Take a 12-minute tour of your mobile command HQ in XCOM 2

I just watched this 12-minute video introducing me to XCOM 2's mobile command center, the Avenger, and now I'm having difficulty breathing. Paramedics have been dispatched to my location.

This looks like your first handshake with XCOM 2's narrator — who may as well be your executive officer — and your other chief officers onboard your mobile HQ. The narrator sounds like he's got the weight of the world on his shoulders. Maybe even more than you. You don't get to see the mobile HQ mobilize, but you do get to see:

• The complete hull structure of your mobile HQ, a repurposed alien ship. It's dark. It's sexy. It's quite animated.
• Dr. Tygan (sp?), your Chief Science Officer, in the lab. He's embedded some alien technology into your head. Not sure what it does yet.
• Lilly Shen, Chief Engineer. Hooray for diversity. Hooray for Gremlin drones, configurable for medical triage or increased damage output.
• The gym. Can't win a war without soldiers. There are alien dummies for them to spar with. The ranger comes equipped with a pull-up bar.
• Gun skins. Armor skins. Colors. Camo. Tattoos. Hairstyles. This is the customization that truly matters with the full-spectrum soldiers of the future.
• The map room. Like Google Earth, with scattered pockets of resistance fighters.

There's a lot to take in during the 12-minutes, but it's awesome. The narrator (the XO I'd mentioned earlier) keeps the tone balanced with updates on how bleak humanity's current position is, and positive feedback loops, by continually backing up your decisions: "Good call, Commander."

XCOM 2 is, so far, PC only; due sometime in November. While they're different games, Fallout 4 will be eating some of XCOM 2's lunch in that timeframe. If XCOM 2 were coming to consoles, I'd have the toughest decision of the year on my hands. Read our interview with Lead Producer Garth DeAngelis—John grills him right off the bat about the PC-only decision.