is the sequel to XCOM: Enemy Unknown. It takes notes from Enemy Within and integrates some of what made that expansion so great.
The story is canon now, that in the first month or so of EU, Earth was overwhelmed by the alien threat, and 20 years have passed since then. The ADVENT coalition is the sole authority of the entire world, and a punished Bradford sets out to set the Commander free. So begins the revival of XCOM as a guerilla front.
XCOM 2 is a mixed bag. For every improvement it makes, there is a similar blunder in that territory as well. List of pros, new stuff that is kind of mixed or no reaction, and cons: (For vanilla XCOM 2)
Positives:
-Reloads only take one action, not a full turn, with the absence of Auto-Loaders
-Customization options are vastly expanded
-Naming guns(albeit only primary weapons, but sure there are mods that fix this), and attaching attachments really make the weapons more versatile, and varied, you can also customize the color and pattern to make it look prettier when you have to recover it from your dead soldiers.
-Mods (Never personally touched any of them in initial playthrough, but some of them look absoultely amazing)
-Cinematic overwatches. A small thing, but I thought they were cool.
-Advanced Warfare Center. Though I only had one person who gained an extra ability from outisde their ability tree, it granted "Guardian" to my Grenadier. Shreddin' armor for days.
-Soldier skills are now varied in their decisions, so you might have to put some thought into picking the skills. You can also retrain skills now in the Advanced Warfare Center if you do not like your choices.
-Shen's Last Gift is likely one of the only DLC you will need for XCOM 2, since it adds an underwhelming, but cool class known as SPARKS (Basically a watered-down version of MECs from EW).
-Psi Operatives are now a force to be reckoned with, as they don't need to go on missions to gain skills, they can literally incubate in the Psionic facility, and you can make 2 or 3 people (depending on how long you want to prolong the game) into PSIONIC GODS. (+5 Points if you get that reference)
-"Heavy Weaponry", such as Flamethrower, Rocket Launcher, and such, can be used by soldiers that are not the Grenadier class, in the prescence of EXO or WAR suits. Though it is still advised that Grenadiers carry the best heavy weapons, when coupled with the "Salvo" ability, for maximum benefit.
-Watching enemies fall to their death after having the ground beneath them be blown away is mildily satisfying, more so for stationary turrets.
Neutral:
-Discretion for explosives in EU/EW was that you could not recover weapon fragments from blown up targets. Now you run the risk of destroying loot on enemies, if you are not careful. Personally, I played it mostly safe, but once you get loot from enemies, feel free to let loose with explosives. Might be a pro or con depending on how you play. Loot is also quite dependant on making your weapons more stronger, as they may drop weapon mods, intel, or Elerium Cores, essential to making anything useful for soldiers.
-Armor. Newly added to XCOM 2, some units will have armor that will reduce the amount of incoming damage to those units. Only the Grenadier's primary weapon (if you invest in that skill), and explosives, can shred the armor of units. Again, might be a kicker for some, if you are not explosive-happy.
-Soundtrack is not quite as epic as EU/EW, but fits the theme that XCOM 2 is trying to go for well.
-Wide variety of aliens, but one wonders how exactly humanity can eat up the fact that a giant sentient ball who can kill humans to become zombies is a good thing. (Little thing though, it's just a videogame, of course)
-Map. The map is kind of a mess. It never quite leaves you alone enough to feel like you are making sound progress on what you want to do, rather than doing an "important" mission so you don't immediately lose the game. Compared to EU/EW, it is a lot more busier. Of course, in the context of XCOM 2, it should work...but too well.
-Continent bonuses are randomized, so no two playthroughs will have all the same continent bonuses as before.
-Timers. The one thing that everyone can agree makes things a lot more hectic in XCOM 2. I personally did not find it to be the worst thing ever (Although I did savescum a little, Alien Hunters.). Avatar Project in the GeoScape is also an end-game solution for the aliens. It makes it the highest priority to get rid of Blacksites and to deter progress on it. It is supposed to be really something, but many will agree that it was just there to make things harder, for the sake of being harder.
-Random environment generators. Great for varying the battlefield, but terrible for if you want to get specific maps memorized.
-Hacking and melee. Hacking turned out to be just another RNG based mess, much akin to the general battles that ensue in XCOM 2. However, the more you hack, the easier it will be for further hacks. Now that melee is more of an option, say goodbye to 100% hits from EW, and hello to 90% hit chance on swords, and 86% chance for melee on SPARKS. This also means that melee-based aliens, like the Berserker or Chrysallid, can miss, with amusing effects.
-In EU/EW, you used an Arc Thrower to neutralize aliens to get to know more about them. That has now been replaced with the wickedly cool "weapon" known as the Skulljack. Forcibly inserted through an ADVENT soldier's cranium, provided the distance is close, a hacking portion will appear, where you can gather Intel from them, and even try for a Blacksite lead, if you are feeling lucky. Of course, with any melee-based equipment, you can miss...but if you do initiate the Skulljack, it will finish the unlucky soldier off instantly, so it might be worth your while to do some jacking in.
Negatives:
-Concealment. The one thing that I believe was quite hyped up, is mostly just a gimmick, but still somewhat of a mechanic. You can regularly take out a good pod with the no aim penalty on amubushes, but after that, you're exposed to every alien scumbag on the map.
-Early game difficulty. This might be a real kicker for some, since you literally encounter a mind-controlling sectoid in the first mission, and mind controlling never became a big thing until the later months in EU/EW. Or they revive a dead mate in the form of a zombie which has more health than regular early soliders, and rarely miss with their melee. Now you run the risk of being annihilated because of the evident superiority of the aliens. Again, works well in context...but too well.
-Alien Hunters. Not only are the initial Rulers themselves buffed up in terms of health, and armor, they get to take an action whenever any solider uses an Action Point, known as a "Ruler Reaction". It's bad enough that the Rulers are superior versions of their respective species but this gimmick they have makes it so that they pretty much take free potshots anytime your soldiers do anything. You also need the special new weapons, to make the bosses easier to handle with, but that means you will have to carry them in all your missions. Granted, most of the new stuff improves, like the Axe and Shadowkeeper, but the forced necessity is off kilter in a sense. The armors afterwards, make it slightly worth your while, but it's too much for me, honestly.
-Action Cam. In EU/EW, Action Cam was this cool cinematic shot of your soliders killing the aliens (or the aliens killing your soldiers). Now Action Cam can initiate when you miss the shot. It kills off the significance and novelty of the Action Cam for me.
It's really a tough pick, but XCOM 2 adds as much depth to the game, just as it also introduces many problems with the changes as well. I personally enjoyed most of the experience, minus Alien Hunters related missions. I find myself humming the battle music as much as I did with EU/EW.
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