XCOM® 2

Just buy xenonauts, this is trash. Looks like garbage, feels like a joke, story and voice acting is cringe, just no redeeming factors at all.

I'll start by saying I'm someone who really loves turn based strategy games, and I was a huge fan of XCOM: Enemy Unknown/Enemy Within which comes before this one. This game has everything I loved about the first game and adds so much more to the experience. It is unforgivingly hard, has a ton of new enemy types, the character customization for your soldiers is incredible, and the story is fantastic. Adding the DLC gives you so much more: more story, new enemy types/boss and regular, new soldier types, additional strategy elements you'll need to learn to manage, and more.

I will say that if you are playing XCOM 2 for the very first time, play the vanilla game first - maybe activate the Alien Hunters and Shen's Last Gift DLC only. Its a fun experience all of it's own, and you'll get a good grasp of the base gameplay. Once you've done that, your second play though can be with the War of the Chosen DLC - WotC really does add THAT much more to the game. I'm serious, it's an overwhelming amount of new content added to the game which makes it perfect as a second play through option.

Dear God...XCOM 2: WOTC...this game....guys....just stop reading and get it.

Not only is the game amazing, (get the expansion, its so good, just more content laced into the game). But the modding community is massive and incredible. Every so often I come back and play this game, opting to play "The Long War" which was codeveloped by Firaxis and the modders, which protracts the game, adds a ton, adds a whole strategic layer, and THEN, decide what of all these incredible mods I want to add into the game this time. I have new classes, talents, items, its a whole new experience every time. 512 hours later and Im still seeing plenty for the very first time!

Great game, absorbing and fulfilling. My only nag would be the option to skip some compulsory load scenes (avenger returning, flying out etc). Replay value is good as well, never two games the same. Worth a try out either on sale or not - I've even got Within and Unknown on my phone

Contrary to what most people believe, this game is about making your perfect squad of anime characters in order to dab on the aay lameions.

Also you can download a mod that makes the Doom Slayer instantly punch aliens into fountains in blood.

At launch I sailed the seven seas for this game and it was kinda mid compared to XCOM: Enemy Unknown. The plasticky toy like enemies doesn't vibe with me as well as managing a resistance group instead of humanity's best.

Now that I bought this game's complete edition, there are things that doesn't make sense to me. While starting a mission being stealthed is a cool addition, once you're detected, it's permanent. It doesn't matter if you haven't revealed all the enemy pods in the map. There should be a more in-depth stealth mechanic (like tiles that can hide a unit) but all this have is a one off gimmick.

Then there is this confusion with the DLC. I don't know what boxes I ticked that spawned a Berzerker boss that has tons of HP, huge movement range, and attacks the nearest soldier after you damage it even though it's not their turn to act. It's unfair and not fun. If the only way to make it manageable is to make sure that you enabled the DLC properly and AVOID the mission that'll spawn them then it's a poorly made system meant for hard core players.

a fun tactical turn based squad game. slowly learning the game playing on easy but I'm looking forward to trying it on harder difficulties with different builds.

Anti save-scum programs might have broken the game percentages... This is the only game you'd miss 90%+ hit chances by ALOT OF TIMES. While enemis kill you behind heavy cover easily LIKE butter from miles away.

Game may show you pwrcentages like 95 percent or mere 5 percent. But when anti save-scum kicks in, the result will be predetermined: a hit or no hit. So often the numbers are just for decorations, your fate has been predetermined by lousy programs rather than pure dice/percentages.

I'd give this two thumbs down but the story concept is superb and we rarely have gems like this nowadays.

So enjoy the game, story and just dont trust the hit/miss mechanics you see on screen.

Phenomenal turn-based tactical strategy game with addictive gameplay and excellent replay value. One of the best games of the last decade.

As a long-time X-COM player, I consider this game a masterpiece, the result of a long and intense refinement of the legacy.

I've played probably at least 1k+ hrs on console before getting a PC and exploring the awesomeness of mods.

Have always enjoyed the progression in XCOM 2 and WOTC, never feels like you're over/underpowered for too long. The struggle can and will be real at times and I love it. Recommend getting WOTC, it's on another level compared to base game.

70% chance to hit is a miss 100% of the time. I hate it. It's one of me favourite games.

Great game, continuation of great series.

its THE BEST turn based video game out there, FIRAXIS made 2 masterpieces and this is the second one, WOTC dlc really improves the game, theres macro and micro strategy, and MODS oh my GOD are there mods! sure we might not ever gen an xcom 3 but im just happy playing long war 2 or covert infiltration for now.

It's one of the best games I've ever played. The tactics are complex and interesting. The customizability of your soldiers really emotionally bonds you to them, making the game that much more involving. I've wasted a lot of time playing this game.

Xcom 2 story continues after Xcom 1, and it offers one the best experience as turn-based tactical games. Commander difficulty and above are challenging even for experienced players, especially on Ironman. There are a lot of replay value and very fun to try different team combinations.

The achievements requires 4-5 runs to complete. The most difficult one in my opinion is the Ironman Commander+ achievement. Legendary difficulty, Speedruns Commander+ and Ironman Commander+ runs are better to be in separate runs to avoid unnecessary stress. Every run takes about 20-50 hours.

DLCs are essential for the full experience as the WOTC expansion add quite a lot of contents. Gold medals in legacy operations are more obtainable on the nightmare difficulty. WOTC and legacy operations DLCs are required for all achievements.

Special thanks to Robin again for helping with the multiplayer achievement. The multiplayer achievement is still obtainable today using the beta version and Robin has a guide on this.

The base game can freeze or crash at times. Enable the ZIP mode helps to reduce the issue but won't eliminate it. When playing with WOTC DLC, I never encountered similar issues.

The game is not recommended on Steam deck. It draws battery and burns the deck even on the lowest graphic setting. The freeze and crash happens as well.

Tactics. Consequenses. Percentiles. Everything you can ever want from a game.

Still excellent. A great modernization of one of the best games ever.

>looking for hard game
>ask 2K employee if the difficulty is scenario optimization or sheer luck
>they don't understand
>I pull out illustrated diagram explaining what is scenario optimization or what is sheer luck
>they laugh and say "it's a hard game sir"
>buy game
>it's sheer luck

The absolute best strategy game iv'e ever experienced in over 25 years of gaming. unmatched customisation and never-ending mod support.

Amazing Strategic game. One of the most life-changingly good game

It is great! It is better than Cats. I will play it again and again!

You ever watch a soldier miss a 95% shot multiple times, then get mind-controlled, then wipe your entire team in a single turn? No? Play this and you shall. Squads have the tactical awareness of wet toast, Gameplay loop is save-scumming while your squad misses stationary targets, then gets one-shot behind full cover. Strategy at it's finest and the loot system is great. Just sprint across the map under fire to pick up a scope that gives you +5% aim before you're vaporized. In conclusion there is a 95% chance that i can recommend this game.

"this is the best game ever and i am going to play it forever" i said back when xcom 2 was first invented in the 4th century. some people never learn

4th play-through with Long War 2 modpack. I have easily spent 1000+ hours on this game and will probably comeback again for a 5th run. XCOM 2 is easily top 3 games of all time for me. Buy this if this genre is your forte.

I have over 100 hours and still haven't beaten the game because it likes to smash your balls with a sledge hammer. Mod make it awesome and makes me feel like a kid playing with action figure though.

Truly my only fault with this game is the hit detection/chance to hit mechanics, I played this shortly before playing Phoenix Point and of the things I could say for both, the targeting system worked better in Phoenix Point, but everything else here, from story, to missions, to the strategic layer, to the music was just better.

I want to recommend this but at the same time i don't

Expect the same old Xcom bullshit, AI bending the rules to fuck with you, even on normal.
Bullshit Crits, some enemies are too spongy even after you get plasma weapons.

On one hand, they did seem to mitigate the "issue" you had in Xcom 1 where towards the endgame you would absolutely SHIT on the aliens (especially with the mech augments and psi operatives). in this game, its one of the major negatives about it.
The content from the 1st games DLCs is essentially gone, with one "reintroduced" via one other DLC (shens last gift) which is, ok, but its not nearly as cool as turning your soldiers into mech nuggets.

same for psi operatives, theyre strong, but its not as good as the first game.

If you really love xcom and you already know what bullshit you can expect, youll be having fun, and youll be raging, this game has it all.
How ever, its still inferior to the original, in many ways. One of the biggest one is the liberal use of timers on missions, which stay just as annoying at the endgame as they do in the beginning (there are mods for that).

Again, i "recommend it" because its not a bad xcom game, the polish is there, the gameplay is there, its Xcom.

BUT, its also horseshit, the UI is a fucking mess, get ready to reload cause you misclicked, or the map jerked and your dude ran right in front of a berserkers face, or for some reason you accidentally clicked a numeral twice and you guy ran face first into a group of mutons.
Its a fun, but also a very frustrating game. Get it on sale. And honestly, dont feel bad savescumming.

Otherwise, get drunk and play ironman.
Get it on a deep sale.

XCOM 2 / War of The Chosen is a great continuation of the classic XCOM / Enemy Within. I went straight to playing War of The Chosen expansion, which is more fledged than the base game. XCOM 2 delivers a really meaningful story while incorporating some of the old charms or enemies and making them feel new. This second game really pulls you in where you want to complete everything perfectly, as this is much more punishing than the first game. Still, it is incredibly immersive—every decision has consequences and every loss stings. The most notable are the villains or the "Chosen," as we call them. These major enemy bosses have distinct personalities, strengths, and irritatingly persistent vendettas. These enemies evolve and grow stronger over time, and while you think they are overpowered, you get the chance to ally yourself with new resistance factions that have their own vendettas with the Chosen and with their own unique classes, whether it is the stealthy Reapers, the psionic Templars, or the high-energy Skirmishers, these units add much-needed variety to your squad tactics and encourage more creative, risk-taking plays thus giving you a satisfying long-game rivalry with the antagonists. Facing them feels personal, and beating them feels like revenge. Getting a piece out of every one of your squad members and ranking them up to become unstoppable is really satisfying. Squad customization is a whole lot better too. Visually, it's as stylish and atmospheric as ever. The voice acting (especially the Chosen) is top-notch, and the narrative flavor is much richer now, with dynamic story moments woven into the gameplay. Even the base management gets more interesting, with covert ops and faction dynamics adding layers of strategic depth. There are a ton of new weapons, gadgets, abilities, and armor that are really fun to try out, and their phasing out to newer tiers is satisfying as well. I do have to say that with both XCOM games, this gets grindy really quickly. Once the campaigns and the various game modes become too repetitive, the mod workshop makes it interesting and replayable with various tune-ups to the base game to complete overhauls and fan-made projects like various Star Wars mods and much more. XCOM 2 has evolved immensely, and hopefully, XCOM 3 can shine the same if one does get made (not Chimera Squad).

Very good tactical game, worth buying during discount.

best game in its class, nails its art and aesthetic. Custom soldiers trained from rookies make being invested easy. Superb game, needs a sequel.

Here to say its an awesome game (You Gotta do WOTC DLC). Hope for XCOM 3 soon!

I played this a few years ago and then put it down. I decided to get back into it but this time started over with the War of the Chosen expansion. I love it. I hope to finish it soon. I am able to stay on top of the Avatar project better than last time as I didn't know what I was doing, lol. That is the best reason I am staying with it this time around.

Buy one game and get to play XCOM, Star Wars, and Mass Effect. Bless those modder.

It's a tough game that I both enjoy and hate. The game is super fun to play but you get into moments when you've got an enemy pinned down and in your sights and... 89% chance to hit... you pull the trigger and... 'whiff'... nothing. And it happens again... and again... it's like your troops aren't even trying.
I like the game... the learning curve isn't awful but sometimes the info will come at you like an avalance and you are going to get snowed under... play this the first time on Easy... don't feel guilty... just get the feel for the game and after that ramp it up.
If yo're ok with the base game then grab XCom 2 The War of the Chosen... it makes the game that much more difficult but also rather fascinating. You really can't go wrong with this one.

I love love love this game, Its great fun, from beginner to pro. You can set the settings anyway your play style calls for (mostly). Replayablity is a big part of the fun! Meny classes to choose from, even make a trooper that even looks like you (mostly). Did I say it's alot alot of fun!! They need to make another one how this game ends, there is more to the story!!!! If you love turn based, this is your game.

Enjoyable.
It takes a while to learn how to navigate and the War of Chosen expansion complicates things all over again, but that adds to the fun.
Its going to take a longtime for this oldie, to be comfortable doing a legendary ironman run!

Very difficult even on the second difficultly, but fun nevertheless. Fun game as a lot of modern games are too easy in my opinion.

One of the most infuriating games I've ever played. I love strategic games, but this is just RNG slot machine with elements of strategy.
You constantly hear from the fans of the franchise about learning risk mitigation to prevent failing, but even if you do everything right you can still lose everything because of bad luck (one time my troops failed to shoot aliens almost point-blank 4 times with 95% chance of hitting).
I know that this is probably because devs wanted us to feel like we are in the guerilla army, but this is just nonsense. If you ever feel like you hate randomness in your games, then don't pick up XCOM.

Great game! A few QOL improvements to XCOM make it even better. It's generally the same game with some enhancements. This is my first time playing it
playing with mods: evac all, true concelmant, gotcha again and perfect information.
link to full list:
https://www.reddit.com/r/XCOM2/comments/v0ltof/comment/iahlnue/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Excellent tactical turn-based strategy game. I love the opportunity cost dilemmas present during the planning/building phases, and the fighting phases are always fun. Pulling extra enemy squads accidentally makes for fun and frantic fights.

800+ hours spent. The game feels good when you're winning. Losing is okay if it feels 'fair'. Unfortunately the game is anything BUT fair due to the massive amounts of bugs and questionable gameplay design decisions that can sabotage your game or ruin your experience, especially if you're playing in Ironman Mode.

Furthermore, there's no point in filing a bug report to the developers. They've abandoned this game years ago. This game is only kept afloat by mods nowadays.

Gameplay-wise it's a huge improvement over enemy unknown, especially with wotc. 10/10

10/10 Would recommend this game, but only if your playing with mods, mods make everything better

This game is so good when you're winning. But sooo tedious when your losing. But to me, that's what makes it fun. Even on easy, you can still feel the struggle and the stakes. you can't risk losing a soldier so all of your moves need to be thought out.

I will also say, I am ALMOST positive, you will not beat this game first try. It reminds me of a rough-like in the sense that sometimes you will encounter something that could take multiple trying to take down, but since death is permanent, one failed mission that resulted in a squad wipe, could very well be the end of a save!

With that said, I still HEAVILY recommend this game! Maybe not for players that want an easy time!

One of my Top 10 games of all time. Incredible game. The WotC DLC is just such a massive overhall as well.

Amazing game, crossing my fingers Zero Squad is even remotely this good. SW deserves a good game again.

To this day this game remains one of the best to ever do it in the genre. The game and its DLC are an amazing playthrough and will squeeze some 40 hours out of you. The beauty of the game however is in its magnificent and still present(as of writing this review) modding scene.

The Long War 2/ Long War of the Chosen mods are in my opinion a staple of the franchise and what made me sink so many hours into it. These mods completely change the way, adding so many features that it could be classified as a sequel. It has insane replayability, the difficulty can range from easy to truly masochistic and punishing.

No game since this one has truly scratched the itch XCom2 does with all its mods in full glory. 12/10 game

9 years and still the best turn-based game - speaks for it's self.

A big improvement since Xcom 1, also community made mods makes it even better ! Totally worth it

Yes, it's still here: 1. Lots of terrifying randomness
2. Implicit hit counting
3. Misses from killer positions
4. Spawning enemies in the most inconvenient places
5. System requirements are too high for the graphics displayed by the game
6. Uniform and predictable AI behavior pattern.

BUT to my great regret, there are no or very few worthy competitors with a decent level of technical (gameplay and mechanics) and technological (graphics) performance in a similar techno-fiction setting. Therefore, the rating is 7.5 out of 10.

Be sure to try Phoenix Point, Gears Tactics and the previous part (XCOM: Enemy Within).

A huge thank you to the entire community of this game for a large number of wonderful mods from the Steam Workshop!