New free Second Wave DLC for XCOM: Enemy Unknown adds advanced options

XCOM: Enemy Unknown has some newly released downloadable content available today on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The Second Wave content is free and is designed to give the fans more gameplay options. If you’re hardcore and play the game on Iron Man or the hardest difficulty here are some more challenges for you to keep you in the XCOM world. Note that you don’t have to do either of these things to enjoy the new DLC.

Second Wave offers eleven unique options to gameplay.  Some of these options make things easier, some harder, and some well… random.  A list of them can be found below.  If you’ve let XCOM sit on the shelf and collect some dust, it’s time to break it out again.  The aliens aren’t going to stop themselves after all.

• Damage Roulette: Weapons have a wider range of damage.
• New Economy: Randomized council member funding.
• Not Created Equally: Rookies will have random starting stats.
• Hidden Potential: As a soldier is promoted, stats increase randomly.
• Red Fog: Combat wounds will degrade the soldier’s mission stats.
• Absolutely Critical: A flanking shot guarantees a critical hit.
• The Greater Good: Psionics can only be learned from interrogating a psionic alien.
• Marathon: The game takes considerably longer to complete.
• Results Driven: A country offers less funding as its panic level increases.
• High Stakes: Random rewards for stopping alien abductions.
• Diminishing Returns: Increased cost of satellite construction.
• More Than Human: The psionic gift is extremely rare.