You command a small resistance force fighting an alien occupation, moving soldiers one at a time on a grid and deciding whether to take a risky shot or play it safe. Soldiers can die permanently, so losing someone you have leveled up for hours actually stings. Missions and maps generate differently each time, so no two playthroughs go quite the same way.
Gameplay video
More XCOM 2 Collection gameplay on YouTube →Ready to play XCOM 2 Collection?
Grab a physical or digital copy from Amazon — prices and availability update live.
This is an affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.
Screenshots & review notes
Overall
Unforgiving, tense, and endlessly replayable, this remains one of the smartest strategy games ever made, brutal permadeath and all.
Moment to moment
Turns are slow and deliberate, every cover choice weighted with dread, and missing an eighty percent shot never stops stinging even after a hundred hours.
Art and atmosphere
The gritty resistance aesthetic and moody lighting translate well to handheld play, though longer missions can chug the frame rate noticeably.
Worth your time?
Nearly infinite replayability thanks to randomized maps, but the steep learning curve and heavy time commitment make this a poor fit for casual dabblers.
Frames captured from the gameplay video above; notes are our own take on the game.
What it's like to play
Turn-based tactics where humanity already lost, and you run the resistance from a flying base, conducting guerrilla raids against the alien occupation. Missions are tense puzzles of concealment, flanking, and overwatch traps, where a missed 90-percent shot is a rite of passage. Permadeath for named, customized soldiers makes every mistake genuinely painful.
The War of the Chosen expansion, included here, adds chosen enemies who hunt you across the campaign, faction allies, and much more content. The strategy layer of base building and research races against the avatar project countdown. Mod support is absent but the content is huge.
The Switch port struggles technically, with long loads and framerate drops in large battles, and it is the weakest platform version. The difficulty is famously unforgiving even on normal. For tactics devotees, the design is a masterpiece, and the portable convenience may outweigh the technical cost.