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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    WHY ?

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

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

    BUT NOT EVERY MISSIONS ARE TIMED.

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

    [END OF TIMED TURN MISSIONS REVIEW]

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

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

    I'll give a 9 to re up the score a bit, but so far it would be a 7.5/10 because of the bad optimization.    … Expand
  6. ppoulsen2007
    Feb 7, 2016
    10
    Good mix of strategy and tactical combat. Love the timers, which forces you to take chances. Best game in a long time, that are not nerfed down to children level.
  7. Medare
    May 17, 2016
    10
    Best tactical game I ever played. It have nice graphic and addictive gameplay. You totally should buy it. Best game of the year or maybe of century...
  8. garhent
    Mar 7, 2016
    9
    I've got 186 hours played and beat it on ironman commander. It was difficult to pick up on the rules for kill priority in mobs to take down (hint Advent is your real enemy, then mechs then aliens) because it was counter intuitive. The game will make you think and force you to play it safe. This is the only xcom game that I've abandoned missions because it was better to lose the missionI've got 186 hours played and beat it on ironman commander. It was difficult to pick up on the rules for kill priority in mobs to take down (hint Advent is your real enemy, then mechs then aliens) because it was counter intuitive. The game will make you think and force you to play it safe. This is the only xcom game that I've abandoned missions because it was better to lose the mission than lose your squad. Its not a perfect 10 but its close. You will get your moneys worth and it will be a challenge.… Expand
  9. karmasleeper
    Feb 12, 2016
    7
    The game would deserve a higher rating, even with the massive performance issues most mainstream reviews ignored, if it weren't for the turn limits on most missions.

    When a low turn limit requires you to rush forward to reach an objective on the other side of the map you can't take the extra turns setting up ambushes requires with the new stealth system. You can't cautiously make your    The game would deserve a higher rating, even with the massive performance issues most mainstream reviews ignored, if it weren't for the turn limits on most missions.

    When a low turn limit requires you to rush forward to reach an objective on the other side of the map you can't take the extra turns setting up ambushes requires with the new stealth system. You can't cautiously make your approach always sticking to full cover and creating overlapping cones of overwatch fire. You absolutely must rush ahead to get there in time. When the majority of missions have a timer, whatever sense of urgency you feel the first few times you play them evaporates quickly. It soon becomes a repetitious formula.

    Other than this, the game is upgraded Enemy Unknown and is a worthy successor. New classes are fun, stealth mechanic is a lot of fun when you aren't restricted by time to set up the perfect ambush, and the new overworld mechanics with the resistance and flying mobile base are a welcome addition.

    My only other gripe would be that attacks still fly through cover (even full cover) and world geometry as if they weren't there. Part of this may be due to the fact that everything is procedurally generated this time around. A new class also has melee attacks that can hit enemies through windows and the adjoining wall, often completely destroying the structure as if a bomb went off. Enemy melee attacks will also connect in physically impossible ways completely destroying immersion and your carefully laid plans.

    Wait for a sale. There will probably be great mods and performance improvements by then.    … Expand
  10. GoneTomrrow
    Feb 24, 2016
    7
    First of all, I'm one of those guys who cite the original 90's XCOM game, but I do it for good reason. In short, this latest XCOM installment is a very good game and will satisfy anyone who has at least played the previous XCOM:EU. The tactics, resource management, reverse engineering, are all there.

    However, as stated, I must compare this game to the original released so many years    First of all, I'm one of those guys who cite the original 90's XCOM game, but I do it for good reason. In short, this latest XCOM installment is a very good game and will satisfy anyone who has at least played the previous XCOM:EU. The tactics, resource management, reverse engineering, are all there.

    However, as stated, I must compare this game to the original released so many years ago. One huge element that XCOM:EU lacked, and that XCOM 2 severely lacked is the dark and scary tone. There is no mystery; we have a sequel to the previous where the aliens have a foothold and now rule the earth, but why? What made the original game so great was the fear of an alien invasion, not some sci-fi series inspired plot where the aliens rule humans.

    One minor element, the music, sums it all up. The music for XCOM 2 is very stock. You want better atmosphere? Turn it off. Please do yourself a favor and Youtube the original game's music - it's absolutely spellbinding even 20 years on. Take a lesson from Infrogrames Firaxis because you have underestimated the value of creepy music.

    I also must briefly address the most common gripe in other reviews: the frequency of timed missions. It's a fun challenge to occasionally encounter, but I must say that the majority of missions have turn-based time limits. Thank Bog for mods.

    Despite the above gripes, XCOM 2 is very engrossing. If you're a long time fan, don't hesitate. The spirit of the original is, albeit tenuously, there.    … Expand
  11. BigDegs29
    Sep 12, 2016
    8
    As much as I enjoyed the original XCOM, this one still improves. Somehow they managed to make everything easier to do, while also adding additional depth to the game. That's a difficult balance to get right! The game is highly addicting.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Other than those two gripes, the game is fantastic. I'm sure I'll end up putting 100 hours or so into it.    … Expand
  12. geschaftsreise
    Mar 26, 2016
    7
    I think that the price of failure and success is too high and this diminishes the experience.
    Darkest Dungeon has a better balance of this sort of thing. It should be ok to fail and learn a lesson.
    Dark souls and Darkest Dungeon don't go easy on us, but they provide room for risk taking and mistakes. One big foul-up in XCOM means restarting or restarting and a discontinuity of    I think that the price of failure and success is too high and this diminishes the experience.
    Darkest Dungeon has a better balance of this sort of thing. It should be ok to fail and learn a lesson.
    Dark souls and Darkest Dungeon don't go easy on us, but they provide room for risk taking and mistakes.
    One big foul-up in XCOM means restarting or restarting and a discontinuity of experience.

    Game players like me don't want things to be easy but we want to be immersed, while we're having our head bashed in.    … Expand
  13. Cbcibryant
    Aug 29, 2016
    10
    This is one of my most favorites games. It is a tactical turn based strategy game. The critics are right: it can be unforging of mistakes. It is difficult. It takes a lot of patience. But if you spend time with the game it is absolutely addicting. You are always at a disadvantage. You are always juggling priorities. You are always worried to advance too fast or advance too slow. But thatThis is one of my most favorites games. It is a tactical turn based strategy game. The critics are right: it can be unforging of mistakes. It is difficult. It takes a lot of patience. But if you spend time with the game it is absolutely addicting. You are always at a disadvantage. You are always juggling priorities. You are always worried to advance too fast or advance too slow. But that what makes the game so fun. This is not a game that requires any dexterity. It is a game that requires a lot of thinking and creativity. Not everyone's cup of tea but it is certainly mine.… Expand
  14. Bob68
    Feb 7, 2016
    4
    No Pad Support it's a Joke....My pad Xbox 360 don't work...lol
    And just a bugged game with Constant fps drops, hangs, graphical glitch
    unskippable cut scenes andd more...
  15. BGGCriticalMass
    Feb 24, 2016
    8
    Sadly this game is several huge steps backwards from EU and EW. Performance, game design, game balance, pacing all worse than the predecessor. And for what? An attempt at improved graphics which has failed horribly in its execution (and not just the bugs - customisation is really disappointingly lacking - eg none of the faces look remotely asian many of the faces have the same features andSadly this game is several huge steps backwards from EU and EW. Performance, game design, game balance, pacing all worse than the predecessor. And for what? An attempt at improved graphics which has failed horribly in its execution (and not just the bugs - customisation is really disappointingly lacking - eg none of the faces look remotely asian many of the faces have the same features and most voices are almost the same), an attempt at a an interesting story but it has so little development among the very repetitive and poorly designed levels (yes the procedural maps are not really an improvement- what small gains they have in variety they lose in lack of realism and continuity) that the games development is painfully drawn out. None of the problems of the previous games have been dealt with effectively.
    Most damningly I haven't even finished the game once and I am have lost interest in it. I am having more fun going back to playing three different other games - something that never happened during EU or EW.    … Expand
  16. v364
    Feb 24, 2016
    10
    IRON MAN MODE ONLY!!!
    This game should not be loaded!!!!!
    Saving the game is basically CHEATING and takes away from the strategy and experience of losing a beloved soldier in the field and makes you plan two fire teams in the case one gets wiped!!!
    With the PSI lab it doesn't matter if you lose a hero any way.
    Those 8 turn evac mission really get your heart going :D
    11/10
  17. GeneralGonzo
    Feb 8, 2016
    10
    Maybe one of the best startegy games in years. A perfect improved XCOM with better graphics, deadlier aliens, more depth in character development, always new generated battlefields, many more options in the tactic (round based) part and more flexibility with the new flying HQ.
    All in all everything has been polished and improved since XCOM and if you have anyinterest in really good    Maybe one of the best startegy games in years. A perfect improved XCOM with better graphics, deadlier aliens, more depth in character development, always new generated battlefields, many more options in the tactic (round based) part and more flexibility with the new flying HQ.
    All in all everything has been polished and improved since XCOM and if you have anyinterest in really good strategy games, you can´t miss this.
    But beware of the difficulty - even without ironman mode on, you will be challenged hard. Nothing for rookies in this genre.
    Remember: Join us or become them !    … Expand
  18. heizendrat
    Feb 19, 2016
    9
    X - com erased all the flaws of the first episode and made ​​the experience even better , fabulous graphics, no concessions were made ​​to make the experience even more intense.

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

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

    The Bad

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    ps.: and for people like me - that do not like all the timers, there are mods that adjust or turn them off completely.    … Expand
  26. anotherplayer
    Feb 27, 2016
    8
    Although the game has some issues like annoying pauses after each action and does not run smoothly all the time on a GTX970, it is definately a very good game with interesting new features compared to previous xcom. Good level of soldier customization is surprisingly fun. If you liked previous XCOM, you will also enjoy this one.
  27. Alaskimo
    Feb 8, 2016
    7
    If you liked the first one you will like this one. i'm only about 5 missions in, but already have seen some of the annoying things about the first one( overwatched squaddies shooting the same guy at same time) improved upon. It is in some desperate need of optimization and bug fixes though. Wait for the patches guys. Can't comment on difficulty or game length, but i'm staying optimistic.If you liked the first one you will like this one. i'm only about 5 missions in, but already have seen some of the annoying things about the first one( overwatched squaddies shooting the same guy at same time) improved upon. It is in some desperate need of optimization and bug fixes though. Wait for the patches guys. Can't comment on difficulty or game length, but i'm staying optimistic. ill give it a 7 for now.… Expand
  28. ravenned
    Mar 16, 2016
    9
    The gameplay of XCOM 2 is as awesome as ever, with improved animation and graphics compared to XCOM 1. Some may complain of the lacking visuals compared to the standards we have today, but they are more than decent, especially for a turn based strategy. The complaints of the other reviewers are legitimate, where the overuse of turn based missions destroy enjoyment of the gameplay. However,The gameplay of XCOM 2 is as awesome as ever, with improved animation and graphics compared to XCOM 1. Some may complain of the lacking visuals compared to the standards we have today, but they are more than decent, especially for a turn based strategy. The complaints of the other reviewers are legitimate, where the overuse of turn based missions destroy enjoyment of the gameplay. However, the number of turns available is strategically set, where you would've used the around the same number of turns even if the counter wasn't there anyway. I played the game on commander and the counter only slightly irritated me. There are also still a few bugs after patch 2, such as minor pauses during loading, or during change of turns and bad camera view. Overall, the game is still as awesome, if not more, and deserves a 9/10.… Expand
  29. GreenBastard
    Feb 23, 2016
    9
    Once again, an excellent game seems to be getting a great deal of hate on this site. If you loved Enemy Unknown and Within, you will love the sequel. Its difficult, as it should be, and there are some bugs to be quashed. But Firaxis has given us a gem that I hope they will continue to support, and even if they don't, modders have already proven that they will keep it fresh for years toOnce again, an excellent game seems to be getting a great deal of hate on this site. If you loved Enemy Unknown and Within, you will love the sequel. Its difficult, as it should be, and there are some bugs to be quashed. But Firaxis has given us a gem that I hope they will continue to support, and even if they don't, modders have already proven that they will keep it fresh for years to come.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Then again, maybe I am simply doing something wrong.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    If I had anything to complain about, it'd be the fact that you can't utilize vehicles anymore- probably one of the only flaws I saw so far, although it might be related to the whole 'renegade' scheme.
    Thankfully, I haven't seen any bugs yet, and the game runs fairly well on my multipurpose laptop.    … Expand
  34. dexter2345
    Feb 6, 2016
    10
    While the tactical core of XCOM 2 is only slightly altered from the original, most of the changes are clear improvements. The biggest change is that almost every mission now has a timer attached to it. For example, aliens are attacking a transmitter and you have to get to it before it gets blown up, or a laptop with critical data needs to be hacked before time runs out. These are largelyWhile the tactical core of XCOM 2 is only slightly altered from the original, most of the changes are clear improvements. The biggest change is that almost every mission now has a timer attached to it. For example, aliens are attacking a transmitter and you have to get to it before it gets blown up, or a laptop with critical data needs to be hacked before time runs out. These are largely good ways to push players out of over-careful play—most missions in 2012’s XCOM could too easily be manipulated by just having squaddies wait in Overwatch. Here, you have to actually move.… Expand
  35. SpardaKnight
    Feb 6, 2016
    10
    I can definitely recommend XCOM2, its brutal, its fun, and looks amazing. Don’t listen to all these people saying it’s too hard. XCOM is a game that will punish you for bad decisions, and it’s not meant to be easy. You’re not supposed to just run in and not care.
    Optimization issues: Yes there is some fps drops, but it only seems to be happening when you’re in the loading screen / when    I can definitely recommend XCOM2, its brutal, its fun, and looks amazing. Don’t listen to all these people saying it’s too hard. XCOM is a game that will punish you for bad decisions, and it’s not meant to be easy. You’re not supposed to just run in and not care.
    Optimization issues: Yes there is some fps drops, but it only seems to be happening when you’re in the loading screen / when the sky ranger lands and takes off, and occasionally when a short outseen happens. Let me be very clear IT IS A SMALLL ANNOYANCE THAT DOES NOT AFFECT GAMEPLAY SO CHILL THE **** OUT. The 99% of the time when you’re making moves and setting over watches it does not lag. The main issue appears to mostly be due to AA and MSAA settings. I’m sure these issues will be handled ether with a patch or driver update.
    As of this writing I already have 31 hours of gameplay and the game just came out, I’m hooked I have had to restart 3 times so far because I have made mistakes in the campaign, but I had these same thing happen when I played XCOM enemy unknown, I also have been playing Veteran With iron mode on, I’m sure I could have easily beat this game if I played normal and didn’t have iron man on. Xcom2 is a great game and you should give it a try.    … Expand
  36. riley794
    Mar 5, 2016
    9
    Played it on release and totally love it. There are a few minor bugs that keep it from being a 10 but the game never crashed or did anything that ruined the experience.
  37. golgor
    Mar 14, 2016
    5
    The game deserves a 10/10 for single player game (I love it)...and a 0/10 for multiplayer; unplayable imo!!! A shame for a so well polished strategy game!
  38. fffffff
    Feb 21, 2016
    9
    Doing my part to counteract the people rating this game 0/10 because it's too hard. Xcom deserves better. Turn timers are an amazing addition to the game that add a welcome layer of challenge by removing the overwatch cheese that many Xcom1 players mistakenly took for "strategy". Sorry guys, you will have to use real strategy now. I hope you will update your reviews when you figure itDoing my part to counteract the people rating this game 0/10 because it's too hard. Xcom deserves better. Turn timers are an amazing addition to the game that add a welcome layer of challenge by removing the overwatch cheese that many Xcom1 players mistakenly took for "strategy". Sorry guys, you will have to use real strategy now. I hope you will update your reviews when you figure it out.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    10/10 (probably only 9/10, but I feel it necessary to balance out some of the bogus reviews)    … Expand
  41. Dragonblooden
    May 29, 2016
    10
    I normally give good games around 7-9, but because their are people who give this game a "0-3" I have to give it a "10". Go with metacritic not user review's at leased for some of them.
  42. berbachi
    Feb 11, 2016
    0
    Pas de compatibilité avec le pad xbox one, c'est scandaleux !
    Je suis maintenant obligé d'attendre un patch pour assurer la compatibilité et pour enfin pouvoir jouer dans de bonnes conditions à ce jeu.
    Je ne comprends pas la logique de cette démarche mis à part faire la promotion du steam pad. C'est honteux.
  43. Pr8Dator
    Feb 7, 2016
    10
    XCOM: Enemy Unknown was what I regarded as the best xcom game ever... this is coming from someone who played all of the xcom series since 20+ years ago. Since then, I have pumped about 400 hours into XCOM Enemy Unknown. I tried looking around for a turn based strategy game that even come close to this standard and I found none... until now. Welcome back Commander! XCOM 2 surpassed XCOM EUXCOM: Enemy Unknown was what I regarded as the best xcom game ever... this is coming from someone who played all of the xcom series since 20+ years ago. Since then, I have pumped about 400 hours into XCOM Enemy Unknown. I tried looking around for a turn based strategy game that even come close to this standard and I found none... until now. Welcome back Commander! XCOM 2 surpassed XCOM EU in every single way I can imagine. From graphics to gameplay, everything is improved in what I deemed to be the best turn based strategy game in the history of mankind. On the very first day, I have already pumped in 18 hours into this game. That's something I have never done before. Everything in XCOM2 is now catered to more veteran fans of the series. The strategic game is now more complex and everything feels more "long-war-ish" now. However, the game is meaningfully complex, unlike UFO Aftershock which XCOM2 seems to be modelled upon. In that game, everything becomes tedious micromanagement that in the end have little to no impact on the outcome of the conflict. Firaxis cleverly and elegantly filtered away all the meaningless stuffs (like over 20 types of ballistic weapons? Whats up with that?). In the end, you are left with something that is not as tedious as long war used to be in XCOM EU so its more beginner friendly but still meangingfully complex enough to keep veteran players engaged. I don't know why others are giving such bad scores but this is a 10/10 for me for sure. Yeah, its difficult as hell and after 18 hours, I still had to restart the whole game... Welcome to XCOM baby!… Expand
  44. TemplarGR
    Sep 18, 2016
    4
    I was very dissapointed by this game. I am a fun of the original XCOM games, and i played them to death as a kid. Especially Apocalypse, which in my personal opinion is the best of the franchise to date. I played the first game from 2K and while it was very "streamlined" (aka dumbed down), i kinda liked it. Not the best, but certainly a worthwhile experience for a playthrough or two.I was very dissapointed by this game. I am a fun of the original XCOM games, and i played them to death as a kid. Especially Apocalypse, which in my personal opinion is the best of the franchise to date. I played the first game from 2K and while it was very "streamlined" (aka dumbed down), i kinda liked it. Not the best, but certainly a worthwhile experience for a playthrough or two.

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

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

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

    All in all, 4.    … Expand
  45. metacriticfasch
    Feb 6, 2016
    10
    The best game in the series by a long shot. I love the direction Firaxis has taken. The depth of the game is outstanding, and I can only imagine what will happen with mods in the near future. There are already a dozen mods (some of them very useful or interesting) within 24 hrs since release. For TBS gamers, this is the game of the year, and probably the standard for the industry for manyThe best game in the series by a long shot. I love the direction Firaxis has taken. The depth of the game is outstanding, and I can only imagine what will happen with mods in the near future. There are already a dozen mods (some of them very useful or interesting) within 24 hrs since release. For TBS gamers, this is the game of the year, and probably the standard for the industry for many years to come.… Expand
  46. Thunder5555
    Feb 22, 2016
    9
    Best way I can think of is to compare this game to it's predecessor.
    Xcom 2 seems to be improvement in every area from Xcom enemy within. Timed missions (which I normally hate) are well made and after doing few, I noticed they're quite fun to do.
    At the start, the game really feels like that you're leading a desperate rebellion against the aliens, but later on the difficulty just goes    Best way I can think of is to compare this game to it's predecessor.
    Xcom 2 seems to be improvement in every area from Xcom enemy within. Timed missions (which I normally hate) are well made and after doing few, I noticed they're quite fun to do.
    At the start, the game really feels like that you're leading a desperate rebellion against the aliens, but later on the difficulty just goes down and your soldiers become godlike compared to the aliens. Some items are currently VERY overpowered (mimic beacons for example) but that may be a bug.
    Speaking of which, enemies and especially your soldiers have a weird habit shooting through walls and objects. The line of sight isn't working as it should just yet.
    But in overall, this game is the game of this year... for now :) I would recommend getting it if you have any love for turnbased combat/strategy.    … Expand
  47. StrategyAddict
    Feb 8, 2016
    10
    Oh wow! Critics have hyped this game as an early "game of the year" and "one of the best PC games" ever. I've played it for 35 hours during the release weekend (taking almost no breaks). I say even though it has some minor technical glitches (performance, load times, physics) a rating around 90 is perfectly justified. It's superior to it's predecessor XCOM EU in every aspect and that wasOh wow! Critics have hyped this game as an early "game of the year" and "one of the best PC games" ever. I've played it for 35 hours during the release weekend (taking almost no breaks). I say even though it has some minor technical glitches (performance, load times, physics) a rating around 90 is perfectly justified. It's superior to it's predecessor XCOM EU in every aspect and that was a 89.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    2. Graphics

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

    Accuracy

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

    Research and Engineering

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

    Gameplay

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

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

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

    The Game

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

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

    Conclusion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    This is the best tactical combat game around, end of.    … Expand
  68. 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
  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. Skulb
    Jan 16, 2017
    7
    Easily the best Xcom game released since the 90s in my opinion. It addresses a few of the issues with the unimpressive first game in this particular reboot. The mission maps are larger so you have more tactical options and the strategic map has more interesting stuff happening on it. It's still far from perfect, and completely lacks the first contact element that made the original fromEasily the best Xcom game released since the 90s in my opinion. It addresses a few of the issues with the unimpressive first game in this particular reboot. The mission maps are larger so you have more tactical options and the strategic map has more interesting stuff happening on it. It's still far from perfect, and completely lacks the first contact element that made the original from 1996 so compelling. Instead the aliens are entrenched behind a global puppet regime, almost like real life bankers in our society. The problem with this is that it feels a lot less like a war against aliens and more like a war against uniformed goons, lab experiments and robots. There is a pop-up event where you get to salvage a crashed UFO, but it's the same one every time and offers no new opponents or anything else of note.
    Regardless; Xcom 2 is a lot of fun to play, and gives you a nice system of upgrades, promotions and researc. It even manages to give you a little base building inside your now mobile base. It isn't amazing but at least it's there this time.
    Still missing is a proper inventory for your soldiers, a more detailed action point system like the originals had, UFO hunting, actual aliens and above all a way to turn off the unskippable radio communications during missions. These are not fun when you're reloading a save.

    Pros:
    - Great graphics and physics. Even on low settings the game looks amazing, which is made even more impressive by almost fully destructible environments.
    - Satisfying tactical combat. Cover really matters, but almost everything you're able to hide behind can also be destroyed very easily. Moving around from cover to cover while trying to survive a hectic battle is always fun, and is done better here than in almost any game in the genre I can think of.
    - Good economy. Resources salvaged during missions are needed to build base improvements and gear for your soldiers, as well as providing you with objects for your scientists to research. This makes it hard to stop playing, as there is always something to upgrade or improve between each mission.
    - Good AI. Isolated enemies will sometimes retreat to join up with other groups of enemies, making the next fight that much harder for you. Enemies generally seem to want to stay alive if possible, rather than mindlessly suicide on your strong positions. They flank, teleport and do all sorts of things to get around your defenses, and it feels quite realistic sometimes. At least as realistic as fighting off an alien invasion could feel.

    Cons
    - Obviously designed for consoles and ported to the PC. The game therefore fails to take advantage of the PC's controls, and you end up with things like no inventories, simplistic menus and an overall reduction in the level of detail all over the place. The UI has to be kept simple for console users and this is a shame for PC users, who could handle more complexity. You're supposed to play this game with a hand controller, which PC users usually don't. It would be a very different game if it had been designed for the PC. More like the original Xcom maybe. Personally I would score it higher if it had been developed for the gaming system I am using. But it hasn't.
    - Horribly generic music. The usual awful horn assault to signify to simpletons that something heroic is occurring.
    - Similarly generic US brand militarism. This is of course completely nauseating to anyone who isn't an American, but also to quite a few people that are. Kidnap someone and they become a "package". Shoot or bomb them and they become a "target", a "bogey" or even "collateral", my personal favorite. The horrible man who serves as a narrator of sorts is something of a satire of a prototypical American war horse posing as a hero. Personally I wanted to go to war against him sometimes rather than the aliens. Go away John Wayne/Dick Cheney/generic Pentagon criminal!
    - Performance issues. Lags, crashes, long loading times and corruption of saves. Once all my saves even became completely impossible to load so I had to restart the game.
    - Unskippable parts are annoying. Some videos are like this and are sometimes tedious if you're seen them before. But mostly I have an issue with the awful, horrible man who keeps talking to me during missions so I have to stop what I'm doing to listen to his drivel. If you have radio communications during missions just run them in the background. Don't take control of the game away from me to tell me stuff I don't want or need to hear.
    - Skydiving mobs, groups of mobs that trigger fully if you move into the wrong square. This too is very console-y and a cheap, annoying way to structure the tactical combat. Trying to flank a group of mobs, just to take one example, is very likely to pull another group instead of giving you a tactical advantage. Individual mob reactions and some system of initiative would have been much better. As it is the game basically forces you to save scum to get anywhere    … Expand
  71. McFinnegan
    Feb 11, 2016
    9
    A good strategy game has a wide variety of strategy, with counterplay for each strategy. Every enemy I've encountered in XCOM 2 is powerful in their own right, but has a number of ways to counter them. My combat hacker specialist has saved my other soldiers asses on more than one occasion, but her lack of a gremlin heal prevented her from saving an on-fire squadmate.

    This game evoked    A good strategy game has a wide variety of strategy, with counterplay for each strategy. Every enemy I've encountered in XCOM 2 is powerful in their own right, but has a number of ways to counter them. My combat hacker specialist has saved my other soldiers asses on more than one occasion, but her lack of a gremlin heal prevented her from saving an on-fire squadmate.

    This game evoked all I loved from the original XCOM UFO defense, such as desperate terror when facing a new alien threat you had no way to prepare for, and the scramble to deal with this new threat. It forgoes the mechanized units entirely, which were just cannon fodder and I never grew attached to them like I did the soldiers. It ignores UFO interception, which while it wasn't an enjoyable part of the old game, I'd rather have seen it expanded upon than removed, but the resistance tone matches their decision. Despite my initial reservations about moving away from time units and deeper inventory management, in practice it removes a lot of tedium, without taking away much from the tactical end. I can remember maybe one instance where my soldier picked up a stun launcher from a dead alien, then using it to incapacitate the sectoid commander of that UFO, but I almost always had my soldiers equipped for what they needed beforehand. The simplified ammo system is an improvement, although I did love the ammoless laser rifles. Using plasma or heavy plasma, you rarely to never ran out of ammo in a mission, carrying a single spare ammo pack would be all you needed. New ammo system makes your decisions when modding your weapon more important in regards to ammo and reloads.

    Time units vs. 2 actions, the time units were superior in terms of tactical options, 2 actions superior for it being quickly apparent what you can do, thus making faster decisions (you need some experience with time units to be able to utilize them fully).
    4-6 soldiers vs. 14 (10+1HWP usually) + (12 for lightning, 24 for avenger), this is where UFO defense is superior, you can lose troops, a lot of them, and still win the mission. Losing a single soldier in XCOM 2 or EU/EW is a huge detriment to your capability, as each soldier is also so much more powerful than a single soldier in UFO defense (barring the OP psionics in UFO defense. 10 soldiers with good psionics, and you can't lose). Still, in practice, I don't have a problem with this change. It works, and focuses on different elements, giving you many more ways to keep those few soldiers alive. Though I'll still go back and play UFO defense.

    Alien pods: this goes hand in hand with the above. It works with the lower troop count, but I'd prefer the old method, as it lent more to an air of mystery. The pods leave nothing to the imagination as to where the aliens could be, UFO defense, they could be hiding in that one square of the barn you don't have vision of, until they come out and shoot you.

    Still, the new game does stand on it's own feet. The character customization really helps you invest in your soldiers, which is one of the huge draws to the game for me. The astounding heroics or miserable failures of my soldiers I still remember, and the character pool is nice to not lose the time you spend customizing the characters. The improvements on the strategic layer, where you scan, gives a whole new level of tough decision making in the game. Lot of people bemoan the timers, I have yet to fail to meet a timer, I usually have a few turns to spare (Commander difficulty), and have done so safely (mostly, aside from a few risky moves necessitated by lolligagging too much).

    The technical difficulties are significant, though not game breaking for me. People having vision through walls is the worst on alien ships (an entire undamaged wall wall between me and the alien, could still exchange fire), but it is somewhat evident elsewhere. Small visual glitches exist, and some problems still exist from Firaxis's EW/EU. Aside from the shooting through walls in the alien ship, this hasn't impacted my gameplay, but it's something to be aware of. That's the primary reason I'm rating it a 9/10.

    The reason I rate it so high? Because I can talk to other people playing the game, and they have entirely different strategies and soldier builds than I do, and they achieve results with their strategies too. There's a lot of tough calls to make, and many different ways to tackle the same problem. Timers add a bit of tension to what could otherwise be a leisurely stroll through the tech tree (UFO defense and EW/EU both suffered from this, more the latter than the former). It's a solid game mechanically speaking, one that I can sink many hours into and still find enjoyment in.    … Expand
  72. HAMS
    Feb 8, 2016
    9
    As a sequel to XCOM EU:EW just about everything has improved. The tactical layer retains its simplicity but with some added mechanics and features. The strategic layer has been deepened and feels like a real part of the game instead of an after thought or purely story component like it did in EU:EW. The classes are different from EU:EW. I wouldn't say better or worse, just differentAs a sequel to XCOM EU:EW just about everything has improved. The tactical layer retains its simplicity but with some added mechanics and features. The strategic layer has been deepened and feels like a real part of the game instead of an after thought or purely story component like it did in EU:EW. The classes are different from EU:EW. I wouldn't say better or worse, just different and there is a lot to play around with and class combos to have fun with.

    Performance wise the game does not run well for me. But seeing that my hardware is well under minimum specs I can't really complain.    … Expand
  73. dobserver
    Jan 3, 2017
    7
    Never played XCOM before but played a lot of turn based strategy games before like Fire Emblem and Tactics Ogre. Obviously the graphics of this game are a lot better than those ones however the strategic element of it needs a bit of work. I played it on Veteran and found myself quite defeated as I got into the mid game with the enemies being much overpowered compared to my squad. INever played XCOM before but played a lot of turn based strategy games before like Fire Emblem and Tactics Ogre. Obviously the graphics of this game are a lot better than those ones however the strategic element of it needs a bit of work. I played it on Veteran and found myself quite defeated as I got into the mid game with the enemies being much overpowered compared to my squad. I restarted on Rookie, and amazingly it is still quite difficult if you do not research and prioritzie certain things over others. There are clearly 'better' research and resources compared to others in the game but the game does not really explain this. So a lot of the time is wasted doing things in a sub optimal way, which leads to the dark event bar filling up faster and the enemy progressing faster than you can. I am fine with restarting and retrying new ways, but I think the game is much too difficult in a 'rookie' setting then it should be.

    Good:
    - strategic elements like fog of war, cover, half cover, elevation, status effects,
    - squad customization, classes are interesting,
    - attack effects and destructible environment is fun and intersting
    - research options and engineering build options allow for a more varied squad

    Bad:
    - enemies some time ignore terrain effects and building cover
    - constant 'doomsday' clock and limited turns in both in game combat and the overall game
    - camera is frustrating when trying to zoom into multilevel buildings
    - research paths appear to be 'open' but in fact punish you for prioritizing and trying out new things
    - difficulty for 'rookie' is much too hard for a casual newbie in my opinion

    Verdict:
    - pick it up if you enjoy a good turn based strategy game, but understand the faults it has before and see if you can live with it    … Expand
  74. greywolf00
    Mar 4, 2016
    9
    I've seen a ton of complaints regarding the timers on missions. While I agree they can be annoying, I never found them as game breaking as others have. Not to mention, on day 1, there were multiple mods released to address it. You can completely get rid of the timers, increase the number of ticks on the timer, or pick a mod where the timer doesn't start until your squad is sighted by theI've seen a ton of complaints regarding the timers on missions. While I agree they can be annoying, I never found them as game breaking as others have. Not to mention, on day 1, there were multiple mods released to address it. You can completely get rid of the timers, increase the number of ticks on the timer, or pick a mod where the timer doesn't start until your squad is sighted by the enemy. You can also get mods to adjust the speed of the avatar project progression.

    And the ease of modding this game compared to the first is night and day. Expect a thriving mod community moving forward, including new weapons, classes and aliens.

    I was fortunate enough to not run into major bugs during my play through. I only had one crash, during the loading of the final mission, but got through it fine the next attempt.

    Overall, I think XCOM 2 is better than X:EU & X;EW, even if the loss of mechanized units and gene mods are a bit disappointing. There are more alien classes, a more randomized map system and more weapons.    … Expand
  75. 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
  76. silkforcalde
    Feb 10, 2016
    10
    Potentially the best game ever made. A complete redesign of the core XCOM: Enemy Unknown experience with smarter design, tougher enemies (but better toys to take them out with) and a much more replayable set of mechanics that provides a wider arrange of potential situations to occur.

    Procedural maps mean you won't be memorizing maps like you were in EU. The dramatically improved    Potentially the best game ever made. A complete redesign of the core XCOM: Enemy Unknown experience with smarter design, tougher enemies (but better toys to take them out with) and a much more replayable set of mechanics that provides a wider arrange of potential situations to occur.

    Procedural maps mean you won't be memorizing maps like you were in EU. The dramatically improved strategic layer means you might get attacked by a UFO in the first few months, or you might have an easier time of things with different potential events.

    Plenty of missions have timers now, which is a hugely welcome change that provides a sense of urgency and punishes the overly cautious player. Never fear, if the timer runs out, you don't permanently lose a unit that didn't evac in time. They just get captured by the enemy and eventually you'll get a mission to rescue them.

    A broader range of mission types, more enemy types with much more varied behavior, a much broader set of attack options including various ammunition types and a lot more grenade types, much smarter class design, this game is a tour de force. A work of perfection. Going down in history as one of the greatest games ever made.    … Expand
  77. Stilljester
    Feb 7, 2016
    9
    This game is a must play for anyone who enjoys strategy games. The 1994 XCOM in on my top five games of all time. XCOM: Enemy Unknown took that game, chopped off the fluff, distilled it down to its basic components, and mastered them in a brilliant tactical shooter. Now XCOM 2, takes XCOM: EU's winning formula and elevates it.

    Enemy Unknown was a remake, and it felt like a remake.    This game is a must play for anyone who enjoys strategy games. The 1994 XCOM in on my top five games of all time. XCOM: Enemy Unknown took that game, chopped off the fluff, distilled it down to its basic components, and mastered them in a brilliant tactical shooter. Now XCOM 2, takes XCOM: EU's winning formula and elevates it.

    Enemy Unknown was a remake, and it felt like a remake. Hipper, slicker, more user-friendly. It channeled the base elements and focused them into a delightfully fun game. As a remake, however, it must suffer comparison to the original. In streamlining,EU lost much of the strategy layer. No more building a laser rifle factory to fund your operation. No more sending your interceptors out to scan for enemy bases.

    XCOM 2 is not a remake; it is its own entity. It kept the amazing tactical game from EU, but it built a whole new, different, and engrossing strategy layer. The resultant game is unlike XCOM 1994, and feel like it's truly "come of age." In EU, the strategy game is pretty much just waiting for the aliens to show up. In XCOM 2, you are active. You need to fly across the globe trying to marshal several different resources. Manpower is extremely limited. Every strategy decision is nail-biter, because you need EVERYTHING and don't have enough of it. What's more, the ALIENS are active. They have priorities and agendas, all of which will seriously screw you if don't counter them.

    The tactical game retains the brilliance of EU, and adds onto it. Each of the 4 base classes can follow two paths. Each feels like a class of its own. Do you want your Ranger to be sneaky and play with shotguns? Or in your face with a Katana? It feels like they took a page from "The Long War" mod for EU by making two variants of each class. The character customization is awesome, and makes the game feel incredibly immersive.

    I've heard two main complaints:

    A) it's too hard. To these people, I say: Shut up. That's why you can select your difficulty level.

    B) It's got some technical problems. This one is more true. It feels like it could use some optimization, and might have difficulty on lower-end machines, even on minimal graphics settings. This is not a game breaker. Ironically, the place that my computer has the most trouble is on the Base screen. Tactical combat is no trouble at all. Long-ish load times, as well. I, however, have not experienced any bugs or glitches.

    Get this game. You'll thank yourself!    … Expand
  78. keredd1010
    Aug 28, 2016
    7
    If only the game worked as it should this could possibly get a 9 or a 10. Vastly improves on it's predecessor but riddled with bugs that no game should be released it that state. However, I will go as far as to say that this is the quintessential turn-based strategy game. This game is to turn-based what COD is to FPS. But dear god man is it buggy.
  79. darrenandrew16
    Feb 14, 2016
    9
    Obviously the game is not for everyone. At times, it can be almost unfairly hard. I have rage quit on multiple occasions. However, there's something that keeps me coming back. It's fun.
    If you've ever played Firaxis' other games, you'll feel right at home here.
    I'm several hours in, and I can't get enough. It's that Firaxis drug we've all come to love.
  80. pablobosa
    Feb 20, 2016
    9
    Leaving the bugs beside (which are being fixed right away) this game is keeping me on my toes. Playing in hard mode and no ironman mode for the first time and having a blast! Even when ive played enemy unknown iam still getting surprised with the twists and turns of the game. Storywise i dont care the gameplay is solid as my d*ck, which in turn is like this because the game is that good.
  81. DexEngineer
    Aug 14, 2020
    9
    Love playing this game. One of my favorite games. Great graphics. Intriguing story. Very good continuation of Enemy Unknown.
  82. 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
  83. 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
  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. 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
  86. Toffenuff
    Feb 9, 2016
    10
    Pre-ordered this game because I loved the first reboot of X-Com in X-Com: Enemy Unknown and Enemy WIthin and from what I had seen of the new one it was looking really good. And it does not disappoint! Better graphics, sleeker and improved UI, and basically a lot more better updates to what was already great in X-Com: Enemy Within. The biggest improvement is the surprisingly compellingPre-ordered this game because I loved the first reboot of X-Com in X-Com: Enemy Unknown and Enemy WIthin and from what I had seen of the new one it was looking really good. And it does not disappoint! Better graphics, sleeker and improved UI, and basically a lot more better updates to what was already great in X-Com: Enemy Within. The biggest improvement is the surprisingly compelling story and the way the game challenges you to keep moving and making tough decisions. You can no longer take the long route and play it super safe like you could with EU/EW. Now there's an overall campaign threat that, if you try to wait too long before tackling the bigger objectives, you'll lose, which makes it more exciting and more realistic. More character customizations, the extensive mod support, and of course the better but still very much the same gameplay is further icing on the very delicious cake.

    The biggest gripes I have, and really the only gripes I have, are: poor optimization meant that the game was sometimes choppy with dropping framerates and whatnot, which I was able to fix on my end by forcing certain graphical settings via a separate program; still a bunch of bugs, particularly graphical/visual bugs, like characters partially stepping into walls or other objects to do actions or units shooting through floors/ceilings/walls like they're not there (this was also present in EU/EW). Still, compared to the overall amazingness of the rest of the game (which now runs much more smoothly thanks to my own personal tweaking under the hood), these issues are more than bearable. Although I would love fixes, please!

    Anyway, long story short: if you love X-Com: Enemy Unknown/Within, you MUST get this game. Earth needs you back, Commander.    … Expand
  87. ehmkec
    Feb 13, 2016
    9
    I love the Xcom games. I like that I can play at my own pace and that's good considering the great fast action game out there. There needs to be 2 rating categories for all games though - Game and Technical. Too many great games get poor technical reviews and some people will never know the game is great.
  88. TheEarthDragon
    Feb 13, 2016
    9
    The early knee jerk from the user reviewers was wrong as usual. While the late "professional" entries adjust their scores down to reflect what the community claim in order to appeal to the masses.

    Every couple years we get a game that requires a "juice" from your machine to run properly and this is one of them. If you have a machine that is a little aged, then waiting a month or so    The early knee jerk from the user reviewers was wrong as usual. While the late "professional" entries adjust their scores down to reflect what the community claim in order to appeal to the masses.

    Every couple years we get a game that requires a "juice" from your machine to run properly and this is one of them. If you have a machine that is a little aged, then waiting a month or so after release is in order (which is nothing new). I'm playing the game a week after release and it has minimal problems with the only real issue being it takes 10-15 seconds for me to be able to start my turn after the aliens go.

    This really is one of the best strategy games of the modern age of gaming. Complaints like "why am I on a turn limit" are completely explained by the fact that you are a rebel force with a limited amount of time until the skies are overrun by Advent forces and NOBODY can get out of there. You are the invaders this time. Most of the planet wants you dead. Why is it you are swallowing that the avenger can move from Alaska to Indonesia in a couple hours but you don't think Advent response times should be fast at all? It's a petty argument for folks who want everything, including completing missions in a game, easy as pie for them.

    The early "professional" reviews had it right. This game is a rare A quality game in a time where most games are uninspiring and give everything to you on a silver platter. I'm glad to see the community getting more and more sensible and this game is slowly but surely seeing it's score rise.    … Expand
  89. Kingbingo
    Feb 9, 2016
    8
    This game easily has the potential to be a 10 out 10. But for some reason the developers decided to add timers to most maps which will often ruin the experience as it stops you being tactical. So I’m giving it 8 but if you download the timer mods from the workshop you may as well add those 2 points back.
  90. 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.
  91. 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
  92. crowbarPhysicis
    Feb 9, 2016
    9
    X-COM 2 takes a fresh approach to the formula used in X-COMs Enemy Unknown and Enemy Within. It changes enough of the features in the game to make it something new, but not enough to be completely foreign. The gameplay is well designed, the turn timers are well tuned and forces you to play a faster-paced game, and the lose condition of the game is just enough to keep players scrambling toX-COM 2 takes a fresh approach to the formula used in X-COMs Enemy Unknown and Enemy Within. It changes enough of the features in the game to make it something new, but not enough to be completely foreign. The gameplay is well designed, the turn timers are well tuned and forces you to play a faster-paced game, and the lose condition of the game is just enough to keep players scrambling to hinder it. The game suffers from glitches and the occasional crash (in my 35 hour campaign, the game crashed twice and there was a single game-breaking glitch, which forced me to reload a previous save several missions back). While some of the glitches can be annoying, some of them are downright hilarious. Sure, it ruins the immersion, but this is X-COM, its story isn't really something to be immersed with; it never presented itself as such.… Expand
  93. tommh
    Feb 9, 2016
    10
    This is a true realization of what a X Com game should be. Tense tactical games that feed into a strategy game that is constantly presenting you with tough interesting decisions.
  94. TheWaffle
    Mar 8, 2016
    8
    I wanted to wait for a full, proper patch before reviewing but it's been over a month now so the game is getting reviewed as is. XCOM 2 borrows everything good from its predecessor XCOM Enemy Unknown. The in-depth strategy, difficult choices, and long-game focus are all refined and improved. There are moments where decisions made hours ago will come back to haunt you or reward you, whetherI wanted to wait for a full, proper patch before reviewing but it's been over a month now so the game is getting reviewed as is. XCOM 2 borrows everything good from its predecessor XCOM Enemy Unknown. The in-depth strategy, difficult choices, and long-game focus are all refined and improved. There are moments where decisions made hours ago will come back to haunt you or reward you, whether you're so glad you put a repeater on that rifle that allowed you to get a kill and save the team or whether you chose the wrong talent and now your beloved sniper is going to bite the bullet as a result. The campaign and missions always feel just barely beatable, and I had more than a few times in my ironman play through where I thought "yup that's it, game over" including a total wipe of my six-man alpha squad, but instead I scraped together brought up the rookies and got to work figuring out my way forward. There's great mod support and after only a month there are hundreds of mods with everything from new maps, gameplay tweaks, Star Wars helmets, Mass Effect voiceovers, etc. The community is really coming out to play and the devs made it very easy for people to develop and install the mods. I loved Enemy Unknown and I love XCOM 2.

    On the downside. This game was murder on my rig. After shutting down every unnecessary process, updating my drivers, and setting the graphics to minimal, the game barely ran on my computer. I had to turn down the resolution and still had serious fps drops, particularly in the final mission. And it's clear there are performance improvements that could be made, after-all we're all using the Caps-Lock trick that somehow reduces the Avenger's load-time by 50%. The camera still zooms in on a wall instead of the enemy during shooting, there are numerous noise glitches when you'll hear the same effect played over and over, line of sight still isn't terribly clear and the LOS indicator can bug out (particularly against sectopods), and a slew of other glitches that just feel like such low-hanging fruit, particularly for a grid based game. It's not like the game is bombarded with constant, new inputs like an FPS would be, it should be able to realize when an enemy dies and play the sound effect once (not over and over). And there's plenty of visual noise that reduces performance we should be able to disable, e.g. the dissolving holo-globe, the load screens where the computer is also simultaneously rendering six character models, etc. In general, the system requirements are crazy for a turn-based game.

    As far as gameplay, a lot of things will be difficult on your first play through because the game doesn't always make it clear what the rules are, and not just when meeting new enemies. It's not always clear whether activating an objective will consume an action, for example picking up a wounded ally doesn't cost and action but putting them down does consume an action. And so you'll often find yourself in a situation where you just kind of have to click the objective and hope that your ranger can still fire afterwards. Some other aspects are just clunky (some of which have been fixed in community mods) like having to cycle through all your soldiers to see who has free-reloads still available and manually reloading the people who don't have those available, or going back to the psi/guerrilla training every five days when someone's training finishes, or having to build/buy items that offer annoyingly non-specific benefits "will increase the strength of your psi attacks" "this sim will improve your soldier's agility" until after you build/buy them, just a number of small things that could have been easily fixed on launch or in a patch.

    Overall, I love the game, and I'm looking forward to the DLC releases. But it's been over a month now, and we've only received a few token patches to resolve certain crashes. The performance is still very poor, even apparently for people playing on vastly superior computers compared to my own. It's just another rough game launch where I wonder, "Did you really need to launch it in this condition? Or could you have worked on it for another month and spared everyone the headaches?"    … Expand
  95. axxiusdecius
    Feb 8, 2016
    9
    finally a game not just as good as the first, but better, because it is much more complex, with many new layers added. What I mean: now there is a good dose of stealth, but not so much as to get annoyng; there is looting and plenty of different gun upgrades; the environment is destructible (need a door? make yourself a hole in the wall!); movement on the strategic map, Risk style; eventsfinally a game not just as good as the first, but better, because it is much more complex, with many new layers added. What I mean: now there is a good dose of stealth, but not so much as to get annoyng; there is looting and plenty of different gun upgrades; the environment is destructible (need a door? make yourself a hole in the wall!); movement on the strategic map, Risk style; events that influence the game for a while;
    Also, great graphics, new soldier classes, a better/darker atmosphere, more cyberpunk, the new feeling of fighting not a war, but a resistance guerilla against a pseudo-Communist dictatorship. And no more annoying dr. Vahlen voice (damn, I hated her!!!)
    On the minus side, a little less enemy variety (but some of them more remarkable); smaller battle maps; the scientist/engineers are now recruited through a quite unclear process. And what I really dislike, you are rushed in many battles by a turn countdown which takes away some of the planning.
    Overall, a 9,5 of 10 for me!
    And thank the Firaxis people for doing a good job this time, unlike the lame Beyond Earth and the dumbed-down Civ 5.....    … Expand
  96. 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.
  97. Vevo99
    Jul 26, 2016
    10
    Estou jogando e curtindo cada minuto desse game , desafiador do jeito que eu gosto , cada missão transmite a sensação que Dark Souls transmite , o jogo é difícil , se você não curte jogos desafiadores passe longe .
  98. vunacar
    Feb 6, 2016
    9
    People scoring this 0 need a reality check. XCOM 2 is an amazing game and upgrades the gameplay in almost every regard compared to the previous installments. New enemies are great, the graphics have improved, and almost every criticized area of XCOM 1 has been either removed or reworked.

    Some performance issues are there with AA enabled and some advanced options, but these can be turned    People scoring this 0 need a reality check. XCOM 2 is an amazing game and upgrades the gameplay in almost every regard compared to the previous installments. New enemies are great, the graphics have improved, and almost every criticized area of XCOM 1 has been either removed or reworked.

    Some performance issues are there with AA enabled and some advanced options, but these can be turned off, and the game has visual glitches from time to time, which can also be bypassed by not using the action camera, which can be turned off in the gameplay settings.

    From the gameplay perspective, the game could really have used less timed missions, which often isn't even that big of a deal, but due to the nature of randomly generated levels, the game can make the time limit strangely low for the task at hand, resulting in a frustrating mission. This is the only reason for me giving the game a 9, and I am pretty confident this will be either tweaked in patches, or a mod will come out to fix it.

    Overall, a great game, and a worthy sequel, and an early candidate for the game of the year.    … Expand
  99. Erlioth
    Feb 9, 2016
    10
    Any shortcomings the game has can be altered to your liking yourself or through mods that are already made. Bad performance? Lower the settings if your PC is a toaster. i know people with 4 generations old hardware who are running it fine by turning off 1 or 2 settings, meanwhile im on a budget AMD build with a high end video card and it runs fine at max settings. This game adds way moreAny shortcomings the game has can be altered to your liking yourself or through mods that are already made. Bad performance? Lower the settings if your PC is a toaster. i know people with 4 generations old hardware who are running it fine by turning off 1 or 2 settings, meanwhile im on a budget AMD build with a high end video card and it runs fine at max settings. This game adds way more variety in the missions and rebalanced but otherwise familiar gameplay from 1, a better story, and infinite replayability thanks to more RNG + integrated mod/steam workshop support. In time, this game will have a ridiculous amount more variety and content added through the workshop. You would seriously have to be the most jaded gamer, or unable to get into tactics, or have a crappy computer to not like something in this game. If your argument is that it's too easy, even on the highest setting, there are already mods for that too! I just don't see how you can play it past the first missions and review it negatively… Expand
  100. Sudaro
    Feb 16, 2016
    10
    I spend about 40h in game and I say: "one of the greatest games ever made! Better than XCOM I". Very good mix of strategy and tactical combat. One of must have games.
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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

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Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 104 Critic Reviews

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