History NightmareFuel / XCOMEnemyUnknown

* The Base Defense Mission, ''Good lord, the Base Defense Mission''. So you just kicked down the doors the the enemy's base, wiped them out, and either captured or killed what appears to be ''their leader''. Invasion's over now right? You won right? It's just cleanup now right? ''Wrong.'' One day almost a month later the Hologlobe starts freaking out, the HQ's systems start shutting down, and members of ''your own side'' are blowing things up and violently attacking people under the clear influence of mind control. Oh yeah, and those Aliens you've been fighting? They've breached into the base and they're ''pissed''. If you lose, then it's Game Over and you're likely still licking your wounds from the attack on their base. Have fun.

** The worst thing about the MEC Troopers is that, unlike [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}} Space Marine Dreadnoughts]] or [[Franchise/{{StarCraft}} Protoss Dragoons/Immortals]], it's not just [[WeCanRebuildHim critically wounded soldiers getting put into mechanical suits so that they can keep on serving]]. Instead, MEC Troopers are men and women that voluntarily amputate their own perfectly fine limbs and replace their organs with machines, just so they can have better combat effectiveness. It is both [[HeroicSacrifice heroic]] and scary at the same time.

** It's not really "making them talk" and more invasive neurological scans.

** One of the details that drive home how ''screwed'' countries that stop support of XCOM are is that you can revisit them during EXALT operations. Some of these EXALT mission maps will make the appropriate changes to their terrain to drive home the fact that you are now battling in a war-torn and badly-shredded cityscape that has not been rebuilt.

* This is extra the case when you see it through the perspective of your soldiers, I mean, these guys just saw their friends get brutally mauled and now their dead friend is out for their blood. And the case becomes even worse at Site Recon.

* The tutorial mission of the reboot is pretty creepy too. You come across German soldiers, one that's been killed with conventional (for the aliens) weaponry, and one that's been somehow eviscerated when, to use Dr. Vahlen's words, tore its way out of his chest. Then there's a German soldier from inside a building calling "Hilfe..." What does that mean? ''"Help me."''

* Remember those Mutons and how they're supposed to be the front line troops for the invaders? They can take some serious punishment, soaking bullets to the face, to say nothing of their [[EliteMooks elite counterparts]]. Now, let's go to South America's continent bonus, "We Have Ways", which allows all interrogations and autopsies to be completed immediately. Just what are they doing to the [[TortureTechnician Mutons to make them talk so fast]]?

* The Terror missions. In the background, you hear screaming and panicking crowds, air raid sirens wailing, police and fire sirens blaring, and the sounds of human and alien weaponry exchanging fire, while you're attempting to rescue an isolated group of civilians, who are being picked off one by one by aliens. They're also probably going to be the first time you'll meet the [[DemonicSpiders Chryssalids]]. Huh? They killed a civilian, you say? What!? THE CIVILIAN IT KILLED [[CameBackWrong CAME BACK TO LIFE!?]]

* The Sectopods have a long range, and it's possible that [[ParanoiaFuel it can hit you without you being aware of its existence, because its attack range is greater than its sight range.]] Your first encounter with a Sectopod would most likely involve a ''giant fucking laser coming out of nowhere.''

* Ethereals. Sectoids and Sectoid Commanders can pull off some pretty nasty psionic moves. With Ethereals, this is ''all'' they do. One Ethereal, and your squad goes from a highly disciplined team armed with high-tech weaponry to a terrified group, cowering from psionic attacks and the weapons of their own comrades suffering from the effects of MindRape.

* Floaters and Heavy Floaters from the remake. Several times more horrific than the original game's counterparts, and very, very dangerous in the early game.

* The seekers. These robotic enemies turn invisible to the naked eye upon discovery, and often won't appear until they are right in front of you, in which case they will start strangling you to death. This would put anyone on edge, as the thought of these aliens seeking you down whilst invisible, and suddenly manifesting in front of you to start strangling you is bone-chilling.

* Let's think about this from the [[MookHorrorShow alien mooks' perspective,]] shall we? So your leaders tell you to [[spoiler: forcibly uplift a primitive race known as humans.]] Pah, easy you say. These primitive apes are still using ballistics weaponry and they haven't even figured out practical spaceflight yet. So you send out the Sectoids to start abducting. And then, out of nowhere, a squad of ''four'' of these humans shows up and slaughters your advance guard [[spoiler: (assuming you didn't play the [[PyrrhicVictory tutorial]])]]. Okay, you think. We'll send in the Thin Men, Floaters, Mutons, and Chryssalids. ''They'' get slaughtered. Then, your spacecraft start getting shot down by this same mysterious group of humans. Now, the rumors have started among the rank and file of a horrific creature known only as "Doctor [[EnsembleDarkhorse Vahlen,]]" who will capture you, place you in a glass pod, and '''[[TortureTechnician stick probes]] [[WeHaveWaysOfMakingYouTalk into your brain]]''' to gain information on you! And [[SerialEscalation THEN,]] this same group of humans, having turned ''[[HoistByHisOwnPetard your own weapons]] [[HumansAdvanceSwiftly against you,]]'' breaches your base and utterly slaughters everyone inside. They never leave any survivors, and they always take the corpses to their horrific underground base to be dissected and used as ''[[BodyHorror weapons.]]'' So you start bringing out the bigger guns: Sectoid Commanders, Muton Berserkers, Muton Elites, Sectopods, Cyberdisks, more powerful spacecraft, the works. ''[[TheWorfBarrage They're all slaughtered, even when you attack their base.]]'' And those psionics that gave you a massive edge early in the invasion? '''[[OhCrap The humans have them too,]]''' and they'll use them, [[EvilLaugh chortling horrifically]] [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters while they do it.]] You think you have it bad? Try being a platoon of Thin Men or Sectoids on a Council mission going up against a squad of Colonels and Majors.

*** And they mount external weaponry. This brings to mind another Nightmare Fuel moment: the Kinetic Strike Module. Imagine, if you will, you're a Muton fighting some humans. Things are going well. They're pulling back. Suddenly, some giant walking tank thing rushes you out of nowhere and BAM! Every bone in your body liquifies. Your organs implode. You're thrown backwards through a wall [[KungShui with enough force to shatter it]], into the car parked outside, which then ''[[EveryCarIsAPinto explodes from the impact]]''. Not the way I'd choose to go...
*** Neither would the MEC's [[KillItWithFire flamethrower]]. Being hit with this weapon makes even ''Chryssalids'' flee in panic.

* Remember those Mutons and how they're supposed to be the front line troops for the invaders? They can take some serious punishment, soaking bullets to the face, to say nothing of their [[EliteMook elite counterparts]]. Now, let's go to South America's continent bonus, "We Have Ways", which allows all interrogations and autopsies to be completed immediately. Just what are they doing to the [[TortureTechnician Mutons to make them talk so fast]]?

* Remember those Mutons and how they're supposed to be the front line troops for the invaders? They can take some serious punishment, soaking bullets to the face, to say nothing of their [[EliteMooks elite counterparts]]. Now, let's go to South America's continent bonus, "We Have Ways", which allows all interrogations and autopsies to be completed immediately. Just what are they doing to the [[TortureTechnician Mutons to make them talk so fast]]?

** One of the details that drive home how ''screwed'' countries that stop support of XCOM are is that you can revisit them during EXALT operations. Some of these EXALT mission maps will make the appropriate changes to their terrain to drive home the fact that you are now battling in a war-torn and badly-shredded cityscape that has not been rebuilt.

* [[http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=News_Items_%28EU2012%29 The News Ticker]] in the Situation room will paint a very grim and bleak picture if you're doing poorly against the aliens. Some sample lines:

* [[http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=News_Items_%28EU2012%29 The News Ticker]] in the Situation room will paint a very grim and bleak picture if you're doing poorly against the aliens.

* The premise of the sequel:. [[DownerBeginning Apparently since the events of the 2012 game aliens have conquered the world. Creating a world which they project as aliens helping mankind but in fact is just a totalitarian regime. Also X-COM has been reduced to a small guerrilla faction]]. Considering how strong X-COM got by the end of ''Enemy Unknown'' the new alien faction must be extremely powerful.
** WordOfGod suggests that XCOM ''outright lost the war'' in ''Enemy Unknown'' without getting that powerful, which would presumably make the "''Game Over''" ending canon, and by the events of ''XCOM 2'' the alien-imposed regime has had twenty-odd years to entrench, while XCOM's survivors and/or successor organization-of-the-same-name were reduced to an insurgency with neither a supporting "''conventional''" power in sight nor reverse-engineered alien technology, and thus in even worse straits than in ''Enemy Unknown''...

** WordOfGod suggests that XCOM ''outright lost the war'' in ''Enemy Unknown'' without getting that powerful, which would presumably make the "''Game Over''" ending canon, and by the events of ''XCOM 2'' the alien-imposed regime has had twenty-odd years to entrench, while XCOM's survivors and/or successor organization-of-the-same-name were reduced to an insurgency with neither a supporting "''conventional''" power in sight nor reverse-engineered alien technology, and thus in even worse straits than in ''Enemy Unknown''...

* The premise of the sequel to. [[DownerBeginning Apparently since the events of the 2012 game aliens have conquered the world. Creating a world which they project as aliens helping mankind but in fact is just a totalitarian regime. Also X-COM has been reduced to a small guerrilla faction]]. Considering how strong X-COM got by the end of ''Enemy Unknown'' the new alien faction must be extremely powerful.

* Let's think about this from the [[MookHorrorShow alien mooks' perspective,]] shall we? So your leaders tell you to [[spoiler: forcibly uplift a primitive race known as humans.]] Pah, easy you say. These primitive apes are still using ballistics weaponry and they haven't even figured out practical spaceflight yet. So you send out the Sectoids to start abducting. And then, out of nowhere, a squad of ''four'' of these humans shows up and slaughters your advance guard [[spoiler: (assuming you didn't play the [[PyrrhicVictory tutorial]])]]. Okay, you think. We'll send in the Thin Men, Floaters, Mutons, and Chryssalids. ''They'' get slaughtered. Then, your spacecraft start getting shot down by this same mysterious group of humans. Now, the rumors have started among the rank and file of a horrific creature known only as "Doctor [[EnsembleDarkhorse Vahlen,]]" who will capture you, place you in a glass pod, and '''[[TortureTechnician stick probes]] [[WeHaveWaysOfMakingYouTalk into your brain]]''' to gain information on you! And [[SerialEscalation THEN,]] this same group of humans, having turned ''[[HoistByHisOwnPetard your own weapons]] [[HumansAdvanceSwiftly against you,]]'' breaches your base and utterly slaughters everyone inside. They never leave any survivors, and they always take the corpses to their horrific underground base to be dissected and used as ''[[BodyHorror weapons.]]'' So you start bringing out the bigger guns: Sectoid Commanders, Muton Berserkers, Muton Elites, Sectopods, Cyberdisks, more powerful spacecraft, the works. ''[[TheWorfBarrage They're all slaughtered, even when you attack their base.]]'' And those psionics that gave you a massive edge early in the invasion? '''[[OhCrap The humans have them too,]]''' and they'll use them, [[EvilLaugh chortling horrifically]] [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters while they do it.]] You think you have it bad? Try being a platoon of Thin Men or Sectoids on a Council mission going up against a squad of Colonels and Majors.

*** And they mount external weaponry. This brings to mind another Nightmare Fuel moment: the Kinetic Impact module. Imagine, if you will, you're a Muton fighting some humans. Things are going well. They're pulling back. Suddenly, some giant walking tank thing rushes you out of nowhere and BAM. Every bone in your body liquifies. Your organs implode. You're thrown backwards through a wall [[KungShui with enough force to shatter it]], into the car parked outside, which then ''[[EveryCarIsAPinto explodes from the impact]]''. Not the way I'd choose to go...

* Let's think about this from the [[MookHorrorShow alien mooks' perspective,]] shall we? So your leaders tell you to [[spoiler: forcibly uplift a primitive race known as humans.]] Pah, easy you say. These primitive apes are still using ballistics weaponry and they haven't even figured out practical spaceflight yet. So you send out the Sectoids to start abducting. And then, out of nowhere, a squad of ''four'' of these humans shows up and slaughters your advance guard [[spoiler: (assuming you didn't play the [[PyrrhicVictory tutorial]])]]. Okay, you think. We'll send in the Thin Men, Floaters, Mutons, and Chryssalids. ''They'' get slaughtered. Then, your spacecraft start getting shot down by this same mysterious group of humans. Now, the rumors have started among the rank and file of a horrific creature known only as "Doctor [[EnsembleDarkhorse Vahlen,]]" who will capture you, place you in a glass pod, and '''[[TortureTechnician stick probes]] [[WeHaveWaysOfMakingYouTalk into your brain]]''' to gain information on you! And [[SerialEscalation THEN,]] this same group of humans, having turned ''[[HoistByHisOwnPetard your own weapons]] [[HumansAdvanceSwiftly against you,]]'' breaches your base and utterly slaughters everyone inside. They never leave any survivors, and they always take the corpses to their horrific underground base to be dissected and used as ''[[BodyHorror weapons.]]'' So you start bringing out the bigger guns: Sectoid Commanders, Muton Berserkers, Muton Elites, Sectopods, Cyberdisks, more powerful spacecraft, the works. ''[[TheWorfBarrage They're all slaughtered, even when you attack their base.]]'' And those psionics that gave you a massive edge early in the invasion? '''[[OhCrap The humans have them too,]]''' and they'll use them, [[EvilLaugh chortling horrifically]] [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters while they do it.]] You think you have it bad? Try being a platoon of Thin Men or Sectoids on a Council mission going up against a squad of Colonels and Majors.
** It'd be one thing if the humans were just more stubborn than the aliens anticipated. It's worse: the aliens throw everything they have at them, and it doesn't just fail to slow them down, it makes them ''stronger''. Simply imagine fighting an enemy you thought you were gonna roll over but who only gets stronger and deadlier the more troops you throw at them and the more advanced tech you decide to employ. Learning what took you years, decades and maybe even generations to develop and adapting it all in ways you never imagined, then using it all against you. Using even your best, your most elite and even arriving personally, has only made them stronger. In what amounts to a few months, despite employing your best you are less successful at abductions and any sort of mission. They even seem to be able to detect you better anywhere on their planet and respond faster than before. Then they use tech from your advanced ships to find you anywhere in the word. Then they tap into your collective consciousness. How do you fight that?!

** Simply imagine fighting an enemy you thought you were gonna roll over but who only gets stronger and deadlier the more troops you throw at them and the more advanced tech you decide to employ. Learning what took you years, decades and maybe even generations to develop and adapting it all in ways you never imagined, then using it all against you. Using even your best, your most elite and even arriving personally, has only made them stronger. In what amounts to a few months, despite employing your best you are less successful at abductions and any sort of mission. They even seem to be able to detect you better anywhere on their planet and respond faster than before. Then they use tech from your advanced ships to find you anywhere in the word. Then they tap into your collective consciousness. How do you fight that?!

* The Terror missions. You hear screams and panicking in the background while you're attempting to rescue an isolated group of civilians, who are being picked off one by one by aliens. They're also probably going to be the first time you'll meet the [[DemonicSpiders Chryssalids]]. Huh? They killed a civilian, you say? What!? THE CIVILIAN IT KILLED [[CameBackWrong CAME BACK TO LIFE!?]]

*** AND they mount external weaponry...which brings to mind another Nightmare Fuel moment...the Kinetic Impact modual.
Imagine, if you will, you're a Muton. Fighting against the humans. Things are going well, they're pulling bac-
Wait, whats that th-
BAM. Every bone in your body liquifies. Your organs implode. You're thrown backwards through a wall with enough force to shatter it and possibly anything behind it. Not the way I'd choose to go...(and to be honest...neither would the MECs flamethrower)

* Simply imagine fighting an enemy you thought you were gonna roll over but who only gets stronger and deadlier the more troops you throw at them and the more advanced tech you decide to employ. Learning what took you years, decades and maybe even generations and adapting it in ways you never imagined against you. Using even your best, your most elite, even arriving personally, has only made them stronger. In what amounts to a few months. How do you fight that?!