XCOM 2

[dazedroyalty]

Came out last Friday. It's a great sequel--I still haven't completed my first play through but they have managed to make it fresh and updated while maintaining the core essence. The story is that the world lost in the first XCOM and now we're trying to take back the world from aliens who have set up a ostensibly benevolent but actually evil regime.

Lots of additional options to customize soldiers make it more fun and easier to become attached to them (I had to watch my highly promoted sniper named in honor of my daughter get decimated by plasma last night, but at least she died for the mission's success). More armor types, colors, patterns, etc. There's also customization of weapons both in their appearance but also in upgrades that can improve aim, critical chance, capacity, etc. While it makes no difference, it's fun to give your weapons a name as well.

There are technical improvements as well. My favorite is that Overwatch shots now happen in succession as opposed to simultaneously, ensuring they're never wasted.

Pacing is faster. It's no longer possible to creep along because most missions have a timer. It definitely increases that on-edge feel and makes for some dicey situations. As a result, though, it does also make the game harder.

Strategic level has a major overhaul and is much more compelling. Instead of just clicking "scan" and waiting for something to happen, there are now many choices that have meaning and consequence.

The only major downside for me is that the graphics are a step up (I believe it's now based on the Unreal 3 engine, but XCOM: EU was built on Unreal 2). Videos of other people playing are a big improvement, but on my 5 year old computer I have to play it with absolute minimum graphic settings. It runs fine and haven't had any CTD or other problems, it just looks like a game set on low graphics--sort of reminds me of when I played games as a kid because the children always had dad's old computer. The first year I played Civ 2, the colors were incredibly goofed up--but I played anyway!

If you liked the first XCOM at all, I highly recommend XCOM 2!

Has anyone else played yet?

[v8mark]

Yes - very, very good game. I'm halfway (ish?) through my first campaign after 20 hours or so. A definite step-up in difficulty from the first game, and I love the turn timers.

I'm going to be playing this for a long time, I think...

[sunrise089]

Wikipedia claims same engine, but perhaps just new eye candy has upped the hardware usage.

[NobleHelium]

Often you can increase the number of polygons (sometimes dramatically) in a game despite using the same engine. World of Warcraft has used the same engine for years but the poly counts of the models in added in each expansion go up significantly, and the system requirements have gone up over time as a result.

[Wyatan]

Funny thing is, and the OP's a perfect example, that game is supposed to be a strategy/tactics game.

Every single review is about how the story is better integrated into the game, how the new customization options are great, how the game looks better, etc...
I'm having a hard time getting a clear picture on how improved it is, on the, you know, strategy and tactics aspects.

I only played through the first one recently, and while I enjoyed it, it certainly had quite a number of flaws.
The strategy level was actually extremely shallow and quickly non-existant, and the difficulty curve on the tactical level was inverted (first missions were the hardest, latter half of the game a drawn-out mop-up phase).
I also found it mind-boggling that I had, 15 hours into the game, to look a wiki up to know what the bloody aim of the game was! I might be irremediably old-school, but I kinda expect to know the victory conditions of a game I play...

[antisocialmunky]

Well to be fair, the original XCOM is pretty much a power trip where you start out over matched and winning through attrition and end up using the alien tech against aliens.

This game I feel is deeper strategically. Enemies are much less generic than guys with guns and some amount of HP and sometimes special abilities. That being said, I think that while XCOM 2 is generally better and a better experience, that is is easier on the same difficulty. Its kinda weird in that way.

You can always play Xenonauts if you want to get the old school experience.

[Gustaran]

It's no longer possible to creep along because most missions have a timer.

I really liked the first XCOM, but this change is terrible IMHO. If a timer would pop up once in a while in a single mission type, I could accept it. But constantly creating artificial time pressure in a turn based strategy game and forcing the player to adopt a single "rush the target" playstyle is a no go for me.

Fortunately, word on the forums is that a mod disabling the turn limit will be available sooner or later.

[v8mark]

I really liked the first XCOM, but this change is terrible IMHO.

In the original XCOM, there was literally no downside to being as cautious as you possibly could be. The optimal playstyle was literally to creep along one tile per turn with the first move to pop any pods, and overwatch with everyone else in case aliens happened to appear. This is a problem in a strategy game because you don't want the main limiting factor preventing someone from playing optimally to be their patience. You can argue that this is desirable to an extent, and I'd agree. But for there to be no downside whatsoever to doing this, only diminishing returns on the upside? Not good.

This was a major issue in the first game, and was recognised as such by the devs. (They tried to row back on it with meld in EW, even.) You can maybe argue that the balance has gone too far in the other direction here. There's some wiggle room on some of the missions, but not a lot.

Fortunately, word on the forums is that a mod disabling the turn limit will be available sooner or later.

There already are mods which do this.

In terms of the game as a whole, it's very very good. It's refined everything from 1, and added some new stuff. There's power creep on both sides, which feels satisfying, as both humans and aliens get to do more cool stuff than in 1. The mission timers are a very good thing - they give an urgency to the game without ever really feeling unfair (with one exception - my single reload came from a VIP extraction mission where the extraction point got relocated to the other side of the map with like 3 turns to go... it was an unsatisfying way to suffer an A-team squad wipe).

The strategic layer is better than in 1, although that's not saying a lot and it's still not amazing by any means... but it's clear that's not where the focus of the game is. It certainly feels much more low-maintenance, which I think was a design decision. There are some flaws - it's possible to cheese the countdown clock, for example. Having said that it does offer you decisions with consequences. I've got to the point in my game where I'm almost maxed tech-wise, and I think I'm ahead of the alien curve... but to do this I basically ignored expansion for a long time, and came within a day of losing the game before doing a blacksite mission (not by design... I had a day to spare after gathering intel at full speed and making contact as soon as I could!)

There are some minor balance issues - Mimic Beacons are currently OP. In multiplayer, Codexes are ridiculous to the point of completely breaking the game. But nothing too egregious on the SP front. It's very clearly the same engine as 1, as a lot of the same bugs are there... firing through walls, breaking windows for no reason, scaling ridiculous heights to move a few tiles, that sort of stuff. Stuff that impacts immersion rather than mechanics.

But yeah - overall, if you liked the original, you'll like this a lot more I would think.

[Serdoa]

It's no longer possible to creep along because most missions have a timer.

I really liked the first XCOM, but this change is terrible IMHO. If a timer would pop up once in a while in a single mission type, I could accept it. But constantly creating artificial time pressure in a turn based strategy game and forcing the player to adopt a single "rush the target" playstyle is a no go for me.

Fortunately, word on the forums is that a mod disabling the turn limit will be available sooner or later.

I think that's actually one of the best changes. Together with Concealment you can go fast on the first few turns (even faster if you have the ability that gives everyone a mobility-boost at the start). And when you finally encounter enemies, you can position yourself in concealment and then start the fight. As soon as you understand that system the game is much faster to actually get you to the action without losing the tactical aspect of turn-based games.

Overall I really like the game. Though on the first 2 difficulties it seems the game cheats in your favour, as you will nearly never encounter 96%+ shots to miss. Which is fine imo, but makes for a vastly different experience on Commander and Legend, as suddenly many tactics won't work (slicing stuff with your Ranger for example). Apart from that, a few things are not explained or not in enough detail.

[dazedroyalty]

Just finished the game last night. Only complaint was that the final mission features tons of aliens. That's actually a good thing, normally. The end of XCOM:EU was too easy and this posed a much greater challenge. The problem was for me was that it was the only mission or part of the game where my older computer system really showed signs of not handling it well. Alien Activity took forever, and at one point the graphics went all crazy colors. Don't know if restarting would have fixed it immediately. I went to bed and the next day it worked fine--though still took a long time for alien activity. If it weren't for the performance issues, it was a much more satisfying challenge than XCOM 1. I was genuinely nervous about my team's survival.