XCOM 2 screenshots show rain and snow in peaceful suburbs

A new post on the XCOM site shows some new suburban zones, so you can see exactly where your prize much-promoted sniper will be bleeding out in when XCOM 2 comes out on February 5. They're a shift away from the recently-released wilderness shots, showing shopping malls, gas stations, and other places that aliens shouldn't be. XCOM 2's levels will be procedurally generated, so we're really getting a look at the assets that the game will be using to build levels.

There were some urban environments in Enemy Unknown and Enemy Within, but the sequel's improved fidelity should better create the horror of uncanny events happening in familiar places. The only indications of the futuristic setting are some slick cars and a 10/10 evil train, quite different to the Advent shots that Firaxis released a couple of weeks ago.

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.