XCOM® 2

It's buggy as hell still in 2025 but it's a very solid and enjoyable turn based combat game.

Look, I'm going to be completely honest with you, this isn't normally my type of game.

I'm a massive fan of RPG's, but I normally lead more to the fantasy side of the genre. The permadeath feature that this game is known for at first turned me off due to my attachment to my characters, as well as just the super militaristic "dudebro" vibe the game gave off at first wasn't helping.

But at my husband's insistence, I finally checked it out. And honestly? Thank goodness.

This is a widely fun game. Perhaps one of the best of the genre. The combat is just that perfect mix of being frustrating but also incredibly fun. There were so many times were I would get through a combat mission that took forever, but once it was over, that sense of accomplishment would push me to just keep playing. There is so many different ways to strategize your way with a variety of different character classes, and even in similar maps the game can go widely different. Sometimes in ways that are the luck of the draw, but I found enjoyment in the challenge of trying to fix myself out of that hole. The permadeath feature, while at first I was worried it would be annoying, actually adds a fun stake to the game as well.

The beginning of the game is a tad overwhelming, with the constant missions, the enemies progress meter progressing, and just in general central yelling at you to get in gear to stop the aliens. I do wish this was slightly tuned down, but overall these early gameplay elements do a wonderful job at teaching you the ropes while still leaving you a lot to figure out in the game organically (RIP to me not realizing vipers could poison you until near the end because I normally prioritized taking them out)

The story isn't the most deep or anything, but I honestly was surprised with how much I still enjoyed it. The crew of the Avenger really pair with each other well, and you really feel the history they have with each other. I also really enjoyed being able to see my soldiers just hanging around the ship too, that was a really cute touch. The lore honestly had some really interesting moments to it that I won't spoil, but there was definitely a lot of care given to that part of the game with each of the research projects and autopsies. (The War of the Chosen DLC also has some great additions to this with the Chosen, honestly highly recommend playing with it)

And the character customization. Honestly one of my favorite parts. I loved making characters even with the somewhat limited tools without mods. Being able to see my people in battle was such a rewarding feature and I had a blast with it. Both with the VIPS and the regular soldiers. Highly recommended the Steam Workshop with this game. It's one of the best, and has so many gems. And it's still pretty active despite this game being older.

Overall, just a blast from beginning to end. If you like turn based combat at all, would highly recommend it. Even if the games you typically play are more on the "cozy" side like me- there is just so much care here to create an amazing experience. Not sure if we'll ever get XCOM 3, but with mods and the replayability of missions, I'm personally happy with just this for now.

That's X-COM baby!!

Game Good. Dev made game that is good and good game was made by good devs and it very good.

Devs be allow mod so game much extra good and much good extra is great dev.

Game recommend yes.

I mostly play it with halo and star wars mods, but even without mods its a solid game, as long as you don't have smooth brain.

Many people praise the game for its difficulty and tactical focus, which is why I decided to buy it. Unfortunately, the positive reviews ignore key nuances.
The difficulty of the game is achieved through unfair treatment of the player and giving unreasonable advantages to the enemies. A classic situation: when your hit probability is 70+%, you won't land a single shot out of five. Meanwhile, the enemy will kill your character with a single shot from the other side of the map, even though you're in cover.
The number of enemies is also several times higher, and their single damage often exceeds yours by 2-3 times, even from the first levels.
It strongly resembles the difficulty structure of Souls-like games — the difficulty is achieved by simply increasing enemy stats while simultaneously decreasing the player's stats.
Personally, I don't recommend the game, but I acknowledge that some players might view the aforementioned downsides as an additional challenge. In that case, the game might be enjoyable.

What can I say, it's XCOM.

But seriously, the game is great and there is still no other game out there that scratches the itch for this type of genre for me at least.

There are still some lingering technical issues here and there but the mod support and community is strong which help alleviate some of that pain.

Hope XCOM 3 comes (Hey I am allowed to dream yeah?)

Simply the best turn-based strategy game I'm ever played. Lots of meaningful choices. Many different ways to challenge yourself. High replayability. Lots of different possible strategies. Simply the best money I've ever spent.

Great turn-based game that keeps you engaged with tactical scenarios and vast operational choices on a macroscopic scale. I've loved the franchise since playing XCOM: UFO Defender as a kid many years ago, and this game continues to deliver!

this game is so much fun and has a lot of replay ability 11/10 would recamend

It's XCOM. It's not for everyone. I can't not recommend it even if I sort of hated it because I knew what I was getting into. Victory or defeat is often just a few dice rolls. Nothing like an ambush to miss 4-5 shots at 70%+ chance to hit only for the enemy to land a 5% crit.

It's just frustration, the video game. Everything you do tips the scales only slightly and your RNG inevitably drives the entire outcome.

this game is still one of the best tactical games. The alternate between base building and action is great. Can't recommend enough, play it with war of the chosen

Very fun, even without mods

Absolutely Addicting, even have a 99% chance of not breaking my keyboard. 10/10

I enjoyed this Game but the incessant misses should be reduced to a point of acceptability, especially at point blank distance...

It's a really good turn-based sci-fi strategy game. It has lots of unique mechanics and still holds up after several years.

a fun strategy game. mods make it infinitely repayable. With Long War of The Chosen mod/overhaul still getting frequent updates keeps the game fresh.

I put something on the lowest difficulty, I expect to be able to progress at all. Maybe I suck. I want to actually have *fun* playing video games. Sue me.

The tactical gameplay is awesome, and the challenges keep it interesting. XCOM 2 and WOTC feel like totally different games, which makes replaying them even more fun. It's one of my all-time favorites. I'd give it a solid 10 out of 10!

This game is very fun to play and depressing because my solider die in mission " no sacrifice no victory "

Can be really unfair in some situations but its incredibly satisfying overcoming the challenge.

Best turn combat scifi game out there. Has tons of replayability and so many different approaches and mods that you can always come back to it for a new experience.

This game has brought me immense joy. I love the story and the mechanics. As an adult, I need to be able to step away from the game, so I love the turn-based aspect and ability to save and come back. The fog of war, ambush mechanics, etc. are great. I have played a stupid number of hours in this game and don't regret one minute of it. I love this game.

100 percent chance hit but misses. Other than that the game is really good and with steam work shop mods even better!!!!!

100% chance to enjoy this game 33% of the time. Or was it 33% chance to enjoy this game 100% of the time? I can't remember. Game is pretty awesome though. Especially with the WOTC dlc.

I am someone who played the first ever XCOM game back in the day. I love this series, and the fact that you might put 30 hours into a game, only to have all your best units killed in a mission, is part of the DNA. If that sounds terrible, this game is probably not for you (or at the very least, you will need to suffer no shame from playing on the easiest setting).

Some of those historic games grew by becoming more and more complex, but XCOM 2 has managed to avoid that sense of overwhelming detail. You can't just pick your favourite characters and jump into a mission, but neither do you need to personally manage the morale of the guy who cleans the toilets at your base. Yeah, one base. That's slightly weird, and maybe a bit too much stramlining.

But there's no doubt that this game still sets the benchmark that others try to reach.

its a great game. if your smart you'll figure out how it works and dominate each level.

Fun tactical combat, a reasonable level of difficulty and plenty of new weapons, armour and gadgets to discover. For added stress, customise your soldiers, name them after your closest friends and panic when they're in danger!

Gone back and replayed this so many times. Great game. Always fun!

Enjoyable game. Would be better if Bradford would be quiet for 5 seconds.

This is the 3rd time I try to beat this game. I'd tried to do it twice when I was a poor teen. I bought it aaaanddd... This game is unreasonably hard sometimes, especially in the beginning where it bombards me with tons of enemies, enemies who knock my soldiers out, enemies with tons of HP and my soldiers who are against me because they can't shoot properly and HOW THE HELL CAN YOU MISS 95%?!?!?!?!

Love the game... but there are enough bugs to mean that when something unexpected and new happens I'm never convinced it's supposed to.

Amazing Game, And with mods, there is infinite replayability.

I used to play the original entry on 360 and let me just say... God help you. Everything in this game either one shots you or has some bullshit mechanic that completely ignores the main game play elements in the most frustrating way possible. Codexes just get to clone themselves when its not their turn and also teleport to completely ignore the little cover you may have AND disable your weapons so you can't even shoot back while they ass fuck you so hard you won't be able to walk straight for the next week.

Even if you have all the time possible to set up the perfect ambush on a cell with 6 over watches, everyone somehow misses and the Muton pulls a grenade out of his ass that blows up a car and kills 3 of your dudes instantly.

The grand strategy aspect of the game also hates you. It is anxiety inducing going-to-shit simulator where you get about 3 seconds of downtime in between missions before a pop up warns you that the aliens are now x2 as strong as the last time you fought them and you're actually already late to the mission that just spawned. There is very little respite between getting throat raped by the command center and ass gaped by the turn-based portion.

If you're looking for grand strategy that's fun go play total war. BUT. If you want to feel like the entire world is falling apart and there is jack fucking shit you can do as everything wants to violate your cute little holes this game is perfect for you!

In the end, Ill probably still come back to it like an ex that beats you every time you show them affection because let me tell you, there is no greater euphoria than when everything (by some miracle of god) goes to plan and you manage to completely outplay the bullshit and come out on top unscathed.

Great game, much fun, much mod community, though I don't play with mods. enjoy my fellow hu-man

2015 I graduated University. 2016 the game came out. For many years, I didn't have the time to play the game, or would like to spend 90 dollars on the game title at the time. 9 years later, it's 5 bucks on discounts, and it plays just as well as when i was continuing from 2015 from XCOM 1. Highly recommend this game to be played by people. That and my potato Intel i3 cheap laptop from 2021 runs the game just as nice, even at the lowest display graphics (with a little longer loading time).

After my 3rd attempt, I was able to beat this game, and I didn't really like it. The game is cruel, unreasonably hard and very disrespectful to player.
At first, the game bombards you with a ton of non-skippable events, missions, messages. While you trying to figure out what's going on, they put on a timer on you with this "Project Avatar" thing, and you immediately feel a lot of pressure. Some missions are just crazy difficult, like those for Serpent King and Mad AI factory, and you don't expect this difficulty this early in the game.
Mid-game you finally have a chance to catch some breath and start working on some research, building and engineering, but here's the catch: the moment you get better in the game, the moment you upgrade your weapons and armour, the enemies suddenly become more powerful and armoured. You just don't have a chance to enjoy powerful things that you've made, because they quickly become just what is expected by default.
The end game comes unexpectedly, with a lot of pressure on you. It consists of two consecutive missions with no pause in between. If you got some units damaged in the first mission, you either will have to replace your best units or send them in wounded. The final mission is crazy, the amount of extremely powerful enemies is over the top, and it carries a lot of stress.
Given that the game is flawed with bugs in controls, has dumb battle mechanics that lead to absurd situations and very challenging overall even on lower difficulties, I would not recommend this game.

Overall outstanding tactical game. Absolutely get this on sale if you're even remotely interested, all DLC included.
I only really have positive things to say! Does just about everything right: has high stakes, challenging. Generally if you have the skill, you can play in just about any way you like. Aged very well, can be modded too.

Easily one of the best strategy games every made. Mods add an enormous amount of longevity and variety to the game. Cant recommend highly enough!

Great game. good story. One of the greatest turn based strategy games ever.

While I only have 34 hours on the Steam version at the time of review, I have spent hundreds in the PS and XBOX versions. Only bought the PC version to contintue supporting these developers who deserve it. One of the all time great strategy titles of the past 20 years. I cannot recommend enough if you are into turn based strategy titles.

It's ... ok.

The combat itself is fun and the metagame sometimes even triggers the "just one more thing" button in my brain.

i would have liked a slower pace for the fights and also for the metagame.
I get that fights with a turn limit try to generate suspense but for me it just kills any tactial gameplay with a critical headshot. Rush the objective is not my favorite playstile. Luckily it's not every mission.

Same applies for the metagame. If you prioritize the storyelements in research and delvelopment as the game encourages and preasures you in a not very subtle way you will read the end credits in no time.

Had fun, but had more fun with the predecessor.

Fantastic game! XCOM 1 was great already, highly recommend to play that first, and this one builds on what works and makes it better. The Story is cool, the mechanics are great and fun, abilities feel good and rewarding. Lots of options to create your own playstyle, and replayability is high! Can not recommend this game and the previous one enough if you like action where you you can dictate the pace. The start can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming as RNG needs to be on your side a bit more; later in the game you have so many more options that you can shape matches better, take more control. Super rewarding and in line with teh story.

Pretty fun with gameplay you don't see very often. The game is also sure to punish you if you don't think when you act.

This game has some amazing mechanics and is incredibly immersive. You start out with a handful of soldiers and a flying base full of junk you need to clear out to upgrade. As you move from location to location, you encounter a variety of alien threats that scale according to the games progress and your technological upgrade progress. After a few missions, you will meet the greatest threat of all, the Chosen. I don't want to ruin too much about them but let me say they are one of the coolest enemies and game mechanics I have ever experienced. They feel like a genuine threat and their appearance on the battlefield changes the nature of everything. The characters and story are epic in scale and you will find yourself feeling the thrill of victory or the pain of defeat like no other game.

I cannot wait until we get another X-COM game, this is an absolute masterpiece and should have gotten far more credit than it did. There are AAA studios that wish they could come close to this kind of genius.

If you like turn based combat, this game is incredible, and one of the best ever made. I don't really understand the negative review due to it being "too hard". I don't find it too difficult at all, and I'm a perfectionist. I saw people complain about a mission taking 2 hours, and not being able to beat it without losing a soldier, but you are supposed to lose soldiers. Losing and replacing soldiers is part of the game. You can even visit the bar, where you guys drink to the fallen soldiers. I try not to lose any guys if possible, but sometimes you just need to accept losing a guy here and there. I also like how long it takes to do each battle. Who wants to just easily run through short battles? I usually find turn based combat too easy, but this on regular difficulty is just easy enough. If it's tough and turn based games aren't your strong suit. just play on easy mode. I'm sad I didn't pick a harder difficulty. Games like this should be a challenge.

Alright folks listen. I love anime styled stuff. I love my Fire Emblem. But this? XCOM 2 especially with its WotC DLC? This is the best SRPG money can buy. Its got way more difficulty and depth than a game like Fire Emblem, its got procedural generation that stops it from being boring, its got very good soldier customization, and the enemy variety. Oh man dont get me started. I love weird monsters and stuff and this game really scratches that itch. I love every enemy in this game. Its visual designs are top notch and, while Im at it, the ambiance adds such good tension.

God I love Xcom. And you should too. Its chess if chess was a famous painting with aliens on it. Xcom is art.

XCOM 2 is a masterclass in tactical strategy games, offering a deep and rewarding experience that keeps you invested from start to finish. One of the standout features is how your soldiers grow over time, making it easy to form attachments as they develop unique skills and personalities. Losing them to permanent death adds a layer of emotional weight and tension to every decision you make on the battlefield.

The game is well-balanced, never feeling unfair or overly punishing, even when the stakes are high. The animations are slick and satisfying, making every successful shot or daring maneuver feel impactful. The DLC further elevates the experience, introducing fresh challenges and mechanics that enhance the already excellent core gameplay.

Changed the terms after the sale. This company collects personal info and sells it to third parties. You MAY, I repeat MAY be able to opt out depending on the laws where you live, If they are not legally bound to honour your opt out request, I would expect they will ignore it and keep collecting and selling your personal information, audio files, other apps installed on your machine, etc. Don't do business with companies which have anti-consumer policies like this.

great small unit tactics game! build well balanced combat teams, develop tech and skills, and take it to the bad guys!

By far one of the best single player experiences you can have. Endless repeatability through the different difficulties and with incredible mods like the Long War 2. Best played with the War of the Chosen DLC, and the Long War of the Chosen is one of the most engaging and fun small squad tactics campaigns to play. If you game on Macintosh computers, this is one of the best Mac ports I've seen thanks to Feral Interactive. Mod support for this game is better optimized through Feral Interactive's launcher for this game than the PC port. I recommend using the Alternative Mod Launcher if you play on PC. Overall, one of my favorites, and I love to play from both my home PC and my Macbook when I'm on the go.