XCOM 2 (2016)
XCOM 2 is a 2016 role-playing (rpg) video game made by Firaxis Games and 2K Games.
Humanity already lost. Twenty years after aliens conquered Earth, the invaders rule through a slick propaganda state called ADVENT, and XCOM is a scattered resistance hiding aboard a stolen ship. As the Commander, you rebuild the cell, research alien tech, and send squads into turn-based firefights where a bad roll or a rushed move gets a soldier you named and leveled killed for good. Every mission runs on a clock; the campaign runs on dread. Tense, punishing, and unusually willing to let you fail, it makes each surviving trooper feel earned.
Quick answers
What is XCOM 2 about?
Humanity already lost. Twenty years after aliens conquered Earth, the invaders rule through a slick propaganda state called ADVENT, and XCOM is a scattered resistance hiding aboard a stolen ship. As the Commander, you rebuild the cell, research alien tech, and send squads into turn-based firefights where a bad roll or a rushed move gets a soldier you named and leveled killed for good. Every mission runs on a clock; the campaign runs on dread. Tense, punishing, and unusually willing to let you fail, it makes each surviving trooper feel earned.
When was XCOM 2 released?
XCOM 2 was released on 4 February 2016.
Who made XCOM 2?
XCOM 2 was made by Firaxis Games, 2K Games and Feral Interactive.
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Explore XCOM 2 guides
XCOM 2 in our writing
- Companion guide: Alien Contact
- Companion guide: Aliens Hiding Among Us
- Companion guide: Military Sci-Fi
A few thoughts on XCOM 2
The occupied-Earth resistance echoes War of the Worlds and its overwhelmed defenders, while Old Man’s War scratches the same military-SF itch of ordinary people against a merciless enemy. For a leaner alien-invasion siege, Edge of Tomorrow loops the same desperate tactical grind.
Occupied Earth, and the humans fighting back from the shadows
XCOM 2 begins after humanity already lost, with ADVENT ruling Earth behind a friendly public face while XCOM hides and rebuilds. Falling Skies and War of the Worlds put ordinary people under the same alien occupation, Edge of Tomorrow turns invasion into a brutal cycle of retries, and Stargate SG-1 sends a small team against invaders posing as gods to keep their subjects in line.
Propaganda states, and the underground that keeps resisting them
ADVENT rules XCOM 2's Earth through slick broadcasts and a friendly mask over real control, which is why the resistance has to work from hiding. The Handmaid's Tale and Silo show regimes managing people through information and fear, 20th Century Boys follows friends undoing a cult leader's rise to global control, and The Dark Knight Returns watches a fighter push back against a city gone rotten.
Tactical missions where every soldier you send might not come back
XCOM 2 names every soldier and remembers every death, so a rushed move against a bad roll can cost you someone you cared about. Mass Effect 2 builds its finale around the same risk, letting choices decide who survives. Redshirts turns the disposable-soldier trope into its whole premise, Old Man's War follows recruits who learn war's cost fast, and Appleseed's cyborg squad fights a system too big for them.