Firaxis Games·Released Feb 4, 2016·Single player
XCOM 2 is the sequel to XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the 2012 award-winning strategy game of the year. Earth has changed and is now under alien rule. Facing impossible odds you must rebuild XCOM, and ignite a global resistance to reclaim our world and save humanity.
While the occasional technical issues might hamper the experience somewhat, XCOM 2 remains a superb strategy game that expertly weaves stellar mechanics and emotional story-telling into an engrossing campaign in which every choice that you make feels genuinely important. It can be both brutally difficult and depressingly ruthless, but the scant moments of joy that you'll experience in your attempts to overthrow the alien regime should provide more than enough incentive to keep fighting the good fight.
Impossible to recommend ahead of the PC version because of some issues with the port, but nonetheless one of the most unique experiences on console.
'What astounds me about XCOM 2 is how often it’s not bullshit'
XCOM 2 is released on console this week. Here's our review of the PC version, first published on 1st February 2016.
The aliens strike back in this exceptional strategy sequel.
Alien firefights play out like deadly games of chess. The difficulty tests your resolve, but XCOM remains one of the deepest and most rewarding strategy games on the market
XCOM 2 is an improvement on its predecessor in every way and the vast majority of those improvements have been applied so intelligently that they risk making Enemy Unknown obsolete. That game was a smart remake of a classic. XCOM 2 is a classic in its own right and as good a sequel as I can remember.
Firaxis' turn-based strategy sequel brings major improvements to the multilayered XCOM formula.
In spite of a few glaring technical issues, XCOM 2 represents a high water mark for the entire franchise. Firaxis successfully tells an evocative story. It treats players with respect and includes so many small quality of life improvements over the original they are simply too numerous to mention. It is challenging enough at its basic difficulty level to feel like a complete experience. Despite the bugs, it's still the best-looking, most exciting turn-based tactical game I've ever played.
More powerful soldiers and more unpredictable battlefields are this sequel's answers to our complaints about last tactical combat game.
XCOM: Enemy Within plays like a finely-tuned board game. The complexities of running a multinational, anti-extraterrestrial peacekeeping force are boiled
