Current version:Windows PC
XCOM 2

XCOM 2

XCOM 2 is a PC role-playing game developed by Firaxis Games. It centers on area exploration, combat and party setup, and character progression, with controls and information arranged around keyboard and mouse, with a controller where the game supports one.

AI score · out of 10
8.8 / 10
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About this game

XCOM 2 is a PC role-playing game centered on area exploration, combat and party setup, and character progression. Story beats, exploration, and progression resources support a longer campaign, with progress divided into stages, tasks, matches, or growth milestones that make immediate goals understandable. Its value depends on whether these rules continue to create judgment and room for mastery rather than on length, sales, or series recognition. Short campaigns are judged by repeat-challenge value, while longer ones are judged by variety, pacing, and recovery after failure. Characters, world building, environments, and music carry most of the atmosphere, while resolution, graphics settings, frame rate, aspect ratio, audio, text scaling, and hardware performance need to preserve action, state, and text readability together. The genre-specific limitation is that dense text, menu layers, repeated battles, loading, or language dependence can slow progress. Platform conditions also include OS and hardware requirements, installation media, patches, drivers, DRM and launchers, key binding and controller support, save locations, mod compatibility, servers, and era-specific OS compatibility affect the current release. This description covers only this platform release and does not import features or conveniences from remasters, emulators, or other console editions.

Collected in series

XCOM is a science-fiction strategy series best known for combining squad tactics with decisions made back at headquarters. You choose where soldiers move and when they fire, then invest scarce resources in the research and equipment that may keep them alive next time. Its battles turn a broad struggle over Earth into the fate of a few people under your command.

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Windows PC

AI review

AI reviews are subjective assessments, not player ratings. See each review for its evidence and limitations.Published date:

8.8 / 10Windows PC

Mission pressure and global trade-offs reinforce each other in a demanding, highly rewarding tactical campaign.

XCOM 2 turns resistance warfare into a sequence of difficult decisions. Concealed openings allow planned ambushes, class abilities offer different answers to enemy threats, and mission deadlines discourage waiting indefinitely in safe positions. Contacting resistance groups and pursuing resources also compete for time, so battlefield losses reshape the campaign instead of ending at the mission screen. Generated battlefields and development choices support repeated attempts, but the sustained pressure will not suit players seeking relaxed tactical puzzles. Cinematic close-ups and environmental detail add drama while also consuming time between decisions. This assessment covers the base campaign with the official November 2016 PC controller update. It excludes War of the Chosen and other expansions, and does not treat launch-era performance reports as measurements of every modern computer.

Strengths

  • Ambushes and class synergy create tactical depth
  • Global decisions sustain battlefield consequences

Weaknesses

  • Campaign failure carries a substantial cost
  • Mission pressure limits leisurely play

Who it is for: Turn-based tactics players comfortable with risk and campaign losses.

Play notes: Base campaign and 2016 controller update; no expansion content or modern hardware retest is implied.

View scoring basis
DimensionReview stateScoreWeight
Dimension

Tactics and long-term management interlock, with demanding consequences for failure.

Reviewed8.8 / 10Not provided
Dimension

Varied tactical tools make pressured advances consequential.

Reviewed9.2 / 10Not provided
Dimension

Cinematic framing and detailed locations support the resistance atmosphere.

Reviewed8.5 / 10Not provided
Dimension

Controller adaptation broadens usability without guaranteeing every configuration.

Reviewed7.8 / 10Not provided

Review sources

Not provided

Core information

Developer
Firaxis Games
Publisher
2K
Release date
2016
Platforms
Windows PC
Content kind
Game
Release state
Released
Region
Worldwide
Official website
Not provided
Offline minimum players
Not provided
Offline maximum players
Not provided
Online minimum players
Not provided
Online maximum players
Not provided
Tags
Solo-friendly3D GraphicsMain Story 20–50 HoursFantasyExplorationTurn-based CombatThird PersonLevel ProgressionStory-drivenLong-term Progression
Supported game languages
Not provided
Requires base game
Not provided
Standalone
Not provided
Age ratings
Not provided
Play modes
Not provided
Perspectives
Not provided

Release editions

Sources

Not provided