How to unlock Heroes in XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Using certain soldier names in XCOM: Enemy Unknown will activate XCOM Heroes - pre-designed super soldiers such as Sid Meier and Ken Levine. Before activating a Hero, a pop-up will warn you that they're too damn amazing to allow you to continue the game with achievements turned on, and you cannot modify a Hero character after summoning it. If you decide to use one, do avoid killing him with some bull-headed tactical screw-up -- we'd kind of like BioShock Infinite to be finished.

The currently known XCOM Heroes are below - if there are more, someone will surely find them soon.

  • Sid Meier
  • Ken Levine
  • Joe Kelly
  • Otto Zander

Here are some other XCOM tips you might be interested in:

Our fullsome XCOM strategy guide

Our video guide to playing Ironman mode

How to force the game to use 1080p cinematics.

The dev's own tips for taking down early-game ETs .

Tyler Wilde
Executive Editor

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.