Update: Much more information has come out of an official blog post for the game.
Want more? It’s not just new human and alien factions being added in XCOM 2’s War of the Chosen.
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A official blog post notes the following:
- New enemies
- Spectre – capable of creating “dark copies” of XCOM soldiers.
- ADVENT Purifier – attacks with explosives.
- ADVENT Priest – a psionic ADVENT unit.
- New maps and objectives
- Abandoned cities destroyed by bioweapons (spawning The Lost)
- Underground tunnels
- Xenoformed wilderness
- Enhanced strategy layer
- Faction relationship management on a worldwide scale
- Resistance orders that allow you to “prioritise your personal strategy”
- Covert actions that give more uses for scientists, engineers and spare soldiers
- More customisation and replayability
- Fire Emblem style battlefield bonds between soldiers, giving new abilites and perks
- A new system that “dynamicall adds new modifiers to the tactical layer to make sure every mission provides a unique challenge”
- Advanced options that let you fine tune difficulty and game length
- Challenge mode
- A sort of multiplayer mode that offers a global leaderboard for various in-game challenges
Some further tidbits in the official post. Sounds like Firaxis have a lot to reveal ahead of the August 29 release date.
Original story:XCOM 2 is getting bigger – much, much bigger. A massive expansion, War of the Chosen, was announced at the PC Gaming Show E3 2017 adding six new factions. Half of them hate you, half of them hate each other. It’s due out on August 29.
There’s two major parts to the expansion. First there’s the Chosen, which Jake Solomon called “XCOM’s ultimate enemy” at the show. They’re champions of the aliens, each with a unique fighting style. They break down like this:
- Assassin – focused on stealth, cloaking and attacking you in melee.
- Hunter – a long-range sniper
- Warlock – “is a warlock.” Thanks Jake.
They get even more powerful as you encounter them more, levelling up skills and abilities to counter you just as you do them. Fun.
They’re joined by The Lost. These are zombies (surprise) that are still hanging out in the overtaken cities. They’re not on anyone’s side, and will attack aliens and XCOM alike if they’re on the field.
To help you out, there are three new factions of humans. They break down like this:
- Reavers – stealth marksman saboteurs.
- Skirmishers – alien-human hybrids who have deserted Advent.
- Templars – psionic wildcards who get more and more powerful as they go.
Recruiting these guys means solving their problems, and they’re “the most powerful” soldiers ever given to players in a default campaign. They also all really hate each other, so expect that to play a role.
All of this makes for an expansion “twice the size” of Enemy Within, and out very soon. Good luck, commander.