XCOM games focus on an organization fighting the extraterrestrial threat, where the main gameplay is comprised of tactical elements combined with efficient control over a team of agents, careful planning, research and taking risks. The sequel to the reboot known under the name of Enemy Unknown brings many improvements to the classic turn-based tactical gameplay and develops the story where the project XCOM has fallen leading humanity to create resistance groups against the alien threat.

Now, developed by Firaxis Games and released by 2K Games in 2017, XCOM 2: War of the Chosen presents you with new obstacles to overcome by introducing a number of new dangerous enemies and challenges as well as factions which can help you in fighting the new threat. With those additions, the developers created a more expansive experience to the base game.

The real war begins!

The story revolves around the same elements as the base game, additionally improving on many of its elements, with changes having to do with the new units called “The Chosen” sent to capture the Commander. You must take control over the Avenger to lead the Resistance forces against the Alien invasion with your battle-hardened team and lead humanity to freedom.

Gameplay

The gameplay of the game thanks to the War of the Chosen DLC has been significantly expanded not only with the introduction of new units, but also fresh systems such as the SITREP, unexplored environments, mission objectives, and strategic possibilities. Moreover, with the new units, the downloadable content brings additional bosses which pose a much greater threat to your team and will require greater more strategic thinking to defeat.

The SITREP system provides you with more an interesting layer of gameplay for some missions by introducing random modifiers influencing the units and the battlefield itself. Those modifiers may include negative as well as positive changes such as only one type of enemies appearing during a mission, limited squad numbers or an effect causing the map to be completely revealed.

New units

The Expansion introduces new factions to the game with enemies as well as those who support the resistance:

• the Chosen serving as a certain kind of nemesis and boss units with the Assassin, Hunter, and Warlock;
• the playable resistance factions known as the psychic oriented Templars, the stealthy Reapers and the ruthless Skirmishers each with their own tactical differences and mindsets;
• additional enemies such as Priests wielding psionic powers, Purifiers with flamethrowers, stealthy Spectres, and hordes of mutated humans known as the Lost.

Reception

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen met with positive reviews as the newly introduced elements, units and systems allowed the players to sink in many more hours into the already praised game. Many gameplay features known from the base games have been revamped and expanded on by the developers creating a new and interesting experience for many fans of the XCOM series.