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. raorian
    Feb 5, 2016
    9
    This is more of a summary of other reviews because people keep rating 0/10:
    +This is a great game in the tactical sense and why professional reviews love it.
    -Graphic design is bad according to most opinions. and isn't as good as in trailers. i think most people don't like the simplistic futuristic stuff. me too. -a lot of optimization issues and some people recommend waiting for    This is more of a summary of other reviews because people keep rating 0/10:
    +This is a great game in the tactical sense and why professional reviews love it.
    -Graphic design is bad according to most opinions. and isn't as good as in trailers. i think most people don't like the simplistic futuristic stuff. me too.
    -a lot of optimization issues and some people recommend waiting for patches before playing.
    I wait for patches anyway because crashing the game on ironman can be a serious pain.    … Expand
  2. sickysickybrah
    Feb 7, 2016
    10
    Alien attacks my soldier and causes him to panic.
    My soldier turns around and throws a grenade blasting his squadmates and blowing their cover.
    Enemies finish off my squad. It's ironman mode and I am now doomed and must restart. How I love XCOM! 11/10 will die again Game is awesome-If you like XCOM 1 or tactical turn based strategy, it's a must have. Compared to XCOM 1:    Alien attacks my soldier and causes him to panic.
    My soldier turns around and throws a grenade blasting his squadmates and blowing their cover.
    Enemies finish off my squad.
    It's ironman mode and I am now doomed and must restart.
    How I love XCOM!

    11/10 will die again

    Game is awesome-If you like XCOM 1 or tactical turn based strategy, it's a must have.

    Compared to XCOM 1:
    -improved graphics
    -better story
    -more and better cutscenes
    -same edge of your seat difficulty
    -new soldier types and upgrades
    -tons of facility improvements and research
    -more destructible environments (i.e. threw a grenade at an enemy on the roof and roof blew apart making him fall to first floor)

    I have not experienced any performance issues that many are giving bad ratings for. My rig is: i7 4770k, 7970 ghz card, 16gb ram. It runs great at max settings.

    I honestly feel the game deserves a 9.5/10. It's almost perfect in my opinion. Tactical strategy games are my favorite genre, so YMMV    … Expand
  3. mayuyuyukirin
    Feb 5, 2016
    10
    Welcome back commander!
    +Good combat abilities
    +More enemies
    +Mod support
    +More soldier customization
    +Better story

    -Bug
    -Performace Issues

    Score 9.5/10
  4. sherbz
    Feb 5, 2016
    10
    Quite simply the game is brilliant. It looks gorgeous, it plays very well, and it is one hell of a challenge. If you liked X COM the original, then you simply have to buy this. They have improved practically everything about the original. This feels more much more dynamic. Gone are the days of satellite spamming your way to victory. This game provides meaningful choices throughout soQuite simply the game is brilliant. It looks gorgeous, it plays very well, and it is one hell of a challenge. If you liked X COM the original, then you simply have to buy this. They have improved practically everything about the original. This feels more much more dynamic. Gone are the days of satellite spamming your way to victory. This game provides meaningful choices throughout so that you really dont know which way you want to go. And i think that many different paths to victory will be possible. I think this is probably the best looking turn based game we have ever seen. Kudos to Firaxis on a job well done. A sure contender for game of the year. The only thing that slightly spoils it are a few buggy camera angles and some dodgy hang times, but you can forgive it that as they dont spoil the fun. And it is in infinitely better shape than most games when released. But the real gem of this is the mods. Oh my goodness what a year we have in store.… Expand
  5. Gareque
    Feb 5, 2016
    9
    Of the negative reviews I read, they seemed to be primarily "The game is too hard..." or "It runs like crap..."

    I am not saying the game runs without a hitch (hence the 9, rather than 10) but I get a strong feeling that the people saying this is making the game unplayable are playing it on **** rigs... I turned it down to high because I got a few drops in FPS when new enemies spawned    Of the negative reviews I read, they seemed to be primarily "The game is too hard..." or "It runs like crap..."

    I am not saying the game runs without a hitch (hence the 9, rather than 10) but I get a strong feeling that the people saying this is making the game unplayable are playing it on **** rigs... I turned it down to high because I got a few drops in FPS when new enemies spawned and some in the loading screens. Being turn based, NONE of this makes it unplayable... The game runs absolutely fine for me now, only very minor drops.

    As for difficulty... It's XCOM ffs. Don't jump in to a game that's designed to be difficult and then complain it's too hard and thus mark it down... A 1-3 is for genuinely 'bad' games, not because the reviewer sucks at it...

    I've been playing for 4 hours and have not yet lost a soldier (granted I currently sit with 4-5 out for the next 2 weeks, but that's expected) so no, the sectoids are NOT that hard to beat, even with the backup...

    Anyways, rant over stupid reviews over...

    Graphics - Not great, but they don't need to be. The art style is nice and fitting with the previous game, so in short it isn't ground breaking, but looks nice.

    Gameplay - Same as XCOM, little more difficult but not much so far. (Not X-Com - By that, I mean it doesn't have the "OMG I am going to smash my PC" of the originals, when a sectoid blows your entire team up as soon as you step off the lander).

    Story - Couldn't say yet, not far enough in but I'm enjoying it so far.

    Launch - Shaky, but not game breaking.

    As a staunch fan of XCOM and its predecessors, I can not recommend this enough IF you like the style of games.    … Expand
  6. Flendomo
    Feb 5, 2016
    10
    Absolutely one of the best games I've played in three years.

    I will not derate a game over minor bugs on launch (Almost every game has some problems at start) This is a fresh blow of air in the right direction, the gameplay is stunning, the new mechanics is stunning, the story is stunning. All in all, 9/10¨ Whether or not you find this useful, try remembering that prejudice over    Absolutely one of the best games I've played in three years.

    I will not derate a game over minor bugs on launch (Almost every game has some problems at start)

    This is a fresh blow of air in the right direction, the gameplay is stunning, the new mechanics is stunning, the story is stunning.

    All in all, 9/10¨
    Whether or not you find this useful, try remembering that prejudice over simple quirky bugs upon release day is rather foolish as there has hardly been one game without flaw upon release these past years.    … Expand
  7. kozzy420
    Feb 5, 2016
    10
    Better than Enemy Unknown in every single aspect. It isn't perfect though as there are some performance issues and some bugs. Still the performance issues are just one aspect of the game, everything else is vastly improved over Xcom EU. From the improved combat, to improved base building, to the new concealment aspect and so much more. This is how you do a sequel! Improve everything!Better than Enemy Unknown in every single aspect. It isn't perfect though as there are some performance issues and some bugs. Still the performance issues are just one aspect of the game, everything else is vastly improved over Xcom EU. From the improved combat, to improved base building, to the new concealment aspect and so much more. This is how you do a sequel! Improve everything!

    Yes the performance issues suck, but this is one thing out of so many things this game does perfect. If you love turn based games or the Xcom series, pick this up ASAP or if you are on the fence maybe wait for a patch or two to come for the performance issues.

    Nothing gamebreaking but it can be annoying, especially when everything else in the game is so damn well made.    … Expand
  8. testiq12345
    Feb 5, 2016
    10
    While in need of some optimization, overall XCOM 2 is huge leap forward for the franchise that should please both new and old fans alike!

    PS Turning off MXSAA should help with FPS.
  9. vendeta
    Feb 5, 2016
    10
    Xcom 2 is one of the best strategies in history,the same as xcom only 20 cooler at all.Yes optimization is lame,but I think I will correct in the patches.
  10. upThere
    Feb 5, 2016
    9
    I really enjoyed the entirety of XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Good game design is my thing - and the combination of suspenseful tactical combat with strategic base/resource management achieves a campaign way more than the sum of it's parts. Firaxis' design is flawless. I've only played 4 hours of XCOM 2, but so far this game has delivered at or above my expectations in every meaningful way - II really enjoyed the entirety of XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Good game design is my thing - and the combination of suspenseful tactical combat with strategic base/resource management achieves a campaign way more than the sum of it's parts. Firaxis' design is flawless. I've only played 4 hours of XCOM 2, but so far this game has delivered at or above my expectations in every meaningful way - I can't wait to uncover more!… Expand
  11. RedWallcreeper
    Feb 5, 2016
    10
    It is a very cool game with a tactical missions which makes you think strategically and think twice about every your step, This is exactly what I want to feel from a strategy. Good Job!
  12. Marq
    Feb 5, 2016
    10
    Great game. It's a more fast paced version of the first but with more goodies and customization. Though this one has way more surprises than the first.
  13. obamonkey
    Feb 5, 2016
    10
    If you take a look at the bad reviews, they're mostly by console gamers who're enamored with COD and BF, and who're complaining that this game is punishing. This game isn't a first person shooter. This game is also going to be difficult. If you're expecting to walk over the enemy AI, you're going to have a bad time.

    Pros: - Complex strategic layer - Amazing randomized map generation    If you take a look at the bad reviews, they're mostly by console gamers who're enamored with COD and BF, and who're complaining that this game is punishing. This game isn't a first person shooter. This game is also going to be difficult. If you're expecting to walk over the enemy AI, you're going to have a bad time.

    Pros:
    - Complex strategic layer
    - Amazing randomized map generation
    - Solid story
    - Good/Not great graphics
    - Extremely moddable
    - Difficult and challening

    Cons:
    - Small bugs here and there that should get patched in the next couple of days    … Expand
  14. Myon-Neutrino
    Oct 26, 2017
    9
    Original Comment from early 2016: I´m a "newcomer" in round-based games and discovered XCOM when Enemy Unknown/within happened and I immediately fell in love with it! So i was looking forward to the new game. I´ve played Xcom 2 for about 15 hours on normal difficulty, when the ultimate rage-quit happened. This game annoyed me with all its rushed demands all the time: Go and get supplies,Original Comment from early 2016: I´m a "newcomer" in round-based games and discovered XCOM when Enemy Unknown/within happened and I immediately fell in love with it! So i was looking forward to the new game. I´ve played Xcom 2 for about 15 hours on normal difficulty, when the ultimate rage-quit happened. This game annoyed me with all its rushed demands all the time: Go and get supplies, go and rescue valen, go and rescue engineers, don´t forget all those damn avatar-upgrades, keep your avenger-micromanagements going, do this, do that - all simultaneously. Ridiculously tight timers in a lot of missions and a general let-down in the whole round-based gameplay concept by introducing that damn ruler-reactions every single time. The rulers are too hard, their actions are illogical and random, I don´t get it. And still the performance sucks (22-28FPS with a i7 4790K / Radeon 7970 GHz Ed. OC machine @ medium/high settings) What a disappointment. ( I gave it a rating of 5 )

    Update 27.10.2017:
    I recently figured out there is a XCOM2 Mod which disables those ridiculous timers during some missions so I gave it another shot with that Mod activated. Now I´m about 30 hours in and the gameflow is fluid and fair, that Mod improved XCOM2 overwhelmingly! No rants or rage anymore, but a fun time and still difficult as hell, at least for me. The performance and overall graphics got better (Using a i7 6700K / AMD RX 480 / 16GB RAM / Samsung 850 SSD Rig, 45-60FPS during actual gameplay @ FHD / Max Details. Cutscenes however sometimes stutter and got some framedrops). You have to install this game on a SSD for the loading times to be acceptable. Also a lot of bugfixing and balancing happened, further there exist some really well done DLCs now. I´m genuinely impressed and upgraded my score to 9 (WITH disabled timer mod activated)! Without that mod I´d still rate this a 5 or 6... Buy, mod and enjoy!    … Expand
  15. StanleyStinklip
    Mar 13, 2016
    8
    Updated:
    Their big patch on March 10th picked the game up off the mat. It's now working properly enough to do what it says on the tin, and it does it very well. It's a strong game that improves on its predecessor in almost every area that it needed to. If you like XCOM:EU/EW then you should like this.
  16. lordzzz
    Feb 6, 2016
    10
    Horrible performance. Too hard missions / timer. No multi platform. Graphics are bland. Blatant failure until fixed. Dont buy or rent. Not worth it...
  17. SYLOH
    Feb 8, 2016
    9
    I love this game.
    I've been seeing alot of people complaining that the turn limited objectives make the game less tactical.
    This is a position I don't understand. That's like saying having a limited budget in a management sim less managerial. There is no real time counter ticking down, you have to be tactical in your approach to survive the turn limit. None of the missions require you    I love this game.
    I've been seeing alot of people complaining that the turn limited objectives make the game less tactical.
    This is a position I don't understand. That's like saying having a limited budget in a management sim less managerial.
    There is no real time counter ticking down, you have to be tactical in your approach to survive the turn limit. None of the missions require you to kill all of the aliens within the turn limit anyway. You have to make the tactical decisions that let you turn off the timer. You got alot of tools in your belt to get to the timer location, armor that lets you walk through walls, remote hacking with a specialist, blasting a hole in a wall with explosives, a ranger that is still in concealment while the rest of the team lays down fire, the list goes on.
    The turn limit reinforces the theme of the game and provides a link between the overworld strategy and the low level tactics. You are on the clock, humanity's days are numbered, if you take too long the aliens will win. You are a desperate and hounded resistance movement going against incredible odds.
    Another criticism is the reliance on random events. Which I define as a core feature of the gameplay. This game is all about managing risk. You don't put all your Colonels in one mission, you don't dash out max distance into the fog of war, your plans don't rely on a single point of failure. All this risk management has to be weighed against the clock, adding another layer of complexity.
    Finally there are the bugs. This I have no counter to, the game is buggy as hell. Granted the majority of the bugs are graphical, and I haven't run into anything particularly game breaking. Also the text in item descriptions and tooltips outright lies in some places. (HINT: The haywire protocol tooltip is a lie, turrets are NOT permanently under your control). This knocks it down from a 10, but it's otherwise one of the best turn based games in the current market.    … Expand
  18. Filaton
    Feb 6, 2016
    8
    + The tactical gameplay seems a lot more deep than it was in vanilla XCOM 1. The newly implemented hacking mechanics, melee attacks and more meaningful classes.
    + Plethora of enemies, all by far more troublesome than in XCOM 1; Expect sectoids to give you some early game havoc.
    + Pretty visuals, character customization makes it just hurt that much more when your top operatives get iced.    + The tactical gameplay seems a lot more deep than it was in vanilla XCOM 1. The newly implemented hacking mechanics, melee attacks and more meaningful classes.
    + Plethora of enemies, all by far more troublesome than in XCOM 1; Expect sectoids to give you some early game havoc.
    + Pretty visuals, character customization makes it just hurt that much more when your top operatives get iced.
    + Normal difficulty is no longer a walk in the park like it was in XCOM 1.
    - Poor optimization, I'm running a GTX 750 Ti, which isn't that far off the recommended GTX 770, but I'm still getting awful fps in the base and on some missions with a lot of vegetation. My fps is 30-25 on moderate settings at best.
    - The use of the turn-limit system is a little excessive. While I've had no problems getting it done on normal difficulty, I think the game's difficulty should come from dealing with the alien hordes and the troublesome combinations they can bring up, not having this constant race against the clock. I'd rather risk additional alien reinforcements than having my troops terminated because I didn't make the clock.
    - Strategic campaign seems a little too punishing on normal difficulty. Even though I've nailed every mission so far with minimal casualties(and 2-3 savescums), I'm lagging far off on the Avatar project. I've probably made some bad choices along the road, but I feel like normal shouldn't be that merciless yet. I don't want to lower the difficulty just because of that, as I have no problems in dealing with the aliens mano a mano.

    CONCLUSION:
    The XCOM 2 will without a doubt be a good game in my book after a few patches and/or some possible modding. Reason I'm not rating it higher is because I feel like the game should be playable on Day One without any extra tinkering being needed.

    After reading some of the fellow reviewers thoughts, I feel like people didn't inspect what they were buying at all. Complaining about a 95% shot missing: that's XCOM, baby. Complaining about lucky shots or unpredictable events screwing things up: that's XCOM, baby. This game was simply never intended for these people. I understand the complaints about turn-timer missions as there was only maybe one mission with a turn-timer in XCOM1.    … Expand
  19. Jimsin
    Mar 7, 2016
    10
    I'm dismayed by some of the negative reviews here. I've been a fan of XCOM since the original, and this is by far the best incarnation of the game. The developers have listened to all the feedback from XCOM EU, and created a thing of beauty. People are complaining about the timers, but they make missions exciting & force you to take risks, not just sit there chin-stroking. Short of someI'm dismayed by some of the negative reviews here. I've been a fan of XCOM since the original, and this is by far the best incarnation of the game. The developers have listened to all the feedback from XCOM EU, and created a thing of beauty. People are complaining about the timers, but they make missions exciting & force you to take risks, not just sit there chin-stroking. Short of some optimisation problems I'm sure will soon be fixed, this is the game I've always dreamed of.… Expand
  20. Hohum
    Feb 7, 2016
    8
    Hello, Commander. You've been busted out of an Advent prison to frantically charge your way across maps in 8 turns or less. The aliens don't know that you're here, but that cache/computer/VIP/whatever is going to spontaneously combust in around 5 minutes anyway. Also, you're going to have to strategically command your troops at 10 fps each time the camera decides to move an inch. GoodHello, Commander. You've been busted out of an Advent prison to frantically charge your way across maps in 8 turns or less. The aliens don't know that you're here, but that cache/computer/VIP/whatever is going to spontaneously combust in around 5 minutes anyway. Also, you're going to have to strategically command your troops at 10 fps each time the camera decides to move an inch. Good luck, Commander (you're gonna need it).

    Let's start with the timed missions. I hated them at first. They completely change the dynamic of what an XCOM game has always been - slow, tactical and methodical progress across any given map to thoroughly obliterate your foe. That being said, they're growing on me. I still feel there are too many of them and the timer should start when concealment is broken, but they definitely add a feeling of urgency to the game which we haven't had before. A bit of patching here, and some modding there, and they could work pretty well.

    Secondly - the performance ranges to woeful to "wow, are these screenshots?". My Core i7 / 980 GTX can blast through the latest games on Ultra settings without a care in the world, but seems to develop some sort of crippling illness each time XCOM2.exe is fired up. Again, something I hope to be patched and modded in the near future.

    All that aside, it's more of the same (but better) from XCOM:EO. Those many little annoyances and quirks from 2012's game have been improved dramatically. I plan to play this one for a good long time, but really you should hold off for a major patch or two before checking it out. No sense in letting some day-one disappointments ruin what should be an awesome experience.    … Expand
  21. cordiquasso
    Mar 22, 2016
    10
    I created the account to tell you that the game is awesome and I have no idea how you can rate it as low as 7. Most of the negative user reviews are unfounded and misleading, and I’m afraid you just don’t understand and can’t properly use the game mechanics if you say the game is too difficult or not fair.

    In short: Definitely play it! If you loved XCom:EU you’ll love this one as well.    I created the account to tell you that the game is awesome and I have no idea how you can rate it as low as 7. Most of the negative user reviews are unfounded and misleading, and I’m afraid you just don’t understand and can’t properly use the game mechanics if you say the game is too difficult or not fair.

    In short: Definitely play it! If you loved XCom:EU you’ll love this one as well. Despite some performance issues the game gives tons of fun and instant satisfaction with every successful mission. The new mechanics works great, new skills are inventive, missions challenging and new alien species won’t let you get bored. It’s insanely rewarding and you’ll forget about the world around you.

    My specs:
    rig: i5 3570, 16GB RAM, GTX 970, SSD
    game difficulty: Veteran (normal)
    play style: completionist
    missions won: 44 (25 flawless, 0 dead soldiers)
    patch: minor and later in game major
    game time: 60h

    Let’s have a look at most discussed issues:

    Performance:
    Yes, the game is poorly optimized. On my pc at full HD with AA off I get around 70fps. The rest of the settings is on high. Which is good but there are drops in frame rate now and then, especially during mission loading screen. Last mission also caused some fps drops. Having said that, it doesn’t affect the gameplay but leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Lazy work Firaxis.

    Bugs/glitches:
    During my 60h playthrough I didn’t have a single crash or a hang-up. Action camera works fine. There are some occasional screen obstructions here and there. Also, the final mission was a glitch-o-rama, but a save reload fixed it. Nothing even remotely game breaking. But it could be better.
    Story: Nothing to complain about. Nothing to be ecstatic about either.

    Difficulty/turn timers:
    Too difficult, not fair, no room for strategic gameplay, mindless rushing? Bollocks. If you know the game mechanics, can use the skills at your disposal, know how cover works and how to disable it, use a healthy composition of your squad than you should have no problems at all. At least on Veteran difficulty. Don’t overuse overwatch. Yes, you will use save/load frequently, just to probe the ground and maybe count for a better roll, but that’s a part of the game. In fact, after completing the game it says ‘average turns left on mission timers’ 2.74. I deliberately stalled the evacuation of my team just to wait for more alien reinforcements (=more exp).

    Load times:
    On my SSD mission load screens between instant and 15sec. No complaints at all. Saving the game is instant and loading takes about 5sec. (tip: delete old saves in game folder to speed up saving).

    Ridiculously not fair hit %:
    To be honest, I can’t complain. It was fair to me, I guess. Not even a single 100% miss. 90%? Yes, sometimes, but very rarely. Just flank your enemies, destroy their cover and boost aim stat. Use weapon upgrades, PCS and abilities. Remember that overwatch has some hit penalty.

    Concealment:
    Great new mechanics. Works perfectly. When you know how to do it. Use a scout (some abilities are useful here) to find enemies, put everyone (except 1 shooter) on overwatch, use the shooter (preferably grenadier) to throw a grenade or shoot at the group of enemies. They take damage and run for cover. As they run your team shoots from concealment overwatch (no penalty). Profit. Just use your head and you’ll use this mechanics to your advantage. Again, don’t criticize something if you don’t know how it works.

    Enemies see and attack through the walls:
    Ummm….what?

    No height advantage:
    Yes, there is.

    Music:
    Very strong point in favor of the game. Just love it. It’s tense when it should be (team loadout screen!). Although after 40h it can get repetitive and a bit boring. More tracks would be welcome. Still listening to it after having finished the game.

    To sum it up, after reading many negative user reviews I thought the game would be rubbish. It is not. It’s pure gold. So I decided to do it justice. Definitely one of the best games I’ve ever played. So rewarding and immensely addictive. It puts a big smile on your face and pats you on the back after every successful hit. Good job, commander.    … Expand
  22. Grimm345
    Feb 5, 2016
    10
    Xcom 2 feels exactly how the sequel to Xcom 1 should. It has everything i loved in the first game and just more added on to it. The stealth mechanic is fun and adds diversity especially when using some higher tiered soldiers who can duck in and out of stealth. The new found overlay map adds a lot to the decision making process of what type of supplies i need at the moment

    This is not    Xcom 2 feels exactly how the sequel to Xcom 1 should. It has everything i loved in the first game and just more added on to it. The stealth mechanic is fun and adds diversity especially when using some higher tiered soldiers who can duck in and out of stealth. The new found overlay map adds a lot to the decision making process of what type of supplies i need at the moment

    This is not a "perfect game" but it is a perfect xcom game. Bugs are occasional and are always going to be around on launch (What little there is)

    It seems to me the majority of negative comments don't like the difficulty or the fact that numerous missions are timed. Unfortunately for those people they must not know Xcom because the pure fact that it is difficult, grueling, and punishing is what makes it shine. You will never forget those soldiers who fell under your command. I don't think I've ever been so torn up with deaths in a strategy game.
    The percentage system (Thank god) seems overhauled from the original in that over 70% is pretty guaranteed a kill so no more standing with your shot gun up someones bum and watching your man hit the ceiling.
    There is much more i can say positive about this game but if you are honestly still reading this review and haven't scoffed at-least 3 teams at my remarks you should just go out and buy it. Its like the old Xcom's but better!    … Expand
  23. op8
    Feb 7, 2016
    9
    Putting aside the complaints I've heard about performance, of which I don't have any since I turned down AA, switch off DoF, and had to turn on V Sync; the game is a masterpiece. If you loved the previous game and are not afraid of being removed from your comfort zone of how you used to play, then you will love every second of this glorious game. The saltiness over the occasional timedPutting aside the complaints I've heard about performance, of which I don't have any since I turned down AA, switch off DoF, and had to turn on V Sync; the game is a masterpiece. If you loved the previous game and are not afraid of being removed from your comfort zone of how you used to play, then you will love every second of this glorious game. The saltiness over the occasional timed missions is hilarious. Firaxis have built another challenge for us to get our heads around, accept it and stop acting like children. If you actually continue with the game and make some serious progression you would understand. The complaints of the Advent timer and demands to remove it are equally hilarious. This is a core concept of the lore for this game, get over it. Buy this game now. 8.5/10 as it is now, but with some patches to fix some hang ups and graphical glitches this will be an easy 9/10. BUY THIS GAME NOW & IGNORE THE IDIOTS!!… Expand
  24. ihab86
    Feb 6, 2016
    10
    What astounds me about XCOM 2 is how often it’s not **** With such high stakes and so many intertwining systems constantly pushing the player forward, it could easily have devolved into a hair-trigger, save-scumming frustration fest. It doesn’t. XCOM 2 masterfully creates the illusion that the odds are completely against you, while giving you numerous opportunities to Rocky your way backWhat astounds me about XCOM 2 is how often it’s not **** With such high stakes and so many intertwining systems constantly pushing the player forward, it could easily have devolved into a hair-trigger, save-scumming frustration fest. It doesn’t. XCOM 2 masterfully creates the illusion that the odds are completely against you, while giving you numerous opportunities to Rocky your way back to the top. You’ve just gotta stay nimble. You’ve just gotta think.… Expand
  25. RangerMiG
    Feb 5, 2016
    10
    The game is a 10 and I didn't rate it that to troll with the Zero idiots! It's the perfect continuation to the XCOM series,yet it feels independent on its own and it improves so much in terms of gameplay, technicalities and story over its predecessor. The graphics are excellent in par of what you expect from turn-based tactics genre Forget about tall the negativity in some review they areThe game is a 10 and I didn't rate it that to troll with the Zero idiots! It's the perfect continuation to the XCOM series,yet it feels independent on its own and it improves so much in terms of gameplay, technicalities and story over its predecessor. The graphics are excellent in par of what you expect from turn-based tactics genre Forget about tall the negativity in some review they are either sore consolers or some MOBA freaks who never played this genre. The game has steep learning curve for newbies and punishing gameplay for veterans but it's the most rewarding game you can play on your PC right now! Now, there are few bugs like few stuttering here and then but i'm sure it's gonna be patched nothing will effect your overall gaming experience.… Expand
  26. Jimmious
    Feb 6, 2016
    10
    XCOM 2 is an improved version of XCOM in every way possible. More options, better strategic and tactical gameplay, everything is there.
    I guess there are performance issues, since people mention that a lot, but I didn't have any.
    A good thing to notice is how nicely the Firaxis people got the players out of the comfort zone by including the timers in many missions who need a completely    XCOM 2 is an improved version of XCOM in every way possible. More options, better strategic and tactical gameplay, everything is there.
    I guess there are performance issues, since people mention that a lot, but I didn't have any.
    A good thing to notice is how nicely the Firaxis people got the players out of the comfort zone by including the timers in many missions who need a completely different approach and this is obviously enraging people who wanted to win the game by playing it the same way, by overwatch creeping. That is not going to work anymore people, you have to think anew!    … Expand
  27. Whitehood
    Feb 5, 2016
    10
    Found so many reviews speaking that this is a extremely difficult game and because of this 0/10. WTF?! Xcom 2 have same issues but it is still very good and qualitative game.
  28. cca1977
    Feb 6, 2016
    10
    A brilliant concept coupled with smart design choices results in a hugely rewarding game that over-delivers in almost every area. best strategy game ever.
  29. james1231
    Feb 6, 2016
    10
    XCOM 2 review: Best-in-class tactical battles with a new sense of style
    Sequel greatly improves on character and setting without ruining the gameplay..
  30. BossZW
    Feb 6, 2016
    10
    I read a lot of negative comments so far... While I can understand them from people experiencing technical problems due to poor optimisation at launch and while that type of game isn't for everyone, I really think the metacritic score based on players reviews is biaised and doesn't bring justice to the game.

    First, I am of the lucky ones for which the game runs like butter. A lot of    I read a lot of negative comments so far... While I can understand them from people experiencing technical problems due to poor optimisation at launch and while that type of game isn't for everyone, I really think the metacritic score based on players reviews is biaised and doesn't bring justice to the game.

    First, I am of the lucky ones for which the game runs like butter. A lot of folks with better configs are experiencing issues right now, while I don't with my old Phenom II, 12 go of ram and a gtx 960. Lack of optimisation at launch is irratating at best when you pay the high price for a new release, that I can understand.

    But the game, when it works, is a jewel as much as Enemy Unknown was in it's own right. Like many critics, I think the game expands on the previous iteration and really shines when it gets to immersion, squad control and personalization. I really care for my team and did put some time to choose their look, their voices and backgrounds. Those guys are bleeding, dying to save mankind and choosing the right strategies to keep them alive while doing so is intense, fun and rewarding.

    Once started, the game is hard to stop and while playing it, the time disappear: this is the sign of a great game. If you loved the first, I can't understand why you wouldn't love this one. The music, the story, the missions, gadgets... everything is there with new paths, graphics and options. A lot of mechanics have improved if you ask me, but even if you don't agree, there's a lot to love here.

    I suggest you wait for some patches if you fear of facing issues, but otherwise, go ahead and buy it with confidence as it is an easy recommandation.    … Expand
  31. TOPO
    Mar 6, 2016
    10
    I'm a HUGE fan of XCOM (UFO Enemy Unkown here in Europe) since the times I played with my 286. I really like how the new XCOM changed many things that could be remembered with nostalgia from the old one but are a huge useless time sinks (item collection, Action Points micromanagement, useless bases to be managed only to use hangar and storage, primed grenade rookies to open doors... theI'm a HUGE fan of XCOM (UFO Enemy Unkown here in Europe) since the times I played with my 286. I really like how the new XCOM changed many things that could be remembered with nostalgia from the old one but are a huge useless time sinks (item collection, Action Points micromanagement, useless bases to be managed only to use hangar and storage, primed grenade rookies to open doors... the old one actually had many flaws) and now XCOM2 instead of repeating the xcom like by like (just like terror from the deep did) it removes some mechanics and dives into some new ones that really spices up the game.
    Everything is focused in the "you're the resistance" concept instead of "you're the first line of defense" from XCOM, and it really catches it... people complains about no fighters nor interceptions... but that really makes no sense in this Resistance set up. Most of the time (strategical) you are willing to make the right choices about days spent and base movement.
    About the new mechanics, both stealth and hackings works pretty well... again, there are a LOT of haters, but after a few frustrating plays... you get the feeling of it, and with a couple of leveled up commandos, you can really take advantage, forcing the attention on your heavys with sniper support while your commando rushes stealthy for the objective. Even with time limits, you can really set up everything to pop-up your cover just to achieve the mission and back to the skyranger without having to kill but a couple of aliens.
    The new installment is just great, and the addition of random generated maps result in sometimes frustrating sometimes great but always FUN and NEW sets to fight for your live and species.
    10 out of 10    … Expand
  32. Weedus
    Mar 12, 2016
    9
    I dont realy liked X-Com 1,the Battle was too boring.But now in Part 2 the Battle is much more intresting.
    The Maps itself are made realy well and leave a lot of tactical Options,the new Soldier Skills works much betterr and overall,it feels as good as the original X-Com Enemy Unknown 2 Decades ago.
    And to the Guys who compare about the Turn Limit on some Missions...the Turns are always    I dont realy liked X-Com 1,the Battle was too boring.But now in Part 2 the Battle is much more intresting.
    The Maps itself are made realy well and leave a lot of tactical Options,the new Soldier Skills works much betterr and overall,it feels as good as the original X-Com Enemy Unknown 2 Decades ago.
    And to the Guys who compare about the Turn Limit on some Missions...the Turns are always fair..you just dont have to walk half steps and go to firecover even there isnt a single Enemy on Map,then you can make it with 2-3 Turns Left without a Problem.Only over-hesitating over-carefully Players will get a Problem with the Time Limit.    … Expand
  33. rami12
    Feb 6, 2016
    10
    great game. best in the series. every review that says otherwise is bullsh**. pc master race. i will play this game for weeks for sure. i hope everyone buys it.
  34. EstariaValens
    Feb 6, 2016
    8
    I am surprised how many people are marking this game down for, what seems to me, ridiculous issues.

    1) Inventory management isn't gone. Anyone who says that, either hasn't played the game at all, or hasn't completed the tutorial. 2) A 95% shot misses 5% of the time. Not often, but it would behoove you to not put yourself in a position where a miss will cause instant death. I'm    I am surprised how many people are marking this game down for, what seems to me, ridiculous issues.

    1) Inventory management isn't gone. Anyone who says that, either hasn't played the game at all, or hasn't completed the tutorial.

    2) A 95% shot misses 5% of the time. Not often, but it would behoove you to not put yourself in a position where a miss will cause instant death. I'm sure those people aren't complaining about the one time a 5% shot hit.

    3) Just because someone rushes from point A to point B doesn't mean there are no other options. In most missions, I have had no issue developing tactical approaches; including split squad movement and ambushes. The people who complain about this are those that didn't bother to try.

    4) I am surprised how many people are comparing this to the 1994 game, rather than the recent remake this is actually the sequel to. The people comparing it to that old game are suffering from nostalgia glasses. If they actually went back and played that game right before this one, I wonder how low they would score that Xcom?

    Those are the primary problems I have read that people have with the game. Because anyone who marks a game down for optimization problems on first launch isn't very intelligent. If the game remains unoptimized, then there is cause to mark the game down. Not on day 1.

    With all that said, you may be wondering why I only gave the game an 8/10. It's tough to put my finger on exactly what was off about this game

    There are several new and interesting mechanics included; like carrying injured teammates out and enemies dropping items. I liked the look and feel of the mission select screen, and the more specific utility of engineers (rather than just having passive "engineers" you can assign each engineer to tasks). I liked the flying fortress concept, and I am a fan of leaving the air war out (for the most part).

    I do agree that the story, though it starts off interesting enough, seems a bit rushed. The method for getting new rebels in your camp is fine, it just seems like each step is a little too big. (1 week and all of Asia is on your side? Sorry. Not even close to believable.) Now that is likely a limitation of developing a game like this, but I still have to hit the game for it. Story, after all, is an important part of any game.

    I think, at the end of the day, I just felt that the new mechanisms were under-utilized. It's one of those games where you can see so much potential, but some of it is wasted. Undoubtedly the modders will make this into a truly epic game; but the base game is very good, but a little disappointing.    … Expand
  35. TheSon
    Feb 7, 2016
    10
    This game is simply amazing in so many ways. It is like a chess game but with a great setting.
    People are complaining about the time limit on some missions. 1st of all, the time is not limited on all missions and 2nd, frankly when it is, it pushes you to be a better military strategist.
    And you still have the time to think and figure out the best approach to the mission. Like I said it    This game is simply amazing in so many ways. It is like a chess game but with a great setting.
    People are complaining about the time limit on some missions. 1st of all, the time is not limited on all missions and 2nd, frankly when it is, it pushes you to be a better military strategist.
    And you still have the time to think and figure out the best approach to the mission. Like I said it is like a chess game but more awesome!

    I agree that the camera issues and the little hang time are sometimes annoying but in no way deter you from the great experience.

    My computer enables me to run this game way above the recommended specs but I noticed a huge framerate drop as soon as I enabled the MSAA above 2X, but at MSAA 2X or below (FXAA) it is great and smooth, other than that, no issues.

    This game deserves the title of game of the year, the first XCOM was great, this one is GREATER!
    Thank you Firaxis, you still need to fix the few bugs but overall your game is OUTSTANDING!    … Expand
  36. Pipemastersven
    Feb 24, 2016
    10
    This is the sort of game that the PC community should support -- PC exclusive, workshop from day 1 and is not an Early AAAccess title like so many AAA titles being released.
    The game itself is exactly what you want from a sequel - it builds on the original from everything from visuals, customisation, features and story elements. If people didn't like the first, they probably won't enjoy    This is the sort of game that the PC community should support -- PC exclusive, workshop from day 1 and is not an Early AAAccess title like so many AAA titles being released.
    The game itself is exactly what you want from a sequel - it builds on the original from everything from visuals, customisation, features and story elements. If people didn't like the first, they probably won't enjoy this. I understand the optimisation issues people with lesser systems have had - this should be addressed, but wasn't an issue for me - so it gets a 10    … Expand
  37. Batushai
    Feb 24, 2016
    10
    I love X-Com and i'm happy to say X-Com 2 is amazing. It's not a dramatic difference, but it's still surprisingly useful things there. Timer make the game more challenging. Enemies are very deadly as always, let's just say a bit more refined this time. I love surprises like the Shapeshifters, or the new Sectopod, these things are huge! Be careful, this game can be very addictive! :)
  38. Metas
    Mar 28, 2016
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I think it is an excellent game if you can learn to tolerate the resource hog of an engine that runs it.
    But the thing is, it is not hard. I played on commander (3rd) difficulty with self-regulated iron man mode. I just had one character (modeled after my wife) that I didn't want to lose. So I wowed to only load if I lost her, and this happened just once. To be specific, battles are maybe slightly harder than previous versions (first few battles should always be considered a proving ground for inexperienced crew) and that "shaken" status is just badly badly implemented. Unlike most I loved the sense of urgency turn counter in many missions gave me. My first lost soldier was not killed but captured because I failed to evac him in time. But my problem is not the slightly harder battle, Your crew is meant to die and you should feel the burn. it is the childishly easy global strategy.

    I understand the new system is much more promising than the original which just required you to spam satellites. But this one is too easy. Flag a few zones and you are set to go. There are no more irreversible losses on the global map. No bothering to cover the globe to improve reaction times since you ALWAYS get there in time. You can skip half the missions and make up for it by contacting regions, building radio towers and sabotaging facilities. (At least I suspect if I played in insane difficulty it would be viable). In both my playthroughs countdown mode only triggered when I willfully allowed it (because it looks pretty cool). I wish there was separate difficulty setting for battles and strategy, I would certainly increase the global strategy difficulty without making my battles any more harder..    … Expand
  39. thel4mb
    Mar 31, 2016
    10
    Yes, the design has changed, but it is still xcom - only better. I love the time limit in certain mission, it really forces you to pick a different strategy, depending on the mission - over are the "always on overwatch and waiting for things to happen" missions.

    Some are complaining about the difficulty and that the game is unfair: It is not - with the right strategy you can master    Yes, the design has changed, but it is still xcom - only better. I love the time limit in certain mission, it really forces you to pick a different strategy, depending on the mission - over are the "always on overwatch and waiting for things to happen" missions.

    Some are complaining about the difficulty and that the game is unfair: It is not - with the right strategy you can master every mission. Of course some things depend on luck, but that's life.

    I played the game now for around 90 hours on commander ironman. Restarted it about 7-8 times. You will get better - and its a lot of fun. Overthink your strategies: The first 2-3 times I got wiped at the first retaliation mission, now I can manage it flawless. Or, if you are weak on manpower, don't do missions where you can't evac, you might get wiped.

    If you play it right it's a facinating story, don't expect to excel on every mission. You will lose soldiers, maybe fail in a misson, but other times you will succeed with the last possible second. So take the earth back, commander!    … Expand
  40. matt79
    Feb 10, 2016
    10
    This game improves significantly over the previous installment in pretty much every department. There are still some flaws in the design (timed missions too often), but this is entirely omittable as the game has a native support for mods. This and the amount of gametime (way, way over the average) I'll be getting out of this leaves me no choice but to give this a perfect 10. Firaxis - youThis game improves significantly over the previous installment in pretty much every department. There are still some flaws in the design (timed missions too often), but this is entirely omittable as the game has a native support for mods. This and the amount of gametime (way, way over the average) I'll be getting out of this leaves me no choice but to give this a perfect 10. Firaxis - you are seriously an insane time thief with XCOM and Civ franchises!… Expand
  41. Rockyboro
    Feb 7, 2016
    10
    Only performance issues otherwise its upgraded xcom. Overall it is decent and plays very well. Only timed missions sux big time. Still its better ok for a change.
  42. luislmf
    Feb 6, 2016
    10
    Awesome game, I love how there are several tactic layers interdependent. You need to decide what technologies to evolve, what missions to take, what soldiers to select to battle and on top of that you have the awesome battle tactics.
    This isnt a game for everyone, you need to think and some times to deal with frustration and keep pushing but its very rewarding.
  43. Hayward1066
    Feb 7, 2016
    8
    A very well done successor. If not the for the mod support i would of actually given it a 7 as many of the things i found irritating in the first game are still included such as small squad size and simplified base choices for example.

    I would take some of the low review scores from some people with a grain of salt as well (angry console players?). The most common complaint is the timed    A very well done successor. If not the for the mod support i would of actually given it a 7 as many of the things i found irritating in the first game are still included such as small squad size and simplified base choices for example.

    I would take some of the low review scores from some people with a grain of salt as well (angry console players?). The most common complaint is the timed missions removing the "tactical approach", no they dont, they just stop you cheesing the game with overwatch traps. You are in occupied territory of course there is going to be a response hence the timer. If its that much of a problem go into the core files and change it, or download a mod (there are several) from steam. The games "guts" are already fairly open and there are many things you can do to alter balance. I have already made several tweaks, its really easy.

    Another is the "unfair" % to hit system. Sorry your suffering from conformation bias. It can be maddening but that's why every action you take has a fall back plan, avoid last ditch attack scenarios like the plague. And the Psy operative's inspire is a literal life saver, use it as an "oh $£"$" button.

    I have experienced 1 CTD so far, and some slight slow down issues, not bad, but you may want to wait a week or two so Firaxis can role out an optimization patch as other people seem to having some problems. I have also not seen the shoot through walls bug, but i am just lucky i think.

    Overall its a very good game, with the same strengths and weaknesses as firaxis's first effort, however it is the modding community and the tools that are really going to extend the games life.    … Expand
  44. Tryium
    Feb 7, 2016
    9
    /! People need to stop whining about new features such as the "timer" to finish missions. AND PUT A F*CK*NG 0 BECAUSE OF IT /!

    WHY ? Because it's simply a huge improvement on tactical options. Even though you can't finish a mission with only 4 or 5 turns left ahead, it made EVERY decisions you made more important as ever. Each turn as to be think, like a CHESS GAME. Yes, like a    /! People need to stop whining about new features such as the "timer" to finish missions. AND PUT A F*CK*NG 0 BECAUSE OF IT /!

    WHY ?

    Because it's simply a huge improvement on tactical options. Even though you can't finish a mission with only 4 or 5 turns left ahead, it made EVERY decisions you made more important as ever. Each turn as to be think, like a CHESS GAME.

    Yes, like a chess game, because it's basically what XCOM2 is about : Measuring each turn, anticipating each situation. This is what i love in XCOM2, even though i'm more like a **** casual player who like perfection (definitly not here for the Iron Man Mode or whatever) and i'll reaload each turn where i've made a huge mistakes to understand what went wrong.

    BUT NOT EVERY MISSIONS ARE TIMED.

    Only most of the side missions, you have plenty of time to do your **** in most of campaign missions, and that's still pleasant.

    [END OF TIMED TURN MISSIONS REVIEW]

    For the whole game, well, it feels great to be back in the XCOM saga. The scenario is wayyyy better than the first one (which was more like a succession of non related missions). The new HQ system is just great and feel more realistic. The graphics are pretty good BUT it's not optimized yet, AT ALL. So handle to your patience. Even though it should have been done since the begining. It's still very pleasant to play, the game mechanics feels the same, with more props destructions. The new skill tree is just well balanced and so did the new customization system (even though it could have been great to have more masculin faces).
    The map management is more accessible and there's no more panic system (due to scenario reasons) which is a RELIEF (and i aint seen people talking about that). And you have now good reasons to let's the days flow.

    So far i've played 10H, and would played it for days...

    I'll give a 9 to re up the score a bit, but so far it would be a 7.5/10 because of the bad optimization.    … Expand
  45. ppoulsen2007
    Feb 7, 2016
    10
    Good mix of strategy and tactical combat. Love the timers, which forces you to take chances. Best game in a long time, that are not nerfed down to children level.
  46. Medare
    May 17, 2016
    10
    Best tactical game I ever played. It have nice graphic and addictive gameplay. You totally should buy it. Best game of the year or maybe of century...
  47. garhent
    Mar 7, 2016
    9
    I've got 186 hours played and beat it on ironman commander. It was difficult to pick up on the rules for kill priority in mobs to take down (hint Advent is your real enemy, then mechs then aliens) because it was counter intuitive. The game will make you think and force you to play it safe. This is the only xcom game that I've abandoned missions because it was better to lose the missionI've got 186 hours played and beat it on ironman commander. It was difficult to pick up on the rules for kill priority in mobs to take down (hint Advent is your real enemy, then mechs then aliens) because it was counter intuitive. The game will make you think and force you to play it safe. This is the only xcom game that I've abandoned missions because it was better to lose the mission than lose your squad. Its not a perfect 10 but its close. You will get your moneys worth and it will be a challenge.… Expand
  48. BigDegs29
    Sep 12, 2016
    8
    As much as I enjoyed the original XCOM, this one still improves. Somehow they managed to make everything easier to do, while also adding additional depth to the game. That's a difficult balance to get right! The game is highly addicting.

    Here's a caveat; it's been over 6 months since the game release, so I'm reviewing this based on the game after several patches. As far as I can    As much as I enjoyed the original XCOM, this one still improves. Somehow they managed to make everything easier to do, while also adding additional depth to the game. That's a difficult balance to get right! The game is highly addicting.

    Here's a caveat; it's been over 6 months since the game release, so I'm reviewing this based on the game after several patches. As far as I can tell, most of the bugs have been ironed out. The only bugs I seem to encounter is that sometimes the mouse jumps from tile to tile without your input.

    The other "bug" is more serious. As with its predecessor, the "hit probability" appears to be inaccurate at times. Not a lot of the time, but in a game where you rely heavily on the hit probability to make up your strategy and where the life the death of your squad is determined, it's incredibly important to have accurate information.

    I was playing a location and it came to a critical point where I had to make a short, otherwise several of my characters would die. The probably showed 60%, so I made the shot...missed. Normally I don't reload saves unless something catastrophic happens, but the death of half my squad and the impending failure of the mission made me reload. Again, I took the shot...missed. I reloaded again, and again, and again. All the same result: missed. I did this fifteen times in a row to see if the game really was screwy. All misses. Finally hit the 16th try.

    Now, that is statistically possible, but the odds are 1in 931323 that it happens.

    I've run into these situations numerous times. It's virtually impossible that those stats are completely accurate. It seems to me that the game sometimes misrepresents the hit probability to the player. For whatever reason. The game loses a point for this rare, but critical flaw.

    Another point is lost through repetition. One, timed missions are annoying unless used infrequently. The game is dominated by them. I modded them out. Two, they have limited number of mission types. Rescue the VIP, abduct the VIP, hack the terminal, plant charges, and kill all enemies. Hack and plant charges are basically the same type of mission, and rescue and abduct the VIP are basically the same. So three main types. But the biggest fault of them all: too many missions require that you completely neutralize alien forces, even in missions where it doesn't make sense. This undercuts their "concealment" mechanic, which is a great addition to the game. You should be able to complete missions in a variety of ways. If you're required to always kill all aliens, that type of gameplay gets boring after awhile.

    Other than those two gripes, the game is fantastic. I'm sure I'll end up putting 100 hours or so into it.    … Expand
  49. Cbcibryant
    Aug 29, 2016
    10
    This is one of my most favorites games. It is a tactical turn based strategy game. The critics are right: it can be unforging of mistakes. It is difficult. It takes a lot of patience. But if you spend time with the game it is absolutely addicting. You are always at a disadvantage. You are always juggling priorities. You are always worried to advance too fast or advance too slow. But thatThis is one of my most favorites games. It is a tactical turn based strategy game. The critics are right: it can be unforging of mistakes. It is difficult. It takes a lot of patience. But if you spend time with the game it is absolutely addicting. You are always at a disadvantage. You are always juggling priorities. You are always worried to advance too fast or advance too slow. But that what makes the game so fun. This is not a game that requires any dexterity. It is a game that requires a lot of thinking and creativity. Not everyone's cup of tea but it is certainly mine.… Expand
  50. BGGCriticalMass
    Feb 24, 2016
    8
    Sadly this game is several huge steps backwards from EU and EW. Performance, game design, game balance, pacing all worse than the predecessor. And for what? An attempt at improved graphics which has failed horribly in its execution (and not just the bugs - customisation is really disappointingly lacking - eg none of the faces look remotely asian many of the faces have the same features andSadly this game is several huge steps backwards from EU and EW. Performance, game design, game balance, pacing all worse than the predecessor. And for what? An attempt at improved graphics which has failed horribly in its execution (and not just the bugs - customisation is really disappointingly lacking - eg none of the faces look remotely asian many of the faces have the same features and most voices are almost the same), an attempt at a an interesting story but it has so little development among the very repetitive and poorly designed levels (yes the procedural maps are not really an improvement- what small gains they have in variety they lose in lack of realism and continuity) that the games development is painfully drawn out. None of the problems of the previous games have been dealt with effectively.
    Most damningly I haven't even finished the game once and I am have lost interest in it. I am having more fun going back to playing three different other games - something that never happened during EU or EW.    … Expand
  51. v364
    Feb 24, 2016
    10
    IRON MAN MODE ONLY!!!
    This game should not be loaded!!!!!
    Saving the game is basically CHEATING and takes away from the strategy and experience of losing a beloved soldier in the field and makes you plan two fire teams in the case one gets wiped!!!
    With the PSI lab it doesn't matter if you lose a hero any way.
    Those 8 turn evac mission really get your heart going :D
    11/10
  52. GeneralGonzo
    Feb 8, 2016
    10
    Maybe one of the best startegy games in years. A perfect improved XCOM with better graphics, deadlier aliens, more depth in character development, always new generated battlefields, many more options in the tactic (round based) part and more flexibility with the new flying HQ.
    All in all everything has been polished and improved since XCOM and if you have anyinterest in really good    Maybe one of the best startegy games in years. A perfect improved XCOM with better graphics, deadlier aliens, more depth in character development, always new generated battlefields, many more options in the tactic (round based) part and more flexibility with the new flying HQ.
    All in all everything has been polished and improved since XCOM and if you have anyinterest in really good strategy games, you can´t miss this.
    But beware of the difficulty - even without ironman mode on, you will be challenged hard. Nothing for rookies in this genre.
    Remember: Join us or become them !    … Expand
  53. heizendrat
    Feb 19, 2016
    9
    X - com erased all the flaws of the first episode and made ​​the experience even better , fabulous graphics, no concessions were made ​​to make the experience even more intense.

    This is in my opinion the best game of the year, Pro -S on GDC are in PLS especially Nightkin and its glorious Mongolian friends.
  54. spain1234
    Feb 6, 2016
    10
    The Good

    Familiar, superb tactical combat
    Great character customization
    Strong setting means a more distinct style
    Setting also makes gameplay choices more coherent

    The Bad

    Difficulty and progression don’t work well enough together
  55. yogibbear
    Feb 7, 2016
    10
    So... this game is amazing. Oh. My. God. It's sooooo much more epic and thrilling and painful and rewarding than XCOM:EU/EW. But it's retained all the good stuff about those games while returning to a little bit more of the fear and bat **** frustration of X-COM. Where when things go wrong, they can go really wrong. But this time around you get a lot of new gadgets, and skills, and ways ofSo... this game is amazing. Oh. My. God. It's sooooo much more epic and thrilling and painful and rewarding than XCOM:EU/EW. But it's retained all the good stuff about those games while returning to a little bit more of the fear and bat **** frustration of X-COM. Where when things go wrong, they can go really wrong. But this time around you get a lot of new gadgets, and skills, and ways of dealing with things even when situations feel like they're spiraling out of control. Tactically it rewards you for considering all of these options. You'll encounter enemies the first time and be like "WTF so OP, GTFO!". Then on your third or fourth encounter, there'll be 3 of these guys and you'll be like "yo squadie, here comes some tasty XP for you! get in there son/lassie!". This is no longer the painfully boring overwatch death march steamroller simulator 9000. Instead it forcefully encourages you to engage with the game and use a little more guerrilla warfare tactics. Mission seems impossible? Objective too far away and too many enemies keep coming in? Well why not just hack that enemy MEC trooper over yonder and get him to fire his missiles on that objective and then you can keep your team nice and safe in full cover right next to the evac point. Oh the game lets you do that? Oh the game lets you 1-shot kill a sectopod? Yeah, it does. And it is soooo sweet when it happens. 11/10. P.S. I'm ~20 hrs in on veteran difficulty. Running on 770GTX at 1440P with AA & AO turned off and shadows on medium @ 55 fps.… Expand
  56. Schuback
    Feb 26, 2016
    9
    Xcom 2 is a turn-based tactical strategy game. Xcom EU was one of the best PC games I've played. So how does Xcom 2 compare? Let me cut to the chase.

    Pros: - An overall improvement in terms of UI, gameplay, graphics. - Better squad customisation (spent hours editing their looks) - Challenging but can be ridiculously unfair at times (especially at the start with just 4 members    Xcom 2 is a turn-based tactical strategy game. Xcom EU was one of the best PC games I've played. So how does Xcom 2 compare? Let me cut to the chase.

    Pros:
    - An overall improvement in terms of UI, gameplay, graphics.
    - Better squad customisation (spent hours editing their looks)
    - Challenging but can be ridiculously unfair at times (especially at the start with just 4 members carrying poor weapons and armours)
    - Game encourages using your brains (most games don't these days)
    - More cutscenes / close up action scenes that look awesome
    - Story is better (not great but still better)
    - Good variety of enemy types
    - Chryssalid not as annoying this time
    - You get that satisfying feel when you win an unbalanced map
    - Mod support (Xcom EU mods were crap!!)

    Cons:
    -Bad performance (gtx980)
    - Very confusing at the start managing bases or keeping pace with the Alien's progress
    - Unfair battles at times (very frustrating when your squad misses even though they are standing in front of enemy with 90% hit rate. wtf)
    - You are always poor at start, then by mid till end you become to rich with nothing to invest in
    - Ugly face options (Hopefully mods will fix this soon)
    - Squad gets injured frequently and becomes unavailable for too long.
    - I use to enjoy visiting science lab in EU. Well not anymore this time.
    - Sectoids aren't cute anymore
    - Timers in lots of mission (WHY????)
    - Forced to proceed with missions and therefore speeding up gameplay time. Game is quite short and this makes it even shorter.
    - There are very few main missions. (It's mostly research this research that, then occasionally a battle in the main campaign). Why can't they make it like Civ 5 where you can play indefinitely???
    - Missions can get repetitive (VIP, bomb defusal, download data, eliminate all hostiles, destroy artifact)

    Overall, these problems are minor compared to what Xcom 2 has to offer. A very good game. And I truly enjoy playing it.    … Expand
  57. dkaizer
    Mar 15, 2016
    9
    Thoroughly enjoyed this second release in the franchise as it ironed out a lot of the issues in the first game and improved on many other gameplay aspects. Frame rates dipped now and then but it did not draw my attention away from the fantastic gameplay and customization offered to your soldiers.

    Liked the first game in 1994. Enjoyed the reboot in 2012. Loved the sequel in 2016.
  58. chronoT
    Mar 22, 2016
    8
    Besides a few setbacks XCOM 2 is fun to play and brings back some memories of the Final Fantasy Tactics days. The customization and building of your ship and team is spot on and I love how I can formulate a group from all over the world. A few annoyances though include the countdown timer on most missions, which can be disabled with a mod. Also, the game can be quite difficult andBesides a few setbacks XCOM 2 is fun to play and brings back some memories of the Final Fantasy Tactics days. The customization and building of your ship and team is spot on and I love how I can formulate a group from all over the world. A few annoyances though include the countdown timer on most missions, which can be disabled with a mod. Also, the game can be quite difficult and punishing, one wrong move and a major party member can die permanently, and many times you get screwed on percentages of landing attacks. lastly I believe Project Avatar builds up too fast and causes you to rush around in certain instances. Overall though I am glad I gave XCOM 2 a try because it offered something different that requires a bit of cleverness.… Expand
  59. theirrelephants
    Mar 7, 2016
    8
    Meet the new XCOM, the same as the old XCOM. Solid turn based shooter. With only two irritating things that keep it from being a 9/10.

    Pros: Better looking. New ayyys to kill. Story still good. Can customize soldiers and make them unique. Cons: Turn limit timer for nearly every mission, it blows. Equipment upgrade system dumbed down (once you get cool armor/weapons, every    Meet the new XCOM, the same as the old XCOM. Solid turn based shooter. With only two irritating things that keep it from being a 9/10.

    Pros:
    Better looking.
    New ayyys to kill.
    Story still good.
    Can customize soldiers and make them unique.

    Cons:
    Turn limit timer for nearly every mission, it blows.
    Equipment upgrade system dumbed down (once you get cool armor/weapons, every soldier gets them, it's stupid)
    You CANT SKIP COMBAT ANIMATIONS (that's why it's an 8 instead of a 9).
    Those customized soldiers die just like all the other ones, resulting in bad feels man.    … Expand
  60. Sjalka
    Mar 14, 2016
    8
    XCom 2 plays it safe - maybe a little too safe. The gameplay and presentation - and most of all the feeling of XCom 2 is 99% identical with XCom EU; which is both a good and a not so good thing. It is good, because XCom EU is a very good game and it is not so great, because XCom 2 feels like an expansion pack - sort of.

    You get more maps, slightly more HD graphics, more equipment and a    XCom 2 plays it safe - maybe a little too safe. The gameplay and presentation - and most of all the feeling of XCom 2 is 99% identical with XCom EU; which is both a good and a not so good thing. It is good, because XCom EU is a very good game and it is not so great, because XCom 2 feels like an expansion pack - sort of.

    You get more maps, slightly more HD graphics, more equipment and a few new mission types - kind of the characteristics of an expansion pack.

    In terms of tactics however - it does fall short compared to XCom EU (although that is very subjective). While XCom EU gives you a timed mission every now and then to spice things up ... XCom 2 gives you timed missions almost all the time. Tactics suffer from that kind of mission, because you cannot position yourself properly or advance cautiously anymore - instead you have to compromise and at least half rush into the action.

    The feeling of fighting a guerilla war as an underdog evaporates a little too quickly - and missions feel just like XCom EU after a short while in terms of balance of power.
    Equipment and customization feels more varied that time, but not bigger or better balanced than XCom EU.

    In terms of optimization - XCom 2 runs surprisingly poorly considering it does not look significantly better than XCom EU, nor does the AI seem to be different in any way. Maybe there is more destructible terrain that time that might affect frame rate and so ... but i do not really see a reason why it runs noticably worse than XCom EU.

    All the ranting aside - XCom 2 is a wonderfully excellent game that will provide turn based tactics lovers with hours and hours of joy. Just because it is quite similar to XCom EU just means that you get a new story and a new shiny coat for an already great game.

    ps.: and for people like me - that do not like all the timers, there are mods that adjust or turn them off completely.    … Expand
  61. anotherplayer
    Feb 27, 2016
    8
    Although the game has some issues like annoying pauses after each action and does not run smoothly all the time on a GTX970, it is definately a very good game with interesting new features compared to previous xcom. Good level of soldier customization is surprisingly fun. If you liked previous XCOM, you will also enjoy this one.
  62. ravenned
    Mar 16, 2016
    9
    The gameplay of XCOM 2 is as awesome as ever, with improved animation and graphics compared to XCOM 1. Some may complain of the lacking visuals compared to the standards we have today, but they are more than decent, especially for a turn based strategy. The complaints of the other reviewers are legitimate, where the overuse of turn based missions destroy enjoyment of the gameplay. However,The gameplay of XCOM 2 is as awesome as ever, with improved animation and graphics compared to XCOM 1. Some may complain of the lacking visuals compared to the standards we have today, but they are more than decent, especially for a turn based strategy. The complaints of the other reviewers are legitimate, where the overuse of turn based missions destroy enjoyment of the gameplay. However, the number of turns available is strategically set, where you would've used the around the same number of turns even if the counter wasn't there anyway. I played the game on commander and the counter only slightly irritated me. There are also still a few bugs after patch 2, such as minor pauses during loading, or during change of turns and bad camera view. Overall, the game is still as awesome, if not more, and deserves a 9/10.… Expand
  63. GreenBastard
    Feb 23, 2016
    9
    Once again, an excellent game seems to be getting a great deal of hate on this site. If you loved Enemy Unknown and Within, you will love the sequel. Its difficult, as it should be, and there are some bugs to be quashed. But Firaxis has given us a gem that I hope they will continue to support, and even if they don't, modders have already proven that they will keep it fresh for years toOnce again, an excellent game seems to be getting a great deal of hate on this site. If you loved Enemy Unknown and Within, you will love the sequel. Its difficult, as it should be, and there are some bugs to be quashed. But Firaxis has given us a gem that I hope they will continue to support, and even if they don't, modders have already proven that they will keep it fresh for years to come.

    R.I.P. to the 13 soldiers I lost on play through one, ye shall not grow old.    … Expand
  64. shinyary2
    Feb 24, 2016
    8
    Wow, this game has really divided the fan base. Personally I really liked it (as I'll explain in my review), but I can understand why some people didn't and I wonder if Firaxis made some huge mistakes.

    To establish credibility, I have completed two runs: one on Veteran (Normal), and one on Commander (Hard) with Iron Man turned on. I would like to address the following: timed    Wow, this game has really divided the fan base. Personally I really liked it (as I'll explain in my review), but I can understand why some people didn't and I wonder if Firaxis made some huge mistakes.

    To establish credibility, I have completed two runs: one on Veteran (Normal), and one on Commander (Hard) with Iron Man turned on.

    I would like to address the following: timed missions, difficulty curve, and what I can only call terrible design decisions.

    - Timed missions
    The timer forces you to spend a lot of time on every turn planning out the most efficient possible way to use every character in your squad. If one character is out of position and you can't wipe out the current pod of enemies in a few turns, you are probably in trouble. Flanking is incredibly important in this game, as is getting a bigger squad and getting the right offensive tech to give you enough firepower to very quickly overwhelm the aliens.

    This is different from Enemy Within, and I understand that it's a change a lot of people don't like. Yes, it does limit what decisions you can legitimately make and still expect success. Does that make the game worse? I suppose it depends on your point of view. For me, the answer is no; it makes the game better, because in a way I never felt in Enemy Within (one of my favorite games, ever), I felt an incredible weight behind every decision, knowing that if I don't make a good decision, my game could end very badly.

    - The difficulty curve
    This one's sticky business, and one of the reasons why I'm giving the game an 8 instead of a 9. In my opinion the difficulty curve is almost inverted in this game. The first mission is incredibly difficult on Commander and Legend difficulties and I felt very much at the mercy of the RNG in a way that the second mission and on simply didn't. Aliens can and very often do hit you even if you are behind full cover and they should supposedly have very low odds.

    As I said before, the game is about efficiency. You will absolutely not survive an extended battle against a pod of aliens without a scratch (until you have better armor), but on the first mission your classless soldiers give you nearly no options for finding a more efficient strategy for killing your enemies. This is the only mission where I felt that the only way to survive intact was to save scum. It's really too bad, as once all of my soldiers were promoted at least once, I don't think I ever felt that something bad happened to me that wouldn't have been avoided with a better overall strategy. It's a particularly awful problem on Legend, where they throw a mind-controlling Sectoid at you on the first mission with no chance of getting the items that counter them.

    Then again, maybe I am simply doing something wrong.

    - Terrible design decisions
    This is a catch all category as there are a number of really bizarre design decisions in this game.

    The worst one is the fact that the game is constantly pressuring you to make bad decisions. You absolutely should not rush to complete the story objectives; you should mill around, doing random missions, collecting resources, and leveling up your squad. The global game timer does not count up as quickly as the NPCs want you to think it does, and what this does is force people to lose because they were playing the way the game tells you to play. I understand that the devs wanted to create an atmosphere of tension, but it's a problem when the only way (as far as I could tell) to enjoy the game is to ignore everything it tells you.

    This problem pops up again where if you build base structures in the order the tutorial tells you, you will probably lose.

    There are also numerous other random issues, such as arbitrary "wait" times added to nearly every action (they are clearly unnecessary because there is a mod that removes all of them, making the game far better). When you return from a mission the game sits there "loading" for 30 seconds to a minute no matter how good your hardware is, and if you hit caps lock it will just skip immediately (thanks Reddit for this amazing time saving tip!). So, it was obviously unnecessary.

    I would also like to mention that most of the intro logos are skippable and the ones that aren't are quick. If you are really annoyed by them there is a launch option to get rid of them. Every cutscene in the game except the final one is also skippable if you hit the Escape key.

    - Final remarks
    I really loved this game. It is unfortunately plagued by a few issues, but the bottom line is: if you like the idea of spending every turn thinking about how to get maximum efficiency out of every squad member, you will love the game and should buy it now (if you have a computer that can get around the poor optimization). If you would rather try to create intricate strategies that take a lot of turns to set up and execute, maybe give this one a pass or use the timer removal mods.    … Expand
  65. Godwrath
    Feb 26, 2016
    10
    I would give the game a 8/10 until they fix the optimization problems (for many people, they are real). But i can't do that because there are plenty of dumb people underscoring for no real reason than their own inability to play the game. When you read people playing what would be classic, and complaining about stuff like "the % is not real" withouth even having a look at the .inis, youI would give the game a 8/10 until they fix the optimization problems (for many people, they are real). But i can't do that because there are plenty of dumb people underscoring for no real reason than their own inability to play the game. When you read people playing what would be classic, and complaining about stuff like "the % is not real" withouth even having a look at the .inis, you know they went full retarded.

    One of the biggest fails of XCOM is probably that their players, specially the ones at the lower brackets of difficulty, tend to overestimate their capabilities, and Jake Solomon didn't find a way to not give those players the satisfaction of finishing the game on a upper difficulty just because, like many other games would. So you will see a lot of people complaining about timers, RNG and the like. Truth is, if you are good player none of those matter. Good players can finish up missions on legendary with 2+ turns left (my fastest was 7 turns left on an evac mission, or grabbing objective by turn 3 with 5 left). So here is the thing, if you want challenging and engaging gameplay, XCOM 2 managed to do that. If what you want is play always at your own pace, this game is for you, if you mod it, which takes about 2 clicks to do.

    Classes, while still an improvement from XCOM EU, need work in some skills which aren't optimal, ranger sword being a joke, and abilities like deadeye carrying too big penalties. Overall tho, most abilities have their niche and are useful.

    Optimization is bad, you may not suffer from it (it doesn't matter how good your PC is) and the workarounds won't make it work flawlessly. Take this into account as it is fine to not buy until Firaxis fix this, but it's certainly an enjoyable game and being turn based makes it less of a pain in the ass. No justification, it still needs to be addressed.

    TLDR:
    - Game is good if you enjoy tactical challenge.
    - Most user reviews say complete made up lies about it, specially negative ones, which show a total lack of knowledge, just to satisfy their ego to justify their failures within the game.
    - Mod the game to your own tastes.
    - Optimization is crap and needs to be fixed.    … Expand
  66. johnsheppard357
    Mar 10, 2016
    9
    XCOM: Enemy Unknown was my favorite gaming experience of the last generation. I played through the game at least half a dozen times and loved it. Ultimately the lack of variety in missions, the painstaking character customization, and numerous other minor annoyances began to wear on me and discouraged me from ever picking up the game again. XCOM 2 addresses nearly every annoyance from theXCOM: Enemy Unknown was my favorite gaming experience of the last generation. I played through the game at least half a dozen times and loved it. Ultimately the lack of variety in missions, the painstaking character customization, and numerous other minor annoyances began to wear on me and discouraged me from ever picking up the game again. XCOM 2 addresses nearly every annoyance from the previous game and more. Elements of every mission are procedurally generated, character customization is incredibly deep, the base building is a little less punishing, etc. There are too many little improvements to list. I have a lot of respect for Firaxis for clearly putting a lot of time and effort into addressing the players' concerns from the last game. The game is not perfect though, close as it may be. Time-limited missions (by far my least favorite aspect from the last game) are much more prevalent. At least 2/3 of all the missions have a very unforgiving time limit that often had me all out sprinting with all of my soldiers in an attempt to reach my objective in time. There were several times that one of my soldiers was left in a very compromising position because he ended his turn near an enemy that was not discovered yet. Another negative is the difficulty. At least for the moment, pending any future re-balances, XCOM 2 is significantly more difficult than XCOM: EU. I have had playthroughs in EU on Classic or Impossible that I only lost a handful of soldiers the entire game. In XCOM 2 it was a frequent occurrence early on to lose half or more of my squad on any given mission. It was brutal. The mitigating factor is that the narrative provides reasoning for this difficulty, with the Aliens being an occupying force this time around. Without going into detail, my final complaint is that I felt the final mission was absolutely ridiculously hard. I beat it, but at a certain point I was just thinking "realllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy....". There is not a wealth of new player classes or abilities, but each class in balanced incredibly well. The focus in more on weapons and equipment, of which there is a much wider variety over EU. Ultimately XCOM 2 does a lot right, a little wrong, and is an absolute blast to play. Bottom-line: An absolute must-play.… Expand
  67. Pleiadesu
    Feb 8, 2016
    10
    For all of you who are complaining about how the game rushes you and how that's not tactical-
    That's the whole point of that setup. You must rush as quickly as you can WHILE utilizing tactical cover to hide your forces while your enemies attack you. Great gameplay mechanic in my opinion, great job there Firaxis.
    Next comes the story. I feel that the story ties in well with the gameplay    For all of you who are complaining about how the game rushes you and how that's not tactical-
    That's the whole point of that setup. You must rush as quickly as you can WHILE utilizing tactical cover to hide your forces while your enemies attack you. Great gameplay mechanic in my opinion, great job there Firaxis.

    Next comes the story. I feel that the story ties in well with the gameplay mechanics, and while it's not something stellar like The Last Of Us it works well enough for a game like this.

    Now, the cover/aiming system. Yes, the fact that even a 99% shot can miss is annoying at times, but unlike games where every shot flies true to a straight, horizontal line from the barrel, the soldiers in this game actually have to aim.

    If I had anything to complain about, it'd be the fact that you can't utilize vehicles anymore- probably one of the only flaws I saw so far, although it might be related to the whole 'renegade' scheme.
    Thankfully, I haven't seen any bugs yet, and the game runs fairly well on my multipurpose laptop.    … Expand
  68. dexter2345
    Feb 6, 2016
    10
    While the tactical core of XCOM 2 is only slightly altered from the original, most of the changes are clear improvements. The biggest change is that almost every mission now has a timer attached to it. For example, aliens are attacking a transmitter and you have to get to it before it gets blown up, or a laptop with critical data needs to be hacked before time runs out. These are largelyWhile the tactical core of XCOM 2 is only slightly altered from the original, most of the changes are clear improvements. The biggest change is that almost every mission now has a timer attached to it. For example, aliens are attacking a transmitter and you have to get to it before it gets blown up, or a laptop with critical data needs to be hacked before time runs out. These are largely good ways to push players out of over-careful play—most missions in 2012’s XCOM could too easily be manipulated by just having squaddies wait in Overwatch. Here, you have to actually move.… Expand
  69. SpardaKnight
    Feb 6, 2016
    10
    I can definitely recommend XCOM2, its brutal, its fun, and looks amazing. Don’t listen to all these people saying it’s too hard. XCOM is a game that will punish you for bad decisions, and it’s not meant to be easy. You’re not supposed to just run in and not care.
    Optimization issues: Yes there is some fps drops, but it only seems to be happening when you’re in the loading screen / when    I can definitely recommend XCOM2, its brutal, its fun, and looks amazing. Don’t listen to all these people saying it’s too hard. XCOM is a game that will punish you for bad decisions, and it’s not meant to be easy. You’re not supposed to just run in and not care.
    Optimization issues: Yes there is some fps drops, but it only seems to be happening when you’re in the loading screen / when the sky ranger lands and takes off, and occasionally when a short outseen happens. Let me be very clear IT IS A SMALLL ANNOYANCE THAT DOES NOT AFFECT GAMEPLAY SO CHILL THE **** OUT. The 99% of the time when you’re making moves and setting over watches it does not lag. The main issue appears to mostly be due to AA and MSAA settings. I’m sure these issues will be handled ether with a patch or driver update.
    As of this writing I already have 31 hours of gameplay and the game just came out, I’m hooked I have had to restart 3 times so far because I have made mistakes in the campaign, but I had these same thing happen when I played XCOM enemy unknown, I also have been playing Veteran With iron mode on, I’m sure I could have easily beat this game if I played normal and didn’t have iron man on. Xcom2 is a great game and you should give it a try.    … Expand
  70. riley794
    Mar 5, 2016
    9
    Played it on release and totally love it. There are a few minor bugs that keep it from being a 10 but the game never crashed or did anything that ruined the experience.
  71. fffffff
    Feb 21, 2016
    9
    Doing my part to counteract the people rating this game 0/10 because it's too hard. Xcom deserves better. Turn timers are an amazing addition to the game that add a welcome layer of challenge by removing the overwatch cheese that many Xcom1 players mistakenly took for "strategy". Sorry guys, you will have to use real strategy now. I hope you will update your reviews when you figure itDoing my part to counteract the people rating this game 0/10 because it's too hard. Xcom deserves better. Turn timers are an amazing addition to the game that add a welcome layer of challenge by removing the overwatch cheese that many Xcom1 players mistakenly took for "strategy". Sorry guys, you will have to use real strategy now. I hope you will update your reviews when you figure it out.

    Gave 9/10 because game suffers from many more release bugs and optimization issues than is usually considered acceptable. Still extremely playable--am about to (successfully) finish an Ironman Commander playthrough.    … Expand
  72. Shane_
    Feb 22, 2016
    9
    Quite possibly the best game of it's type since the original Xcom. As someone who eagerly awaited the release of EU, I was heavily disappointed until an expansion (Enemy Within) and more importantly a huge mod (Long War) made the game interesting and worthy of a few playthroughs. But it still just wasn't what I wanted from Xcom. I felt like I was playing a tactical RPG, rather than aQuite possibly the best game of it's type since the original Xcom. As someone who eagerly awaited the release of EU, I was heavily disappointed until an expansion (Enemy Within) and more importantly a huge mod (Long War) made the game interesting and worthy of a few playthroughs. But it still just wasn't what I wanted from Xcom. I felt like I was playing a tactical RPG, rather than a strategy game with tactical battles.

    Xcom 2 was everything I wanted in EU and more. No more crawling through every mission in overwatch as almost all missions have multiple objectives, many of which are time sensitive. The strategy layer has been greatly improved by giving you more options than where to build your facilities and what to research first.

    The tactical battles have been tweaked but are generally what we saw in EU. What's improved here is the skill trees and mission structure. Every single skill in the game is useful and there are multiple ways to build each class without feeling underpowered. And every mission has a few objectives other than "kill everything". EU felt like they had this in mind but never got around to flushing it out, but in Xcom 2 Firaxis nailed it. No more crawling through every mission in overwatch, no more running the same 6 soldiers every mission in the same configuration doing the same thing over and over again. Turn counters and different scenarios make sure you have to adapt to the mission's requirements.

    Unlike Enemy Unknown and Xenonauts (another amazing Xcom look-alike) it's a completely different campaign and scenario. Many of us might have expected a "second wave" of the invasion, or a retaliation of some sort, but Firaxis found a much more interesting and unique spin-the Aliens won, and they're almost done with their plans for us a couple of decades later. It means a completely different strategy layer than shooting down UFOs and checking out the wreckage over and over again.

    The game isn't without it's flaws, though. The optimization is no where near where it should be for a game developed exclusively for PC. And there are more bugs than I would like, as someone who's not going to play without Ironman mode on. But it runs, and if the only real flaw I can find is performance in a game that still works well enough for me, then I'm still calling it a GOTY contender (in a year with Mount and Blade 2 and Torment Tides of Numenera on the way, that's saying a lot).    … Expand
  73. xf100t
    Apr 7, 2016
    10
    XCOM 2 is different, and it's challenging. Like for real challenging, if you play at Legendary difficulty. For once in your gaming life the hardest level of difficulty offers you no hope of eventually prevailing if you just power level or whatever. You actually have to play well. If the difficulty is too high for you, go down a level until you've mastered the mechanics (there is no shameXCOM 2 is different, and it's challenging. Like for real challenging, if you play at Legendary difficulty. For once in your gaming life the hardest level of difficulty offers you no hope of eventually prevailing if you just power level or whatever. You actually have to play well. If the difficulty is too high for you, go down a level until you've mastered the mechanics (there is no shame in playing rookie mode to learn the ropes, that's where I started), and then go back up. The game isn't unfair, and it's hardly unwinnable, you just have to learn how to size up a map and how to utilize skill sets effectively. I don't know what the heck some of these reviewers are whining about when they say that there is "only one way to win". False, you just don't know how to play, or you get impatient. I just finished a legendary game where I played almost the entire thing with first tier weapons and armor because I was going for the quick game completion achievement on steam, and I already had finished an ironman legendary run through.

    There are numerous mods that give you new tactical options that can help you a great deal without unbalancing the game too much, if that's a problem for you, and the community here is incredible. Do you want to know why it's incredible? Because if you take the time to learn something difficult, you'll be more dedicated to it. I've logged 400 hours playing this game, and with constant new mods with new enemies, maps, weapons, and other things, I have way more to come back to compared to what XCOM EW gave me. If you don't like the mission timers, take them out, it's not hard, you click "subscribe" to a mod in the workshop that gets rid of them. Frankly, the constant overwatch tactic was just getting really annoying from the first XCOM, and players' over reliance on waiting out the aliens in the first game was a huge crutch that many just couldn't get over when the game's designers decided to throw a wrench in their plans. "We can't plan tactically!" they whine. Sure, if by not playing tactically you mean "I can't overwatch my enemies to death!" Coming from playing the Long War mod of XCOM 1, XCOM 2 was an adjustment, but a welcome one. IT'S OK TO LOSE SOLDIERS SOMETIMES, IF THIS IS CHESS, YOU WILL LOSE PIECES, GET OVER IT!

    Another thing on mission timers, there is a mod called "True Concealment" that changes gameplay so that said timers won't start until you are revealed, making stealth and strategic movements all the more important. Combined with a mod that keeps troops patrolling after you reveal them (when stealthed), much of the whining and complaints you've read about the game fall away. Underneath is a highly tactical and highly moddable game that has been worth its money and then some. I am running almost 300 mods at this point, nothing else I've played recently even comes close to this kind of community support, let a lone for a turn-based strategy game.

    There is a reason why there is a large disparity between the reviewers and the users for this game, and I think much of it has to do with skill level. If that makes me an elitist, so be it, but hear me out. Many people really do just suck at these type of games to begin with. Mastering game mechanics are the key, but short of reading a lot of guides or watching other people play, there isn't really a replacement for experience. At first. I didn't like that the game punished me sometimes for my mistakes. I started several Legendary Ironman campaigns before I finally started getting some momentum and was able to finish. But guess what? I love the game for it. It made me think much harder about balancing risk and reward, and it gave me a real challenge, not just endless waves of enemies that will inevitably fall before an army of alien slayers (though the end game somewhat becomes this, even on Legendary).

    Thank you Jake Solomon, for creating a truly challenging game in a world of mediocrity and pandering to the lowest common denominator. Also, thanks for trying to make games like this accessible for a public that would never have the patience for the original XCOM series anymore,. I played the old X-COM and it is NOT accessible to people that didn't grow up on CIV of Sim City. Also, to the haters that say certain things aren't "realistic", this is turn-based strategy. Since when is Chess "realistic"?

    At this point, the only real thing I would change/add is to create more balanced options for the tech tree. Right now you just get to the end of it about when you hit end game for the most part, where as with XCOM EW there was always a trade off; one part of the game was easier vs. another portion depending on what you researched. You axed the air game, understandably, but you can't just axe that out and then leave the rest of the tech tree pretty much the same, what about some kind of ground resistance war at the macro level?

    10/10 (probably only 9/10, but I feel it necessary to balance out some of the bogus reviews)    … Expand
  74. Dragonblooden
    May 29, 2016
    10
    I normally give good games around 7-9, but because their are people who give this game a "0-3" I have to give it a "10". Go with metacritic not user review's at leased for some of them.
  75. Pr8Dator
    Feb 7, 2016
    10
    XCOM: Enemy Unknown was what I regarded as the best xcom game ever... this is coming from someone who played all of the xcom series since 20+ years ago. Since then, I have pumped about 400 hours into XCOM Enemy Unknown. I tried looking around for a turn based strategy game that even come close to this standard and I found none... until now. Welcome back Commander! XCOM 2 surpassed XCOM EUXCOM: Enemy Unknown was what I regarded as the best xcom game ever... this is coming from someone who played all of the xcom series since 20+ years ago. Since then, I have pumped about 400 hours into XCOM Enemy Unknown. I tried looking around for a turn based strategy game that even come close to this standard and I found none... until now. Welcome back Commander! XCOM 2 surpassed XCOM EU in every single way I can imagine. From graphics to gameplay, everything is improved in what I deemed to be the best turn based strategy game in the history of mankind. On the very first day, I have already pumped in 18 hours into this game. That's something I have never done before. Everything in XCOM2 is now catered to more veteran fans of the series. The strategic game is now more complex and everything feels more "long-war-ish" now. However, the game is meaningfully complex, unlike UFO Aftershock which XCOM2 seems to be modelled upon. In that game, everything becomes tedious micromanagement that in the end have little to no impact on the outcome of the conflict. Firaxis cleverly and elegantly filtered away all the meaningless stuffs (like over 20 types of ballistic weapons? Whats up with that?). In the end, you are left with something that is not as tedious as long war used to be in XCOM EU so its more beginner friendly but still meangingfully complex enough to keep veteran players engaged. I don't know why others are giving such bad scores but this is a 10/10 for me for sure. Yeah, its difficult as hell and after 18 hours, I still had to restart the whole game... Welcome to XCOM baby!… Expand
  76. metacriticfasch
    Feb 6, 2016
    10
    The best game in the series by a long shot. I love the direction Firaxis has taken. The depth of the game is outstanding, and I can only imagine what will happen with mods in the near future. There are already a dozen mods (some of them very useful or interesting) within 24 hrs since release. For TBS gamers, this is the game of the year, and probably the standard for the industry for manyThe best game in the series by a long shot. I love the direction Firaxis has taken. The depth of the game is outstanding, and I can only imagine what will happen with mods in the near future. There are already a dozen mods (some of them very useful or interesting) within 24 hrs since release. For TBS gamers, this is the game of the year, and probably the standard for the industry for many years to come.… Expand
  77. Thunder5555
    Feb 22, 2016
    9
    Best way I can think of is to compare this game to it's predecessor.
    Xcom 2 seems to be improvement in every area from Xcom enemy within. Timed missions (which I normally hate) are well made and after doing few, I noticed they're quite fun to do.
    At the start, the game really feels like that you're leading a desperate rebellion against the aliens, but later on the difficulty just goes    Best way I can think of is to compare this game to it's predecessor.
    Xcom 2 seems to be improvement in every area from Xcom enemy within. Timed missions (which I normally hate) are well made and after doing few, I noticed they're quite fun to do.
    At the start, the game really feels like that you're leading a desperate rebellion against the aliens, but later on the difficulty just goes down and your soldiers become godlike compared to the aliens. Some items are currently VERY overpowered (mimic beacons for example) but that may be a bug.
    Speaking of which, enemies and especially your soldiers have a weird habit shooting through walls and objects. The line of sight isn't working as it should just yet.
    But in overall, this game is the game of this year... for now :) I would recommend getting it if you have any love for turnbased combat/strategy.    … Expand
  78. StrategyAddict
    Feb 8, 2016
    10
    Oh wow! Critics have hyped this game as an early "game of the year" and "one of the best PC games" ever. I've played it for 35 hours during the release weekend (taking almost no breaks). I say even though it has some minor technical glitches (performance, load times, physics) a rating around 90 is perfectly justified. It's superior to it's predecessor XCOM EU in every aspect and that wasOh wow! Critics have hyped this game as an early "game of the year" and "one of the best PC games" ever. I've played it for 35 hours during the release weekend (taking almost no breaks). I say even though it has some minor technical glitches (performance, load times, physics) a rating around 90 is perfectly justified. It's superior to it's predecessor XCOM EU in every aspect and that was a 89.

    So coming back to meta critic I see that it's getting mixed user reviews, seemingly for three reasons:

    1. technical issues. I say: Firaxis have done an incredible job at game design. I fully trust them to patch out the issues. Plus: we should be glad, that PC hardware is finally being utilised again.

    2. It's unlike the original XCOM. I say: Folks, get over it! There has been a pletorium of games reimplementing the original XCOM. (I have played them all, by the way.) Features missing compared to another game from another time is not a flaw. The current iteration of the XCOM universe perfectly captures the tension and challenge of the original game an surpasses all of the XCOM-alikes in many, if not all aspects.

    3. The game is too hard and the time limits too demanding. I say: The game has four difficulty settings, which seem perfecly balanced to me. On veteran (the second) I only got one little scratch during the first three missions. So i turned to "commander" the third and am now having a perfect struggle to stay allive. If I'm good, I can gloriously blast them before they even react, but most of the times more then half my squat will come out hurt. I even had to reload about three times because i'd otherwise lost a soldier.

    I hate timelimits. But in XCOM 2, they work miracles in forcing you to approach missions differently and in creating insane action. And still, you're not reliant on luck. There's so many special abilities to use, which mater way more then pure chance to hit.    … Expand
  79. Snowgust
    Feb 10, 2016
    9
    In XCOM 2 you are in control of a resistance movement after Earth failed to fight back the aliens back on the original XCOM. You are not "Earth's Finest". You do not have the resources of the entire planet at your disposal. And, for the most part of the game, you engage in guerrilla warfare, striking them hard - and fast.

    If you are new to the series, XCOM 2 is a turn-based tactical    In XCOM 2 you are in control of a resistance movement after Earth failed to fight back the aliens back on the original XCOM. You are not "Earth's Finest". You do not have the resources of the entire planet at your disposal. And, for the most part of the game, you engage in guerrilla warfare, striking them hard - and fast.

    If you are new to the series, XCOM 2 is a turn-based tactical strategy game with a mix of real-time base-building, resource gathering and researching. Outside combat you'll be constantly having to juggle priorities: will you gather supplies, which allow you to immediately build newer, more powerful equipment, or will you expand your influence to new territories that will bring you supplies in the long term? Will you choose to take on a mission that will prevent the aliens from having shielded troops or will you let them get stronger and instead try to slow their research?

    Despite giving the player a lot to think about during the real-time phase, combat is where XCOM truly shines. You are in control of a small, 4-man squad (which can be increased with proper research) that must fight the aliens in order to secure goals in the missions. There are different classes of soldier, each with its unique perks, and you'll most likely want a mix of those during any given mission.

    There's a lot of controversy regarding mission design, especially around the timed missions. There are a LOT of timed missions, which actually make completely sense if you care the least to immerse yourself in the game setting: you must strike lightning-fast, before the enemy can react. Remember: the enemy has nearly unlimited resources at their disposal and XCOM can't afford to lose its only dropship.

    You are given tools to work with that allow you to make the most of your time - namely, your squad usually starts concealed from the enemy. That means the enemy is unaware of your presence and you can dictate when the engagement begins. Usually you'll want to avoid early patrols and get as close to the objective as possible before going weapons-hot. Once you start shooting every enemy in the area will be wary, though, and will engage you on sight.

    Once you complete the main goal the timer's usually gone and you can take your time to pick the rest of the enemies clean or retreat.

    Combat is usually superb: enemy AI is not the best ever but its not underpowered either. The enemy feels strong without feeling "cheaty", and will do a good job of hampering your advance towards your goal. I've yet to find a mission which I couldn't complete within the given number of turns (although some were quite close) and most didn't feel as if I could slack off either. There's a constant adrenaline rush and you have to re-think your approach to combat. Sometimes it may be necessary to send a scout ahead to secure the goal while your troops hold off the enemies.

    The maps are quite diverse so they don't get old like in the original XCOM and everything about them feels quite balanced, with plenty of places to take cover, position snipers and ambush enemies. Terrain is also fully destructible, so if you need to reach somewhere fast you can just toss a grenade and make a new door for your troops.

    Players should not expect an easy game, as XCOM has never been like that. You'll lose soldiers, especially early on the game. You'll eventually lose veteran soldiers and you'll have to train new recruits to step on their shoes (or reload the game). Even if you do not lose soldiers during combat some of them are bound to be wounded and unavailable for missions for some time.

    The game is not without its flaws, though. I've experienced long loading times between missions, some problems with anti-aliasing and once I couldn't click the perk I wanted my soldier to take when I promoted him (easily solved by pressing the arrow key corresponding to the side of the perk I wanted). Also some of the cut scenes (such as the squad being deployed or arriving from combat) stutter regularly. I've encountered 0 performance problems during the game itself, though.

    Lastly, there's also 0-day support for mods which will probably make the game a lot more enjoyable in the long run and for people who dislike vanilla mechanics - there's even a mod that disables timed missions altogether for those who feel strongly against them.    … Expand
  80. Ninjaneer
    Feb 11, 2016
    10
    Reasons why you probably shouldn't play this game:
    1. You can't handle losing missions or worse, losing your soldiers AND the mission they died on.
    2. You're trapped in the past and insist on comparing this game to the original XCOM, circa last century. 3. You're rig is older than 3 years old and you still insist on running this game on max. video settings. 4. Timers on missions    Reasons why you probably shouldn't play this game:
    1. You can't handle losing missions or worse, losing your soldiers AND the mission they died on.
    2. You're trapped in the past and insist on comparing this game to the original XCOM, circa last century.
    3. You're rig is older than 3 years old and you still insist on running this game on max. video settings.
    4. Timers on missions raise your blood pressure to unhealthy levels.
    5. You simply can't fathom that a 95 percent chance to hit strangely enough means a 1 in 20 chance that you will miss, and bad things may result.

    Reasons why you SHOULD play this game:
    1. You thoroughly enjoyed playing XCOM: Enemy Unknown (EU) but want new enemies, new skills, new maps, more customization options, and a greater challenge.
    2. You like that, while in EU you could pretty much blow through the entire campaign with one squad, always using the same skills and gear, in this game you find that different squad composition and proper load-out decisions are essential to surviving various missions.
    3. You understand that some missions have timers, which changes the mission parameters, and you can accept that you might not always beat those timers, or you might have to leave a soldier behind in order to complete the mission (note: soldiers left behind get captured, and become the objective of a rescue mission at some point later in your campaign)

    Hope that helps. I've just about completed one play-through with minimal lag or bugs. I can't wait to start a second campaign, knowing what I know now about proper builds and load-outs. And I can't wait to play in Iron Man mode and weep for my poor, fallen troops.    … Expand
  81. ExtremeXT1
    Mar 29, 2016
    8
    Pros:Game characters and story is very good. The mechanics and graphics are also good. I got it installed with 3rd patch so no bugs or persistent crashes. Few occasional frame dips which occurs in most games. The upgrade system/weapons/armor are all cool.
    Cons: The Single mechanism action is not fit for games in 2016, if it was 1996 it would make sense. For instance, the player cant move    Pros:Game characters and story is very good. The mechanics and graphics are also good. I got it installed with 3rd patch so no bugs or persistent crashes. Few occasional frame dips which occurs in most games. The upgrade system/weapons/armor are all cool.
    Cons: The Single mechanism action is not fit for games in 2016, if it was 1996 it would make sense. For instance, the player cant move or give order to attack to multiple members. You gotta move em ONE BY ONE which is very frustrating and makes the game so unreal. This was mastered in SC2, you could select groups of enemies and give orders. Imagine how long SC2 would've been if we had to move every goddamn unit one by one!    … Expand
  82. Praxeti
    Feb 7, 2016
    10
    A sinply amazing game from what i have played so far. Its such a vast imporvment on the last one - a constant sense of tension and dread is added howoever.
    I also think its great how challenging it is (many people seem to dislike this, lowering their score because they couldnt pass the initial slaughter) and the procedural maps make the game a lot better.
    Going by enemy within, the    A sinply amazing game from what i have played so far. Its such a vast imporvment on the last one - a constant sense of tension and dread is added howoever.
    I also think its great how challenging it is (many people seem to dislike this, lowering their score because they couldnt pass the initial slaughter) and the procedural maps make the game a lot better.
    Going by enemy within, the difficulty and rng is one of the reasons the game is so fun - you never know if you will truly aucced.
    Would definitely recommend.    … Expand
  83. The_VoidX
    Feb 16, 2016
    10
    XCOM 2 ist für mich eine gelungene Fortsetzung zu XCOM Enenmy Unkown /Within geworden, mit toller Guerilla Atmosphäre und Story.

    Pro: - Tolle Widerstands Atmosphäre - Fordernde Gefechte - Hoher Wiederspielwert dank zufallsgenerieten Karten - Avenger dient als Fliegende Basis - Tolle Klassen (Ranger, Grenadier, Spezialist, Scharfschütze und Psi-Soldat) - Soldaten wachsen einem ans    XCOM 2 ist für mich eine gelungene Fortsetzung zu XCOM Enenmy Unkown /Within geworden, mit toller Guerilla Atmosphäre und Story.

    Pro:
    - Tolle Widerstands Atmosphäre
    - Fordernde Gefechte
    - Hoher Wiederspielwert dank zufallsgenerieten Karten
    - Avenger dient als Fliegende Basis
    - Tolle Klassen (Ranger, Grenadier, Spezialist, Scharfschütze und Psi-Soldat)
    - Soldaten wachsen einem ans Herz dank unzähliger Individualisierungsmöglichkeiten.
    - Gute Gegnervielfalt aus altbekannten und neuen Aliens
    - Viele Forschungs- und Ausrüstungsmöglichkeiten
    - Zeitlimits passen super zur Guerilla Atmosphäre
    - Super Mod Unterstützung

    Contra:
    - leichte Performance Probleme (bei mir aber nur gelegentliche Ruckler in den Zwischensequenzen)
    - gelegentliche Anzeige Bugs (z.B. Gegner zielt nach links und trifft einen Soldaten der rechts steht)
    - Zeitlimits nicht jedermanns Geschmack, da sie auf den höheren Schwierigkeitsgraden Hektik auslösen können.    … Expand
  84. Woopya
    Apr 3, 2016
    10
    This game will frustrate you beyond belief. But, if you are like me then you will love the game for it. I really liked the additions from Xcom 1. This game will stay on my computer for ages.
  85. arcticg
    Mar 29, 2016
    8
    It took me a while to buy this game because of all the complaints about the turn limits but I decided to take a chance. I've played it for over 44 hours now and here's my thoughts:

    1. Turn limits (seeing as this is the hot topic at the moment) It's not in every mission, perhaps 50% of the time. Adds a little extra stress and means you have to be even more strategic. It also means you    It took me a while to buy this game because of all the complaints about the turn limits but I decided to take a chance. I've played it for over 44 hours now and here's my thoughts:

    1. Turn limits (seeing as this is the hot topic at the moment)

    It's not in every mission, perhaps 50% of the time. Adds a little extra stress and means you have to be even more strategic. It also means you get a lovely sigh of relief when you start a mission and there's no turn limit. Without turn limits it is kind of easy to apply super caution which would end up becoming dull after a while.

    2. Graphics

    Very crisp and detailed and they've had some good artists working on them but to be honest I would have thought that in this day and age we could have moved away from the isometric view and system. The Total War games can do complete freeview so it should be doable even with the turn-based system. I'm guessing the graphics wouldn't be quite so sharp and maybe the cover system would have proven too difficult a challenge but it would have been nice to see. Performance is fine, you get the very odd stutter for a split second during set scenes and sometimes an animation doesn't play out and you suddenly see a bit crater that's appeared! lol

    Accuracy

    Snipers can be notoriously inaccurate compared to other units, which is frustrating. There's lots of bolt-ons to improve your accuracy and generally it's quite a balance system, although the aliens are very accurate more of the time with big hits also. One very annoying thing, however, is that you can be standing one square away and still miss. This is a bit silly, there should really be a minimum distance where you are guaranteed 100% accuracy such as three squares away or something.

    Research and Engineering

    It's not the most clear system in place, sometimes I've gone on to build an item not realising that the game has already upgraded the entire squad with an infinite number of them. Probably my fault for not learning it all properly.

    Gameplay

    When in concealment you are basically hidden unless you walk onto a space which is visible by the enemy (which is displayed on the ground) or if you shoot or smash glass etc. This is fair enough but the problem is that once you lose concealment (with the exception of a few special units/traits) you don't get it back. This is very annoying because it only allows you to ambush once because from that point on every enemy on the map is aware of your presence so it's impossible to setup another ambush because as soon as you are in view of an enemy they sudden spot you and run for cover. It needs to be distance and time regulated so that only enemies within a certain distance from you become aware of your presence and after a set time you should enter concealment again. For me this is the biggest issue and really should be addressed.

    In the main map it can be a little annoying that whenever you advance the timer to get things done sporadic missions keep popping up. It becomes a little repetitive and feels like they are just there as a filler. It's as if they are trying to give the game a more open-world feel, but that doesn't work when you have the Avatar timer pressure. They could have made more missions directly related to the main objectives instead but that would have meant creating a lot more content.

    I'm not sure if it's in the game but I haven't experienced this yet but it would be cool if the aliens could invade your ship (base) also. The closest I've got is simply the off ramp but I think that's as close as it gets.

    The Game

    I like the storyline but I feel like I'm coming near to the end already and there's not really been a huge amount of content, especially with the weapons. It's pretty much the same stuff as before and although I'm not fussed about not having a tank this time it would have been good to see some things such as mobile heavy weapons that would be tripod mounted etc.

    Developer designed maps rather than generated ones would also be better but I guess that would have involved a lot of work. I feel that perhaps we can be expecting some add-ons to come, perhaps with new missions and weapons. I just hope they don't want to charge for it because there really should be more to this game.

    Conclusion

    Compared to a lot of games of today this is still a great game, although if you compare it to the Total series of games it does make its content look a little sparse. If a few things can be patched up such as the concealment, accuracy at point blank range and some extra content then that would be great. Perhaps XCOM3 will move away from the isometric view but until then I would still recommend this game.    … Expand
  86. FilifionkaSopot
    Feb 15, 2016
    10
    You need to give the new Xcom some time, but once you get familiar with the new mechanics, it feels great. People complain that it's hard, that the timer on some missions feels unfair. But you now have access to so many new and powerful abilities, that getting things done is not only possible, but also exciting. The trick is to adapt to these new mechanics. And that's just pure Xcom. YouYou need to give the new Xcom some time, but once you get familiar with the new mechanics, it feels great. People complain that it's hard, that the timer on some missions feels unfair. But you now have access to so many new and powerful abilities, that getting things done is not only possible, but also exciting. The trick is to adapt to these new mechanics. And that's just pure Xcom. You can't aspire to be a good tactical commander, if you are unwilling to change your habits. This game makes you think and that's what makes it so great. Surely, Xcom 2 has it's share of technical problems, but they are more of an annoyance, than a seriuos flaw. I have not experienced anything game breaking in my playthrough. On the whole, this game is demanding, but it was expected to be. I give it a 10, even with all the minor bugs.… Expand
  87. walkeros
    Feb 27, 2016
    10
    To challenge the guys saying that every mission is "on timer"... you've got to be kidding me!! Maybe 50% max and if you don't feel that your soldiers can handle it you can skip the mission... it's not a tragedy. Also the timer really forces you to act strategically!! In XCOM 1 you could go one square a time with 100% of causion... Is it strategy?? Do you call it strategy.. real strategyTo challenge the guys saying that every mission is "on timer"... you've got to be kidding me!! Maybe 50% max and if you don't feel that your soldiers can handle it you can skip the mission... it's not a tragedy. Also the timer really forces you to act strategically!! In XCOM 1 you could go one square a time with 100% of causion... Is it strategy?? Do you call it strategy.. real strategy begins when you need to face the time. If you loose with time, go and evacuate your soldiers... Please note that XCOM: Enemy Witin tried to achieve the same with limited time to get MELD containers. However there you can just don't care about MELD, in XCOM2 there is no "don't care" - either you care about time, die or evacuate the soldiers. This is Strategy!

    And for those who writes that the game is hard - Have you ever played UFO: Enemy Unknown or any other UFO from old times? That game was hard. There you had even problems getting out of Skyranger gecause aliens could kill you when your head was out and you did first steps. They could shoot at you and did not know where the shoots were comming from. THAT WAS HARD. There is nothing like this in XCOM2. It simply requires more out of your brain to finish mission.... and if it is still hard than YOU HAVE THE "EASY" DIFFICULTY? Did you try it before writing that you hate the game because it is hard... so when you write that you are very good in strategy games and you played every version of XCOM and you say that XCOM2 is difficult, than I tell you this: "You did not play, but used save/load"... if you really played XCOM: Enemy Within for real (without using save/load to much) you will NEVER say that XCOM2 is super duper hard, because it is NOT... it simply prevents you from cheeting using save/load. That's all.

    About other aspects of game. I will not write the things that the others have done already. Yes - it has performance problems, but if you have them - just lower your graphics (my friend plays on LOW and says that graphics is preety good), AI is better (oposing to what some people says) - for example enemys tend to retreet when they are loosing and attack with another pack of aliens. Any other allegations? First play at least 20 missions, loose the game one time and then write your review.    … Expand
  88. lslbryan
    Feb 16, 2016
    10
    All those giving zeros for their review are either extremely biased, looking for ezmode games, or too noob/lazy to manually optimise their graphics settings. Not to mention there are a whole lot of mods to resolve most of the main complaints such as rush timers, and UI imperfections

    This game is far perfect but it is fun enought. My honest rating would be a 7 but given that there are    All those giving zeros for their review are either extremely biased, looking for ezmode games, or too noob/lazy to manually optimise their graphics settings. Not to mention there are a whole lot of mods to resolve most of the main complaints such as rush timers, and UI imperfections

    This game is far perfect but it is fun enought. My honest rating would be a 7 but given that there are too many useless zero ratings I will give it a 10 to to offset the zeros.

    Please, how can any game be zero unless it is not totally working. I respect those who give their objective views (such as 4/10 and stating the reasons why). The number of senseless, non-objective zero ratings just turns me off and not just for this game, degrading the credibility of the user rating and painting a distorted picture of the quality of any game.    … Expand
  89. lassek1981
    Feb 8, 2016
    10
    This game is sooo cool! I am like another gamer and reviewer a veteran in the series.. played since child in DOS and later Xcom and Xcom EU...

    While the gamer suffers from missing performance optimizations and has some bugs here and there it is fully playable and never crashed on me one single time in the 4 days in a row 15 hours plus every day I played to complete it! I CANNOT    This game is sooo cool! I am like another gamer and reviewer a veteran in the series.. played since child in DOS and later Xcom and Xcom EU...

    While the gamer suffers from missing performance optimizations and has some bugs here and there it is fully playable and never crashed on me one single time in the 4 days in a row 15 hours plus every day I played to complete it! I CANNOT remember when I sad up playing 15 hours straight since I was a boy.. I mean its very addictive.

    I love everthing about it and it is really a 10/10 game!

    However I think allthough the music, sfx and is great! there could be more music score like XCOM EU, that soundtrack was epic.. they should have hired them again for sound! :)    … Expand
  90. kmdcanada
    Feb 7, 2016
    10
    One of the greatest games ever made!!! 10x better than Xcom 1. Playing at Commander difficulty (just below the hardest), I've found it the right level of very hard but not put your fist through the wall hard. Yes i've had to reload a few times after a stun lancer messed me up, but the game forces you to change strats.

    The first Xcom EU was pretty linear in research and options, but this    One of the greatest games ever made!!! 10x better than Xcom 1. Playing at Commander difficulty (just below the hardest), I've found it the right level of very hard but not put your fist through the wall hard. Yes i've had to reload a few times after a stun lancer messed me up, but the game forces you to change strats.

    The first Xcom EU was pretty linear in research and options, but this one really allows you way more freedom and many different options to explore improving your tactical or strategic progression.

    I'm absolutely loving this game, and I only hope after I finish it the first time it will still be near as fun. If you like strategy and swat team tactics this is a must buy!    … Expand
  91. cervomix
    Feb 7, 2016
    8
    Seriously there are bugs, and some crashes, but it's not happening often. On a recent PC it runs very fine, maybe on some 5 years old pc it doesn't. More interesting than XCOM, more features, it's a great game !
  92. Pech_SOG
    Feb 7, 2016
    10
    Incredible game. Best game of the last ten years, quite possibly of the last twenty. A joy to play, incredible depth. From the small details to the big picture it is a masterpiece. Ignore the performance issues. This is is very dependant on settings and pc config. Patches will fix any lingering issues. I am 30 hours in and no save or game breaking bugs. 3 crashes to desktopIncredible game. Best game of the last ten years, quite possibly of the last twenty. A joy to play, incredible depth. From the small details to the big picture it is a masterpiece. Ignore the performance issues. This is is very dependant on settings and pc config. Patches will fix any lingering issues. I am 30 hours in and no save or game breaking bugs. 3 crashes to desktop early on but that is all. 30 hours and still on my first campaign at 3rd highest difficulty. Game runs smooth as silk after I tested different graphic settings. Looks gorgeous also.

    Marvelous!!    … Expand
  93. Skyleaf
    Feb 12, 2016
    10
    I really really love the changes they made compared to xcom! Really recommended and with great mod support also the negative people should be happy since the game will be able to adapt to peoples preferences :)!
  94. Perxoda
    Feb 6, 2016
    9
    A solid third person strategy game. Gameplay wise a much more polished version of Xcom Enemy Unknown & Enemy Within. It forces me to think about every action and decision I make on every layer. it gives me the run for my money I expect from every game. The challenge is high and sometimes gameplay is punishing, but it's clear that you are expected to overcome these throwbacks and growA solid third person strategy game. Gameplay wise a much more polished version of Xcom Enemy Unknown & Enemy Within. It forces me to think about every action and decision I make on every layer. it gives me the run for my money I expect from every game. The challenge is high and sometimes gameplay is punishing, but it's clear that you are expected to overcome these throwbacks and grow because of them.
    The new changes give a new feeling of fairness in the difficulty. Graphics wise it runs smoothly, at least on my pc. Every now and then I have to wait 30 seconds on a loading screen or the camera doesn't properly focus during an action "cut scene" But that's far from game breaking.. Be warned though: This game is for people who enjoy a tactical and strategical challenge. The difficulty curb scales fairly hard and you have to be on the top of your game on every layer in this game to keep your forces on-par with the aliens. If you want a nice game to come home to and just play without thinking, I'd recommend you move along.    … Expand
  95. trival
    Feb 6, 2016
    9
    To shut up pure haters. Its a worthy continuation of the Xcom . Surely it lacks some features classic old Xcom Ufo defense and Terror from the deep had but it is worth every euro i spent.
  96. socokid
    Feb 8, 2016
    9
    Super fun game. I've been playing for almost 12 hours without one issue. I am also not staring at an FPS counter just waiting for something to be angry about... *eye roll*

    Enemy Unknown was a wonderful game. This is EU on steroids. Virtually every aspect has been upgraded and refined. I am having a blast, and back to the game!
  97. Czar
    Feb 8, 2016
    8
    If you enjoyed XCOM then this is a no-brainer. Now with MOD support it will be even better. I have pt in 12 hours so far and found the campaign to be challenging. I typically have to reload most missions as my team gets mascaraed. The game looks great and runs smooth on my system, 980GTX. My only gripes are the timer in some missions. And the biggest is no Skirmish mode. I would love to beIf you enjoyed XCOM then this is a no-brainer. Now with MOD support it will be even better. I have pt in 12 hours so far and found the campaign to be challenging. I typically have to reload most missions as my team gets mascaraed. The game looks great and runs smooth on my system, 980GTX. My only gripes are the timer in some missions. And the biggest is no Skirmish mode. I would love to be able to load a map with operatives and enemies and just play the tactical game only.… Expand
  98. Lambo442
    Feb 13, 2016
    10
    Many people on here complaining that the missions are now time sensitive. I love this element as it stop you procrastinating and creates a more realistic situation. These kinds of ops would always be against the clock. You think you can gun down a sectoid and then stop for a cigarette? no. Also, if you complete the time sensitive part of the mission then you're released from the bondage ofMany people on here complaining that the missions are now time sensitive. I love this element as it stop you procrastinating and creates a more realistic situation. These kinds of ops would always be against the clock. You think you can gun down a sectoid and then stop for a cigarette? no. Also, if you complete the time sensitive part of the mission then you're released from the bondage of the timer and can set up ambushes galore. Lastly, the odd mission isn't time sensitive

    I haven't made it far into the game yet due to playing it on Legenday Ironman. I way up my extreme frustration with the rare feeling of delight I get when I do well.

    This is the best tactical combat game around, end of.    … Expand
  99. ave
    May 22, 2018
    9
    Among the several changes in the design, XCOM 2 introduced time constraint, and even if I initially found it punishing, it actually forced my to play "by the rules" of the game, and develop tactics to overcome this new challenge.

    IMHO, the solution (sort of) of time constraint, is to have in your team, at any time, a long range sniper and a hidden ranger to act as a spotter. After that,    Among the several changes in the design, XCOM 2 introduced time constraint, and even if I initially found it punishing, it actually forced my to play "by the rules" of the game, and develop tactics to overcome this new challenge.

    IMHO, the solution (sort of) of time constraint, is to have in your team, at any time, a long range sniper and a hidden ranger to act as a spotter. After that, any combination of soldiers you put "in between" could deal with most of the game situations.

    My first completed campaign relied on a diverse team combining the previous two plus grenadiers, medics and hackers. My second campaign was run entirely with rangers (one hidden, and up to 2 blademasters) and sharpshooters (one sniper and up to 2 gunslingers) - and it was damn fun !

    Another aspect I really like in this game is the fact that "each person count", be it a soldier, a scientist or an engineer.

    Also, the fact that the game can be modded and the community offered many tools or gameplay variants greatly expands the experience. I here may recommend mods like Gotcha ! that completely changed the dynamics of the encounters.

    So, onwards to War of the Chosen !    … Expand
  100. LuisHQ
    Jan 26, 2019
    9
    XCOM 2 é um excelente game tático, que consegue pegar todos os elementos que funcionaram no game anterior e melhora-los, ao mesmo tempo que adiciona uma boa dose de novidade. Um game extremamente reconhecível, mas mesmo assim prazeroso de se jogar, que frustra na medida certa, ao mesmo tempo que recompensa o jogador a cada vitória. Se curtiu Enemy Unknown, sem duvida irá gostar de XCOM 2 eXCOM 2 é um excelente game tático, que consegue pegar todos os elementos que funcionaram no game anterior e melhora-los, ao mesmo tempo que adiciona uma boa dose de novidade. Um game extremamente reconhecível, mas mesmo assim prazeroso de se jogar, que frustra na medida certa, ao mesmo tempo que recompensa o jogador a cada vitória. Se curtiu Enemy Unknown, sem duvida irá gostar de XCOM 2 e que venha XCOM 3, já estamos aguardando!

    Análise completa no Blog PortoHQ.    … Expand
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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.
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  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.
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  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.
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