of their human populations, alien battlefield commanders who resemble fantastical heroes, new rulesets for friendship and fear, and an actual active resistance out on the Geoscape. XCOM 2 [official site] is changing. The War of the Chosen is "definitely the biggest expansion we've ever done", lead designer Jake Solomon told us at E3. Introducing unique enemy champions doesn't…

Tagged with 2K, E3 2017, feature, Firaxis Games, Jake Solomon, preview, XCOM 2, XCOM 2: War of the Chosen, XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

In which Adam and I sit down with XCOM 2 lead designer Jake Solomon to dissect the strategy sequel. We discuss what it does well and some of the complaints levelled at it, hear about ideas tried and discarded during development, why story had more of a focus this time around and the continued importance of the original X-COM games.

Tagged with 2K, feature, Firaxis Games, interview, Jake Solomon, XCOM 2, XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

XCOM 2 was made significantly more difficult late in its development cycle after playtesting suggested it was too easy, says the game's lead designer. "I remember saying 'you know what, we're going to make the game a lot harder. We're going to go back and make the game a lot harder on every level, because this game is not engaging people the way it should,'"…

Tagged with feature, Firaxis Games, interview, Jake Solomon, XCOM 2, XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

In this concluding part (the first one is here), we discuss boardgame influences, commercial success, what XCOM might mean for the future of strategy, the need for realism within science-fiction, and why XCOM wound up rather buggy.

Tagged with feature, interview, Jake Solomon, post-mortem, xint, X-COM: UFO Defense, XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

With Firaxis' de-hyphenated, largely very well-received remake of the legendary, incomparable, enormous-haircutted X-COM now out there saving the Earth from the worst scum of the universe for several months, now seems the time to sit down with its enthusiastic main man Jake Solomon. What went right, what went wrong and what comes next? As per recent tradition, we had a very long chat. Covered in…

Tagged with feature, interview, Jake Solomon, post-mortem, xint, X-COM: UFO Defense, XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

After something in the region of 30,000 words across four interviews, the odyssey that is my series of chats with XCOM: Enemy Unknown lead designer Jake Solomon finally comes to an end. While my battered transcribing fingers are inordinately relieved about this, I'm strangely sad otherwise - it's been fascinating, and no matter how the finished game actually turns out, one thing I have no…

Tagged with 2K, feature, Firaxis Games, interview, Jake Solomon, xcomint, XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

Not content with a mere three interviews with the lead designer of Firaxis' upcoming X-COM remake XCOM: Enemy Unknown, I recently settled down for a fourth lengthy chinwag with the effusive Jake Solomon. In this first of two parts, we talk about the difficulty of describing the essential X-COM/XCOM experience, why people shouldn't immediately start playing in Iron Man Mode (or perhaps why they should),…

Tagged with feature, Firaxis Games, interview, Jake Solomon, xcomint, XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

Just in case my three-part, 15,000 word interview with Jake Solomon, lead designer on Firaxis' XCOM: Enemy Unknown, wasn't enough for you, here's a follow-up chat with the effusive main brain behind the X-COM remake. This time, we're finding out about how much soldiers' special abilities define the game, what's been done to ammo and why the perception that this new version only has one…

Tagged with feature, Firaxis Games, interview, Jake Solomon, xcomint, X-COM: UFO Defense, XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

In the third and final (for now) part of my enormo-chat with Firaxis' Jake Solomon, head brain on XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the official remake of the legendary X-COM, we get into the nitty-gritty. To whit: why throw out time units, how the replacement system works, modding support, difficulty, soldier classes, country funding, Julian Gollop, 'ZCOM' and why he feels this new game has to bear…

Tagged with feature, Firaxis Games, Jake Solomon, X-COM, XCOM, xcomint, X-COM: UFO Defense, XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

In this next chunk of a mammoth chat with XCOM: Enemy Unknown's lead designer at Firaxis Jake Solomon, we talk Chrysalids, the death and critical wounding of your soldiers, the fanbase, why min-maxing X-COM's not all it's cracked up to be, the base, the geoscape and which of the original game's aliens didn't make the cut...

Tagged with feature, Firaxis Games, interview, Jake Solomon, X-COM, xcomint, X-COM: UFO Defense, XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

They did it. They really did it. As we unexpectedly discovered last month, Firaxis are remaking/reimagining the original X-COM, the 1993 title that is quite rightly often hailed as the greatest game ever made. Recently, I had a long, fascinating and genuinely reassuring chat with XCOM: Enemy Unknown's lead designer and evident fellow X-COM gonk Jake Solomon - in this first of three parts, he…

Tagged with 2K, feature, Firaxis Games, interview, Jake Solomon, XCOM, xcomint, X-COM: UFO Defense, XCOM: Enemy Unknown.