E3 2017: XCOM 2: The War of the Chosen - Why this game will get my money.
Finally, some good news out of E3 2017. In the early hours of the Australian morning, the PC Gaming Show happened. The best announcement: X: Com 2: War of the Chosen a surprise expansion for the recent X-Com 2.
For those that don't know the X-Com game formula, take one part turn based strategic combat, with a basic rock-paper-scissors strength design, and Diablo's random number generator.
The best news? It releases out August 29th on PC, PS4, and XB1
Then there's the financial and base management, and the ever impending sense of doom from the invading forces. It is a great formula.
The trailer shows that there will be some more story driven bits and pieces:
The trailer doesn't say much about the game, so we've got to delve into the official website for some more info:
New Enemies
There will be a new threat to XCOM Command, "The Chosen", their objective is to capture you, the commander. Lucky you've got a mobile ship. The website promises that there will be new units to fight against and new environments. Probably shiny reskins of sciency looking facilities.
Factions
Three new ones, in fact "Reapers, Skirmishers and Templars" (sounds very Warhammer 40K to me!) These will apparently give you new "heroes" above and beyond the grunts you take through missions and try to keep alive.
"Enhanced Strategy Layer"
It won't just be the Avenger that you can move around the map. The website alludes to the fact that you will be able to deploy resources around the map like soldiers, scientists and engineers to complete goals while you're off trying to stay alive somewhere else. This might make the game a bit more Jagged Alliance like, which is okay in my opinion.
Soldier Bonds
This is going to make the game so much more emotionally wrenching. Soldiers can bond with one another in combat, and develop synergies with each other. That's really going to hurt if you lose one, or the other in a catastrophic mission failure. Salty, salty XCOM operative tears. I can't wait.
I'm glad there will be another expansion. I hope it won't be as hard as Long War.
Yeah, Long War did significantly increase the difficulty. I had a friend complete a campaign in longwar in ironman over the course of a few months. Im surprised he had any nerves left by the end.