XCOM 2
Lead the Resistance After Earth’s Defeat
XCOM 2 turns the original invasion story on its head. Twenty years after Earth’s leaders surrendered, the alien-backed ADVENT government presents gleaming cities and a controlled vision of progress while suppressing resistance and hiding a far more dangerous agenda. XCOM has been scattered. As the Commander, you rebuild it as a mobile guerrilla force, connect isolated resistance cells, and work toward taking the planet back.
The campaign moves between two linked layers. Tactical missions put a small squad on the ground for tense, turn-based encounters. Between deployments, you direct the Avenger—a captured alien supply craft converted into XCOM’s headquarters—where research, engineering, staffing, recruitment, and global strategy determine what your soldiers can do in the field.
Tactical Combat: Concealment, Cover, and Consequences
Most missions begin with the squad concealed, giving you time to study patrol routes and arrange an opening ambush. Once contact begins, positioning becomes the heart of every turn. High and low cover affect survival, flanking can expose protected enemies, line of sight determines available shots, and Overwatch lets a soldier react to movement during the enemy turn. Actions also include reloading, hunkering down, interacting with objectives, and hacking devices or mechanical targets.
Objectives push you to do more than clear a map. You may rescue civilians, recover data, destroy an ADVENT facility, raid a supply line, extract a VIP, or defend the Avenger. Some operations impose time pressure, so the safest position is not always the best choice. Wounded troops can be carried to extraction, and fallen veterans leave a real gap in a carefully built squad.
- Concealment and ambushes: choose when and where to reveal the squad.
- Destructible battlefields: explosives and heavy weapons can open sightlines or remove cover.
- Mission variety: global locations, changing objectives, and different enemy groups prevent a single tactic from solving every deployment.
- Distinct enemy roles: ADVENT troops, robotic units, and alien species demand different target priorities.
Run the Avenger Between Missions
The Avenger is both home base and strategic command center. Engineers clear debris and help build facilities; scientists research alien technology; engineering produces weapons, armor, equipment, and upgrades. Space is limited, so room placement, staffing, and project order shape the campaign. The Armory handles promotions, loadouts, visual customization, recruitment, and the memorial for soldiers lost in action.
On the Geoscape, you decide where to move the Avenger, which resistance cells to contact, what resources to scan for, and which missions deserve immediate attention. Guerrilla Operations can counter ADVENT Dark Events, while critical missions and facility assaults disrupt the Avatar Project. That creates a constant strategic tradeoff: expand the resistance, strengthen the squad, or answer the threat that is closest to becoming irreversible.
Develop Soldiers Around Your Plan
Five classes give the roster clearly different jobs. Rangers specialize in close-range pressure and concealment; Specialists use GREMLIN drones for support, healing, and combat hacking; Grenadiers bring heavy weapons and explosives; Sharpshooters develop sniper or pistol-focused skills; and Psi Operatives gain psionic abilities through training. Each class branches into complementary specializations, letting two soldiers of the same class grow into different battlefield roles.
Rank-ups unlock abilities, while loadouts add another layer of planning through weapons, armor, utility items, and upgrades. The Character Pool also lets you create customized soldiers and VIPs that can appear during the campaign. Because experienced troops accumulate capabilities over time, protecting veterans and maintaining a workable reserve are both part of long-term progression.
Campaign, Multiplayer, and Xbox Access
The main campaign is a one-player experience built around global strategy and squad tactics. A separate head-to-head online mode supports two players, each assembling a mixed force from XCOM, ADVENT, and alien units for competitive turn-based battles. Microsoft’s current Xbox listing identifies the game as Xbox One X Enhanced and playable across Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S; this physical Xbox One disc requires a console with a compatible optical drive, so it cannot be read by an all-digital Xbox Series S.
An Xbox One controller is required. Online multiplayer requires a qualifying Xbox Game Pass subscription under Microsoft’s current console policy. The campaign itself is designed for one offline player and does not require an online opponent.
Quick Specs
- Platform: Xbox One
- Developer: Firaxis Games
- Publisher: 2K
- North American release: September 27, 2016
- Genre: Turn-based tactics / strategy
- Players: 1 offline; 2 online
- Input: Xbox One Controller
- Display feature: Xbox One X Enhanced
- ESRB: Teen — Blood, Use of Tobacco, Violence; online interactions not rated
- Physical format: Xbox One game disc
