Using an explosive all but guarantees a pack of The Lost will appear on scene, making you think twice about using one the most valuable tools in the XCOM arsenal.īut the rewards are great. The more you kill, the stronger they get, and they aggressively follow the sounds of combat. The Lost only do melee damage, and the first waves have relatively low health. Most of these missions involve you running from The Lost, a new zombie horde-type enemy that is deceptively weak at first. Occasionally a covert mission will get ambushed, forcing you to take control of the squad (normally two or three soldiers) and escort them to safety. Running background missions you don’t have to manage beyond assigning troops adds a whole new layer of strategy. I can’t say enough good things about this new Covert Ops system (not to be confused with the EXALT-based covert ops stuff from previous games). Their true value is found in the new Covert Ops system that lets players send soldiers on missions to gain influence and rewards, as well as work towards tracking down the headquarters for each of The Chosen. The soldiers are only a portion of what’s offered by each resistance faction. Each class possesses a range of unique skills, but in basic terms Templars are like psionic rangers, Reapers are stealth sharpshooters and Skirmishers are assault specialists. You also have completely new soldier types to use, by way of a new storyline centered around resistance factions: Templars, Skirmishers and Reapers. I had a pair of bonded soldiers die on a mission (The Assassin killed one with a sword while he was trying to carry his wounded buddy to safety) and it felt more poetic and profound than almost anything I’d seen in any other game this year. This is enhanced by character customization, too, but it’s hard to quantify the feeling you get when a rookie soldier makes some impossible, game-changing shot and catapults herself onto your internal VIP list.Īnd now your favorite soldiers can become besties with your other favorite soldiers, and before you know it you’re shipping the shit out of everyone. But XCOM players know that their soldiers are more than a collection of stats and attacks, Because there is so little story it allows players to develop deep connections to soldiers in their squads. They gain buffs for one another that can grant extra turns, deliver special attacks or heal harmful mental effects. When two soldiers bond in WotC, it’s a big deal. Soldier ability points are important, but vaguely explained. And their bond calls attention to the bonds your soldiers will be forming, a new feature in WotC that is the biggest improvement in any XCOM DLC to date. The story has always been OK, but the relationships between soldiers on both sides of the conflict left a lot to the imagination. Their personalities, stories and banter provide a narrative depth that’s been missing from the XCOM universe. Like most things XCOM, your survival depends as much on timing as it does on skill.īut The Chosen add something else beyond gameplay. The same is true of encountering them on the battlefield. They can even attack your base itself, which can be a devastating nightmare to manage. But The Chosen have an impact beyond the battlefield, capable of sabotaging research projects and supplies or even attacking your allies to reduce your monthly income. They each have a reasonably sized health bar, numerous weaknesses and simple to manage special attacks. After dealing with the ludicrously tough trio featured in 2016’s Alien Monsters DLC, The Chosen seem like pushovers. The Chosen aren’t the hyper-difficult enemies you may have expected.
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