These assassins also constantly taunt your team, both in mission and on the over-world map, often referring to the primary mission (that does not change from the base game). This event, in turn, leads to an encounter with one of the three Chosen, a terrifying and challenging face off against a new foe that can wreck your party if you don’t adapt quickly to their unique skillset.
Shortly after the opening missions, the player gets a glimpse of the antagonistic relationship between the different allied factions during a lengthy and complex mission to bring two sides to the negotiating table. In the opening cutscene, we learn the stealthy “Reaper” faction are responsible for locating the captured commander. Now, with most of the negatives out of the way, it’s time to look at the new and engaging features that War of the Chosen brings to the XCOM 2 experience.įirst up, the narrative feels surprisingly cohesive given the amount of lore and new dialogue introduced for each faction and “The Chosen” (think alien assassins). As much as I enjoyed the new additions, sometimes less is definitely more. For veterans, the increased difficulty and micromanaging may come as a welcome addition for those new to the game, you may find yourself buried under screens of information and ceaseless events. Unfortunately for the recently revived commander, no one in XCOM will do anything without his or her go-ahead. In theory, this seems a good balance of new hand-on and hand-off activities, but the rate at which these events unfold was breathtaking and I found myself juggling so many activities that I had to stop, for minutes at a time, to sift through my current objective list. There are faction soldiers to recruit, new ADVENT units to tackle, and a myriad of hands-off missions that increase faction loyalty and can lead to off-field soldier promotions, albeit not without risk. XCOM 2: War of the Chosen adds in new factions to ally with, alien assassins to fend off, and new missions revolving around both. Not exactly fond of one another but they'll never get in each other's way when trying to hunt you down. Could it get any worse for the commander? Yes, yes it could. With an abundance of missions with strict turn-limits, and the Avatar project progress bar looming above the map, XCOM 2 kept up the tension while you desperately waited research new gear, let troops recover from injuries, or established radio contact with rebel groups. You now had to juggle intelligence and resource gathering, required to unlock missions in new regions that would stall, and ultimately dismantle, an alien doomsday device. XCOM 2 immediately upped the stakes as we discovered XCOM lost the war and was reduced to a resistance force, fighting against well-entrenched occupiers.
It was tough but still manageable and missions were again interspersed with periods of anxious waiting. When I returned for the sizeable expansion, Enemy Within, there was even more research and tech to juggle, alongside a new threat in the form of EXALT, human forces with their own agenda, and the potential for assaults on the XCOM base. I had missions to complete, satellites to launch and UFOs to intercept, but always had to wait for more resources from the fickle council or I was stalling until my science division could research better armour and weapons that would keep my soldiers alive. I still remember dreading the passing of days in XCOM: Enemy Unknown. If not, give Lynley's review a read here.
Note: I'm assuming readers are familiar with the basic XCOM 2 mechanics.
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