UFO Sightings: Afterlight And Extraterrestrials

While we were waiting for Irrational's ultra-secret X-COM project to be confirmed (or denied, at worst), another couple of UFO sightings have been reported, concerning UFO: Afterlight and UFO: Extraterrestrials. Although there's no connection between the two, other than their similar title and common spiritual ancestor, it just so happens that both games have received new release dates this week, and both should be launched during the current quarter.

UFO: Afterlight has actually been out in Europe for a couple of weeks already, but a new announcement made by IDEA Games reveals that Altar's strategy / tactical sequel will also be made available online from February 26. The place to look for it is the Sproket website, who are also offering the previous two instalments - UFO: Aftermath and UFO: Aftershock - for €9.90 and €19.90 respectively (plus VAT).

UFO: Extraterrestrials, on the other hand, was originally supposed to launch in 2005. But after multiple unexplained delays, the devs from Chaos Concept finally appear to be nearing completion. Although the game's website currently lists a "February 28, 2007" release date, publisher Tri Synergy sends word that it's actually due out on March 16. They also have no shame in claiming that Extraterrestrials is "the highly anticipated sequel to an already addictive and innovative series", despite it being just an indie take on a classic masterpiece. But anyway, here's a bit about it, if you haven't been following its progress:

"UFO: Extraterrestrials is set in 2025 on the newly colonized planet Esperanza, where mankind's foray into outer space has a meeting with alien life. However, these extraterrestrials aren't just interested in contact; they're out for blood and riches. In defense of their fledgling outer space outpost, the player is summoned by the Esperanza government to face this threat from deep space. The player will have at their disposal squads of soldiers, light and heavy support combat vehicles, robots and air units located in bases throughout the Esperanza. In addition, UFO: Extraterrestrials combines global strategy with small, squad-based tactical combat against an alien invasion. To repel the alien invasion the player must take full advantage of the terrain and his surrounding environments."

All right, now back to waiting for Irrational to make its move...

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)