Firaxis may do some things incorrectly, but one thing I’ve never been able to fault them on is the quality of their expansion packs (not to be confused with normal DLC). War of the Chosen raises the bar yet again by providing an experience so complete and feature-rich that, much like Enemy Within for the original XCOM reboot, you’ll ask yourself why you’d ever play the normal game again.

Adding various factions to court for benefits and unique soldiers helps to shake up the dynamics of the mid game quite a bit, taking gameplay from a straightforward tech and production arms race to perhaps picking and choosing your battles a little more carefully. Performance has been improved quite a bit, which is nice because I never felt like XCOM 2’s visuals were quite worth how difficult it appeared to be to run. Old systems like Dark Events were enhanced to make them more meaningful, there are more “Second Wave” options, and all the DLC has been integrated more smoothly into the storyline instead of being a very obvious tangent. Now, for the most part (see below), the difficulty escalation feels far better, with there always being something poised to knock you down a peg if you get too cocky. Most importantly, you can’t just rely on a team of “power rangers” to carry XCOM through every mission any more, as something approximating Long War 2’s “fatigue” system has been implemented (though it is a lot less harsh than it, so don’t fret too much).

Now for the negatives. I felt like the titular Chosen were a little too easy to take down when they showed up on missions, which is funny because the way Alien Rulers work now can feel a little frustrating (I had the Berserker Queen show up before I had run into normal Muton Berserkers, for instance, and when she has over 50 health and takes an action every time one of your soldiers does, it’s... not optimal). I also think it cost just a little much given that this is the “definitive version” of the game (it would cost you about 100 dollars to pick the game up from scratch when this first came out, although some prices have been lowered). If you can pick up the base game on the cheap, though, this is an almost mandatory pick-up. You will not regret playing the game like this, even if it’s your first time (although it may make it quite a bit more challenging if you’re going in blind). If you already own XCOM 2, this is one of the best values in gaming released all year, if you ask me, especially on sale.

Firaxis may do some things incorrectly, but one thing I’ve never been able to fault them on is the quality of their expansion packs (not to be confused with normal DLC). War of the Chosen raises the bar yet again by providing an experience so complete and feature-rich that, much like Enemy Within for the original XCOM reboot, you’ll ask yourself why you’d ever play the normal game again. Adding various factions to court for benefits and unique soldiers helps to shake up the dynamics of the mid game quite a bit, taking gameplay from a straightforward tech and production arms race to perhaps picking and choosing your battles a little more carefully. Performance has been improved quite a bit, which is nice because I never felt like XCOM 2’s visuals were quite worth how difficult it appeared to be to run. Old systems like Dark Events were enhanced to make them more meaningful, there are more “Second Wave” options, and all the DLC has been integrated more smoothly into the storyline instead of being a very obvious tangent. Now, for the most part (see below), the difficulty escalation feels far better, with there always being something poised to knock you down a peg if you get too cocky. Most importantly, you can’t just rely on a team of “power rangers” to carry XCOM through every mission any more, as something approximating Long War 2’s “fatigue” system has been implemented (though it is a lot less harsh than it, so don’t fret too much). Now for the negatives. I felt like the titular Chosen were a little too easy to take down when they showed up on missions, which is funny because the way Alien Rulers work now can feel a little frustrating (I had the Berserker Queen show up before I had run into normal Muton Berserkers, for instance, and when she has over 50 health and takes an action every time one of your soldiers does, it’s... not optimal). I also think it cost just a little much given that this is the “definitive version” of the game (it would cost you about 100 dollars to pick the game up from scratch when this first came out, although some prices have been lowered). If you can pick up the base game on the cheap, though, this is an almost mandatory pick-up. You will not regret playing the game like this, even if it’s your first time (although it may make it quite a bit more challenging if you’re going in blind). If you already own XCOM 2, this is one of the best values in gaming released all year, if you ask me, especially on sale.