Maybe a little on the dice roll - but mostly on you. It also has the optional but incredibly challenging iron man mode that eliminates any potential for reloading a save to do-over on a mission gone wrong. It has compulsory permanent death for soldiers you've lost no matter how much time or care you've put into their development. Even when things go wrong (and they frequently do) you rarely, if ever, feel cheated. I know the 'Dark Souls of' comparison is really played out, but it does feel a little apt here: much like those games, XCOM is a game that'll frequently make you shout out 'no!!!' in frustration or mutter 'oh please, oh please' under your breath in desperation as you come close to fulfilling an objective. If you're new to XCOM and thinking of jumping in, here's what you need to know about the series: It's a turn-based strategy series that's heavy on the tactical depth and prides itself on being cruel but fair.

The game is one that deserves to be done justice in this way - and I'm pleased to report that for the most part, it holds up pretty damn well. That's XCOM 2's secret weapon: It's bloody brilliant.Įven so, I've spent the time since the announcement of its console version hoping that 2K would do a good job.

The game had a slew of weird technical issues even with its PC release back in February, but the game is so good that in my mind it'll conquer all but the most devastating of bugs or performance problems. The bar for the console port of XCOM 2 is actually set pretty low as far as I'm concerned. Load times aside, this is a damn solid take on 2K's PC strategy hit.

Xcom 2 save game editor 2016