There’s this magical moment that all XCOM 2 players experience. A member of your elite squad of sci-fi planetary defenders holds their machine gun right up at the face of some alien foe, probably a Muton, and somehow has only a 90 percent chance to hit it. Still, aim perfect, hands steady, they can’t possibly miss, you think. Then they do, they always do. 100 percent guaranteed. F**k you, XCOM! I love you.
It’s one small component of the wider rollercoaster that is XCOM 2, a brilliant turn-based tactics game from Firaxis released 10 years ago. How time flies, I guess. Looking back, while the game does have a solid narrative and top-to-bottom great design, it’s those hair-pulling events that remain firmly in my mind. Proper XCOM moments that define a playthrough.
If you’ve not played it, the game champions a linear but meaningful approach to class-based tactical gameplay, allowing you to train your gaggle of end-of-world wastrels across distinct styles of combat. All useful, all strong in their own way. The Sharpshooter, your go-to sniper class, can also be flipped on its head as a pistol-wielding quickdraw fiend in close-quarters fights. You can slap on some custom colours and outfits too, making these units your own cast in a man-vs-alien thriller you control – sort of. It doesn’t sound like much, but goddam do you get invested in your crew.
You spend dozens of hours with, let’s say, Paul the Grenadier. He’s leveled up to the max and packs the best weapons and equipment at your disposal, but more importantly he’s from Sweden and has the beard to match. He’s a character, not a faceless gun, and that’s key. He’s got one shot to take down a Sectoid currently mind-controlling one of your units, but he’s just out of range to clip them with his grenade launcher. This, obviously, is your fault. You didn’t position him right. But, sitting alone at your desk at 2am, it’s another twist in Paul’s own story arc. The time he let the team down… again. Well done Paul, good job mate.
I’m an especially big fan of XCOM 2’s boss-style encounters, walking struggle factories that can mass produce frustrating moments you have to claw and chew your way out of. Following certain missions in the story, these daunting foes will just show up unexpectedly during regular missions, and they have a habit of doing so at the worst times possible. You’ll be taking down some Dark Sector human goo dispensaries when, wham, big frost snake. You can take it down but, maybe someone gets hurt? Maybe someone dies? Maybe an ankle is sprained and your best sniper needs 25 days off while North Africa is on fire. This is XCOM at its best, and to me is what the series is all about. I don’t believe someone who save-scums, who gets their star soldier caught out without cover or singed in a burning building and turns back the clock, is getting the rich sauce on offer here. Being forced to adapt to rough-and-tumble situations is XCOM 2.
To be frank, you don’t even need a boss to make things exciting. There’s nothing like having things in order just to see a Sectopod stroll in from the fog of war. Total nightmare, and another ordeal to overcome. You need a certain resource to unlock the next tier of weapon upgrade but, yikes, don’t have enough. That’s okay, there’s this resource drop in Brazil you can spend 10 days grabbing, while the council of four-armed aliens discover bold new ways to turn children into Monster Energy: Lando Norris Zero Sugar. What these hurdles add is texture, something you can really grip onto day after day.
10 years later, is it still worth trying out XCOM 2? Absolutely, it may actually be the best time to do so. Not only due to sharp discounts on the game, which occur seemingly at all times, but because you’ve got 10-whole-years of community content. New Armours, new maps to fight over… you can turn your brave soldiers of humanity into green and spiky cacti. You can load on heaping portions of quality of life changes, courtesy of Stop Wasting My Time and Evac All mods. There’s even a romance mod, allowing you to court your soldiers between missions. An HR nightmare to be sure, but as one of the most popular XCOM 2 mods of all time, clearly not a concern for most.
XCOM 2 is an all-timer, one that still has a home in my installed Steam library a decade later. If you’re looking back for older classics, I can promise you’ll hate it. You’ll love it, too, of course, which is why it makes such lasting memories.
