15 Essential Mods To Make XCOM 2: War Of The Chosen Even Better

Three years after XCOM: Enemy Unknown took the strategy world by storm and proved that turn-based titles could still shake up the industry, Firaxis has followed up with a successor that is certainly capable of carrying on the name. Within XCOM 2 , players will find a challenging title that not only improves on the core gameplay experience from the original game, but adds plenty of new elements to keep die-hard fans on their t


In what has to be one of the greatest examples of fan service in the history of games, Firaxis has drastically expanded the customization options for soldiers within XCOM . Whether it's changing their nationality, gender, or even giving them a custom backstory, there isn't much players aren't able to do to model their soldiers exactly how they want to. As these soldiers rank up, more cosmetic apparel options will become unlocked, and players will soon find themselves buried in items like baseball hats, monocles, and even a Duke Nukem -esque cigar . That's XCOM , b


The 2D pixels on 3D pixelated backgrounds is a cool visual gimmick. It was one of the best things about Octopath Traveler. However, that game had some issues that have carried over into this game as well. The backgrounds, for one, are too dark. Even what seems to be the brightest of settings can look dingy because of the lighting. TV settings can only do so much so it would be good to see these backgrounds brightened, or touched up in any other


The story in this game is dense. There are a lot of characters and terms used that can be hard to follow. This is just the demo too so who knows how complicated the main game will get. It would be nice if these conversations had text logs. To bring up Persona 5 Strikers again, that game lets players hit a button in order to scroll back through what characters just said accompanied by voice work if it was already th


Managing skills and load-outs of even one player character can be a hassle in some RPGs. Now, imagine a game where players control, level up, and customize dozens of different characters over the course of a 40+-hour campaign. What a headache! Luckily for all War of the Chosen players out there, Robojumper made squad management much less of a headache with his Squad Select overha


Players once again resume the roll of The Commander, who has been kept on ice by aliens for the last twenty years. Recovered after a desperate gamble by the sweater-loving Bradford, the linear plot then guides players to a climactic and intense final mission, with random events occurring all across the board as players race to beat the clock against a mysterious alien proj


In any event, it looks like XCOM 2 fans should expect some terrors to rise from the murky depths within the next few years, as the cliffhanger ending shows that Firaxis evidently has no intention of slowing things down with the ser

The core XCOM 2 gameplay, at least for those who have played Enemy Unknown, remains mostly intact. This is still a third person, isometric strategy shooter that focuses on dice rolls each turn to determine the outcome of battle. There are times when things will go in the player’s favor, and then there are times when it goes the complete opposite direction. This can be a random experience, and most of the time it becomes very stressful. Unless you save scum all the way through the campaign, the chances of surviving every battle with no casualties is highly unlikely. That problem derives mainly from some occasional confusing hit percentages and reactions. There’s nothing like seeing a soldier stand two feet in front of an enemy with a gatling gun and shoot through the unfazed alien with a big failure text pop up taunting you. At the very least there should be more animations showing the opponents dodging your bullets, not just standing there clueless.


XCOM 2 is an almost infinitely replayable game, especially with mods. However, some things in the game proper just suck up too much time. Action cutscenes — a plague on some otherwise good SLG console Games — have been viewed countless times. Scanning resource caches in the Avenger takes forever. Some battle animations take up half of any encounter. Why is there a 30-second animation every time a grenade is thr

We really wanted XCOM 2 to be something amazing, but unfortunately it falls short. From highly customizable characters to deep and meaningful combat that has been improved over its predecessor, there’s a lot here to like, at least on paper. Unfortunately, this is only when it all comes together properly. We ran into far too many technical issues to count that taints the experience and puts even more frustration on an already stressful campaign. If the game wasn’t so demanding in its design, then a lot of these issues wouldn’t be a huge concern, but that would require cutting out what makes XCOM so appealing in the first place. Unless you plan on save scumming your way through the campaign, the outcome will ultimately end poorly. XCOM 2 truly has the makings of a great game, but it’s hidden in the bloated technical issues that drag it down.