Tim McCracken, QA manager and scenario designer for Firaxis, is talking up the Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword expansion pack over on the Firaxis site.

He said the pack will top his favorite expansion, Fantastic Worlds from the Civ. 2.

The changes to the epic game could stand alone, but they are complimented by twelve exciting new scenarios. One of them, the one I'm working on, is a tip of the hat to the Gollop brothers and the original X-COM team. As a big fan of all things horror, the atmosphere and ominous theme this game accomplished were dead on. I'm focused on replicating these elements.

McCracken said the stage is set in the future in an age with faster-than-light travel, man-made solar systems and a disembodied humanity.

The scenario has you taking on a planet full of human robots that have transformed into malformed beasts. You're sent in to grab some lost research. It is, as McCracken puts it, a Civilization with no leaders, no cities, no technologies. It is Afterworld.

I can't F-ing wait. Brian Crecente

Introducing the Afterworld [Firaxis]

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