XCOM 2
GENRE: Turn-based strategy
DEVELOPER: Firaxis Games
PUBLISHER: 2K Games
WEBSITE: https://xcom.com
PRICE: $59.99
X
COM and I, we have history.
This series, which has been
around for over 20 years and
was originally known as X-Com,
played a fundamental role in
grooming me to become the avid
player of video games that I am
today. To be slightly more specific,
I’ve got oddly vivid memories of
playing X-Com: Terror from the
Deep, which launched back in 1995
as the second entry in the franchise.
Said memories are equal parts
joyful and painful, because playing
a game as famously punishing as
Terror from the Deep before you’ve
even reached the age of 10 forces
you to learn some very harsh
lessons in virtual loss, very quickly.
My point is, XCOM has and will
always be mighty significant to
me. When Firaxis took hold of the
series and released XCOM: Enemy
Unknown in 2012, they nailed it.
44 The OverClocker Issue 38 | 2016
It’s not an exact replica of the
games I’ve cherished for so long,
but it didn’t need to be. Enemy
Unknown is fantastic in its own
right, and is impressively faithful
to its ancestors. It modernised the
franchise while still staying true to
the fundamentals, and I hear that
the Enemy Within expansion (which
I never got the chance to play) is
equally excellent. Now, a few years
down the line, XCOM 2 is out and
about, and – spoiler alert – it’s
really, really, really good.
I’ve played it for dozens of hours
now, and I still can’t get enough
of XCOM 2. It feels every bit as
fresh and overwhelmingly exciting
as it did when I first launched it,
and I can’t think of many other
games that have managed to keep
me as thoroughly enthralled as
this one does. It’s in part due to
my obsession with the franchise,