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. eefeef
    Aug 31, 2023
    8
    This game is about battles for the sake of battles, and those battles are fun every time, until you get tired of them and then the game is over.
  2. PR9Gaming
    Aug 12, 2023
    8
    XCOM turned up to 12, but on amps that should really be at 10 max. It gets way crazier, but still follows the formula of being a strugglebus in the beginning to being a cakewalk without any challenge at late game.
  3. HydrophobikFish
    Jun 9, 2023
    5
    Did not do it for me at all. Have tried multiple times to get into, but something about it does not grab me. I think the way timed missions force you to make risky decisions feels bad because soldiers getting wounded or dying can often have disproportionate consequences, but if I mod out the timer its obvious the game was designed with it in mind and it becomes too easy. Overall, just notDid not do it for me at all. Have tried multiple times to get into, but something about it does not grab me. I think the way timed missions force you to make risky decisions feels bad because soldiers getting wounded or dying can often have disproportionate consequences, but if I mod out the timer its obvious the game was designed with it in mind and it becomes too easy. Overall, just not for me. Too punishing in ways that feel unfair.… Expand
  4. Oshiri_Maeda
    Apr 13, 2023
    5
    By 2023 this game has nothing but a famous name. By this point many xcom-like games are just straight up better. Mutant Year Zero as an example.
  5. IliaGlobal
    Apr 7, 2023
    7
    I really liked the game! Interesting plot, good characters and good graphics for the time the game was made! Thank you, very much dear developers!
  6. Gaarq
    Mar 8, 2023
    5
    generally, xcom 2 is a good sequel, with lots of new stuff, and new mechanistics, but there are at least two things which i consider negative. first, the constant time pressure. i know, it is supposed to be fun to solve problems under stress and with limited resources, but sometimes it is too much. the stupid thing of "scanning" the region to get smth eats time and makes the stress evengenerally, xcom 2 is a good sequel, with lots of new stuff, and new mechanistics, but there are at least two things which i consider negative. first, the constant time pressure. i know, it is supposed to be fun to solve problems under stress and with limited resources, but sometimes it is too much. the stupid thing of "scanning" the region to get smth eats time and makes the stress even pushier. the missions are jumping one after the other, it is difficult to decide which one is more important than the other. second, the very slow healing and shortage of staff, decimating the men without time and resources to improve armament, not funny at all. yes, i successfully finished it, but it was far less fun than xcom 1 aka enemy unknown. if i want a stress i go to wurck ;) third, last and least, it is still a bit buggy, especially the ruler aliens. well, i like to often replay xcom 1, but xcom 2 i tried to play only thrice.… Expand
  7. O3liveon
    Jan 20, 2023
    7
    This game only came out in 2016 but it just feels so old. It feels way older then it is. If it was made today I'd be all over it because you can't get better then this in this genre. If you like this type of game you have to play it, but for where I'm at right now and how much more there is to get through I just can't give up the time to this particular world. It's a good game but it feelsThis game only came out in 2016 but it just feels so old. It feels way older then it is. If it was made today I'd be all over it because you can't get better then this in this genre. If you like this type of game you have to play it, but for where I'm at right now and how much more there is to get through I just can't give up the time to this particular world. It's a good game but it feels 8 years older then it actually is.… Expand
  8. Shadowxxx
    Jan 13, 2023
    0
    disgusting trash disgusting trash disgusting trash disgusting trash disgusting trash
  9. BladeWise
    Dec 31, 2022
    10
    A great game, both visually and in terms of gameplay. Even after 6 years, it is still one of the best in its genere.
  10. Ogurechka
    Dec 20, 2022
    7
    The game causes very mixed feelings. On the one hand, this is a good and modern representative of the turn-based tactics genre. In general, it is the restart of the XCOM series that the entire genre owes its recent revival. On the other hand, the game has a lot of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game design decisions, and some things were done, and as if they didn’t understand why, and just scored.

    All in    The game causes very mixed feelings. On the one hand, this is a good and modern representative of the turn-based tactics genre. In general, it is the restart of the XCOM series that the entire genre owes its recent revival. On the other hand, the game has a lot of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game design decisions, and some things were done, and as if they didn’t understand why, and just scored.

    All in all, if you've played Enemy Unknown (the first part of the reboot), you won't see many changes. Whether it's good or bad, everyone decides for himself. The plot continues the events of the reboot and you will meet some familiar characters. But you need to understand that the plot here is basically banal and for show. There are few story missions themselves, basically you will play the same random events with generated cards. The graphics have become much better, despite the fact that the game is already 8 years old (at the time of writing this review), and its system requirements are weak. This is basically a rarity for tactics. The dynamic camera during shooting and just moving units is also pleasing to the eye. The visual customization of the fighters is also well done. But all this was already in the first part. The destructibility of objects at the levels is present, but not ideal, you can often see a situation where the wall and roof of the building are destroyed, and the boxes and partitions remain hanging in the air.

    But bad innovations, in my opinion, much more. These include absolutely ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ system for calculating hits on the enemy. Units regularly and not on business smear, reboots do not save from this, despite the fact that sometimes the game looks like a simulator of eternal saves and loads. An annoying global timer on the world map - you can't calmly rebuild your base, do research and improve equipment, the game constantly pushes you to complete story missions, otherwise you simply won't have time and will have to start from the beginning. An even more annoying timer on almost all side missions, you are given a measly 6-8 turns to complete the task, otherwise the mission will fail. Because of this, you constantly have to substitute fighters in unfavorable combat situations, and as a result, lose them or get injured, and because of this, they will not be able to participate in other missions for a long time. And yes, the permanent death of units cannot be turned off, although even the famous and hardcore Fire Emblem has already allowed it to be done for ten years. The very number of additional missions and frequency of their appearance is annoying to the point of madness, and if you refuse them, you will simply start to lose funding for your organization from other countries and lose for economic reasons. The difficulty of the game is basically unpleasant, at least if you're not a masochist.And of course, all sorts of unnecessary little things like mods for weapons and characters, they fall out extremely rarely, and they have few varieties, this is just the example when for some reason they made mechanics, but seemed to have scored on it.
    Of the minuses of both restarts, it is also worth noting that there is no action point system, and all actions are divided into two stages - movement and shooting. You can run far, but then you won't be able to shoot on that turn. Reloads, heals also cost precious actions. Classes like Snipers can't fire their primary weapons at all after moving or reloading, making the class's usefulness often questionable.There are people who like this system more than the famous AP, but here it is not implemented very well.

    To summarize, it may seem that the game has more disadvantages, this is not entirely true. I am sure that someone will like these innovations, especially lovers of additional complexity. If you are a fan of the genre, or you really liked the first part, then you need to try XCOM 2. If you are a beginner, then, probably, this is not the best representative of tactics from which you need to start acquaintance, your ass will burn and discourage all desire to touch other similar games.

    I can rate it 7/10, but I'm afraid it's not more.    … Expand
  11. Soullex
    Nov 29, 2022
    9
    Mükemmel bir taktiksel savaş oyunu. %100'de ıskalamasa daha iyi ama........
  12. Hyperfailure
    Nov 27, 2022
    8
    (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
    ┻━┻ ︵ ヽ(°□°ヽ)

    ┻━┻ ︵ ＼( °□° )／ ︵ ┻━┻

    ┬─┬ノ( º _ ºノ)

    (ﾉಥ益ಥ）ﾉ ┻━┻

    ┬──┬ ¯_(ツ)

    ┻━┻ ︵ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ︵ ┻━┻

    ┻━┻ ︵ ¯(ツ)/¯ ︵ ┻━┻

    (╯°Д°）╯︵ /(.□ . )

    ʕノ•ᴥ•ʔノ ︵ ┻━┻
  13. Talibamn
    Aug 15, 2022
    10
    An instant classic that refines, evolves, and redefines the ideas that came before. Strategy perfection
  14. DeathReis
    Jul 5, 2022
    8
    GİRİŞ

    Şunu belirterek giriş yapmak istiyorum ilk oyun olan Xcom Enemy Unknown'u oynamadım yani her hangi bir karşılaştırma yapamayacağım Xcom 2 nedendir bilmem ilk gördüğüm anda beni kendisine çekmişti uygun bir fiyatı olmasından dolayıda direk aldım oyunu (full paketi 45tl) ve şunu söyleyebilirim oyunu modsuz oynamak kesinlikle işkence, gelin inceleyelim ARTILARI +Harika    GİRİŞ

    Şunu belirterek giriş yapmak istiyorum ilk oyun olan Xcom Enemy Unknown'u oynamadım yani her hangi bir karşılaştırma yapamayacağım

    Xcom 2 nedendir bilmem ilk gördüğüm anda beni kendisine çekmişti uygun bir fiyatı olmasından dolayıda direk aldım oyunu (full paketi 45tl) ve şunu söyleyebilirim oyunu modsuz oynamak kesinlikle işkence, gelin inceleyelim

    ARTILARI

    +Harika grafikleri

    +Güzel optimizasyon

    +Sağlam yapay zeka

    +Binbir çeşit upgrade seçeneği

    +Askerlerin "bio" kısımları oldukça detaylı ve bu sayede bazı askerlerle bağ kurmanıza sebep oluyor(cidden bazı askerlerim öldüğü için neredeyse yas tutacaktım)

    +Bölüm tasarımları şahane

    +Scriptli eventler fena değil

    +Hikaye tırt olsada nadiren "wow" dedirtiyor

    +Silah ve Sınıf çeşitliliği yeterli düzeyde

    +Düşman çeşitliliği ise çok iyi

    +Oyun süresi gayet iyi(dlcler ile uzatabilirsiniz tabiki)

    +Steam atölye desteği

    +Görevler öncesi doğru planlama yapmanızı gerektiren dizayn seçimi

    EKSİLERİ

    -Tırt hikayesi

    -Tırt karakterleri

    -Çoğunlukla tahmin edilebilir olay örgüsü

    -Silahlar ve Sınıf çeşitliliği "yeterli" düzeyde olsa da maalesef oyunun oynanış süresi göz önünde bulundurursak yetersiz kalabiliyor

    -Sonlara doğru tekrara düşüyor

    -Oyunun düşmanı vurmanızı hesaplayan sistem çok gaddar(bununla ilgili modlar var kullanmanızı tavsiye ederim)

    PUANLAMA

    82/100 100: Mükemmel(Kusursuz) 99-90: Harika(Kusursuz Değil ama yakın) 89-80: Çok iyi 79-75: İyi 74-70: Ortalama Üstü 69-65: Ortalama 64-60: Ortalama Altı 59-55: Kötü 54-50: Çok Kötü 49    … Expand
  15. tontonac
    May 16, 2022
    7
    Very good TB strategy game, but the campaign is generic and not very interesting. I really don't want to make another playthrough.
  16. Jabbawockee
    May 6, 2022
    6
    XCOM is a game that has a lot to offer but needs far too much time for its formula to become satisfying, after the mid point of the game it runs out of curveballs to throw at you to keep the gameplay engaging and dynamic, so instead chooses to ramp up the difficulty. While I'm aware XCOM is known for said difficulty, it doesn't make the gameplay fun when everything is decided by a literalXCOM is a game that has a lot to offer but needs far too much time for its formula to become satisfying, after the mid point of the game it runs out of curveballs to throw at you to keep the gameplay engaging and dynamic, so instead chooses to ramp up the difficulty. While I'm aware XCOM is known for said difficulty, it doesn't make the gameplay fun when everything is decided by a literal dice-roll yet is so unforgiving, you just end up feeling cheated. The game is optimized poorly for PC and had many bugs that forced me to abandon missions due to being soft-locked.
    While the setting, premise and first few hours of gameplay did a lot to salvage my opinion as a whole, the game falls off heavily as it goes on and by the end I was left disappointed.
    If you're a fan of RTS games then give this one a shot if it's on sale, otherwise I'd say don't buy it.    … Expand
  17. AliceGross
    May 6, 2022
    10
    Харашо Харашо Харашо Харашо Харашо Харашо Харашо Харашо Харашо Харашо Харашо
  18. S3XU4LH34L1NG
    May 5, 2022
    8
    A great game if you are into the genre. In my opinion its leaning a bit too heavy into the overworld / basebuilding management wich is janky and tedious. Be warned there are quite a few bugs (gameplay / audio / visual). Also the combat could be sped up just a tiny bit. The optimazation is also quite horrible. I liked the high difficulty of each mission.
  19. Alexrouz
    Apr 21, 2022
    1
    I have played this game for over 50 hours. At first I loved this game for the setting, level design and soldiers, I considered this game to be good and that it would become one of my favorites even then. But with every 5 hours of playing, I learned how terrible the gameplay of the game is and that this is one of the worst games I have ever played. Spoilers are minimal. 1) Even afterI have played this game for over 50 hours. At first I loved this game for the setting, level design and soldiers, I considered this game to be good and that it would become one of my favorites even then. But with every 5 hours of playing, I learned how terrible the gameplay of the game is and that this is one of the worst games I have ever played. Spoilers are minimal. 1) Even after releasing a large-scale addition to the game, the developers did not remove the huge randomness in shooting, when the machine gunner at point-blank range in 1-2-3 cells has a low chance of hitting and how miserable it looks in the game when he misses a huge alien that is standing right in front of him. 2) Bugs. They are everywhere. Bugs with shooting animations, bugs when the game is paused when there is a lot of shooting from spectator modes, bugs with grenade explosions, bugs with the abilities of the chosen ones, bugs when using engineers in the power relay. What the developers were doing preparing the addition to the game is unclear. 3) Stealth. It doesn't work normally. When successfully using stealth and bypassing enemy points, patrols at some point begin to go towards the player for no reason, and this happens all the time during missions with penetration to specific points. No logic, no development. Complete failure of the mechanics. 4) The worst is the sequence of moves, which is not reset if you are given an additional move of the last soldier for killing (for example), but the game does not allow you to do this and at that moment a plot event occurs (for example, the resurrection of the chosen one) and the game takes your turn, making a full one progress in the opponent's event, and you get back your half-one move left only for moving. As a result, the enemy makes literally 2 moves, until you absolutely could not do anything and this one does not depend on you in any way. Worst turn based game design I've ever seen in the history of gaming. 5) There is absolutely no tactics. It all comes down to random whether the enemy will hit through the cover / pass the stun / miss. The computer opponent does both completely stupid actions and brilliant ones at the same time, absolutely killing all the seriousness of what is happening, which you look at with laughter. Perhaps this is normal if you play on a low difficulty and score on logic and realism, but this is not interesting for experienced players. 6) Terrible development of the fog of war, when, for example, the Wanderers are close to Advent (which they also attack as a player), but until you open the fog of war, they just stand still and do nothing. And as soon as you opened it, they begin to act and then ignore the fact that they are point-blank to the enemy. They begin to stupidly run around and it looks like a clownery. And such missions also start in stealth, which absolutely destroys your tactics, since they can accidentally run out at the moment the fog of war opens and run out to you (although they break down exactly on the opponent of Advent according to the mechanics of the game when you are still in stealth). Summing up, I will say that this is only part of the problems and not all that terrible that is in the game design of the game. The game has a lot more problems and is more offensive just because the game initially seems good due to the setting and the design of the squad with the levels of locations. To bury such potential with such terrible gameplay I have never seen. I don't recommend anyone to play this… Expand
  20. MusclyMcGee
    Apr 18, 2022
    5
    Not fun when all enemies are bullet sponges and your soldiers can't hit Sh**, and can all be killed in one turn if you are unlucky (which is what the core gameplay revolves around). Everything else is actually quite good, I enjoyed the stuff on the ship, such as customising your soldiers and upgrading your ships rooms. I also found the story/lore to be quite intriguing, which you get a lotNot fun when all enemies are bullet sponges and your soldiers can't hit Sh**, and can all be killed in one turn if you are unlucky (which is what the core gameplay revolves around). Everything else is actually quite good, I enjoyed the stuff on the ship, such as customising your soldiers and upgrading your ships rooms. I also found the story/lore to be quite intriguing, which you get a lot of. PS, this game is hard AF (or just simply unfair/rng based), even on the easy difficulty.… Expand
  21. Puppup
    Apr 14, 2022
    0
    Utter **** Controls are **** awful. no depth just full rush against turns all the time. cant spin the map or **** you chump. Even at £3 on steam or free on Epic its **** over priced. If you want cancer play this game.
  22. Wrathzo
    Mar 22, 2022
    6
    XCOM 2 is a 2016 turn-based tactics video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K Games. It takes place 20 years after the events of Enemy Unknown. XCOM, a military organization trying to fight off an alien invasion, has lost the war and is now a resistance force against the occupation of Earth and the established totalitarian regime and military dictatorship. Gameplay is splitXCOM 2 is a 2016 turn-based tactics video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K Games. It takes place 20 years after the events of Enemy Unknown. XCOM, a military organization trying to fight off an alien invasion, has lost the war and is now a resistance force against the occupation of Earth and the established totalitarian regime and military dictatorship. Gameplay is split between turn-based combat in which players command a squad of soldiers to fight enemies, and strategy elements in which players manage and control the operations of the Avenger, an alien ship that is used as a mobile base for XCOM.… Expand
  23. Milo2904
    Feb 13, 2022
    6
    Aiming system is rigged AF. Game has technical difficulties on Switch. So, lizards can pull you even from a rooftop? Who tf made that game? There is absolutely no logic in fighting system.
  24. I3ordo
    Oct 4, 2021
    3
    Xcom is disbanded and what remains is a small faction and underdog!
    then WHY THE HELL the mission REQUIRES me to both rescue hostage, and then KILL ALL Remaining enemies on map? Why can't i get the hostage and F off? Cause , everybody calls you the "COMMANDER" but Firaxis is the actual commander and Demands you what do as exactly told and dont accept anything else.
    First game was    Xcom is disbanded and what remains is a small faction and underdog!
    then WHY THE HELL the mission REQUIRES me to both rescue hostage, and then KILL ALL Remaining enemies on map? Why can't i get the hostage and F off? Cause , everybody calls you the "COMMANDER" but Firaxis is the actual commander and Demands you what do as exactly told and dont accept anything else.

    First game was alright because it was based of some one else's work, now it s the second game and we all saw how moronic the melodies came out of their own guitar.    … Expand
  25. Woolee
    Sep 29, 2021
    10
    I fell in love with this game when I first started playing it, but then something went horribly wrong. If you only intend on playing the game once or maybe twice then this game is a fantastic gem; a great experience. If you want to play more than that then it has some surprises in store. First of all the UI and controls are ok but they could be so much better on the PC. Every once in a
  26. MusclePig
    Jul 24, 2021
    3
    Sometimes you can just tell when a game has been created with no love from the devs whatsoever. This was merely them doing their job.
  27. Axilley
    Jul 22, 2021
    8
    good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good X2
  28. ultimat3
    Jul 14, 2021
    10
    good game with great combat, dk why the reviews are so bad ...

    xcom foreverrrrrr
  29. Durgrim
    Jun 3, 2021
    10
    One of the best (if not the best) strategy games of this decade. If you like turn based strategy / tactics games you need to try this.
  30. sparkdiamonds2
    May 12, 2021
    8
    One of my favorite games! I always have a good time with XCOM. Love the combat especially
  31. Zski
    May 2, 2021
    10
    This is what a strategy game should be. Multiple layers of decision making, consequences that ripple across all layers of the game, and the feeling that you’re constantly fighting a losing battle against an enemy stronger than you. It’s pretty much an arms race against the aliens, and you are at a disadvantage. I think iron man should be the default mode in the game, otherwise it takesThis is what a strategy game should be. Multiple layers of decision making, consequences that ripple across all layers of the game, and the feeling that you’re constantly fighting a losing battle against an enemy stronger than you. It’s pretty much an arms race against the aliens, and you are at a disadvantage. I think iron man should be the default mode in the game, otherwise it takes away the huge sense of risk vs reward. This is easily one of my favorite strategy games - I have finished it for the fifth time now across three different platforms. I always come back to it.… Expand
  32. X-comfan18
    Apr 27, 2021
    10
    The best turn based UFO Defence game that I've played.

    XCOM was Great. XCOM has further built up on it's strengths and created an even better product with Updated Graphics and Campaign. Every single DLC had a profound impact on gameplay and refined it even further.

    Grab the complete XCOM2 bungle for best experience.
  33. Pickle
    Mar 12, 2021
    5
    Ridiculously difficult, the game can't compensate with its beautiful presentation, and fantastic sound design, for what it is essentially a game with deeply flawed gameplay and balancing options in regards to its level of difficulty, It's beyond me as to why developers choose to make their games as challenging only to then add difficulty options that, really, don't provide any differenceRidiculously difficult, the game can't compensate with its beautiful presentation, and fantastic sound design, for what it is essentially a game with deeply flawed gameplay and balancing options in regards to its level of difficulty, It's beyond me as to why developers choose to make their games as challenging only to then add difficulty options that, really, don't provide any difference when it comes to the overall difficulty of theg ame.… Expand
  34. denissix
    Jan 3, 2021
    0
    XCOM 2 is unbalanced piece of s.... DLC Bosses with three life strips for first-level soldiers is "nice". The game is going too fast, very few resources. Improvements are very expensive. The Avatar project... who invented it?
    Max honest rate no more 75. Bad job Firaxis
  35. LazyLoad08
    Dec 19, 2020
    7
    Recommend for fans of XCOM, it is definitely a worthy entry.
    Overall a good game, unfortunately my experience was marred by bugs. Every cutscene (story, resistance contact, surgeries...) had what felt like a 50% chance to crash my game.
    I appreciate the tactical approach and overall gameplay. Line of sight is somehow janky and not really intuitive. I would say succeeding in missions and    Recommend for fans of XCOM, it is definitely a worthy entry.
    Overall a good game, unfortunately my experience was marred by bugs. Every cutscene (story, resistance contact, surgeries...) had what felt like a 50% chance to crash my game.
    I appreciate the tactical approach and overall gameplay. Line of sight is somehow janky and not really intuitive. I would say succeeding in missions and winning the game feels satisfying. Menu navigation is slow and cluttered.
    Recommended mods: Faster Avenger Navigation; Stop Wasting My Time; Flank Preview    … Expand
  36. OldManGamerOMG
    Dec 7, 2020
    8
    While the game is leaps and bounds better than the previous XCOM, I would be amiss to not recommend that you play the previous XCOM to get the full amount of enjoyment out of this game, as well as back story.

    The previous XCOM was badly designed around RNG, but this game has fixed much of that, allowing for strategy to be stronger than the ridiculous RNG missed shots. There is still    While the game is leaps and bounds better than the previous XCOM, I would be amiss to not recommend that you play the previous XCOM to get the full amount of enjoyment out of this game, as well as back story.

    The previous XCOM was badly designed around RNG, but this game has fixed much of that, allowing for strategy to be stronger than the ridiculous RNG missed shots. There is still times that you will miss that 99 percent success shot, but it isn't game breaking as it was in XCOM Enemy Within. The game is also far more inclusive to the tempo that you take the game, as opposed to feeling rushed in every sense of the way.

    The layout of the base is not make or break based on the layout that RNG gave you at the start as well. This makes it less stressful in starting the game, and wondering where a steam vent is, or if you can get that Sat link without the Steam Vent being in the way.

    The engineers and scientists are far more interesting and fun. I wish there was more we could do with them, but they are vastly better than just getting a number higher.

    In short, I enjoyed XCOM 2 vastly more than XCOM EU and EW. I definitely recommend this game, though wait to get the DLC/Expansions until they are on sale. They are quite overpriced currently.    … Expand
  37. RealPlayer666
    Nov 9, 2020
    4
    This game is bad. Strongly not recommended. Everything inside is like a one big script (even shooting). 80-95% to shoot a target and miss. Load and one more try... miss again. One more try miss again and over and over again. You can move and shoot but you can't shoot and move at start. Many pointless skills. X-COM extraterrestrial gold edition is much better then this game (2007). AnotherThis game is bad. Strongly not recommended. Everything inside is like a one big script (even shooting). 80-95% to shoot a target and miss. Load and one more try... miss again. One more try miss again and over and over again. You can move and shoot but you can't shoot and move at start. Many pointless skills. X-COM extraterrestrial gold edition is much better then this game (2007). Another game based on very good (legendary) title f...d up. Sad...… Expand
  38. DexEngineer
    Aug 14, 2020
    9
    Love playing this game. One of my favorite games. Great graphics. Intriguing story. Very good continuation of Enemy Unknown.
  39. Sean-M
    Jul 24, 2020
    8
    Really liked this game, it follows the great gameplay of the previous game but it also adds the character customisation that is amazing, especially when you add multiple mods on top of it.
  40. Man_of_duty
    Jul 23, 2020
    6
    Even for it's love-hate situations it still dominates other games with the same genre of gameplay. No game has the magic like XCOM has.

    All cool things aside this game only made me frustrated, the main mission event is a time bomb nagging you to stop the enemy project or you're gonna lose the game. The start was awful, I got short on the supplies immediately, therefore I had to skip a    Even for it's love-hate situations it still dominates other games with the same genre of gameplay. No game has the magic like XCOM has.

    All cool things aside this game only made me frustrated, the main mission event is a time bomb nagging you to stop the enemy project or you're gonna lose the game. The start was awful, I got short on the supplies immediately, therefore I had to skip a few missions so my squad can heal up. Luckily I started getting PTSD flashbacks from the old game and remembered the pattern. I can't imagine how a newbie would feel like playing this game for the first time.

    Most of the missions are turns limited, that means that if you overplay the amount of turns you are supposed to play, you will lose the mission and the squad too. Not fun at all. Also, everything depends on the percentage of how successful your soldier's aim will be, that means lots of save/load situations.

    Animations are very useless and time consuming, there is a mod that helps you to skip combat animations but somehow it doesn't work for me. After some hours you're just gonna get so sick of it.    … Expand
  41. Realnoobman
    Jul 19, 2020
    6
    Pc version is so much better than the ps4 one: loading times are so much lower and gameplay is smoother. Character creation mechanics of the soldiers is a great extra feature i wish many games of this kind had. Unfortunately sometimes walls do not properly block the line of sight of enemies, furthermore, the fact that the enemy level after level churns out stronger and stronger aliensPc version is so much better than the ps4 one: loading times are so much lower and gameplay is smoother. Character creation mechanics of the soldiers is a great extra feature i wish many games of this kind had. Unfortunately sometimes walls do not properly block the line of sight of enemies, furthermore, the fact that the enemy level after level churns out stronger and stronger aliens reaches exaggerated levels and is unpleasant… Expand
  42. Gonzaked
    Jul 10, 2020
    8
    Hey... Do you remember when Donald Trump, Darth Vader, Hatsune Miku and the Ultramarines saved the World ? Yeah... Me too...

    Coded with the feet and optimised with knees, this game didn't get any real update to solved it issues. Like an other game who likes to shoot you in the knee, you HAVE to install mods to get an acceptable experience : Balancing the game, Getting new    Hey... Do you remember when Donald Trump, Darth Vader, Hatsune Miku and the Ultramarines saved the World ? Yeah... Me too...

    Coded with the feet and optimised with knees, this game didn't get any real update to solved it issues.

    Like an other game who likes to shoot you in the knee, you HAVE to install mods to get an acceptable experience :

    Balancing the game,
    Getting new classes, new weapons, new foes, new everything.

    The campaign is cool, the gameplay is okay... but it has some stupidities like stealth being misexploited.

    Soundtrack is great
    Graphism are mediocre.

    But hey, even Archer and his crew are joining the party !
    Thanks 2K games, but a bigger thanks to the modders !    … Expand
  43. DoctorDeath
    Jun 29, 2020
    8
    Continued and, in fact, a repetition of the first part. Few new ideas. But still good gameplay. For fans of the strategy and tactics genre.
  44. SilverOrlov
    Jun 17, 2020
    9
    I decided to write a separate reviews on the game in general and an DLC about the chosen ones.
    So about the game... Very good graphics worthy of 2016. Very interesting story and atmosphere through all company missions. New interesting idea with soldier's skill relationship, and with stress debuffs. Adding new fraction soldiers with their own specific skills. As usual, interesting text    I decided to write a separate reviews on the game in general and an DLC about the chosen ones.
    So about the game... Very good graphics worthy of 2016. Very interesting story and atmosphere through all company missions. New interesting idea with soldier's skill relationship, and with stress debuffs. Adding new fraction soldiers with their own specific skills. As usual, interesting text articles about laboratory projects.
    Some people complained on timers, but at first, it's a part of game-play and it's well described by game-play. And at second, you can alter them in option menu before starting new game. The avatar timer, what a surprise, was in the original game as "panic bar" and you can shorten it in some missions.
    What I actually didn't like in this game: Curved camera(the global map periodically runs from place to place, activation of some skills is not visible because the camera shows a completely different part of the location). Sometimes AI of aliens reacts slowly or even make foolish steps. When you step on the green square of the mission task - you can no longer leave it, even if you need to do that, only reload saved moment. The lack of a line of experience is a very bad decision, because it does not allow to evaluate when a soldier will receive a promotion(this is very inconvenient, at least because in covert operations it is possible to quickly raise a soldier).
    And of course, the most delicious: stupid and blind chance's random of hits. Honestly I like the idea, but after the finished experience with the first game, in 2016 you can already more responsibly approach this issue. Take into account any context in that percentage, because it is very stupid when the shotgun shoots close with a 80% chance but miss, it is very stupid when the Colonel sniper misses a huge berserk body that stands still, it is very stupid when a ranger with a sword and a hacking skill lower than average, hacks better than a specialist with a high level of this skill. And it is very stupid when you stand near the alien and put the rifle into it's face, and receive 60%... 50%... even 40%?! ...WTF?!
    But howbeit it is very interesting game and I want to give it a good rating.    … Expand
  45. apjs
    Jun 9, 2020
    1
    The game is much worse than Enemy Unknown - which I loved. The performance is very poor even if you run it on a gaming PC with very good hardware. The level design is not good. You can shoot and fight through solid walls, pick up squad mates from the other side of a wall etc. The voiceovers are completely random. You will ge the "running low on ammo" voiceover from a soldier with *full*The game is much worse than Enemy Unknown - which I loved. The performance is very poor even if you run it on a gaming PC with very good hardware. The level design is not good. You can shoot and fight through solid walls, pick up squad mates from the other side of a wall etc. The voiceovers are completely random. You will ge the "running low on ammo" voiceover from a soldier with *full* ammo. The difficulty is very weird. The normal missions are super easy even on the hardest difficulty. And then the final mission is barely beatable on normal difficulty. The problem is the difficulty spike at the end. Either make it continuously harder each mission or leave the difficulty the same. But it is very frustrating if you beat all regular missions on hard withe a flawless or excellent score and for the final mission, you barely beat it after reducing the settings to normal difficulty.… Expand
  46. Kotofon
    Jun 6, 2020
    8
    XCOM2 - это продолжение признанной игроками и критиками стратегии XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Двадцать лет минуло с тех пор, как человечество проиграло войну с захватчиками из другого мира, и на Земле теперь царит новый порядок
  47. Aeryx
    Jun 4, 2020
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Remember the tutorial mission of XCOM? That scary mission that first introduces you to the aliens? With all the creepy noises you hear and your team member getting killed? That's gone. XCOM 2 doesn't make any effort to be subtle and creepy and scary. Despite having some improved game mechanics, XCOM 2 hits you with a bad story and feels much less immersive and has less depth.

    Let's begin with the story. It's mediocre and the goals that XCOM tries to achieve are ridiculous. The avatar project has a timer but the game doesn't bother explaining how and why does that timer work and why XCOM loses if it runs out. We know that the aliens are attempting to harvest humans, but why does it matter that them doing it makes you lose even if they cannot get to you? They've been doing it for 20 years but you lose if they do it for a few more months even if they can't defeat you? It feels very forced and ridiculous. Self-detonating charges on missions even if the enemy has no idea you are there? Stupid idea. The characters have comically huge weapons, just like the first, and the characters and enemies talk way too much. Do I need to tell the developers that quiet and subtle enemies are far scarier and more menacing than ones who talk like professional wrestlers? What a joke! The game is also riddled in bugs--- serious bugs, like my keyboard getting disabled if I load a game before the game establishes a link to 2k online. Also, why are there no more UFOs? You only encounter one throughout the whole game and once it hits you with an EMP, it disappears forever and doesn't bother chasing you again. What happened to the alien battleships and shooting them down from the first game? All gone. It doesn't make sense how the aliens cannot locate the Avenger with all their advanced tech and they just seem so dumb nowadays, hardly reacting to what XCOM does without any direction or strategy. The alien designs also look more cartoony as opposed to scary realistic. Advent is a total joke and and the game doesn't even explain why humans didn't know that Advent turns people to alien-like entities AFTER 20 YEARS OF OCCUPATION. When somebody works for advent military, don't they have to come back to their families and take off their helmets? Also, if unauthorized users of Advent weapons die upon using them, why do we see civilians using them in the final cutscenes without consequence? Also, why did they use the portal to reach the alien base under the ocean, that base is unimportant. They could have done so many smarter things with it! It would have been better to use the gateway to teleport an alien superweapon or nuke equivalent to the alien homeworlds and blow it. Instead, we go to an alien base under the ocean and kill their avatars and accomplish nothing else, because the aliens will still keep coming after the final mission. The only thing funny about the game is that they are obsessed with advent burgers. The rest is really bad. I could go on, but you get the picture.

    Gameplay-wise, there are some improvements, but these hardly compensate for the awful story and writing. Dark events are nice and the new currencies are an improvement. The game also gives you missions that address your lack of resources (like supply raids) when you need it. The weapons and research are an improvement, but the suits should have 3 slots, not two. The weapon attachments should also have 3 and not just 2. The combat mechanics and hit percentages are still awful, but that's XCOM. The graphics are mediocre and cartoony, but not too awful. The sound and music is actually good, and gets the job done, but is inferior to XCOM: EU.

    Graphics are poorly optimized. Even with RTX2060, the game lags in many places and in-between cutscenes, with loading times dragging out. Terrible optimization work right there.

    Maybe next time, the game should introduce rare weapons and armor dropped by enemies. That would be very nice. Stats for the characters are also nice. Some of these issues are addressed in WoTC, but the terrible writing and story remain even in the expansion.

    Overall, XCOM 2 feels like a step back from XCOM: Enemy Unknown. The only redeeming quality is that it the regression isn't as bad as it could have been.    … Expand
  48. ChesterField
    May 1, 2020
    9
    Strategy game that has made its name a genre. Personally, I don't understand the bad reviews. For me it is at the level of its first game, it even exceeds it. Mandatory for fans of the genre.
  49. Haltsmaul
    Apr 28, 2020
    9
    It now runs with only minor bugs and apart from that is unfair sometimes (oh come on how could he miss that!???) its an awesome turn based rpg and strategy game
    Tip: If you like the game, you have to buy the DLC "War of the Chosen"! it adds new characters and classes and enemies and even a new game mode. Makes the awesome game even better
  50. Mazisky
    Apr 25, 2020
    10
    One of the best strategy games ever created for PC.

    -Awesome tactical layer
    -Procedural maps and a lot of environments
    -Character creation and personalization
    -Many different enemies
    -Intriguing Narrative and cool main characters
    -Lot of meaningful strategictactical decisions to make
  51. pyhriel
    Apr 25, 2020
    6
    I am a big fan of XCom: Enemy Unknonwn, loved the challenge there. In this one there is still much of the core elements that are fun and some of the new ones, like the combat mechanics, the new classes, etc.

    My main issue with this game, and it does end up making the game a lot less fun to play is the timed missions that happen far too often. It kind of breaks the overall strategy feel    I am a big fan of XCom: Enemy Unknonwn, loved the challenge there. In this one there is still much of the core elements that are fun and some of the new ones, like the combat mechanics, the new classes, etc.

    My main issue with this game, and it does end up making the game a lot less fun to play is the timed missions that happen far too often. It kind of breaks the overall strategy feel of the game. If it happened only once in a while it'd be okay, but in XCom2 most missions have this timed element. I'd say this is the main problem I have with it, because it ends up limiting your choices and also limits what is an efficient build-up. Building up for stealth is not as effective when you need to rush-in, so you should build up for fast, heavy damage output.

    The second thing I don't like much about this game is the difficulty. I don't mind a challenging game, XCom : Enemy unknown was challenging, but in this one, there is a lot of luck based difficulty. The monsters that reacts to your every move can be either easy or impossibly tough depending on how they act, and it does seem a bit arbitrary. As a general rule, I didn't like fighting them that much. I loved seeing them pop up in battles unexpectedly, but I hated the battle mechanics for fighting them. There was really just one tactic that seemed to work against them : heavy damage as quickly as possible.

    Finally, the game timer in this game is ... average. it isn't that fun how its implemented. Its starts fun, but becomes tedious after a while. I understand the desire to change things from the first one, but it didn't make the game fun.

    I don't really recommend buying this game. It's ok, but it ends up not being that much fun in the end. It's kind of sad, I was really hoping it would be as good as the previous one.    … Expand
  52. Sanghelic
    Apr 11, 2020
    9
    para mi es sin lugar a duda el mejor juego de estrategia por turnos que existe, muy buenas mecanicas y sistema de progresion impecable, inteligente y muy bien pensado, XCOM 2 es un juego totalmente tactico que te hara tomar decisiones dificiles con consecuencias reales, debes administrar bien tus recursos y saber tomar decisiones a corto y largo plazo, a pesar de estar mal optimizadopara mi es sin lugar a duda el mejor juego de estrategia por turnos que existe, muy buenas mecanicas y sistema de progresion impecable, inteligente y muy bien pensado, XCOM 2 es un juego totalmente tactico que te hara tomar decisiones dificiles con consecuencias reales, debes administrar bien tus recursos y saber tomar decisiones a corto y largo plazo, a pesar de estar mal optimizado recomiendo mucho jugarlo en pc, he jugado la version de pc y la de xbox one y puedo decir que la de xbox one sufria de bastantes mas errores, ademas, esta clase de juegos se juega con mas precision en pc y su comunidad es tambien mas grande en pc. sin embargo, si esto no es posible, los desarrolladores supieron crear un esquema de controles muy bueno para poder jugar este juego con mando.… Expand
  53. qrooel
    Mar 13, 2020
    0
    Timers in almost every mission. TBS with timers. Game is nearly unplayable because of this. No fun at all. Frustrating game ever.
  54. ComandanteCobra
    Mar 4, 2020
    8
    Good.
    It's a little different from first Xcom in terms of game-play.
    Here there are some sort of mini-bosses and a good amount of story driven missions that limit replay value but create a decent (if predictable) story. Most of the random missions (at normal ) are time related so you must complete them in a fixed numbers of turn or you'll loose the mission....but rarely this represent a    Good.
    It's a little different from first Xcom in terms of game-play.
    Here there are some sort of mini-bosses and a good amount of story driven missions that limit replay value but create a decent (if predictable) story.
    Most of the random missions (at normal ) are time related so you must complete them in a fixed numbers of turn or you'll loose the mission....but rarely this represent a real problem
    It feel a little speed up compared to previous title in the franchise.
    Lots of user-generated content can be found online for free and lots of bugs have been fixed.
    I played also XCOM 2012 and X-COM: UFO Defense 1993.    … Expand
  55. Wiebe
    Feb 26, 2020
    6
    To similar to the first game, and the new elements are boring the game up, could not play trough the whole thing
  56. Shimmeywill
    Feb 20, 2020
    6
    A solid build upon the reboot title. Bunch more customisation and baddies to fights. Ultimately was a touch derivative and the randomisation of the gameplay, whilst integral, is more frustrating the second time round. Not that its a bad game....
  57. CaptainChaos
    Jan 14, 2020
    7
    I loved XCOM1 and I wanted to love this game also. I do in many ways but there are WAY too many FRUSTRATING things about this game that wants to make me uninstall it every few hours.

    You should know that in my first full playthrough of XCOM I barely cheated (maybe reloaded a misplaced grenade shot I didn't understand where it was going), and playing on normal difficulty I almost won (I    I loved XCOM1 and I wanted to love this game also. I do in many ways but there are WAY too many FRUSTRATING things about this game that wants to make me uninstall it every few hours.

    You should know that in my first full playthrough of XCOM I barely cheated (maybe reloaded a misplaced grenade shot I didn't understand where it was going), and playing on normal difficulty I almost won (I lost the last battle). I LOVED the challenge and difficulty and brutality. I find much of this game is just nonsensical a lot. random and just frustrating. For example

    1. The ingame instructions are fair to miserable. Half the time I have no idea how to use certain weapons, or abilities or who has them, nor do I understand much of the UI.

    2. Unlike AOW Planetfall which tells you the percentage chance to hit something BEFORE you move to a tile this does not. I had to search REDDIT to even know that there was a tiny target thingy over enemy units that is displayed when you mouse over a potential tile to which you might consider moving, so that at least you know if you can even "see" the unit to shoot at it (you still don't know if your to-hit is 10% or 100% until after you move, although before you shoot).

    3. I'm stuck on one mission b/c one of the characters you find has an important weapon to use on the last encounter - only they don't warn of you that and I used it already. Thanks guys! Good thing I don't trust any game and have 100 saves. I feel sorry for anyone else playing iron man mode or who doesn't save every other turn. EDIT: I had to go back about 20 moves and reload that save and now I'm passed it. Ugh. In all fairness though, turns out you can use the environment to help you but I didn't know that (like exploding generators - but I found out by accident).

    4. There's just a lot of ways to screw up the game for not understanding it and it is a very challenging and unforgiving game. I like challenges, but I can't tell you how many times on a timed mission I couldn't even figure out where to go or how to complete the objective when I got there forcing me to reload 100 times.

    5. Finally the overwatch / combat system is very very poorly implemented. Most missions you start off in concealment which is great. But then you engage, only YOUR FIRST UNIT and those units that were in overwatch basically get to attack (and those overwatch attacks only work if the enemy moves, not if they fire). That might have been an XCOM 1 thing also I don't remember, but then they should have fixed it. Every other "normal" system in the world would give your whole team a round of surprise attacks, but you have to set them all up in overwatch to do that. That also means you spend 3x as long as moving on the map b/c EVERYONE ELSE has to do overwatch FIRST (DO IT FIRST!!) b/c if your other team member stumbles on enemies when it moves, it blows it for everyone and anyone not in overwatch LOSES THEIR TURN essentially while the aliens go. STUPID. Really STUPID. Sorry.

    On the plus side, it is XCOM with way better graphics, so if you enjoyed the original and the frustrations don't make you pull your hair out, the rest of the game is quite fun and addictive.

    SAVE SAVE SAVE. Or you will put your hand through your monitor. You might still. I like this game. I want to love it. But ARG.    … Expand
  58. Kif1983
    Dec 11, 2019
    3
    You're gonna want to mod it. It's painfully difficult at the expense of being fun or interesting.

    I started playing on normal, after 5 or so missions I switched to rookie, then a couple more levels later I installed mods. As an example, a mere 5 missions in, a special type of alien pops up. He has armor (limiting your damage), 50 or so health (compared to most mobs 8), plus, every    You're gonna want to mod it. It's painfully difficult at the expense of being fun or interesting.

    I started playing on normal, after 5 or so missions I switched to rookie, then a couple more levels later I installed mods.

    As an example, a mere 5 missions in, a special type of alien pops up. He has armor (limiting your damage), 50 or so health (compared to most mobs 8), plus, every time your characters do something, it gets a full turn. So:
    Character A moves
    It got a turn
    Character A shoots
    It got a turn
    Character B moves
    It got a turn etc

    Because it appeared after a number of previous fights, and I had an objective to deal with, on normal difficulty, it wiped me out before it even got to its actual official turn.

    The next frustrating thing was that a lot of the missions have a turn limit. It's harsh, what it means is rather than thinking and strategizing like you would in the previous titles. You're just running for the goal and hoping someone survives.

    The final frustrating thing is that the game pretends like you have agency, but the moment you say 'ignore' on one of its incredibly frequent pop up missions, (maybe because your soldiers are wounded), it brings up a big read message saying we recommend you don't ignore this, if you do it's gonna ruin your game. It's deviously linear.

    So, mod it to remove / increase turns, mod it to make aiming a bit better, mod it give those boss creatures normal turns... then, you might actually have fun... and, if you don't save scum, it'll still be a challenge; just not a painful one.

    Score is based on the game without mods.    … Expand
  59. RogueV
    Dec 5, 2019
    9
    How can I do justice to a game responsible for some of the most treasured gaming moments in my whole life? The fact of the matter is that XCOM is more than anything you try and describe it with. It's a strategy game, but it's a lot more than that. It's a turn based combat game, but it's so so much more than that. It's a single player campaign, but it's the most unique and fascinatingHow can I do justice to a game responsible for some of the most treasured gaming moments in my whole life? The fact of the matter is that XCOM is more than anything you try and describe it with. It's a strategy game, but it's a lot more than that. It's a turn based combat game, but it's so so much more than that. It's a single player campaign, but it's the most unique and fascinating single player campaign I've ever come across. It's more than all of these things put together, it's a complete game polished on all ends and a truly legendary experience.

    Perhaps the most amazing thing in this game is what I call organic storytelling. What I mean by that is that in your campaign only you, the commander and main character, and the supporting cast are fixed. The true heroes, the soldiers, are randomly generated, and grow an identity through their experiences and through leveling up. So when a soldier is really powerful and a leader of your squad, there is such a feeling of personal involvement and a stake in the matter. You saw them grow from a rookie into what they are. And the best part of this: perma-death. The main soldier who has been with you from the very first mission, the hero of the story, they could die once in a low stakes side mission and that's it. They're gone. There is something so magical about this, it creates so much tension and raises the stakes so high for every single mission. Sure, you can just reload the save from when the soldier was alive, but I advise against that. I don't think I have ever felt as much anguish from a video game as the time I lost my best soldier because of MY error in judgment and positioning, but it is that anguish that makes the experience sweeter and more profound, and what makes this game so special.

    The gameplay itself is phenomenal and unique. There is some RNG, no denying that, but it stops short of feeling completely unfair, and skill makes a huge difference. Reading the battlefield, the enemies, and making good tactical decisions is a skill very heavily rewarded in gameplay, and lack of good decisionmaking is punished as well. It really is as close to a "shooter chess" as I can imagine. Parallels can also be drawn to to Firaxis other big game: Civilization, with it's tile based gameplay. Here instead of one tile being a region in a country, it's a small piece of the floor where a soldier can stand. There are other similarities to Civ like the research system. I'd go as far as to say the turn-based, tile-based gameplay works even better for XCOM than it does for Civ.

    My one criticism of the gameplay is that I do not appreciate the turn timer missions because they promote one way of playing very heavily and make the whole thing feel rushed, in a way that doesn't even feel right for the story. Luckily the War of the Chosen expansion resolves all these faults perfectly.    … Expand
  60. Genek13
    Nov 19, 2019
    8
    Great sequel to one of the best tactical games.
    Campaign is enjoyable and long enough.
    Visuals and sound effects are outstanding - especially comparing to the previous one.
    During playtrough had some technical problems, but not gamebreaking ones.
  61. Cougargames
    Nov 5, 2019
    8
    Now please dont mind my seven just beacuse metacritic gives 7s a yellow colour doesnt men i hate the game its quite good in fact it does almost everything that xcom did right besides the fact that they have timed missions. One of the most satisfying feeling (atleast for me) is that i could creat the perfect stealth attack and suprise my enemies. You can still do that but its all veryNow please dont mind my seven just beacuse metacritic gives 7s a yellow colour doesnt men i hate the game its quite good in fact it does almost everything that xcom did right besides the fact that they have timed missions. One of the most satisfying feeling (atleast for me) is that i could creat the perfect stealth attack and suprise my enemies. You can still do that but its all very limited beacuse you almost dont have the option to take your time. Now Im not gonna spoil xcoms ending but what i can tell you is that everything you did in Xcom 1 basically dosent matter, wich fel like a big f*** you to the players.… Expand
  62. PeetApiwat
    Nov 3, 2019
    8
    "Save scumming because I love all my soldiers"

    The Good: presentation, challenge gameplay, graphic, ability to customize soldier.
    The Okay: some camera angle problem.
    The Bad: some situation seems unfair where you just have to lose (or save-scumming :D)
  63. TheFrog
    Oct 26, 2019
    1
    Picture ugly-drawn graphics straight out of the PS2 era, and micro levels that still take longer to load than a sprawling open world with 100x the detail (my gods, loading takes AGES).
    The game consists of a gauntlet where your soldiers face superior numbers of superior enemies with far superior combat capabilities. Your snipers will almost never hit anything and cannot see an enemy    Picture ugly-drawn graphics straight out of the PS2 era, and micro levels that still take longer to load than a sprawling open world with 100x the detail (my gods, loading takes AGES).
    The game consists of a gauntlet where your soldiers face superior numbers of superior enemies with far superior combat capabilities. Your snipers will almost never hit anything and cannot see an enemy furthe than 6 meters. Your gunner deals minimal damage. Your scout is pointless, for stealth only applies to your very first attack. The specialist will heal you once per mission. Meanwhile enemies reanimate the dead, panic your troops (this may also occur if one of your soldiers gets hit!), take control of your soldiers, turning them into enemies that fire on your own troops. They pull your soldiers in a death grip that damages them, keep dealing damage and takes them in the middle of the enemies.
    The enemy spots you during their turn? You are in trouble. You spot the enemy? They get a free turn allowing them to disperse and get to cover before you can do anything. After a mission, your soldiers will be wounded, shaken and whatnot, introducing more handicaps for the next.
    Hitting is based on a RNG, so you often miss three times in a row even with an 80% chance to hit. It’s ridiculously easy to lose a soldier, and you only have four.
    Shouldn’t games be fun?    … Expand
  64. MazrimTaim14
    Oct 14, 2019
    7
    Need to fill your SRPG needs then try this tactical shooter/RPG game.

    Permadeath gives the dread of going into missions. Can't leave someone out to dry and forces you to move into as a team. On the timed missions, its a pet peeve of mine. Although it would be nice instead of failing the mission when the time runs out, we got tons of reinforcement from enemies which in turn is kind of    Need to fill your SRPG needs then try this tactical shooter/RPG game.

    Permadeath gives the dread of going into missions. Can't leave someone out to dry and forces you to move into as a team.

    On the timed missions, its a pet peeve of mine. Although it would be nice instead of failing the mission when the time runs out, we got tons of reinforcement from enemies which in turn is kind of a game over but more challenging since extraction will be a lot of harder and will force you to leave one to hold of enemies.

    the game has performance issues, especially the fps drops which should be inexcusable for a single player game.

    Also a negative aspect of the game is suddenly the enemy got 100% vision on your team when only one is detected. turns stealth into all out shooter. I was hoping its not the case so that we can do diversion runs (with units not specifically design to be invi like scouts) and have a different approach to things.    … Expand
  65. Vectis99
    May 31, 2019
    9
    XCOM 2 is not only a brilliant game in its own right, but also improves over XCOM 1 in every form- graphically, mechanically, and thematically. Sweeping quality of life changes, such as the ability to press the tab key to move to the next unit while the previous's animation is completing, make up for the games occasional trivial turn cycles. XCOM 2 is unique in that the campaign can beXCOM 2 is not only a brilliant game in its own right, but also improves over XCOM 1 in every form- graphically, mechanically, and thematically. Sweeping quality of life changes, such as the ability to press the tab key to move to the next unit while the previous's animation is completing, make up for the games occasional trivial turn cycles. XCOM 2 is unique in that the campaign can be "lost"- and it is a very real threat on the "Veteran" difficulty, adding a degree of substance to decision making. Consequentially, due to the length of the campaign, the total amount of time I expect to spend with this game is wholly unpredictable.
    I have only played this with the "War of the Chosen" DLC, which I got on sale; so I cannot speak to the value of the base game. However, I can testify that the experience currently feels complete and engaging.
    There are a few things in XCOM 2 which don't quite work. "Lost" elements of missions do not work well with the tactical strategy genre compared to missions with fewer, more complex enemies. The exact mechanics of the grand strategy campaign are not immediately intuitive. Lastly, the maps which missions take place on are far bigger than they need to be, often making the game feel like a sort of walking chore.
    On the other hand, some things XCOM 2 did especially well make it a deeply engaging experience. The strategy layer's Avatar project provides a solid baseline for reading the general state of the player in terms of where the game expects you to be. On a tactical level, the idea that a mission's outcome is very analogue (with a wide range of outcomes based on the soldiers being wounded and killed), which negates the grind of easier missions; they can still be handled with care with meaningful incentives. Mission design is overall improved to be significantly more engaging with a wider variety of mission objectives, constraints, and challenges. Per-unit tactical options are greatly expanded on from the first game, yet do not feel overwhelming.    … Expand
  66. Rock3nh3im
    Mar 22, 2019
    10
    Geniales Strategiespiel. Da stimmt fast alles, bis auf paar Bugs. Abwechslung hat man zu 100%, Kämpfe sind fordernd, auch ist das eins von den Spielen wo man gerne Stirbt oder die Mission nochmal spielt oder Neustartet um einen anderen Weg zu versuchen.
    Auf jedenfall, ist das Spiel jedes Geld wert und noch so viel mehr...
    Viel Spass an denjenigen wo sich das Kauft. Du wirst es sicher    Geniales Strategiespiel. Da stimmt fast alles, bis auf paar Bugs. Abwechslung hat man zu 100%, Kämpfe sind fordernd, auch ist das eins von den Spielen wo man gerne Stirbt oder die Mission nochmal spielt oder Neustartet um einen anderen Weg zu versuchen.
    Auf jedenfall, ist das Spiel jedes Geld wert und noch so viel mehr...
    Viel Spass an denjenigen wo sich das Kauft. Du wirst es sicher nicht bereuen.    … Expand
  67. ChoicestGames
    Feb 15, 2019
    8
    XCOM 2 brings with it many welcome new features such as better customisation options, the ability to conduct guerrilla warfare against an alien threat and even a Memorial Wall. However, what it also brings are the usual flaws that infuriate players including bugs and RNGesus; XCOM 2 is also more difficult than its predecessor thanks to a combination of turning previous winning strategiesXCOM 2 brings with it many welcome new features such as better customisation options, the ability to conduct guerrilla warfare against an alien threat and even a Memorial Wall. However, what it also brings are the usual flaws that infuriate players including bugs and RNGesus; XCOM 2 is also more difficult than its predecessor thanks to a combination of turning previous winning strategies on their heads and having time limits placed on just about everything that you do.… Expand
  68. whatever523
    Feb 13, 2019
    7
    XCOM 2 is a good game, but a lot of things could have been improved.

    * The user interface could be better. HP bars cover half the screen, navigating the base has too many annoying animations, you can't see what items your team have equipped during the missions etc. * There are still quite some bugs. * Line of sight needs a lot of improvements, especially with storied buildings. * RNG    XCOM 2 is a good game, but a lot of things could have been improved.

    * The user interface could be better. HP bars cover half the screen, navigating the base has too many annoying animations, you can't see what items your team have equipped during the missions etc.
    * There are still quite some bugs.
    * Line of sight needs a lot of improvements, especially with storied buildings.
    * RNG seems even worse than in the first part and it's often frustrating.
    * Missions are kinda boring and repetitive.

    The strengths are the same as in XCOM. The gameplay and customization options are good, but there's too much that distracts from it. Feels like XCOM 1.5.    … Expand
  69. 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
  70. rbx775
    Dec 22, 2018
    2
    Amateurish crap, like the first xcom remake.
    I really love the artstyle though, it has a stylistic element to it which make the graphics both very readable and characteristic! GJ Artdirector!
    Also leveldesign & audiodesign seems to be well done. The gameplay let me down though, simply because it seems to rubberband you out of your silliest decisions. (maybe even your smartest, cant    Amateurish crap, like the first xcom remake.
    I really love the artstyle though, it has a stylistic element to it which make the graphics both very readable and characteristic! GJ Artdirector!
    Also leveldesign & audiodesign seems to be well done.

    The gameplay let me down though, simply because it seems to rubberband you out of your silliest decisions. (maybe even your smartest, cant tell... ;P )
    => was surrounded by 4 aliens upclose and they werent able to kill me after even 6 attempts.
    I made stupid choices => didnt die => deinstalled Xcom2.

    Hate rubber-banding whatever the inclination.
    rubber-banding isnt a sign of smart gamedesign, its a sign of stupid audience. You Loser.    … Expand
  71. GarethB
    Nov 2, 2018
    8
    An excellent turned base game full of action and plenty of customisation. There are a huge host of mods available to tailor the game further to your needs!
  72. Acronymous
    Aug 14, 2018
    10
    What can i say, i love the tactical, turn-based games. After playing a lot of XCOM with my friends i just had to try XCOM2 and was not disappointed. Everything is better in this installment (except for a Chance to hit) although i'm not a big fan of forcing player to rush with the turns-left counter.

    All in all it's a great game and i simply love it.
  73. SRKNZ
    Aug 5, 2018
    4
    Take a mediocre game franchise and make it worse. That's my impression of XCom 2. The first series was marred by an overly linear controlling approach to base management which is perpetuated in the second game. The horrible GUI is back too with all its quirks and limitations in place. The horrible counter intuitive R&D system is there too and its as confusing and unclear what you areTake a mediocre game franchise and make it worse. That's my impression of XCom 2. The first series was marred by an overly linear controlling approach to base management which is perpetuated in the second game. The horrible GUI is back too with all its quirks and limitations in place. The horrible counter intuitive R&D system is there too and its as confusing and unclear what you are supposed to do as ever. To really show up the glaring shortcomings in the aforementioned a time restriction is imposed making the whole frustrating, joyless experience even more crapulent.

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

    The only upside is the eye candy but its this title is so hamstrung by its awkward and clumsy game mechanics its not enough to really amount to anything significant. Played for a short time and quickly lost interest.    … Expand
  74. RMDsilva
    Jun 28, 2018
    8
    Solid game. Good kind of addiction, with enough variation and tactics to play with.
    Only played standard version at Commander difficulty: good challenge at the beginning (actually let soldiers die instead of save scumming), a bit too easy from mid to end game.
  75. Xodis99
    Jun 6, 2018
    5
    The game can most definitely be fun at times and the modding community is amazing not only for creating new and custom content, to fixing/adding features in the game (most of which the developers should have taken care of). However the entire game is drastically brought down by a number of things, most glaring of the issues is the optimization. The game runs rather poorly even on computersThe game can most definitely be fun at times and the modding community is amazing not only for creating new and custom content, to fixing/adding features in the game (most of which the developers should have taken care of). However the entire game is drastically brought down by a number of things, most glaring of the issues is the optimization. The game runs rather poorly even on computers that are well above the recommended requirements and the developers have said they are aware of these issues, yet not a single thing has been done to fix said issue. It is hard to enjoy the game when every action seems to cause the game to freeze and stutter. Next is the mission timers and lack of mission variety. Adding turn timers to nearly every single mission in the game does not equal fun, it equals annoyance. If there was no mod to remove them the game would be borderline unplayable with these on. On top of it all the game boils down to 3-4 mission types, disable bomb/comms uplink, bring civilian to extract, and clear area of enemies, the rest are linear story missions so all of it gets rather repetitive. Lastly, they have the nerve to still ave the base game cost $60 then have $15 DLC then a $40 DLC with content that should have been in the base game is outright insulting. Do not offer people a "season pass" version and then lock the biggest piece of content out of that behind a single DLC that costs 2/3 of the game you already purchased. $115 for a "complete" experience is absurd especially when the game itself is an optimized mess as it is and simply a scummy business practice. The game is not even a big budget "triple A" title, it is a half baked strategy game with little variety and passion put into it by 2K.… Expand
  76. 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
  77. Zahrada
    Apr 23, 2018
    2
    The game is surprisingly unatractive from the very start. The strategy element is hard to find. It all seems to happen on a predetermined route. The missions are not designed for strategy, but for the fastest way possible, which leaves no choice, but to advance the shortest and fastest way and simply rely on rng. It's probably the first UFO/XCOM game in last 24 years which I did not like.
  78. nickdos
    Jan 22, 2018
    4
    There are a lot of bugs that remain from XCOM-EU and are because of the engine and persist with XCOM2.
    The game is unbalanced and ridiculous on higher difficulties because of the very short timers.
    I see the reason they added them, but they could do the same thing with a little more lax time frames. Shame that an amateur developer of a mod for EU can do a better job designing a tactical    There are a lot of bugs that remain from XCOM-EU and are because of the engine and persist with XCOM2.
    The game is unbalanced and ridiculous on higher difficulties because of the very short timers.
    I see the reason they added them, but they could do the same thing with a little more lax time frames.
    Shame that an amateur developer of a mod for EU can do a better job designing a tactical game than a AAA studio.    … Expand
  79. nik_balani
    Dec 24, 2017
    7
    I loved the original X:COM Terror from the deep. This game has a similar feel and style of gameplay which is great. The story line is interesting and the graphics fluid. However the time limits placed on missions is frustrating making it difficult to hunker down and defend certain spots as you often need to stay on the move to complete the objective. A mixture of mission types would haveI loved the original X:COM Terror from the deep. This game has a similar feel and style of gameplay which is great. The story line is interesting and the graphics fluid. However the time limits placed on missions is frustrating making it difficult to hunker down and defend certain spots as you often need to stay on the move to complete the objective. A mixture of mission types would have been better.… Expand
  80. 2fatbear
    Nov 26, 2017
    10
    Being a veteran XCom player, I still miss the complete freedom we had on the original games on choosing equipment for missions and details like limited munition and caring to not shoot your friends.
    So why I give the game a 10/10? Because it is perfect on what it proposes to be. It is moderately easy on easier difficult and amazingly difficult on the top ones, with the daring Ironman    Being a veteran XCom player, I still miss the complete freedom we had on the original games on choosing equipment for missions and details like limited munition and caring to not shoot your friends.
    So why I give the game a 10/10? Because it is perfect on what it proposes to be. It is moderately easy on easier difficult and amazingly difficult on the top ones, with the daring Ironman option (you cant save while on missions) turned on.
    I have a small complain in the graphics area. I like much better the graphics on the first modern XCom game, they are more realistic. But these on XCom 2 are more effective, things are more distinct and easy to see. The point is I liked the small amount of confusion the realistic graphics created.
    Sounds and voices are great. Interface is great. And there is a ton of mods to choose and change your game to your taste, like raising the limit of that dread time limited missions (but hey, try it the default way, you will have the thrill of your life! (: ) and virtually anything you can imagine.
    Cant wait for XCom 3!    … Expand
  81. quikesan
    Nov 25, 2017
    1
    Frustrating. That's the word that describes the game.
    I loved the first original Xcom, liked very much the Firaxis Xcom reboot.
    This one is not fun to play. The strategy tries to be the same as the original: research, build, so on. But in this case it doesn't make much sense. Excavate the ship to make more rooms? Why? Because the construction system has to be the same but this time    Frustrating. That's the word that describes the game.
    I loved the first original Xcom, liked very much the Firaxis Xcom reboot.
    This one is not fun to play. The strategy tries to be the same as the original: research, build, so on. But in this case it doesn't make much sense. Excavate the ship to make more rooms? Why? Because the construction system has to be the same but this time inside a ship, not a base?
    The interface is messy and you don't really understand the mechanics of what is going on. What do I have to scan? Do the missions on the map disappear? What is scanning the base for? Why there are
    The combat gets screwed because of the short limit times on most of the missions. Conceal is pretty useless because you have to rush to whatever you have to deactivate.
    With the DLC you get new enemies, but the Kings are ABSURDLY overpowered, and it's totally absurd that apparently they appear in missions randomly.
    I just cant keep going. Screw this game.    … Expand
  82. trash-46645
    Nov 10, 2017
    5
    Review after some 20 or so hours of gameplay. I'm an X-COM veteran - I played the original UFO: EU, X-COM: TFTD, X-COM: Apocalypse and even the previous X-COM:EU game (which I quite liked) so I'm no noob. I would score the game much higher but what I really dislike in this latest version is the ever present timer on pretty much all missions (only a minority do not have a timer). In theReview after some 20 or so hours of gameplay. I'm an X-COM veteran - I played the original UFO: EU, X-COM: TFTD, X-COM: Apocalypse and even the previous X-COM:EU game (which I quite liked) so I'm no noob. I would score the game much higher but what I really dislike in this latest version is the ever present timer on pretty much all missions (only a minority do not have a timer). In the previous X-COM:EU there also were timers on those containers but it was always this sort of "bonus" objective that was good if you done it but you didn't have to, unlike now where the timer is the goal. The game is constantly pushing you to rush, never allowing you to take your time and work your way tactically through the mission. I really dislike this design decision. Also I dislike the concealment mechanics. Clearly this is not an infiltration game and the whole concealment mechanics is pretty much pointless - again it's there to push you into early rush into a position near the objective and hope for the best once the fight starts instead of allowing you to work your way towards it tactically. I don't like that. Otherwise the game seems solid - it contains all the elements we like in an X-COM game but for me it's ruined by the timers which prevent me to play the game the way I like and forces me to rush the objective, every time. Forget about taking the longer route around the map to avoid the patrols, or carefully position your squad before the assault, looking for the best spot, none of that - the game forces you to go front in guns blazing otherwise you will miss the timer which means mission failed. The same rush design can unfortunately be seen even in the overall war management - you are constantly bombarded by events, the game never gives you any time to breathe, take your time, prepare. Some might think this makes the game challenging but I don't agree, it makes the game annoying. I'm fine with challenge but when presented with one I'd like to be able to face it my way. Unfortunately there seems to be only one way - rush or fail. That's not a challenge, that's just limiting game design and a step back from previous version which rewarded you for successful rush (getting the containers in time) but also allowed you to play more carefully and tactically.… Expand
  83. 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
  84. suneater
    Sep 24, 2017
    10
    Playing through the "original" XCOM: Enemy Unknown, I felt like it was purposefully neutered; it was like the game was designed to be as dumbed-down as possible while still maintaining hallmarks of the series. At first I thought I was because they were just trying to release it as widely as possible (you can play it on your phone at this point), but now I see it was actually a market test.Playing through the "original" XCOM: Enemy Unknown, I felt like it was purposefully neutered; it was like the game was designed to be as dumbed-down as possible while still maintaining hallmarks of the series. At first I thought I was because they were just trying to release it as widely as possible (you can play it on your phone at this point), but now I see it was actually a market test. To put it simply, XCOM 2's launch version is the game that EU should've been from the start. With the addition of DLC and now a full expansion, XCOM 2 is now essentially XCOM 2.5 and is GOTY contender two years in a row.

    Taking place 20 years after the events of the first game, aliens firmly control Earth and XCOM as it was previously known is no more. While the original's atmosphere was very militaristic and coordinated, XCOM 2 is now very guerrilla and disorganized. Your supporting cast don't trust each other, everything is held together with duct tape, and your soldiers look like post-apoc cosplayers for a long time. New combat variables and mission structures, along with vastly more powerful aliens, create a dire atmosphere that makes every mission feel like it could be your last. While most missions in the base game were timed, I never felt this timer was too restrictive and the expansion adds a lot of non-timed missions to the mix. Overall there is a good variety of mission types now and most missions are flexible enough to let you bring a variety of squads (even on hard).

    While the individual DLCs are hit-or-miss (a lot of it is overpriced cosmetics), two really stand out. "Shen's Last Gift" let's you build a kamikaze robot army with their own skill trees and loadouts and "Alien Hunters" adds 3 persistent mini-bosses that spawn randomly in missions with unique powers & gear that you can obtain for your own soldiers. One DLC clearly stands above the rest: the new "War of the Chosen" expansion is impressively expansive and is well worth the asking price. The new faction system gives you access to three opposing resistance groups with their own skill trees, weapons, flavor, and backstories. The Chosen are three nemeses that mirror the class structure of the new allied factions. They will stalk your base, invade your missions randomly, kidnap your troops, and eventually will have to be assassinated with a 2-part dungeon crawl-esque mission. While one of them is clearly stronger than the other two, they are all a challenge at any point of the game and will grow in skill and strength if you do not deal with them timely. Tons of other smaller features, including new enemies, maps, and the soldier bonding system, flesh out this massive expansion. In my opinion it's worth it buying the base game just to experience the flurry of new content the game throws at you with War of the Chosen.

    XCOM 2 has grown and improved incredibly since launch. Yes, there are still some bugs and the new expansion created new ones. Yes, the game still crashes but not nearly as bad as EU. Even though XCOM 2 only crashed on me about 4 times in 100+ hours, I still wouldn't recommend playing Ironman without a backup file. If you can ignore the rare technical issues, I would still highly recommend buying this and eventually War of the Chosen after an initial vanilla playthrough. Even though it's an amazing expansion, it adds so much to the game that it would probably overwhelm and turn off new players (especially people coming from vanilla EU).    … Expand
  85. ChosenOne
    Sep 13, 2017
    0
    A more than a year after release, few DLCs is out. Game still crushes after tuttorial. No word from firaxis or 2K. Nice job! It seems like 2K policy - to ignore all, even critical bugs in their products.
  86. Sekhyt
    Jul 14, 2017
    10
    Really brilliant game, amazing immersive battles, very challenging difficulty level, also very interesting and atmospheric outside battle management - the research, engineering etc, I just wish there was more time to travel all over the world and pickup stuff. Many very interesting things that can't be found in other games.

    There is one obvious issue with the game freezing all over the    Really brilliant game, amazing immersive battles, very challenging difficulty level, also very interesting and atmospheric outside battle management - the research, engineering etc, I just wish there was more time to travel all over the world and pickup stuff. Many very interesting things that can't be found in other games.

    There is one obvious issue with the game freezing all over the cinematics on pc - the optimisation of this part really failed, but that doesn't affect the gameplay.

    Other cons ? Hmmm, maybe if you play on ironman and you get bad luck sometimes you lose very experienced unit without even a chance to do anything.    … Expand
  87. Tomle1202
    Jul 9, 2017
    8
    Behind the terribly optimized state that XCOM 2 runs on is a masterfully developed turn-based game that keeps humiliating your strategy with you loving it.
  88. birdman3
    Jun 19, 2017
    10
    The entire time I played XCOM 2, I told myself "If I could only play one video game for the rest of my life, it would probably be this one". Not because it is the funnest game I have ever played, but because it combines depth, replayability, and "wow" factor in more ways than any other game that I've played. Throughout my entire playthrough, I kept thinking about how my decisions wereThe entire time I played XCOM 2, I told myself "If I could only play one video game for the rest of my life, it would probably be this one". Not because it is the funnest game I have ever played, but because it combines depth, replayability, and "wow" factor in more ways than any other game that I've played. Throughout my entire playthrough, I kept thinking about how my decisions were impacting the future of the game, and the procedurely-created maps kept every engagement fresh. I never knew where the pods of enemies would spawn, but I really enjoyed seeing the listing of enemies on the map beforehand, which allowed me to prepare my troops accordingly. People have been complaining about the mission timers- I find this totally unwarranted. In my playthrough, I had more than enough time to defuse a bomb, recover research, or rescue a VIP, without hardly an exception. You have the option of bringing specialists to the engagement, and they can complete most of these objectives at range- why not use them? Overall, I find this game to be a fun and exciting step forward for a franchise that was already seemingly well-rounded.… Expand
  89. jcasetnl
    Jun 12, 2017
    2
    This game is such a hot mess, and couldn't be more disappointing given the amazing blueprint that was set with the first game.

    Like many of the "hardcore" trend of late, it mistakes poor design or outright frustration for genuine fun and challenge. I grew up in the 80s. I know those games well. You want hard? Beat Ghosts 'n Goblins on one quarter and come talk to me. If they took    This game is such a hot mess, and couldn't be more disappointing given the amazing blueprint that was set with the first game.

    Like many of the "hardcore" trend of late, it mistakes poor design or outright frustration for genuine fun and challenge. I grew up in the 80s. I know those games well. You want hard? Beat Ghosts 'n Goblins on one quarter and come talk to me. If they took save-scumming out of this game, all the people saying, "git gud, n00b" in response to valid criticism would also be trashing this game.

    At the heart of the problem is this is a tactical, methodical game that was force-fed high-fructose corn syrup. It comes in the form of mission timers for nearly every mission you'll play. And like pounding can after can of soda, it doesn't take long before you're sick of it, and start to ask an obvious question: "why did they think this is fun?"

    Then there's the broken game mechanics, like that time you ran your guy behind their guy and stuck your gun into the back of his head and it says you have 90% chance to hit? Yeah, sorry, that's more like 50/50. See this game is so clever it knew you'd do the, ya know, LOGICAL thing, so they made that not work anymore! So clever. Such good game design! 10/10!

    Seriously, check around the forums. I kid you not: the most oft-repeated strategy is to run forward and chuck grenades, for the main reason that grenades will hit 100% of the time. Let me be clear: in a turn-based, tactical game. 1) Run forward. 2) Chuck grenades.

    And I tried it. And sadly, they're right. The absolute dumbest, guaranteed to get your squad wiped move is a great idea in this game. That's how BROKEN the RNG outcomes are! No, you don't save grenades for tactical opportunities, like when two or more enemies are bunched up or you get in a jam. You throw all your grenades up front and pray it's enough that whatever's left over won't be able to full-wipe your squad in the face of the RNG screwing you over for the remainder of the battle. Gaming at its finest.

    XCOM 2 is the out-of-the-box paradigm shift of game design we don't deserve, didn't need and never asked for. Save the world? Nah. Save your money.    … Expand
  90. PogoTime
    May 25, 2017
    4
    Why I bought the game: Because there were a lot of good reviews and a perma-death game normally is always a good challenge with its special feeling

    Why the game lost me: Most of the game is so heavy on RNG that this kills my immersion completely. I stopped counting the situations where i sneaked behind an enemy with a shotgun, got initiative; an still misses 100% of the shot. This is    Why I bought the game: Because there were a lot of good reviews and a perma-death game normally is always a good challenge with its special feeling

    Why the game lost me: Most of the game is so heavy on RNG that this kills my immersion completely. I stopped counting the situations where i sneaked behind an enemy with a shotgun, got initiative; an still misses 100% of the shot. This is just too much RNG for me standing 1m behind an enemy and missing with a shotgun....come on.

    And this situations can often lead to complete wipes or death of you teammates.

    This erased all the fun out of this game, cause you can be as good as you want, you will still get screwed by RNG.    … Expand
  91. compgeek
    Apr 17, 2017
    6
    I played all previous version and had a lot of fun. This version is no fun, it is a hard work - for what? It pissed me off with all stupid limits - I can handle hard enemies and replay the missions, but both Avatar project which you can not stop because you didn't upgrade your facilities and mission is locked, this lock on lock on lock is stupid - if the creators of the game wanted to pissI played all previous version and had a lot of fun. This version is no fun, it is a hard work - for what? It pissed me off with all stupid limits - I can handle hard enemies and replay the missions, but both Avatar project which you can not stop because you didn't upgrade your facilities and mission is locked, this lock on lock on lock is stupid - if the creators of the game wanted to piss their customers off, they succeed. Add terrible frame rate when something moves on my i7-6800 / 16Gb of DDR4-3600 / EVGA 980Ti / Samsung SSD 950 Pro 512 Gb / 850W EVGA PS / Asus Hero VIII mobo - how any game can be designed like that? I play a lot of games, none has such delays and frame rates. I through away Civilization 6 after about 15 min of game play, but continue to play Civilization 5 ... now its time to drop XCOM 2 and never buy Firaxis games again.
    Finished the game at veteran level in 64 hours during the last fight with 3 Avatars. Still have the same opinion about the game, although it becomes to be a little bit better when you are able to slow down the Avatar project. Final verdict:
    1. The game is not balanced at all - at different levels the difficulty changes.
    2. It is too buggy - had to reinstall it to get rid of the crashes, has many other bugs and glitches.
    3. It is not designed as all previous versions, it is not polished at all - some items you research several times, views are incorrect, etc.
    4. Nothing new and exciting comparing to the older games.    … Expand
  92. mrdollar
    Mar 28, 2017
    2
    1. Tired of missing 90% hit rates, your soldier literately misses point blank shots without cover all the time.
    2. Almost every mission is timed of 6-8 turns and you are fighting 4-5 groups of enemies.
    3. Optimization of game is really bad, even high end pc lags using higher graphics settings. 4. Bugs and glitches, you can easily cheat saving the game before enemy turn and load. It will    1. Tired of missing 90% hit rates, your soldier literately misses point blank shots without cover all the time.
    2. Almost every mission is timed of 6-8 turns and you are fighting 4-5 groups of enemies.
    3. Optimization of game is really bad, even high end pc lags using higher graphics settings.
    4. Bugs and glitches, you can easily cheat saving the game before enemy turn and load. It will skip enemy turn lol.
    5. When you counter enemy on your last move, enemy gain second turn, not fair.    … Expand
  93. jebise
    Mar 18, 2017
    3
    I am appalled by this game, it is such a step back from even previous title, let alone first UFO series.

    UI is a disgrace, selecting enemies is done horribly. Game has terrible graphics and runs slowly at the same time. I can play Civilization of Fallout 4 without much of a problem and this game sttuters all the time on low settings. TO me it seems like they fired anyone who knew    I am appalled by this game, it is such a step back from even previous title, let alone first UFO series.

    UI is a disgrace, selecting enemies is done horribly.

    Game has terrible graphics and runs slowly at the same time. I can play Civilization of Fallout 4 without much of a problem and this game sttuters all the time on low settings.

    TO me it seems like they fired anyone who knew anything and developed a game with a bunch of noobs and left quality control for later, after gamers give them feed back and if they will feel like it.

    Do yourself a favor and dont buy this crap.    … Expand
  94. TsukasaHiiragi
    Mar 17, 2017
    0
    Vanilla Xcom 2 4/10 /// Modded Xcom 2 6/10
    TL:DR
    In some ways, better than EU but still no way near as good as the originals and without mods to rebalance the game, you'll find it frustrating. Firaxis needs to do better with this franchise, and as always don't listen to most of the critics and 10/10 reviewers, this is strictly for the fans of the reboot. After being a fan of the    Vanilla Xcom 2 4/10 /// Modded Xcom 2 6/10
    TL:DR

    In some ways, better than EU but still no way near as good as the originals and without mods to rebalance the game, you'll find it frustrating. Firaxis needs to do better with this franchise, and as always don't listen to most of the critics and 10/10 reviewers, this is strictly for the fans of the reboot.

    After being a fan of the original trilogy, let me rephrase that as a huge fan of the originals - the reboots have angered me greatly as they have not done any justice in my personal opinion, if anything - have been a travesty to the Xcom franchise and Xcom 2 is arguably the worst because not only do you have the same cheating AI with miraculous almost impossible shots to spawning extra alien squads at the worst possible times making some missions all but impossible to add further insults.

    A large chunk of missions are timed with very tight limits making a front frontal assault the only viable option to meet the limit and that method almost always puts your prized troops at risk with each and every mission. The balance of the game is just dreadful, along with EU the enemy units out class you, and out gun and out number you forcing you to rely on guerilla style tactics and ambushes, which is good and all, until the AI decides to cheat and shoot you through walls or shoot you half way across the map with near 100% accuracy.

    Xcom 2 complicates it even more with many different units this time, not to mention some of the classic ones returning, but in a beefed up version than before - even those pesky sectoids are considerably more dangerous now, and will PSI attack you all the time, often with very high success rates. Another very major problem is related to the avatar project, the aliens can power through construction sometimes making a game over situation possible just because you miss-managed your time, or didn't discover enough ways to slow down the project in time, this aspect in Xcom 2 doesn't work very well but luckily there are enough mods to balance this.

    Time Management is a huge problem, you hardly ever have time to breath in Xcom 2 without a new 'important' mission appearing that you must do, either extract VIPS, protect the rebels, attack dark sites and the list goes on and on and you hardly get any peace without being interrupted, it gets incredibly tiresome after the 200th cookie cutter mission has forced you to abandon your supply collections.

    Xcom 2 needs a huge amount of mods to essentially balance out the game, even with major rebalances almost to the point of outright cheating, the game can still be stressful and frustrating - essentially you'll be save scumming a lot if you become attached to your favorite crew.    … Expand
  95. TwoEars
    Mar 15, 2017
    7
    XCOM 2 is an amazing game which one year after release still feels like it never left the beta development phase, and as much as I had a blast playing it it's also really hard to recommend. There are so many parts of this game I love; the new flying base is awesome, the story has a kind of x-files vibe to it, upgrading and customizing my soldiers is kick-ass. And when you get your squad ofXCOM 2 is an amazing game which one year after release still feels like it never left the beta development phase, and as much as I had a blast playing it it's also really hard to recommend. There are so many parts of this game I love; the new flying base is awesome, the story has a kind of x-files vibe to it, upgrading and customizing my soldiers is kick-ass. And when you get your squad of trained marines into position and make a brilliant tactical move, or decimate the enemy using "overwatch" or "killzone"... man this game can be a blast. Pure tactical turn based bliss.

    So it's painful then that still one year after release this game never really comes across as "finished". Despite having the latest patch and DLC I experienced so many bugs and issues it's almost comical. I shot enemies through walls, got shot at through wall, enemies would grab me though wall, the keyboard controls stopped working, the game froze on loading screens, the mission timer is stupid and breaks the flow of the game (I modded it out), there are difficultly balancing issues early to late game, some enemies are just cheap rather than clever (hello archon king), the fps is doing roller coaster rides with anything between 20-80 fps. The list goes on.

    If you're already an XCOM fan by all means pick up XCOM2; you're going to have a few issues, but you're also most likley going to have a lot of fun. However - if you're new to the series go and play "XCOM Enemy Unkown" instead, and then you can play the "Long War" mod for that. It's not as good looking but it's a much more polished and less frustrating experience, and at the moment it's the better turn based game. And it's also cheaper.

    Currently XCOM2 is not worth its full asking price, unless they fix all the bugs and gameplay issues this isn't worth more than $20 or so. In no way is it worth the full sticker price with all the issues I had and saw. I have to wonder what the heck Firaxis is up to, it's been over a year since release and still the game is full sticker price and shock full with bugs. I'm a big fan of the series and would love to see XCOM3, but they have to step up their QC-QA and play testing. XCOM2 could have been a "Solid 9" score type game if it had spent maybe 6 months more in QC-QA and play testing.    … Expand
  96. KingMob4313
    Mar 2, 2017
    9
    A rare sequel to a near stellar game.

    This time, the script is flipped: you are the ones ambushing the now-native forces, covering off some of the absurdity of fighting an global alien invasion with a squad level team. Now you are a mobile resistance force, fighting on the run, trying to strike a devastating blow and evict the occupying force before their secret project ~redacted~.    A rare sequel to a near stellar game.

    This time, the script is flipped: you are the ones ambushing the now-native forces, covering off some of the absurdity of fighting an global alien invasion with a squad level team. Now you are a mobile resistance force, fighting on the run, trying to strike a devastating blow and evict the occupying force before their secret project ~redacted~.

    The gameplay much improved over the original. The stealth and ambush mechanics heighten the tension in an already high stakes game and story is so much tighter than the rather generic invasion story in the first game. There are constant nice touches, from between the returning 'Central' to the new head scientist and engineer. There are even a few touches in the story as shoutouts to the fandom.

    The graphics and sound are greatly improved and run well on the PC. I have an okay system (GTX 970, I5) and it runs on full detail with no framerate drops. The difficulty is also steep, but fair. You might read many complaints on here of the mission and 'doom' timer, but the answer to that is 'GET GUD'.

    The customization of the game is deep and with added mod support, the game is one that can be played for years. Even better, the FIRAXIS team partnered with the god-like mod-team behind 'The Long War' to produce mods for the game and the disgustingly rich The Long War 2.

    Highest possible recommendation.    … Expand
  97. hassall
    Feb 17, 2017
    4
    I spent more time trying to firgure out how to get my fps to run smoother than playing the game, i dont understand why this game runs so badly. The enemies in this game has all the luck and in my first mission 3 of my men died. Im just gonner wait until they patch it or somehthing.
  98. Gustawosky
    Jan 29, 2017
    2
    i spent more time reloading saves files than playing the game, unfair enemies that had all the odds in their favor, you dont need skill on this game its just a coin flip that punish you hard every time that you lost
  99. uVimOvil
    Jan 24, 2017
    10
    un 10 como una catedral mejora muchisimo a xcom original al que ya eche sus 100 horas, este x-com 2 me ha conseguido enganchar mas de 200 horas increiblemente adictivo y como te piques con los logros buff vas a sufrir aparte de disfrutar
  100. iseeall
    Jan 24, 2017
    6
    XCOM2 is very similar to XCOM1, it carries over all the bad design decisions, adds even more cutscenes, more animations, and more quality-of-life improvements here and there. If you didn't like XCOM1 much (like myself) you won't like this game either. If you did like XCOM1, here is more of the same for you.

    I will only list good and bad things compared to XCOM1, since it's almost the    XCOM2 is very similar to XCOM1, it carries over all the bad design decisions, adds even more cutscenes, more animations, and more quality-of-life improvements here and there. If you didn't like XCOM1 much (like myself) you won't like this game either. If you did like XCOM1, here is more of the same for you.

    I will only list good and bad things compared to XCOM1, since it's almost the same game.

    The good:
    - even more aliens, more weapons, more abilities
    - the story about human resistance after the aliens have conquered the Earth is fun at least at first. Though I couldn't suspend my disbelief that aliens would actually want to keep any humans alive at all. The designers used this old cliche of a tyrannical government (this time run by aliens) which needs to be overthrown. Though if you think of it the whole setting of aliens attacking the Earth is overused to the extreme, and you would need to not think of the absurdity of the concept of an alien invasion first to enjoy any of the XCom games

    The so-so:
    - there are even more cutscenes in the game now. So many that the game starts to feel like a movie which is occasionally interrupted for tactical battles. This makes the game look even dumber than XCOM1 was

    The bad:
    - all the bad stuff is still there, and the devs think it's fine: 2-actions system, strange cover system, enemies making "extra" turns to take cover after seeing you, enemies appearing from the sky mid-turn etc etc

    So, my advice would be to only buy it on a sale. If you didn't like XCOM1, this game fixes nothing and goes even further into the realm of dumbness; and if you liked XCOM1, they are basically selling to you the same game once again, and you won't gain much new.    … 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.
    Read full review
  3. IGN Denmark
    Apr 6, 2016
    90
    XCOM 2 is a gem. There is more story in the game, and the ending does not feel as abrupt as it did in the first game.
    Read full review
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