XCOM Aren’t the Good Guys in Society’s Eyes
In XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the player controlled the nation’s only real defense against the alien invasion. Literally the entire population of Earth was depending on them.
Now, with the advent of Advent, the player isn’t necessarily the obvious good guy. Even though the trailer screams of a dystopian outcome to the invasion, it is admittedly a peaceful one. Despite the soldiers and scans, there was peace. Even as an announcer describes “1000s of refugees still moving into the city center,” the people moving about their daily lives are at least benefitting from alien technological improvements.
The role of XCOM 2‘s “rebels” isn’t exactly clear. They seem more like EXALT than anything else, cobbling together equipment from whatever they can and fighting against the established power. And just because they are the underdog in the trailer and thus the target of the viewer’s sympathy, who’s to say XCOM 2 won’t cast the player in the role of Advent every now and then? Or even give them an alien squadmate or two? How the new alien races will fit into the pictures of story and gameplay aside from simply being fresh, new additions is anyone’s guess.