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. fnenamg
    Sep 8, 2023
    8
    It's a well-crafted turn-based strategy game with a solid combat system. While I didn't get deeply immersed in the world, it was still enjoyable.
  2. aecsuter
    Feb 10, 2023
    10
    Jogo excelente. Muito divertido, e a expansão trouxe quase que um jogo novo. Vale testar novas jogabilidade vom os mods tbm!
    Recomendo demais!
  3. Soullex
    Nov 29, 2022
    9
    Üff bu ne böyle aman ya rabbi..............................................
  4. Zski
    Oct 30, 2022
    9
    This is an expansion done right. Originally priced at $40, this DLC literally doubled the content of the original game and added and entirely new campaign that is equally as long as the first. Beyond that, it added tons of cool new features including new classes, new cosmetics, new mission types, new enemy types, and other cool features like creating propaganda photos. This was somethingThis is an expansion done right. Originally priced at $40, this DLC literally doubled the content of the original game and added and entirely new campaign that is equally as long as the first. Beyond that, it added tons of cool new features including new classes, new cosmetics, new mission types, new enemy types, and other cool features like creating propaganda photos. This was something closer to XCOM 2.5 more so than a DLC. It completely revised the campaign structure into a whole new overarching gameplay element and plot. I still highly recommend playing the original first because it’s fantastic, and because you really should experience the vanilla game to get an understanding of the fundamentals as this game is far more challenging and punishing. I gave the vanilla game a 10/10, I am giving this expansion a 9/10 because it breathes so much life on the already incredible vanilla game. With that being said, I love it because it’s more XCOM 2. I found the campaign to be a little worse, instead of the arms race against the aliens, now there are a lot of characters and story arcs thrown in. Some people may prefer that, but I liked feeling like humanity’s last hope was in your hands instead of a Hollywood story. I personally think this style of a campaign just makes it feel like any other game.… Expand
  5. Lucky_Nike
    Oct 28, 2022
    9
    With mods game is super 9, otherwise score 8 is more appropriate.

    I have finished game 5x. Twice without mods, 4x with "tired" mechanic and once without "tired" mechanics include quality of life mods, 3x speed upgame and this deserved 9. Its turn based strategy game, which has its rules and few wtf moments, which you have to get through to learn mechanics. Learning curve is therefore    With mods game is super 9, otherwise score 8 is more appropriate.

    I have finished game 5x. Twice without mods, 4x with "tired" mechanic and once without "tired" mechanics include quality of life mods, 3x speed upgame and this deserved 9.

    Its turn based strategy game, which has its rules and few wtf moments, which you have to get through to learn mechanics. Learning curve is therefore rather steep and mistakes are unforgiving. Start of the game is very hard. Later, when your soldiers gain levels and when you get better armor, game starts to be much less stressful and much more "arcade fun" and that makes smile on your face, when your sharpshooter one hit kill robot across whole map, or when ranger smashes all attackers with blade when he is in front line. Specialist heals and gives defense bonuses and made my soldiers "invincible" many times. There are few more types: psio has most abilities, reapers make game nice tactic battle etc..

    Strongest side of game is imo fact, you are commander and your soldiers are counting on your commander skills, so you want them to not only finish mission, but you also want them return home uninjured and alive. That wants you to be better in the game. Its fun and you see on yourself progress in that matter. Actually in last game I have lost only two soldiers, otherwise be prepared to loose much more of them.

    Game has some for me strange mechanics when enemy can pull you through wall, but you can not shoot them, sometimes robots can go through wall or appear from nowhere. It happens like 3x per game, so ironman, is not for me, nevertheless I was able to finish game without loading game though.

    Graphics is pretty and thanks to customization menu, you can make soldiers be indentified in game by colors - blue is ranger, red is sniper etc.

    I was using all mods for speed up game and quality of life. Without those game is frustrating and makes you wander what you can sell, which soldiers can be bond, who is intelligent most etc. Without mods its a mess and very frustrating.

    I have also removed "tired" mechanics in 5th playthrough in .ini file and game is much more fun and better. With "tired" I have enjoyed game only once, its only prolonging game and make game rather tedious and slower in its pace.

    Super fun game with mods 9/10 especially 3x speed game, otherwise its good for experience 8/10. I would even consider give 9, but "Lost" in the game is just killing it.

    Good luck Commander!

    OLED + 110" screen, surround.    … Expand
  6. AJCk19
    Oct 5, 2022
    8
    Extremely difficult, but fun, and there are a lot of mods out there for it. Has unlimited replay ability.
  7. talus151
    Jun 14, 2022
    8
    My second most played game on steam with a unholy amount of hours played.
    Truly top class.
  8. tontonac
    May 16, 2022
    8
    I find that this DLC is too much, campaign feels overcrowded. Still, a lot of what they added is good.
  9. gentlebenno
    Jan 27, 2022
    10
    There's nothing quite like needing that one critical shot, and you tune up the alien and the green blood is spraying everywhere. It's a wonderful feeling. I love this game.
  10. archangel1
    Dec 19, 2021
    10
    It's one of the funniest games ever.

    This is the most immersive expansion pack that complements the deficiencies of the existing XCOM 2.

    Numerous supported mods make it even more fun.
    Numerous supported mods make it even more fun.
  11. Woolee
    Sep 29, 2021
    10
    Fav Games - Skyrim, Witcher 3, Mass Effect Trilogy, Stellaris, Sins of a Solar Empire, Company of Heroes 2, Divinity Original Sin 1+2 *Immersion and/or Strategy for me* Xcom 2 was already a good game, worthy of 88-90 on metacritic. With all the DLC and WotC it is now o
  12. Axilley
    Jul 22, 2021
    8
    good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good
  13. julian_apostate
    Jul 10, 2021
    10
    Play it. I don't care how old it is, nor what games you usually play.

    Shut up and play it, you'll love it.

    PS: I'm an old fart so my opinion may be skewed, but I feel like anything I would give a 10/10 would end up being a 6/10 for the mass market. So its at least okay.
  14. voolproov
    Jun 21, 2021
    8
    This is one of the very few games I come back to again and again. For me it has more replayability than any other game I've ever played (except maybe the Dark Souls games, but it's not even close). This comes down to a few main reasons.

    Firstly, the tactical squad gameplay hits some kind of sweet spot for me. I love turn-based games because they give me time to think about my decisions,    This is one of the very few games I come back to again and again. For me it has more replayability than any other game I've ever played (except maybe the Dark Souls games, but it's not even close). This comes down to a few main reasons.

    Firstly, the tactical squad gameplay hits some kind of sweet spot for me. I love turn-based games because they give me time to think about my decisions, which allows depth without getting hectic. At the same time it's not too complex for me. In comparison to the original X-COMs, I prefer the two-phased action system to the original action point system, and also the streamlined inventory.

    Secondly, each campaign offers enough unpredictability for me to draw me back in. With the optional ironman mode, which prevents save-scumming, I can find a difficulty setting that gets me into that precious flow where I feel competent, but things can still go awry or even end in catastrophic failure. The procedurally generated maps are varied enough that you won't feel deja-vu, without making the locations a jumbled mess of random tiles.

    While the overarching campaign progression is the same every time, you get randomized events and research opportunities, and a plethora of new mechanics and soldier classes introduced by the various DLCs. All in all, it mixes everything up nicely and nudges you to do things differently than last time.

    That said.. without exaggeration, you can get a whole new game when you install the Long War 2 mod (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=844674609), which changes almost everything. Not for the faint of heart, but highly recommended!

    Thirdly, every XCOM operative you lead into battle can be customized by classes which have different stats, and with combat experience upgrade within at least two skill branches. Also, every soldier is a named individual with their own looks and backstory. They can be randomly generated, or you can create your pool of soldiers yourself, or import whole sets of popular characters from movies, games, and cartoon franchises.

    If I want to be critical, I would have liked a bit more freedom in the strategic geoscape layer. But if I have to choose between the complete freedom of the original X-Com and the slightly rail-roaded system of XCOM 2, I take the latter. While I don't like having to arbitrarily choose between three missions, I hated floundering about in the old games deciding if and when and where to build another base that I then could not staff and equip sufficiently. But that's just me not liking too much complexity, I guess.

    So, if you have even a passing interest in tactical turn-based games, I think you will like XCOM 2 very much.    … Expand
  15. Turin_18
    Aug 10, 2020
    10
    Juego perfecto en su genero, muy personalizable, con muchisimos mod, historia profunda, varios modos de juego, muy divertido.
  16. Nerevarinho
    Jul 19, 2020
    9
    Would reload savegame again.
    ..................…...........................
  17. jaco111
    Jul 3, 2020
    8
    Had not much luck with my recent shopping and i'm really tired of giving 0 scores. Tried some new games some old ones and finally i got lucky. I found the story surprisingly good, but i may be easy to please at the moment after seeing the TLOU 2 mess. After the first missions i was thinking about quitting and going back to XCOM 2 with Longwar thinking it has more to offer. Then i had theHad not much luck with my recent shopping and i'm really tired of giving 0 scores. Tried some new games some old ones and finally i got lucky. I found the story surprisingly good, but i may be easy to please at the moment after seeing the TLOU 2 mess. After the first missions i was thinking about quitting and going back to XCOM 2 with Longwar thinking it has more to offer. Then i had the first story mission and it was quite a positive surprise. It was different compared to the usual mission types and i had no idea what would happen. That's what i like in a game, good entertainment. And afterwards the game got more complex and the urge to go back to longwar is gone. Don't think i should compare those two anyway. I feel it's kind of a different experience and both are good in their own way. Would be a 10 for me without the trouble i had installing mods. Steam Workshop worked without problem, but installing other mods was a pain. Seems you have to put them in both mod folders xcom and wotc to get them working with the default launcher and it was several hours of searching the internet and a lot try and error until i had everything running.… Expand
  18. SilverOrlov
    Jun 17, 2020
    9
    I decided to write a separate reviews on the game in general and an DLC about the chosen ones.
    So, about the chosen ones: An excellent additional test of your skills for the main game, which is organically inscribed in the main game, without distortions of balance and adding, in a way, three mini-bosses. The plot justification of these chosen ones, their characters, their strongholds with    I decided to write a separate reviews on the game in general and an DLC about the chosen ones.
    So, about the chosen ones: An excellent additional test of your skills for the main game, which is organically inscribed in the main game, without distortions of balance and adding, in a way, three mini-bosses. The plot justification of these chosen ones, their characters, their strongholds with "last battles", everything is just wonderful. This DLC gets from me a "good" rating, as I am still disappointed that the percentage randomness still does not take into account logic and context in 2020 year(the shotgun comes close to the enemy with 80% of the hit, and you still miss).    … Expand
  19. KoKop0
    May 4, 2020
    8
    if you like xcom games or fan of strategy and tactics games this is THE PERFECT game for you!
  20. MadJim61
    Feb 2, 2020
    9
    I enjoyed XCom 2 when it came out, but felt that the game finished a bit too quickly. I had to move swiftly to the endgame before I'd finished a lot of research, to stop Advent completing the Avatar project. I waited until WOTC was on sale at Steam before giving it a try, and (as others have said), it really re-invents the game. Now more challenging, more varied and more enjoyable. ThereI enjoyed XCom 2 when it came out, but felt that the game finished a bit too quickly. I had to move swiftly to the endgame before I'd finished a lot of research, to stop Advent completing the Avatar project. I waited until WOTC was on sale at Steam before giving it a try, and (as others have said), it really re-invents the game. Now more challenging, more varied and more enjoyable. There are still a few niggles that stopped me giving it a straight 10: missions are a bit repetitive; dialogue even worse; and there are some odd annoyances -- such as Dark Events that threaten you with increased Chosen activity even after you've eliminated them all. But, overall, it's a lot of fun. If you're too slow (and too old in my case) for real-time strategy and games that rely entirely on quick reactions, this is for you. it's a game that makes you think and has enough depth to make it more than just blasting aliens. Highly recommended.… Expand
  21. RogueV
    Dec 5, 2019
    9
    They could have added 20% more content than this and called it XCOM 3 and I would have heaped praise on it. The fact that an expansion does so much to augment the experience, and does it all so right, I have no words. If you enjoyed XCOM at all you're in for a treat. If you've never played it, this is the right place to hop on, because WOTC really takes XCOM into a place where it can beThey could have added 20% more content than this and called it XCOM 3 and I would have heaped praise on it. The fact that an expansion does so much to augment the experience, and does it all so right, I have no words. If you enjoyed XCOM at all you're in for a treat. If you've never played it, this is the right place to hop on, because WOTC really takes XCOM into a place where it can be talked about with the all time greats in gaming like Age of Empires and The Witcher 3.… Expand
  22. tomasjoad
    Nov 8, 2019
    8
    War of the Chosen brings a whole new concept to the game but unfortunately the rest of the game is quite similar and repetitive once you've gone through the initial changes. If you've played xcom2 vanilla, you might find too many thing's that are pretty much the same.
  23. Elkay_Gaming
    Mar 19, 2019
    8
    Xcom 2 was great. War of the chosen is perfected. It's almost as if the devs had to rush out Xcom 2 in order to make a publishing date. Then after Xcom 2 release, they sat down and decided that they can now give Xcom 2 the polish they believe the game deserves. Once they completed this polish it was released as DLC named War of the Chosen. i honestly believe that War of the Chosen is theXcom 2 was great. War of the chosen is perfected. It's almost as if the devs had to rush out Xcom 2 in order to make a publishing date. Then after Xcom 2 release, they sat down and decided that they can now give Xcom 2 the polish they believe the game deserves. Once they completed this polish it was released as DLC named War of the Chosen. i honestly believe that War of the Chosen is the game the Devs wanted to release when first embarking on the Xcom 2 development journey.

    War of the Chosen is amazing. The best tactical, turn based game i've played.    … Expand
  24. GarethB
    Nov 2, 2018
    9
    This elevates the base game with a host of new features and enemies that further enhance an already amazing game!
  25. Mxm0
    Jan 17, 2018
    10
    Age 34

    Fav Games - Skyrim, Witcher 3, Mass Effect Trilogy, Stellaris, Sins of a Solar Empire, Company of Heroes 2, Divinity Original Sin 1+2 *Immersion and/or Strategy for me* Xcom 2 was already a good game, worthy of 88-90 on metacritic. With all the DLC and WotC it is now one of the very best strategy games ever made (I've played just a few of them..) It is seriously fantastic    Age 34

    Fav Games - Skyrim, Witcher 3, Mass Effect Trilogy, Stellaris, Sins of a Solar Empire, Company of Heroes 2, Divinity Original Sin 1+2 *Immersion and/or Strategy for me*

    Xcom 2 was already a good game, worthy of 88-90 on metacritic. With all the DLC and WotC it is now one of the very best strategy games ever made (I've played just a few of them..) It is seriously fantastic and has so much content, so many good ideas. I'm a bit disappointed in the 7.7 user review here.. This game is now atleast as good as D:OS2 but marked harshly...

    But I believe it's all due to one thing. THE GODDAMN DIFFICULTY LEVEL!!!

    It's BIGGEST, WORST, UNACCEPTABLE MISTAKE FIRAXIS. Most people are not strategy game veterans like myself and my mates that love this game. They get hammered by Xcom's four difficulty settings. Please change the first three firaxis, people are disliking your game because your difficulty settings don't match their expectations and they are getting frustrated, this would have earned you several more points on metacritic. No one wants to select rookie difficulty, do an analysis, it's a psychological thing.

    Rookie - This is really normal difficulty in any other game - you don't have an easy mode!
    Veteran - This is the second mode, this is really hard mode
    Commander - This is insane difficulty, for someone who has over 100 hours in the game
    Legend - Only for lock-ins playing the game with a rock band controller, full back xcom tattoo and a whip setting on the bench, for when they kill their soldiers    … Expand
  26. rodericrinehart
    Jan 2, 2018
    8
    Basically XCOM 3, which is a great thing. I've really been enjoying the new mechanics, maps, and chosen. Just like Civilization xpacs, this really updates the entire game and genuinely is almost XCOM 3. It still has some minor performance issues (even on my 1080ti), and the hit percentages thing is even worse now because of the random pop-ins of super-powerful aliens that are nearlyBasically XCOM 3, which is a great thing. I've really been enjoying the new mechanics, maps, and chosen. Just like Civilization xpacs, this really updates the entire game and genuinely is almost XCOM 3. It still has some minor performance issues (even on my 1080ti), and the hit percentages thing is even worse now because of the random pop-ins of super-powerful aliens that are nearly impossible to beat.… Expand
  27. Hack
    Dec 14, 2017
    9
    I've only just recently gotten into the XCOM series after my friend gifted me the first game, after putting 41 hours into that I knew I needed the second game so I grabbed the deluxe edition plus War of the Chosen as I wanted to experience everything the game had to offer. I finished the game today after putting 80 hours into it, so it was definitely money well spent.

    Overall I much    I've only just recently gotten into the XCOM series after my friend gifted me the first game, after putting 41 hours into that I knew I needed the second game so I grabbed the deluxe edition plus War of the Chosen as I wanted to experience everything the game had to offer. I finished the game today after putting 80 hours into it, so it was definitely money well spent.

    Overall I much preferred the sequel, it was improved in almost every way, with big additions, features and more subtle changes that made for a very enjoyable experience. It really felt like the devs learned a lot from the first game, and implemented a lot of fixes and changes the community wanted. One big area of improvement are the cut-scenes, they're very high quality this time around, and they run smoothly as they're videos, and not rendered in engine like in XCOM 1 (30fps videos look fine, 30fps in engine does not), they really helped to tell the story which was interesting, the voice work was also fantastic.

    There is one area where XCOM 2 sadly falls short and that's performance, the game is not optimised well at all, you will find countless people complaining about this issue so please don't think it's just me. Any form of explosions will cause big drops in frame rate, as will anything that causes debris to spawn. Also certain mission/mob types also tank the frame rate, it's just not good enough. The game also "freezes" quite often while it calculates, something that never happened in the first game, the issue gets worse the further you get into the game as abilities and enemies get more complex. It really did hurt the game for me, so much so it went from a weak 9 into a strong 8. That being said I still obviously enjoyed it a lot and highly recommend it, just be aware it does have technical problems if you're bothered by that sort of thing.    … Expand
  28. 2fatbear
    Nov 26, 2017
    10
    When I played XCom 2 I was worried at how modders could change enough the game to make it worth playing again (and having surprises and not knowing what would come ahead). Was expecting something like Long Run was for XCom 1. But then the makers came with this addon that seems almost like another game (some are calling it XCom 2.5) with the introduction of a few very well thought elements.When I played XCom 2 I was worried at how modders could change enough the game to make it worth playing again (and having surprises and not knowing what would come ahead). Was expecting something like Long Run was for XCom 1. But then the makers came with this addon that seems almost like another game (some are calling it XCom 2.5) with the introduction of a few very well thought elements. The Choosen are great! The missions are way improved, it is a new game. I only was a bit disappointed with the last mission, its too much like the first one. But hey, they have to save some ideas for XCom 3!… Expand
  29. eeDymon
    Nov 2, 2017
    8
    Beautiful, technical and brainstorming game, especially on hard mode. To me it was fairly addictive so you may want to check the clock in time to time. The only downside is that I would've preferred it to be longer.
  30. Archound
    Oct 26, 2017
    8
    Jagged Alliance 2 is still better. It is surprising, that this game still have some technical issues like: freezes, weapons' electro dance after enemies death (due to bad collision system). It should also have better system to speed up or skip shooting animations etc. as it gets dull and time consuming after hours of gameplay. Overall, still lots of improvements to make, devs has to focusJagged Alliance 2 is still better. It is surprising, that this game still have some technical issues like: freezes, weapons' electro dance after enemies death (due to bad collision system). It should also have better system to speed up or skip shooting animations etc. as it gets dull and time consuming after hours of gameplay. Overall, still lots of improvements to make, devs has to focus more on the story, story missions and unique maps design. Players like procedural generation, but it is still not enough (the container with a car that crashed on one of its wall in every abandoned city map...).… Expand
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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.
    Read full review
  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.
    Read full review
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