The PC Gaming Show has opened with a genuinely interesting reveal in the form of XCOM 2: War of the Chosen.
This full expansion for XCOM 2 brings new maps, enemies and weapons by the dozen. It’s being promoted as twice the size of any of the previous expansions. War of the Chosen, as the name suggests, introduces the Chosen – alien champions designed to be the ultimate enemy of XCOM, all of whom have distinct personalities and fighting styles. Throughout the progress of the story, you’ll likely fight each one more than a few times. But don’t fret, your soldiers will be able to unlock new progressive abilities along the way as well.
These three ability sets are broken down into three classes – Warlock, Hunter, and the Assassin. The Assassin uses stealth to get in close and knife your soldiers in the face; the Hunter is a long-range sniper, and the Warlock is well. . .a Warlock. That means the Warlock will likely rely heavily on ranged psionic abilities.
But wait, there’s more! Alongside your usual set of soldiers from XCOM, several new factions are being added to the game in this expansion. There’s The Lost, which inhabit the ruins of destroyed cities left in the wake of the alien invasion. Think of them like mutated Ghouls from Fallout, they’re not too friendly, but they may be helpful in taking on the alien menace, as the Lost are really angry at the aliens. Although it’s more likely you’ll end up fighting Lost and Advent forces at the same time more often than not.
The other three new factions are friendly resistance groups. You will need to undertake special missions for these groups to unlock their specialized soldiers and equipment. The three unlockable classes shown off so far are Reapers, Skirmishers and Templars. Reapers are stealth snipers with heavy demolition abilities, the Skirmishers are defectors from the alien army who can hold their own in pretty much any fight, and the Templars are “psionic wildlings” who build up power over multiple attacks, unleashing it in devastating waves.
XCOM 2: War of the Chosen is out on August 29, check out the trailer below:
