XCOM 2: War of the Chosen DLC

Top expansion, must have.

Let me get this simple. Xcom 2 without WotC is imperfect.

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen - First Impressions After 4 Hours Having just spent about four hours diving into XCOM 2: War of the Chosen (WOTC), here's my early take on this expansion. I’ve played XCOM 2 before, but jumping into WOTC adds a lot of complexity, and it’s clear this expansion is designed to elevate the base game to new levels of challenge and depth. Gameplay: The core XCOM 2 gameplay remains as tense and rewarding as ever. The turn-based combat, which had me holding my breath in earlier missions, still delivers the same excitement with an added sense of urgency from the new factions and enemies introduced in WOTC. The Chosen — powerful, unpredictable enemies — are an exciting addition. They hunt you throughout the campaign, adding a level of strategic pressure to every decision you make. Every time you feel like you’re gaining an edge, one of the Chosen might show up, forcing you to adjust your approach and rethink your plans. New Features: One of the biggest changes is the introduction of new hero classes (the Reaper, Skirmisher, and Templar), which add diversity to your squad. Each of these has unique abilities that spice up your tactics and make squad composition more important. These new abilities are well-integrated, and you can already see how these characters will make the difference in difficult missions. I’ve only just unlocked a couple of these new classes, but they feel powerful, and their synergies with the old classes are interesting enough that I want to see more. Difficulty & Challenge: WOTC increases the challenge significantly. The Chosen aren’t the only threat; there are new types of enemies, including the terrifying "Dark Events," which can drastically affect your progress if not dealt with quickly. Even early in the game, I found myself having to be more strategic, both in combat and while managing my resources. It’s a delicate balance between pushing forward and keeping your soldiers alive, which is exactly what makes XCOM so gripping. Story & Atmosphere: The narrative and atmosphere haven’t changed drastically, but the new factions and the added depth in how you interact with the world keep things fresh. The stakes feel higher with the Chosen, and the tension between pursuing missions and the constant threat of them taking over regions or sabotaging your efforts feels palpable. Some Quick Negatives: While WOTC definitely adds a lot of content, I did experience a few moments where the pacing felt a little slow. The constant managing of resources and dealing with the new layers of complexity might be overwhelming for some, especially if you're trying to juggle the new story elements while not getting wiped out by the tougher enemies. Some of the mission types can also feel repetitive after a few runs, though I expect this to improve as I unlock more content. Final Thoughts (for now): Even after just four hours, I can tell XCOM 2: War of the Chosen is a game that’ll have a lot of staying power. It brings in new mechanics that are already making the game feel more dynamic, and the increased difficulty ensures that every decision matters. If you’re a fan of tactical strategy and love a challenge, it’s hard to imagine XCOM 2 being any more compelling. That said, it’s not a game for the faint of heart, and newcomers may find themselves a bit overwhelmed. I’m excited to dive deeper, but for now, XCOM 2: War of the Chosen has already shown itself to be a worthy expansion to an already excellent game.

Great add on to XCOM 2, wish they would make X COM 3 would be really awesome. Great game as always get it you won't be disappointed.

I may as well talk about the only downside this DLC brings since everyone else is singing its praises (it is a very very good expansion on XCOM 2). Rangers scout class is effectively useless with the addition of reapers. they do everything a scout ranger can do but better and with far more mobility damage and stealth than a ranger could ever dream of. another issue is getting more reapers, skirmishers or the other one that is forgettable since ironically a ranger is just better than that class. the mission to recruit a new faction recruit is very very rare and i only have one playthrough where i got more than 5 faction heroes. (i got 2 reapers and 2 skirmishers and 1 worse ranger). also elerium cores are a pain in the ass to find and since rng determines which ammo grenade heavy weapon or powered weapon you get you really have to savour everything you get and make the most of bad weapons sometimes.

THUMBS NOT REALLY UP, BUT NEITHER REALLY DOWN IN THIS ONE. XCOM2 base game is a good experience. Unlike the first game, XCOM 2 never felt bare bones to me. Off course it's a change in direction for XCOM, if we don't count Interceptor, Enforcer and The Bureau. You don't have a fixed base, but the new mechanic adds new things to the table. The tactical combat squad gameplay is very good, and the overall management of resources has an interesting new perspective. Story is good, and soldiers customization is a great feature if you mod the game. Game has mod support, however I don't recommend modding game mechanics before a complete play through. It's just common sense, as you got to see how the base game is, so you can decide what needs changing. WOTC DLC, by the other hand, is a mixed bag. It does add some good things, and other not so good ones. There are additional options for gameplay, like changing mission timers for example. It allowed me to reduce the amount of mods I had in the game to 92 :) There are soldier bonds now, which is a cool new feature for the squad. The Chosen themselves can be annoying at times, as they will be hunting you, and you should be hunting them. They do evolve along time, as your soldiers also do, and they are a good addition to the game, bringging another layer of challenge. Actually, different from Enemy Within expansion, WOTC changes the game in a much deeper way, as the Chosen are now the main protagonist and Nemesis, so to speak. At leat until you take them down. There are three neutral factions with three new soldier classes added. They are totally different from each other, and worth it if you know how to use them. You can build relationship with these new factions, resulting in bonuses to your gameplay. These two new features together (chosen plus three new factions) will put an additional load of management in your hands, which can feel overwhelming some times, but works well. What in my opinion didn’t fit well in the game are the lost. It’s a zombie shooter shoehorned content. I know some people have fixation for shooting zombies, and these missions are easy enough to use them to increase rookies XP, but they are really boring and out of place. Fortunately, it’s possible to get rid of them with mods, which I did: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/1157127420 The other issue I got with WOTC is that the DLC doesn’t change XCOM2 end game missions to increase difficulty and rebalance the game for the new added content. It just puts a cap to the size of your squad, which in my opinion is quite lazy solution from developers. I don’t know if there are mods to change this. There are so many mods around, that it’s difficult to know. So, is this DLC worth buying? Well, since the game can be modded, I would say yes.