As if the aliens in Xcom: Enemy Unknown weren’t deadly enough, Firaxis are adding a flying squid assassin to the alien’s roster. To be clear, this isn’t an assassin of flying squids but an alien squid that flies through the air, grabs your soldiers and assassinates them by crushing the life out of their poor bodies.
“One of the things we wanted to do in Enemy Within was to get the player looking over her shoulder more often,” writes lead designer Ananda Gupta. “We have terror maps that can get out of hand with zombie infestation, but the aliens were missing a subtle assassin, something that can attack suddenly and without warning when the player least expects it. The Seeker was an obvious candidate.
“After we saw how players started to play Enemy Unknown after gaining some experience, we knew this kind of threat was called for.”
Seekers can fly, providing them with mobility that will mean your soldiers are rarely out of reach. They can also stealth for short periods. Only well-equipped soldiers can counter their invisibility, too.
Their real threat lies in when they’ll attack you. Seekers work in pairs and aim to hit you when you encounter groups of aliens. Right when you’re weakest.
How do you counter the seekers’ stealth? “Bioelectric Skin (a gene mod that is unlocked from the Chryssalid Autopsy) and Snipers’ Battle Scanners will detect Seekers in their radii of effect.” Seekers can’t attack once visible, so keeping them in sight keeps you save. Giving your soldiers a respirator implant “prevents strangulation as well as granting some bonus health.” Also, many of the games advanced armours will provide immunity.
Seekers are a rookie’s worst enemy, then.
I can’t wait to face them. I didn’t encounter any in my hands-on with Enemy Within but, still, it was one of my favourite games at GamesCom.