In most alien invasion movies, the underdog human protagonists eventually emerge triumphant and send the extra-terrestrial invaders squirming back to their flying saucers.

But what if the humans were the ones who lost and the aliens won?

This was the premise of 2016’s XCOM 2, in which aliens succeeded in conquering the earth and you, the player, had to lead the resistance against them and liberate the planet.

Four years later and Firaxis Games has decided to be adventurous by venturing into what happens after the liberation succeeds.

While directly set after the events of XCOM 2, Chimera Squad is more of a spinoff than a true sequel.

This time around, the game is set on a smaller scale; literally as unlike its predecessor, the fighting is centred in a single city, rather than throughout the world.

And instead of a global fighting force, you have an anti-terrorism squad, the titular Chimera Squad, consisting not only of humans but also aliens who have gone native after two decades as occupiers.

Together, you will have to lead this squad in operations against extremist groups threatening the peace in this brave new world.

The turn-based combat which is the core of the XCOM series is still there, but battles are more akin to special forces raids rather than full-blown firefights.

In a way, this sort of fighting is somewhat less stressful than the combat in XCOM 2, which involved sneaking at a snail’s pace, terrified that your soldiers will accidentally bump into an alien patrol.

As a result, battles and overall combat are faster and there’s no need to be subtle about things.

Going in guns blazing is more or less the way to do things, and unlike previous XCOM instalments, you don’t have to worry too much about your soldiers dying.

Soldiers who get knocked out will take some time to recover and can be redeployed on the field soon enough.

Hence, from the get-go, combat in Chimera Squad is substantially easier compared to its intense predecessor.

It gets even easier as your squad members gain experience through battles and unlock powerful skills.

By that point, raids on enemy bastions become something more of drive-throughs at a McDonald’s.

Some squad members are substantially more useful than others, and it’s quite likely that some balance will be required to give other squad members a chance to shine.

While missions in Chimera Squad are easier, they are still just as much fun as the furious firefights of XCOM 2.

It helps that you no longer have to sneak around anymore, and base management has been simplified immensely.

No longer will you have to rush around the planet desperately trying to save everyone.

In addition, squad members are not randomly generated characters, but rather fixed characters who have their own backstories, voices and skill sets.

You have the usual human soldiers, and four unique alien characters, of various appearances and personalities.

It might be a little jarring for long-time XCOM players to work with the same aliens they had been trying to pulverise in the last two instalments.

The culture clash, or rather, the lack of it, leads to a wasted narrative opportunity as the game could have explored the strangeness of working together with former foes.

The antagonists of the game are also not particularly fleshed out, and while players are told about just how evil the enemy is, they never see anything that proves this.

It would have helped to see the enemy leaders doing something despicable, rather than leaving it rather vague why the Chimera Squad keeps kicking down their doors and smashing through windows.

Ultimately, the story could have been executed better with a more in-depth exploration of both the Chimera Squad and its enemies.

Also taking points out of Chimera Squad’s final score are the numerous unpolished features, which range from flickering graphics to the game crashing to desktop.

At its current price of RM59 on Steam, XCOM: Chimera Squad is still a worthy pick-up as it offers players fun but different gameplay.

Also, it’s always nice to return to a game where your soldiers will somehow miss enemies even with a 99% chance of hitting them at point-blank range.