XCOM, you bought me but once more.
After round 250 hours, I used to be lastly able to put XCOM 2 down. The bizarre factor was that in some ways I didn’t fairly like XCOM 2 as a lot as its predecessor, nevertheless it was nonetheless ridiculously, disgustingly good. I struggled to tear myself away from it, sinking about 90 hours right into a pre-release construct 2K offered then one other hundred-plus into the retail launch.
After all that point I by no means thought I’d be sucked again into that diploma once more. Maybe I’ll dabble right here and there; the odd marketing campaign, some mod motion, breaking the sport with the command line… however no, right here I’m. Like Michael Corleone, I’m dragged again in.
That’s thanks totally to XCOM 2: War of the Chosen, the brand new and expensive enlargement. It makes every part higher. It really lives as much as that promise of feeling like a brand new sport, every part retooled and adjusted with new options layered on high that solely serve to reinforce the expertise. Had an all-new story been tossed in right here as an alternative of the outdated story retooled I might’ve fortunately accepted this as XCOM three because of the modifications, additions and basic enhancements, and I believe that’s fairly spectacular.
“The Chosen apply serious pressure, and merely the threat that they might show up on a mission will adjust how you approach it.”
The titular Chosen are a brand new enemy kind – particular alien generals of a kind that form of have a Shadow of Mordor’s type nemesis system factor occurring. They’re not randomly generated they usually don’t develop in the identical method, however they do get smarter and stronger as your sport progresses, cropping up in missions to hinder you earlier than teleporting away earlier than they are often completed off for good.
The chosen are one of some little wrinkles into the circulation of XCOM 2’s missions, since their presence on the battlefield can flip the sport’s turn-based technique right into a critically annoying affair on even essentially the most routine of missions. Each of the Chosen has a distinct focus, with distinctive strengths, weaknesses and expertise you gained’t see elsewhere. Early on within the sport the Chosen apply severe stress, and merely the risk that they may present up on a mission will regulate the way you strategy it, one thing that feels a welcome addition to XCOM’s gleefully annoying missions.
The Chosen might be defeated for good, however when you do or not will depend on you – in your assets, your strategy to the sport and naturally if you wish to. Chosen left round for the finale will in fact have an effect there – if you need the best problem, you would possibly effectively need to depart them alive a bit longer. The Chosen observe the now-regular XCOM issue curve the place early on you’ll be petrified of them however in a while you’ll be excited to face them down along with your upgraded gear.
The chosen are the large tentpole addition, however they’re not alone. The Lost are a brand new faction of kinds, zombified people that present up in missions because the solo antagonist and likewise alongside the common aliens. This results in some correctly superb potential eventualities, like your squad trapped within the center, fortified, whereas hoardes of zombies strategy from one route and some aliens tactically push up on you from the opposite. If the Lost encounter the aliens, they’ll assault them too and you’ll completely use this to your benefit when you’re cautious.
The Lost are correct zombies, too – the fast-moving variety, not the shambling variety. They’re all weak with just a few factors of well being every however in addition they are available large teams, with extra of those enemies on display screen than at every other level in XCOM 2. Fighting them has a totally completely different circulation, and also you’ll use expertise differently, cautious that loud combating like explosions will draw much more hoardes to spawn close to you.
The remaining main addition comes within the type of new allies to go alongside the brand new enemies – three new lessons of ally all from factions outdoors of XCOM. There’s stealth skilled Reapers, Advent turncoat Skirmishers and psionic beast from the Templars. These work quite a bit like hero models in different video games with a singular capacity level based mostly improve construction slightly than the standard leveling up. Ability Points are rewarded for sensible play equivalent to for flanking enemies or performing sneak assaults, so taking part in effectively is additional rewarded right here.
Beyond all this, god, XCOM 2 has simply been improved on each stage. Most of the ever-present countdown timer worries in missions are gone, virtually each kind of mission redesigned ultimately.
Retaliation websites now function clusters of victims huddled collectively ready to be saved, usually flanked by a couple of weak AI troopers – it’s essential to as an alternative rush to avoid wasting them as a gaggle slightly than darting round a map choosing up particular person characters. Other missions have better-defined targets, and all missions are actually impacted by ‘Sitreps’, small modifiers that tweak the parameters of a mission by impacting what you’ll encounter whenever you enter. The report you get no less than warns you what to anticipate earlier than stepping into.
Tweaks to technique layer make sure that hasn’t gone uncared for. As effectively as accidents troopers now turn out to be exhausted and carry out worse when drained, and a brand new covert missions hub enables you to ship small teams of troopers on AI-driven missions that’ll deliver again helpful rewards together with the power to set off a mission to rescue a captured squaddie (as a result of, sure, they are often taken alive now).
“This feels more like the Civilization expansion packs – significant and vital, beefing up the game in areas where it desperately needed it and making more major changes to the balance and layout of the existing game.”
There are a few new rooms for the avenger, and the brand new photograph sales space permits you to take brilliantly tacky snaps of your infantrymen with the in-universe excuse that they’re propaganda posters. These snaps are taken routinely from time to time from missions, however the sport additionally prompts you to take them usually – when missions are profitable, when troopers are promoted and so forth. There are filters, digital camera changes and textual content enhancing built-in, so you’ll be able to create your personal XCOM memes that appear to be 90s hip hop album covers – no matter takes your fancy. It’s an effective way to encourage you to customise your squad totally and turn out to be that little bit extra connected to your troopers earlier than sending them to their potential deaths.
Speaking of that, there’s one other small new system right here: soldier relationships. Those that combat collectively will develop relationships in a Fire Emblem like trend, and as these relationships develop there’ll be stat boosts and even particular strikes characters who know one another effectively can set off on the battlefield. This is once more managed on the technique layer, and usually every part in regards to the technique layer feels extra partaking and alive, with there lastly being sufficient to try this you’re by no means merely scanning and doing nothing else between missions.
Performance has additionally been mainly sorted from all these outdated issues – missions load in a snap (on PC the place we examined, anyway), and every part is smoother and slicker. One of the cheekier issues about this enlargement is that lots of these fixes are tied to it, so if in case you have the common sport solely you gained’t get them. This is mega naughty, however truthfully War of the Chosen is so good that I can’t see myself returning to vanilla XCOM 2 in a rush.
The solely actual adverse I can stage on the enlargement is that it pushes the 2 earlier DLC objects to the aspect. Though their content material continues to be accessible, it’s in a truncated and lesser method. If you spent cash on these you would possibly discover this irritating, although War of the Chosen is essentially the most dense trendy XCOM has ever been, so it’s unlikely you’ll actively miss the unique supply missions for that content material.
Where the unique XCOM’s Enemy Within enlargement felt prefer it solely made a minor story-driven addition to the sport, this feels completely different. This feels extra just like the Civilization enlargement packs we’ve seen from Firaxis – important and important, beefing up the sport in areas the place it desperately wanted it and making extra main modifications to the stability and format of the present sport than a developer normally would in a patch.
The result’s the definitive XCOM 2 expertise, and one which I discover myself slowly slipping into an dependancy with as soon as once more. XCOM has me as soon as extra – I haven’t been in a position to cease occupied with it. Just like that I do know one other hundred hours or so will disappear – however I’m okay with that. It’s simply that good.
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