While it might not have you fight against an alien invasion, the upcoming Mars Tactics is a turn-based strategy with quite a few similarities to the original XCOM. In other words, you'll have a vast array of tactical options and weapons to utilize during combat, the ability to fire anywhere and even destroy terrain in order to get an edge over your opponents, while your scores of rookies will develop their own personalities and traits depending on what they've gone through.

Much like the original XCOM, you also won't be able to use your all-star squad for each mission as there will be problems popping up all across Mars. As such, you'll need to use a variety of unique characters, many of which might not be the cream of the crop, as well as potentially mismatched equipment in order to survive the onslaught.

Combine this with each character being able to permanently die, as well as permanently become a super-badass, and you've got yourself a recipe for some of that emergent storytelling that made the original XCOM shine so brightly. Whether Mars Tactics will be able to pull it off without making things too frustrating, that still remains to be seen, but it's certainly a gameplay style well worth exploring.

As for what exactly Mars Tactics looks like in action, that you can check out through the recently posted announcement trailer. Have a peek:

No concrete release date has been given just yet, though you can expect Mars Tactics to land into Early Access at some point this year. You can keep track of its arrival, as well as learn a little bit more about it, over at Steam.