XCOM 2

 PC
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 1694 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,117 out of 1694
  2. Mixed: 275 out of 1694
  3. Negative: 302 out of 1694
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  1. TemplarGR
    Sep 18, 2016
    4
    I was very dissapointed by this game. I am a fun of the original XCOM games, and i played them to death as a kid. Especially Apocalypse, which in my personal opinion is the best of the franchise to date. I played the first game from 2K and while it was very "streamlined" (aka dumbed down), i kinda liked it. Not the best, but certainly a worthwhile experience for a playthrough or two.I was very dissapointed by this game. I am a fun of the original XCOM games, and i played them to death as a kid. Especially Apocalypse, which in my personal opinion is the best of the franchise to date. I played the first game from 2K and while it was very "streamlined" (aka dumbed down), i kinda liked it. Not the best, but certainly a worthwhile experience for a playthrough or two.

    So, i was expecting to like this one as well, and i was VERY disappointed. At launch it was a broken mess, with ton of bugs, ran like sh1t on perfectly capable hardware. It is somewhat fixed today, with far better performance and not that many game-breaking bugs. Still, i don't understand why it has those steep hardware requirements. I am playing it at max settings and it doesn't look that much better compared to the first XCOM.

    As for the game, it is more or less the same thing, with more timers on missions and other minor changes and additions of some new enemies. Again, the changes are welcome, but insignificant. I believe Enemy Within expansion was a larger improvement to Enemy Uknown, than the sequel. And that says a lot.

    It is not a bad game by any means, but it is not a good one either. I am feeling cheated by this. You are better off just playing Enemy Within again. It is cheaper, more feature complete, requires a far cheaper computer to run it, and you won't notice much of a difference anyway.

    All in all, 4.    … Expand
  2. malcolmm
    Jan 18, 2017
    4
    So many issues with this game, I'm glad I only paid $12 for it from Humble Bundle. As usual for a AAA title the "professional" reviews rate the game much higher than the general public.

    First off, the tutorial is terrible, pretty much completely useless. It hardly merits being called a tutorial, it is just a short mission with a few prompts. It misses many important parts of the mission    So many issues with this game, I'm glad I only paid $12 for it from Humble Bundle. As usual for a AAA title the "professional" reviews rate the game much higher than the general public.

    First off, the tutorial is terrible, pretty much completely useless. It hardly merits being called a tutorial, it is just a short mission with a few prompts. It misses many important parts of the mission interface. As for the rest of the game, good luck, no tutorial for what to do back at the base. I did play the previous XCOM but that was years ago, I've forgotten pretty much everything about the game. There is a manual but it is useless, it just repeats what the equally useless tutorial tells you.

    Most of the game consists of video sequences, it is obvious where most of the budget went. The missions themselves are extremely simple yet very frustrating. Still the same over emphasis on luck. Making most of the missions timed was a huge mistake, you mostly have to rush the target with little time for tactics.

    I normally don't buy AAA titles, mostly boring graphics showcases. XCOM2 is a prime example of this, all flash but no substance. Microprose did it so much better, Firaxis has managed to ruin both XCOM and Civilization.    … Expand
  3. Dethstar
    Feb 16, 2016
    4
    I want to like this. It isnt terrible but far from satisfying. They learned nothing from the last one.

    The pros. Still, it is Xcom. Sort of. It looks pretty. Has a nice idea behind it in some elements. Personally, I have never experienced any crashes The cons. This is more strategy than luck. Core mechanics appear to be broken. (ie. Line of sight is really botched, some odd    I want to like this. It isnt terrible but far from satisfying. They learned nothing from the last one.

    The pros.
    Still, it is Xcom. Sort of.
    It looks pretty.
    Has a nice idea behind it in some elements.
    Personally, I have never experienced any crashes

    The cons.
    This is more strategy than luck.

    Core mechanics appear to be broken. (ie. Line of sight is really botched, some odd things happen, at times, the engine itself appears confused.

    I have had an alien run at my squad where they were on overwatch with high percentage chances. They all miss their shots. This is not unusual and the maths does not stack up.

    I have also hit an alien expecting 3 damage (as indicated) and done 7. It doesn't fill you with confidence that the game is ok.

    The odds are very stacked against you which makes it challenging unless your playing on very easy mode. However, what make the game annoying is that the missions are insanely repetitive. Some similarity would be understandable but it is so limited it is ridiculous.

    Worst of all, the missions are in the main time limited so its more a of run through, keep repeating until you get lucky and do it again. Very little strategy involved and at times, it is simply like repeatedly rolling the dice hoping that the line of sight doesn't botch and nothing weird happens until it works out. It isn't fun.

    The Global strategic outlout is very much the same. You are not choosing where you go, the game is really telling you what you need to do and giving a very poor illusion of choice.

    Runs very badly indeed. This is not subjective, I have extremely high 3d mark scores and spend a lot of time and effort building my PC;s (not to mention cash) My Titan X's are running at 1550-1600 during gaming and the CPU 4.7ghz (hexacore) yet the game though smooth doesn't run well. It feels like console port in terms of not being happy with hardware and seemingly not using properly. I see this seems to be across a wide range of builds.    … Expand
  4. choppy
    Oct 2, 2016
    4
    The cosmetics change from Xcom 1, but little else. In order to make it seem like a new game, and to please all the long-war geeks, the difficulty is cranked up in a bunch of artificial ways. Almost every mission has a timer or constant stream of scripted enemy drop-ins. And this is the overall theme of the game: you are constantly being spammed with so many events and non-meaningfulThe cosmetics change from Xcom 1, but little else. In order to make it seem like a new game, and to please all the long-war geeks, the difficulty is cranked up in a bunch of artificial ways. Almost every mission has a timer or constant stream of scripted enemy drop-ins. And this is the overall theme of the game: you are constantly being spammed with so many events and non-meaningful choices that it's almost impossible to keep up with basic tasks, and eventually you will be forced to make a detrimental choice. Strategy gaming at its finest!

    Once again, all percentages are pre-determined at the start of every mission, so an 80 or 90 percentage shot is completely meaningless - it doesn't matter what you do or where you move, from the beginning of the mission it's been determined whether you're going to hit or miss (this is true - search the forums for discussion). You can stand right next to an enemy, going full auto, and still miss every time. So ridiculous. You the mouseclicker aren't even necessary for the game, because everything's already determined. It could just run the percentages itself and determine the same outcome. Your actions have literally no effect on whether you hit or miss - just like real life and real combat, right?

    Given that every mission relies on pre-scripted events and pre-determined enemy placements, the only "strategy" or "tactics" are remembering where the enemies are going to spawn and pre-placing your troops to ambush them. So, the only thing that matters is positioning, based on either luck in the fog of war or your knowledge of previous failures.

    This game might as well be calling "Pathing Manager 2016", since pathing is the only meaningful thing you control and the singular thing that makes the difference between success and failure in the mission. If most of your paths succeed on the first try, you got lucky. If most of your paths fail, suck it up and lose, or try new paths on a reload. And that's it. That's all you do in the entire game. This is obscured by other crap like "Dark Events", which are basically 'pick which 1 out of 3 bad things you want to try to stop' through another 'pick-a-path' mission. Again, totally meaningless for the overall outcome, but it's very deep "strategy", right? Not so much.    … Expand
  5. Avadon
    Feb 7, 2016
    4
    XCOM 2 is challenging, but for the wrong reasons. Most of it comes from the randomness that exists as its core mechanic, from the level design (procedural), to hit chances, to turn limit sizes, to world map events. Whether you'll like it or not depends on what you want out of it.

    Personally, I'd prefer a more tightly designed game that is harder than this (more enemies in maps +bigger    XCOM 2 is challenging, but for the wrong reasons. Most of it comes from the randomness that exists as its core mechanic, from the level design (procedural), to hit chances, to turn limit sizes, to world map events. Whether you'll like it or not depends on what you want out of it.

    Personally, I'd prefer a more tightly designed game that is harder than this (more enemies in maps +bigger maps +more "puzzle-y" encounters), but without the timers and stress and RNG everywhere. I'd rather have developer-designed maps and missions with tough encounters where you need to utilize the terrain and your equipment in the right way, rather than proceduraly generated missions with a turn limit that is barely enough for you to sprint to the objective and destroy it, and then pray as the 4 pods that you aggroed along the way rain down on you from the ceilings and wipe out your entire squad while your overwatches miss. Only to go back to the world map and see the Avatar gaining its 3rd ping in the same week due to RNG dark events.

    XCOM 2 is overwhelming in a way that makes you feel helpless. Because you are. Better read some Reddit threads and restart the whole thing, doing only the absolutely most optimal things. Why do the rest of the options exist again?

    You can mod out all the crazy 8 turn limits and massive random spikes in Avatar progress though. Great. What you are left with then is an extremely easy game. Guess why. Because that's what it is. An extremely easy game, made hard only through RNG rigged to screw you as a core design philosophy. The encounters themselves are easy and the maps are poorly designed, like everything procedural. There's no actual depth. There are no "damn, I'm a genious" moments as you lure an overwhelming force back to a well fortified position with half of your squad lying in the perfect ambush. The game gives you no time to think. No time to strategize. No time to have fun.    … Expand
  6. Bob68
    Feb 7, 2016
    4
    No Pad Support it's a Joke....My pad Xbox 360 don't work...lol
    And just a bugged game with Constant fps drops, hangs, graphical glitch
    unskippable cut scenes andd more...
  7. ZetarXenil
    Feb 5, 2016
    4
    What seemed to be great game, turned out to be another good concept buried under the pile of frustrating bugs, poorly executed mechanics and other annoyances. Game runs really bad, you can frequently get stuck on some of the menus and the amount of bugs is just enormous. They didn't even fix bugs that existed 4 years ago, back in Enemy Unknown. We live in sad times, once again promisingWhat seemed to be great game, turned out to be another good concept buried under the pile of frustrating bugs, poorly executed mechanics and other annoyances. Game runs really bad, you can frequently get stuck on some of the menus and the amount of bugs is just enormous. They didn't even fix bugs that existed 4 years ago, back in Enemy Unknown. We live in sad times, once again promising game gets ruined by the laziness of the devs.… Expand
  8. Mordobb
    Feb 9, 2016
    4
    Chances are, if you loved Xcom1 from fireaxis you will love it. But if you expected more...sorry.
    Its merely Enemy Within with all its tactical shallowness repixelated.
    Tactically its not worth to be called an expansion merely a DLC, which by the way remove the tactical aspect of the game with so many timed missions. The designers (if they can be called so much) of this marvel confound    Chances are, if you loved Xcom1 from fireaxis you will love it. But if you expected more...sorry.
    Its merely Enemy Within with all its tactical shallowness repixelated.
    Tactically its not worth to be called an expansion merely a DLC, which by the way remove the tactical aspect of the game with so many timed missions.
    The designers (if they can be called so much) of this marvel confound masochism with tactical deph (death?), and many sycophants approves.
    Noe the base aspect game although exactly the same is a bit refreshing because now you move and have to take decisions.

    Chances are if you are an old fan of the 90 games. EU, TFTD, Apocalips... you ll hate by what has been said above. Tactical limitation shallowness in tactics...boring after the 15th mission due to the counter.
    Bad designs, bad implementation of good concepts.
    A disaster.
    Wait for sales to acquire it you ll probably gain optimization too and smart modders that will enhance
    the tactical part so it gets bearable.
    Keep playing the long war.    … Expand
  9. Salient0ne
    Feb 13, 2016
    4
    It is unacceptable to release a AAA game in such a buggy and unoptimized state. Is it playable? Sure. However, the constant slowdowns (even at reduced graphics settings), animation bugs, floating heads (armor doesn't load on background characters), and camera bugs definitely take away from the experience.

    It is very clear to me that the publisher said screw the polish, just release it.    It is unacceptable to release a AAA game in such a buggy and unoptimized state. Is it playable? Sure. However, the constant slowdowns (even at reduced graphics settings), animation bugs, floating heads (armor doesn't load on background characters), and camera bugs definitely take away from the experience.

    It is very clear to me that the publisher said screw the polish, just release it. It's been several days now and still no patch to fix any of these issues. $60-$75 for what? A bunch of reused assets on a three year old engine? AND it doesn't run perfectly? That is what really bothers me.

    Is XCOM2 better than the last one? Yeah, the game mechanics fit the setting a lot better. The world map is more interesting, even though it just feels like I'm playing a cheap board game. Is it worth the price they are asking? sadly, no. I should not have bought this, you'd be better served just waiting for the 'complete' version for 10 bucks. If you are lucky, by then it'll run properly.    … Expand
  10. armchairjerk
    Feb 6, 2016
    4
    If you can try this game out before buying it. Very glad I was able to do so before wasting money on this. Maybe with the future DLC and GOTY edition I will change my mind, till then im sad i wasted 4 hours on it.
  11. bellerophon
    Feb 11, 2016
    4
    This is a shame since the devs were starting from a very good background, considering the numerous mods (like Long War) at their disposal on Enemy Unknown. Instead of this,we have now a rushed action type game, something between a blank RTS and a real tactical but with worse RNG, worse LOS, worse Cover animations than implmented in xcom2012, nothing really exciting when you just playedThis is a shame since the devs were starting from a very good background, considering the numerous mods (like Long War) at their disposal on Enemy Unknown. Instead of this,we have now a rushed action type game, something between a blank RTS and a real tactical but with worse RNG, worse LOS, worse Cover animations than implmented in xcom2012, nothing really exciting when you just played Enemy Within with some great mods.
    I can't recommend the purchase for this bad optimized / timer-based-difficulty / pseudo tactical game.    … Expand
  12. Glamredhel
    Feb 6, 2016
    4
    Forget the varied tactics of the first XCOM game. In XCOM 2 all of that has been thrown out the window by making the missions timed and having you start stupidly far from the objective. To cover the distance you will need to have your soldiers use both their turn units to make it in time. This results in not being able to shoot back when you stumble upon the enemies, of which they usuallyForget the varied tactics of the first XCOM game. In XCOM 2 all of that has been thrown out the window by making the missions timed and having you start stupidly far from the objective. To cover the distance you will need to have your soldiers use both their turn units to make it in time. This results in not being able to shoot back when you stumble upon the enemies, of which they usually throw quite a lot between you and the objective.

    Basically missions are summed up as run as far as you can as fast as you can, stumble upon a group of enemies who now get 2 turns (their reveal turn and then their normal turn) to outflank you. If you do make it to the objective after fighting through the enemy you will now have to choose a soldier you don't mind getting killed as they run up to the item that needs to be hacked to stop the countdown timer and are now exposed to being flanked.

    It's like they took the first XCOM game, decided to add 100 new features and then forgot about including any tactical decisions in the tactical missions beyond just run as fast as you can to the objective.

    Can not recommend in its current state.    … Expand
  13. Silverflame
    Feb 8, 2016
    4
    "Hey, Commander! I recently bought this new strategy game. It is called Chess - The X-Com 2 Edition!"

    "An X-Com 2 edition of chess?" the commander replied. "What's different about it, Colonel?" "I'll teach you. You can be the white knights of X-Com, I shall be the black Advent aliens." They started playing. "Ha, I've got you now!" the commander said, grinning, as his knight    "Hey, Commander! I recently bought this new strategy game. It is called Chess - The X-Com 2 Edition!"

    "An X-Com 2 edition of chess?" the commander replied. "What's different about it, Colonel?"

    "I'll teach you. You can be the white knights of X-Com, I shall be the black Advent aliens."

    They started playing.

    "Ha, I've got you now!" the commander said, grinning, as his knight attacked the colonel's bishop.

    "Not so fast! First we need to spin this." The colonel pointed to a roulette wheel that came in the box. "You see, whether a piece can take another piece is random! Fun!"

    The commander seemed unsure about this concept. "That makes no sense," he said. "My knight is clearly right in front of that bishop, and he is well trained, so why would he not succeed? Ah, whatever, just spin the damn wheel."

    A few minutes later, the commander's peasant moved close to the colonel's queen. Quickly, the colonel moved several pieces out of the way and placed a new knight on the board, which defeated the commander's peasant. The colonel was so into the game that he did all this in slow motion, like a kid playing with action figures.

    "What the hell did you just do, soldier?!"

    "Oh, that's a rule," the colonel said excitedly. "The black advents get free moves while it's your turn to play, and some newly appearing pieces even get to hit your pieces without the roulette wheel most of the time!"

    "Are you kidding me?!" the commander said, an incredulous look on his face. "This is not a strategy game if you have random events like this. And in a turn-based game, pay attention to whose turn it is! Oh, and for the love of advent burgers, stop with the slow motion and killing animations already! You're wasting my time!"

    "Sorry, commander, but these are the rules! You chicken? If you'd like, you can just reload your piece and try the same turn again until the outcome suits you. Hmm, come to think of it...basing a game on a probabilistic scheme should always lead people to reload, which means any such system ends up being tedious and no fun for most players. Ha! This is pretty dumb game design, ha ha ha!" The colonel beamed anyway, pretending it was just difficult and challenging.

    "I don't need no frickin reload!!"

    They continued playing, the commander getting more and more frustrated with the strange rules of the game. Despite all odds, he ended up devising an ingenious strategy, circumnavigating the defenses of his subordinate, when suddenly ...

    "Ooh, well," the colonel said. "You lose."

    "What?"

    "It has been 15 turns, and you have not defeated me yet, so you lose," the colonel explained. "Didn't I tell you? The white knights of X-Com only get a few turns to win the match. I already cheated on your behalf and gave you 7 more turns than normal."

    "What in the absolute hell?!" the commander yelled. "That is the dumbest thing I've heard since the incident with the microwave casserole at Black Mesa! On the one hand, I am supposed to devise a strategy to avoid your stupid rules, but on the other hand, you give me no time to do so and waste half of that with roulette! This is not chess, this is not a strategy game, this is a casino!"

    The colonel frowned and took a closer look at the box of the game. "Warning: May cause gambling addiction," he read. "Oh, so that's why I'm so hooked on this thing... Anyway, this casino-chess-simulator comes with a story, but it consists of many, many nearly identical matches like this, more time limits and forced gameplay, and I will also be compelled to explain your goal in every match as if you didn't know it already." The colonel smiled brightly. "We can try that, if you like -- you know, for the benefit of the story!"

    The commander sighed. "Is the story any good, at least? Proper characters that grow and change as the plot unfolds? A fine ending with a shocking twist, a clever idea at its base and an emotionally significant boss battle?"

    "Hmm..." The colonel's face fell a little. "Actually, at the end, I'm just going to throw a large number of pieces on the board for you to defeat, after which I shall act out a meaningless cutscene. The characters have as much personality as a sea slug and come from the planet of hats. Nothing else to it, I'm afraid. On the bright side, these chess pieces and the board are visually really impressive!"

    At that moment, a piece glitched through the table and fell in a stuttering motion to the floor.

    "Alright, that's it!", the commander yelled as he stood up. "I've had it with you and your badly designed games! We are going to use this one for target practice tomorrow! Star Wars Battlefront - The Board Game Edition, is relieved of this position immediately!"

    "Aye, aye, sir!"    … Expand
  14. itmo
    Feb 5, 2016
    4
    Not sure how this game is getting 100%, which equates to a perfect game, when it has more bugs than a bethesda release and I am already over the timed missions. I have done 8 missions so far, and 7 have had a turn limit imposed. The missions are getting boring after 5 hours of play. There are basically 2 mission types, they are, get to the objective within 6 turn, then kill anyNot sure how this game is getting 100%, which equates to a perfect game, when it has more bugs than a bethesda release and I am already over the timed missions. I have done 8 missions so far, and 7 have had a turn limit imposed. The missions are getting boring after 5 hours of play. There are basically 2 mission types, they are, get to the objective within 6 turn, then kill any remaining enemy forces, or, kill all enemy forces and take as long as you want. The stealth mechanic in the game sounds nice but is a pointless element that hasn't been fully developed. In reality, the stealth concept hasn't added anything to the so called strategy part of this strategy game. I am still not sure why the enemy gets a free movement turn during your turn when they discover you, this really makes the whole stealth concept stupid and irreverent. This was a big annoyance for me in the previous game, when the enemy discovers you, they get to move all their units into cover during your turn. Really breaks the immersion and idea of creating a strategy of getting the enemy caught in a cross fire as they can just run off behind some cover. The looting system is a dumbed down element from the previous game, it doesn't matter if you use explosives to kill enemy's , you still get all their crap, corpses, upgrades etc. The graphics issues list is a large one, there are camera issues, line of sight issues, shot through 3 walls issues, see through walls issues, excessive loading times during the missions and loading in and out of missions. In it's current state it is almost unplayable, another game release that doesn't work, just add it to the list. The gaming industry is in an absolute shambles atm.… Expand
  15. Xerxes72
    Feb 7, 2016
    4
    Leaving aside the many technical issues that plagued its launch, from performance issues to LOS malfunctions to vanishing savegames, that (if the first XCOM was any indication) will likely take them months to address and resolve, with XCOM2 Firaxis doubles down on some of the worst aspects of their successful "reimagining" of the venerable classic and stretches even further the definitionLeaving aside the many technical issues that plagued its launch, from performance issues to LOS malfunctions to vanishing savegames, that (if the first XCOM was any indication) will likely take them months to address and resolve, with XCOM2 Firaxis doubles down on some of the worst aspects of their successful "reimagining" of the venerable classic and stretches even further the definition of strategy when it comes to PC gaming.

    Their whole philosophy seems to involve replacing variety of choice and room for maneuver with a linear experience which uses the word strategy only as flavor for those who thought King's Bounty was an RPG. Want to stray a bit from the optimal path on the "strategic" layer, even if you're doing well on the tactical missions? Sorry, dead man walking. And when on the field, every guy in your inexplicably puny squad is essential. Got unlucky and lost a couple of soldiers to randomly spawning enemies, with 10+ still to kill and a stupid clock ticking down? Get used to it-- in Firaxis' twisted world, those things are necessary to cover the lack of a functional AI and a sound design. Aliens will still teleport under the FOW and trigger when they're scripted to while you're hopefully still gaping at the pretty graphics.

    And ahhh, the ultimate insult, the timed missions. It's all part of the same "philosophy", or rather lack thereof. Unless you believe Firaxis included the timers as a way to counter the creeping *their own design encouraged* with a "solution" that's worse than the original problem.

    This is not a strategy game. It's a "corridor strategy" game. It's like calling the latest Call of Duty an open world game. The package is slick but there's no more strategy involved than in your typical CYOA book. If you're a real strategy fan and loved the original series, my suggestion is that you save your money and frustration, wait for Xenonauts 2 and avoid anything with the name "Jake Solomon" in the credits.    … Expand
  16. Cidcaldensfey
    Mar 2, 2016
    4
    XCOM 2 is a decent game on its own and functions much like the previous game. However, it feels like the game itself, for me, is far more frustrating than it is fun. I like the setting and the customization, but it feels like most of it doesn't work well together, in particular customization and the nature of the game. Do you like to spend 20-30 minutes customizing a character only toXCOM 2 is a decent game on its own and functions much like the previous game. However, it feels like the game itself, for me, is far more frustrating than it is fun. I like the setting and the customization, but it feels like most of it doesn't work well together, in particular customization and the nature of the game. Do you like to spend 20-30 minutes customizing a character only to have them get lost due to some bogus rolls?

    Theres also some other nasty things. One of the things that really bothered me was how the 'Concealed' mechanic is actually not really a stealth mechanic. After a certain amount of turns, the AI patrols will walk towards your stealthed characters, basically creating an artificial confrontation when in fact the game itself is programmed to do that.

    I just don't really understand it. It's a neat game but at the same its just flawed. I would wait to buy it when its like, under $20. But other wise just avoid it.    … Expand
  17. Yemm
    Feb 12, 2016
    4
    Old and quite experienced gamer's review:

    Pros: - Xcom universe - Made me want to install Jagged Alliance 2/xcom again, and have some proper tactic rpg/strategy. - casualisation, (more people might get interested in STRATEGY games) -Story is decent and whole world got nice 80's cheap sci-fi vibe (which is good). Con's: - further dumbing down the genre. -Missions basicly finish    Old and quite experienced gamer's review:

    Pros:
    - Xcom universe
    - Made me want to install Jagged Alliance 2/xcom again, and have some proper tactic rpg/strategy.
    - casualisation, (more people might get interested in STRATEGY games)
    -Story is decent and whole world got nice 80's cheap sci-fi vibe (which is good).

    Con's:
    - further dumbing down the genre.
    -Missions basicly finish themselfs without any real tactic. (nope, its not tactic to move from cover to cover
    and clear everything)
    -cartoonish gfx. Its 2016, Just check what unreal enngine can do.
    - U cant crouch or lie down (unacceptable). ATM whole game got more in common with cover based shooter then tactic strategy game.
    -Bugs - opponents shoot/melee through concrete wall. Its unacceptable for this genre.
    - Base building is even more streamlined then before. No hard decisions.
    - weak research tree's, everything is tier based.
    - Boring/bland auto generated missions...
    - Boring, unrealistic sci-fi weapons, 1 type for every tier for each class...
    - 8-12 round timed mission(game got alot of those). Loading screen takes more then finishing this "mission".
    - In game difficulty only lowers weapon hit %, not actuall number/type of opponents, tactical decisions or anything else.    … Expand
  18. SRKNZ
    Aug 5, 2018
    4
    Take a mediocre game franchise and make it worse. That's my impression of XCom 2. The first series was marred by an overly linear controlling approach to base management which is perpetuated in the second game. The horrible GUI is back too with all its quirks and limitations in place. The horrible counter intuitive R&D system is there too and its as confusing and unclear what you areTake a mediocre game franchise and make it worse. That's my impression of XCom 2. The first series was marred by an overly linear controlling approach to base management which is perpetuated in the second game. The horrible GUI is back too with all its quirks and limitations in place. The horrible counter intuitive R&D system is there too and its as confusing and unclear what you are supposed to do as ever. To really show up the glaring shortcomings in the aforementioned a time restriction is imposed making the whole frustrating, joyless experience even more crapulent.

    In short for me there is very little to like here aside from the overriding theme that I felt has been better executed in other titles like Xenonaughts.

    The only upside is the eye candy but its this title is so hamstrung by its awkward and clumsy game mechanics its not enough to really amount to anything significant. Played for a short time and quickly lost interest.    … Expand
  19. Robobob
    Jun 15, 2016
    4
    This is my third time writing a review for this game, each time I've played it more, I've lowered the score further and now I can't drop it any more. I loved the first X-Com:EU and would rate it very highly. (9-10) This was the first game I researched getting a refund on Steam. Turns out I had 2 hours of play and a week or 2 to return it. So, too late for me. So I keep playing just toThis is my third time writing a review for this game, each time I've played it more, I've lowered the score further and now I can't drop it any more. I loved the first X-Com:EU and would rate it very highly. (9-10) This was the first game I researched getting a refund on Steam. Turns out I had 2 hours of play and a week or 2 to return it. So, too late for me. So I keep playing just to get my money's worth. The more I play the more ridiculous $#it I see. A lot of the complaints you read on here are true and I still can't see why anyone can possibly give this game a 10. I understand people have different tastes, but come on! The game is buggy, with lackluster graphics, slow, tedious and terribly unbalanced. I'll give you examples for all.
    The mouse is buggy in that you are not always highlighting the square you are attempting to target and the zooming through different heights of the map is cumbersome. I often target the wrong square. Good thing I save every turn. Reload.
    Graphics. My machine ran the new Tomb Raider on high and 3 years later this game just looks bad. Weird character proportions. Low q textures. The camera is constantly blocked by obstacles.
    Animations in mission are soooo slow making the gameplay of a single mission sometimes taking an hour or more. Why are there long pauses after enemy movement and animations? Why can't we skip through in-game talky cutscenes we've seen a million times?
    In a "tactical" game why is cover so meaningless? Everything, including steel walls and boulders can be blown away with ease. The enemy has mind attacks that ignore cover, are almost always successful, and remove a soldier from the action like Mind Control, Stun, Knock Unconscious, Panic. These are all on EASY missions, no less! There's an attack that ignores cover, drags a soldier to the enemy and traps them doing damage each turn. YAY! There's an attack that depletes all of your troops ammo with in a radius and explodes the next turn if they don't move. So, don't group them too close, yet group them too far and they get eaten up quickly. Many enemies can run up and smack you for obscene unavoidable damage THROUGH WALLS?!? YAY! It seems like there are few actual firefights in this game. You better rush enemies because if they have any cover you chances are about 50%, which feels more like 5%, LOL.
    The one aspect that annoys be the most about this game is that the AI gets a free turn to move to cover whenever they spot you. Starting some missions in stealth is genius, but it means absolutely nothing when every enemy on the map gets a free move to cover when your first soldier is spotted. You have to use Overwatch to get your attacks in, setting them up into position and wasting a whole turn to do this. I think Overwatch made the enemy's free move to cover a necessity and, in fact, ruined this game.
    Save Spamming: You HAVE TO save and save often in this game. The odds are so stacked against you, you can easily lose your best solider in the blink of an eye. This just happened to me in the last mission I rage quit on. 5th level soldier (Cpt?) gets "marked" by an Officer. That same officer attacks and hits. The next 2 Advent troopers attack and hit. 13 hitpoints with Armor and she's gone in one turn, those attacks were 15 square range. YAY!
    Mission Counters: nearly every mission has one in some way. The ones that don't have to rescue 6 out of 12 pedestrians before they are slaughtered with the annoying voice over telling you EVERY turn "commander! People are getting slaughtered out there!" I know, they are on the other side of the map and it's turn 2. YAY!
    Hit percentages are weird. Some enemies have inexplicably lower % for no reason. They can be 2 squares away behind partial cover and 44% to hit? What? They are within arms reach and I can't just shoot them in the face? YAY!
    Finally: The overly complicated and busy World Map. Right away you are slammed with a half dozen things to research, 2 of them critical. Need to start rebuilding your helicarrier, but there is a critical mission addition to build...and you need more power... and you need to build radio to contact resistance. When you get your supply drop you have to fly to that continent and "scan"?!?! for it for a week everytime!?!? A quarter of each month is wasted scanning for valuable supplies! Meanwhile critical missions pop up that you need to get to ASAP.
    I made the very crucial mistake of spending too much of my "intel" currency early in my second playthrough. Well, the enemy started its Avatar countdown project and for me to slow it down I needed to fly to another country. Sound simple? No. I need to stop and contact resistance (5 days) and spend intel on each country on the way to an enemy base 2-3 territories away. Meanwhile more bases are popping up adding to the count down before I can get to the first. Might as well end this playthrough and start over..

    or throw this game in the trash    … Expand
  20. kharnikhal
    Feb 6, 2016
    4
    Under no circumstances is this game even a 7/10. I played about 5 or 6 hours before uninstalling

    It runs horribly. My rig GTX770, Xeon E3-1231v3, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD (runs Fallout 4 high/very high quite comfortably). I turned AA and AO off, turned rest of the settings to medium, and it still runs like crap. Constant fps drops, hangs, graphical glitches, jarring microstuttering, you name    Under no circumstances is this game even a 7/10. I played about 5 or 6 hours before uninstalling

    It runs horribly. My rig GTX770, Xeon E3-1231v3, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD (runs Fallout 4 high/very high quite comfortably). I turned AA and AO off, turned rest of the settings to medium, and it still runs like crap. Constant fps drops, hangs, graphical glitches, jarring microstuttering, you name it.

    Most of the missions are now timed, which means you usually have about 8-12 turns to complete a mission. This heavily encourages running and gunning, which in turn means that you will lose a lot of squad mates, and if you want to keep them alive, well you have to reload the entire mission so you get new RNG-seeds for the enemy shots, and pray to RNGeesus that they dont hit you.

    No more tactical advancement, no more strategy, just run in, shoot aliens, hope that you hit them, rinse and repeat. The game also puts in sectoids against you right from the second mission. They can mind control, raise dead soldiers (which get a HP boost because **** you thats why), use panic attacks, and oh they also have 8 HP (your starting weapons deal 3-5dmg, usually 3 though), and they usually run deep into cover, inside a building where they cant be killed, while they destroy your squad with Psionic attacks that have 100% accuracy. Sounds fair, no?

    Did you get frustrated in the previous X-Com, when the aliens, once discovered, could freely run to cover on YOUR turn? Well, dont worry, because they still do that in X-Com 2 too! The only time this doesnt happen is when your squad is in concealment, but the missions never give more than 2 or maybe 3 enemies to shoot from concealment, and there's no way to regain the concealment. Then you advance on the map, you discover another group of 3 aliens, and off they go, sprinting to cover for free. Because **** you, thats why.

    On the starter weapons you have 4 shots before you have to reload, which further slows you down, because again, yep you guessed, **** you thats why. This couldve easily been 5 or 6 shots.

    Enemies get reinforcements on almost all missions, and you never know where the dropship comes in from, usually behind you, and then, yep you guessed it, they get free movement to cover while they flank you. And you know the reason why.

    An example mission: Need to get to EVAC zone, 3 turns left before mission fails, one of your squad mates is already dead, others on low HP. 2 enemies ahead, between you and the EVAC zone. And boom, reinforcements from the back (they literally appear out of the dark), now you have no cover anywhere on the map, clock is ticking, each enemy shot kills a squad mate, and how did I forget to mention that one of the mission objectives was "Extract all X-Com soldiers", which mean if one of them dies, you have to pick the corpse up (and you cant shoot when youre carrying a body), and get it to the EVAC zone.

    That was mission 3, btw, about 1,5hrs in the game, while youre still in starter gear, starting weapons, starter everything.

    I dont have a problem with challenging games, but only if the challenge is fair. This game is just dice rolling, in timed missions, against superior numbers, superior gear, and superior skill-moves all the time.    … Expand
  21. Spx
    Feb 19, 2016
    4
    This game has been improved from the first chapter but still lacks the re-playability and the freedom of the original xcom. I think it could be a good game for a single campaign but it will become boring very soon. Again very scripted (probability to hit sometimes aren't real). However I would buy this for 20 usd at most. Waiting for Xenonauts 2 ;)
  22. Calendyr
    Jun 9, 2016
    4
    I was looking forward to this game after playing countless hours of X-Com enemy unknown and X-Com enemy within, After purchasing it on steam and waiting 3 hours for it to download and install, I find out it doesn't support the gamepad like it's predecessors did.

    From what I understand, Firaxis signed a deal with Steam to support the Steam controller when it comes out only. So that is    I was looking forward to this game after playing countless hours of X-Com enemy unknown and X-Com enemy within, After purchasing it on steam and waiting 3 hours for it to download and install, I find out it doesn't support the gamepad like it's predecessors did.

    From what I understand, Firaxis signed a deal with Steam to support the Steam controller when it comes out only. So that is a big FU to all users who enjoy playing on gamepad. What a stupid move from Firaxis.    … Expand
  23. nickdos
    Jan 22, 2018
    4
    There are a lot of bugs that remain from XCOM-EU and are because of the engine and persist with XCOM2.
    The game is unbalanced and ridiculous on higher difficulties because of the very short timers.
    I see the reason they added them, but they could do the same thing with a little more lax time frames. Shame that an amateur developer of a mod for EU can do a better job designing a tactical    There are a lot of bugs that remain from XCOM-EU and are because of the engine and persist with XCOM2.
    The game is unbalanced and ridiculous on higher difficulties because of the very short timers.
    I see the reason they added them, but they could do the same thing with a little more lax time frames.
    Shame that an amateur developer of a mod for EU can do a better job designing a tactical game than a AAA studio.    … Expand
  24. uglyNobody
    Feb 7, 2016
    4
    This is the first time I am writing a real negative review for a game. A game I really wanted to enjoy.

    I know XCOM can be a tough game to play. But this time the word "tough" needs to be replaced with whatever suits the following: - I started playing the game on the third of the four difficulty levels, because I know the first game and wanted an intense gameplay experience. I    This is the first time I am writing a real negative review for a game. A game I really wanted to enjoy.

    I know XCOM can be a tough game to play. But this time the word "tough" needs to be replaced with
    whatever suits the following:

    - I started playing the game on the third of the four difficulty levels, because I know the first game
    and wanted an intense gameplay experience.
    I realized that the aim percentage you see while attacking an enemy is seemingly reduced by 15-20% because of the difficulty level. I missed four out of five shots when the percentage was between 65-80%. Long story short: no fun - executing tactics where a disaster. I perfectly flank an enemy to kill him, I miss and get kicked right away losing one of my best soldiers.

    - I started overs four times before I realized, I would have to lower the difficulty. Did that, enjoyed two hours of gameplay, until I went through a routine mission with the first time facing the snake like enemy. The moment one of my soldiers was grabbed and pulled to the this enemy through three walls without any line of sight was the moment I just had to quit this game and give it this review.

    My conclusion unfortunately is that this game is unplayable if you like a strategic challenge, because the game just does not let you execute any strategy - it just keeps kicking you in the face from out of nowhere.

    If you like the story and do not bother about the gameplay experience to much, then play on Rookie and go ahead.

    Definitely not recommended. A pity.    … Expand
  25. HozzMidnight
    Feb 6, 2016
    4
    Promising but released way too soon. I literally can not recall the last game that gave me as much technical difficulties as XCOM 2.

    Very poor FPS on a system that ran Witcher 3 fine on Ultra@1080P. Worse than that, cutscenes that lead to hard locks, some that are 100% reproducible. Wait until there are multiple patches before picking this one up. No idea how this got a 91 from    Promising but released way too soon. I literally can not recall the last game that gave me as much technical difficulties as XCOM 2.

    Very poor FPS on a system that ran Witcher 3 fine on Ultra@1080P. Worse than that, cutscenes that lead to hard locks, some that are 100% reproducible.

    Wait until there are multiple patches before picking this one up. No idea how this got a 91 from the Critics given its current state.    … Expand
  26. AlphaIIOmega
    Feb 11, 2016
    4
    I made an account literally just to write this review. This game is crap, overall. I gave it a 4, because for a game that costs $80 Canadian, I have really high expectations.

    This game is challenging, too challenging. But it's not challenging because it takes skill, it's just challenging because it's REALLY poorly designed, and your success relies almost completely on RNG. I had to    I made an account literally just to write this review. This game is crap, overall. I gave it a 4, because for a game that costs $80 Canadian, I have really high expectations.

    This game is challenging, too challenging. But it's not challenging because it takes skill, it's just challenging because it's REALLY poorly designed, and your success relies almost completely on RNG. I had to stop playing out of frustration, or I was going to break my keyboard.

    The graphics are beautiful, but the combat dynamics are awful. Lazy, incompetent, unintelligent game designers made this game unplayable past the first 10 hours.    … Expand
  27. ForeShadow
    Feb 15, 2016
    4
    Just can't play it like I want to.80% of missions that force you to rush with ridiculous timers. I spend my time reloading saved games when it doesn't go my way. Which is a huge amount of reloads per mission. Timed missions are a great idea, if it occurred once every 7-10 missions, but not every mission with a few exceptions. 1 mistake makes you almost automatically fail the timer. How didJust can't play it like I want to.80% of missions that force you to rush with ridiculous timers. I spend my time reloading saved games when it doesn't go my way. Which is a huge amount of reloads per mission. Timed missions are a great idea, if it occurred once every 7-10 missions, but not every mission with a few exceptions. 1 mistake makes you almost automatically fail the timer. How did this AAA title pass play test and Beta with these timers?

    Difficulty curve of enemies is ridiculous. They start out with overpowered abilities, such as mind control and run behind cover, pull and immobilize, run and melee stun/kill attacks. They all have very high HP.

    Concealment is practically useless and can maybe allow you to get a first free shot.

    This would otherwise be a 8/10 if the timers were removed and I could actually play without reloading all the time. I could live through the initial extremely hard starting missions and having some failed missions, but the timer drops this from 8 to 4 rating.

    Can't even manage to get the mod working or find the timer address in CheatEngine in order to disable it.    … Expand
  28. DutchieSmurf
    Apr 28, 2016
    4
    This is a very boring and repetitive game. I see it more as a remake of the first game due to the lack of new features or gameplay elements. It is plagued with even more bugs than the first one and at the end of the day it's a just a mediocre strategy game...
  29. aimilios
    Aug 3, 2016
    4
    The game is simply too hard in normal mode (can't imagine more difficult settings). One can try more and more approaches by loading and try again, but at some point the game becomes unbeateable. If you even try to expand your team, there's not enough time to do it...
  30. hassall
    Feb 17, 2017
    4
    I spent more time trying to firgure out how to get my fps to run smoother than playing the game, i dont understand why this game runs so badly. The enemies in this game has all the luck and in my first mission 3 of my men died. Im just gonner wait until they patch it or somehthing.
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Awards & Rankings

8
#8 Best PC Game of 2016
6
#6 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016
19
#19 Most Shared PC Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 104 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 97 out of 104
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 104
  3. Negative: 1 out of 104
  1. Wccftech
    Apr 22, 2016
    80
    Firaxis managed to improve upon the already great Enemy Unknown in almost every way, with the exception of multiplayer. Unfortunately, the shockingly bad performance prevents XCOM 2 from reaching the status of a true masterpiece.
    Read full review
  2. High-Def Digest
    Apr 10, 2016
    90
    It is a tactical experience without peer, better even than its predecessors. It is draining and agonizing, but in a good way. The high difficulty may turn off some gamers, but it’s worth every second.
    Read full review
  3. IGN Denmark
    Apr 6, 2016
    90
    XCOM 2 is a gem. There is more story in the game, and the ending does not feel as abrupt as it did in the first game.
    Read full review
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