XCOM 2: War of the Chosen

 PC
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 332 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 272 out of 332
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 332
  3. Negative: 34 out of 332

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  1. Jeb077
    Sep 8, 2017
    7
    Let me say first, know what you're buying. This expansion works more like a supercharged DLC than a true expansion. Don't get me wrong there is a lot of new content, but none of it extends the original ending of the game and it becomes bloated at various points in the game (more on this later). So lets get to the meat of it. This expansion is all about three new bosses (chosen) and makingLet me say first, know what you're buying. This expansion works more like a supercharged DLC than a true expansion. Don't get me wrong there is a lot of new content, but none of it extends the original ending of the game and it becomes bloated at various points in the game (more on this later). So lets get to the meat of it. This expansion is all about three new bosses (chosen) and making you hate them.

    X-Com has never been much of a game with "bosses", so it feels a little out of place, too Hollywood for a game that once was a pretty gritty and realistic strategy game. These over the top, trash talking bosses could be great if used more subtly, but Firaxis shoves them down your throat. They pop up to tell you how weak and doomed you are at any given point. They die, reappear, only to come back stronger. They would be great for a cinematic game like Metal Gear, not in a strategy game. Now lets move onto the ridiculous power of these bosses. They get to move, attack, move in battle. Can summon Advent out of thin air. They automatically hit (defense is irrelevant, they'll hit you through with smoke grenades and Aid bots). So there is the problem, a once hardcore strategy game has thrown out strategy to create drama, wanting you to hate these bosses. In a game like XCom the mystique of a powerful alien should be mystery and subtlety, I think they did it all wrong. Some new developers are on the Firaxis team for sure.

    The other main draw if the exp is the three new friendly factions. Reapers, Skirmishers, and Templars. I kind of like what they did with this. Through these new factions you get covert actions which open up some decent strategic options and unique upgrades (I love pistol specialized snipers and getting a flat +1 damage to all of them made for some fun gaming, albeit a tad overpowered :).
    The actual classes of these factions are well done, and feel distinct enough from the original classes to have a place. My rating of 7 is mostly due to these factions.

    So I have mixed feelings on WOTC. There is a lot in this expansion pack but fitting it in the original core story seems overwhelming. A new player who didn't play X-Com 2 vanilla will be lost in all the new missions the expansion throws at you. The rate of main story mission to side mission is about 1 in 10 in the expansion, where the original is more 1 in 5.

    Hopefully Firaxis will tone the bosses down in XCom 3, while keeping these factions. Give us a longer main story with time to better fit in all these new missions and upgrades. Bring back some of the mystery into Xcom. Let us stumble on a big bad boss by turning a dark corner and seeing it for the first time. And always make sure its a strategy first game over theatrics.    … Expand
  2. PlayorNaygames
    Sep 7, 2017
    7
    If you haven't played X-Com 2 yet, you owe it to yourself to try the base game + this expansion. There are still quite a few bugs with crashes and camera issues for in-game cutscenes, but overall this is a solid game and a big improvement over the base game.

    The dialog/story is still a bit campy/cheesy and the new posters for solider bonds (think Fire Emblem/Disgaea bonds) are    If you haven't played X-Com 2 yet, you owe it to yourself to try the base game + this expansion. There are still quite a few bugs with crashes and camera issues for in-game cutscenes, but overall this is a solid game and a big improvement over the base game.

    The dialog/story is still a bit campy/cheesy and the new posters for solider bonds (think Fire Emblem/Disgaea bonds) are ridiculous. A lot of the new customization options for soldiers are funny, but don't fit the tone of the game imho. Some people will love the new options though.

    The story doesn't really get much better here. They added some new story missions regarding the new resistance factions and Chosen. The story is still very silly IMHO (bordering on stupid) and imho it loses a bit of tension it had before because of the Chosen being goofy. It's hard to believe the aliens would run the world the way they do. For example, why wouldn't the aliens simply build a ton of SAM missile batteries/anti-air ships/UFOs over the past 20 years to control any resistance? As powerful as they are, it's a bit hard to buy into.

    X-com 2's greatest strength is the smoothing of the campaign difficulty and progression. New players will find the game much easier to start than the base game, as the new maps are better designed with less randomization frustrating you. There are still old story missions weaved into the game, and it's a bit jarring to go back to them, for many reasons.

    There's new enemies, solider classes, abilities, armor, weapons, buildings, ect. which are welcome additions that consists of the other big chunk of the expansion content. I feel like they added a lot in that regard. The new Chosen enemies are neat, but a bit out of character compared to X-Come lore, as they will taunt you constantly from your base and show up constantly. It's weird to kill something in X-Com many times and not be dead and it's weird tonally for them to talk the way they do.

    Overall X-Com 2 War of the Chosen is a great game, provided you can deal with a few bugs, cheesy story, and retreading many old missions. I recommend it. Thanks for reading.

    *I did not use any mods while playing the game for this review, however, X-Com has a great mod community and that can enhance you experience greatly, depending on your tastes.*    … Expand
  3. Wiebe
    Feb 27, 2020
    5
    This expansion didn't fix the problems of the base game for me, I preferred the build up and design of the first game.
  4. pongkrit03
    Jan 19, 2020
    6
    Hi I am Xcom veteran player. I finished Xcom 2 long ago just have chanced to play WOTC. I would say I really liked it at first but then, many things started to annoy me.

    First of all, Lost (zombies) are boring. It requires very few same strategies to handle, like stay away, keep your gun full and unload them all in one turn. Those zombies are only fun for first few missions, then it    Hi I am Xcom veteran player. I finished Xcom 2 long ago just have chanced to play WOTC. I would say I really liked it at first but then, many things started to annoy me.

    First of all, Lost (zombies) are boring. It requires very few same strategies to handle, like stay away, keep your gun full and unload them all in one turn. Those zombies are only fun for first few missions, then it become tiresome to deal with.

    Second, Bondmate (why ?), this system , again, seems interesting at first. Then later, you will notice that you have spent too much time for this matchmaking. Because of its good benefits, everytime bringing solider, you will likely to check who his bondmate is, or has good compatibility with him, if his bondmate is still tired, then should we wait or ..... bla bla bla thinking. In the end, does this system make the game more fun ? NO, it is quite opposite. Moreover, compatibility is RNG, something you cannot control. When you start the game and have team that has bad compatibilty with each others, you gonna feel like WTF, should I restart my campaign or what ?.

    Third, the new three classes, though everyone feel creative and fun to play. You are limited to have only one of each. (and later, another one) so total is only 4. Seriously, why ?? . why can't we just recruit them like normal soliders. In WOTC, there is tiring system so you need like 3 teams (6x3 = 18 guys) to play this game efficiently. 4 (and only 1 per class) is not enough at all.

    Fourth, AP system. Why did they add this ? if you want to reward player for good flanking skill, just give XP bonus is enough. AP system is powerful tool, but again this based on RNG ! every solider can have different skill and YET also different in talent (RNG again). Why did you make too much RNG happen ? moreover this AP system can crossover skill of other classes, with mod in, you can make your soliders substitute some class entirely, like Ranger that can use shreder + chain shots skill of Grenadier, which become quite OP. I think the good part of class system is that everyone has his role, but now you destroyed it with this AP system, also destroyed the balance.

    Lastly, Resistance ring are powerful new facility, but it is about based management and it does not really add fun to gameplay. I am ok, but I feel like we don't need it. Vanila Xcom2 's base management is already complicated as it is. There is no need to add further.

    *** By the way, what I like about this DLC is the New chosens. Those three guys are very fun to fight against and they were geniusly intergrated into gameplay. New enemies and new maps are also welcome. ***

    In sum, War of the chosen added a lot of stuff in the game, which worth calling expansion and those things were intregated well in gameplay too. However, most of them does not make the game better, rather it makes the game more RNG and more base management. I am sad to see XCOM2 in this state. They should just add chosens and three new class availiable for normal recruit and new enemies new maps that should be enough.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

8
#8 Best PC Game of 2017
49
#49 Most Discussed PC Game of 2017
35
#35 Most Shared PC Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 39 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 39 out of 39
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 39
  3. Negative: 0 out of 39
  1. CD-Action
    Nov 16, 2017
    90
    War of the Chosen introduces tons of new mechanics along with various improvements. It refreshes the original game so thoroughly that the campaign is truly worth replaying and the whole package deserves to be called XCOM 2.5. [11/2017, p.36]
  2. 4P.de
    Oct 18, 2017
    85
    An enormous expansion that adds a lot of interesting new features, but also takes the turn based combat to its limit.
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  3. PLAY! Zine
    Oct 12, 2017
    90
    In an age of small DLCs to see a full old school expansion is a really refreshing sight. War of the Chosen enriches the original experience on a whole new level and it's a must for fans of the XCOM series.
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