XCOM 2

XCOM 2 moves the series into a darker reality where humanity has surrendered to alien occupation, and the player leads the guerrilla organization XCOM, operating from a mobile base — the Avenger aircraft, which itself functions as a relocatable strategic base moving across the world map. Unlike the previous game, you're now the attacker rather than the defender: missions run under time pressure, the player must steal technology, sabotage enemy projects, and gradually build a resistance across the world's regions, all while negotiating with regional resistance factions for support.

Turn-based combat remains the core of the game: hit-percentage chances, critical hits, cover, and positional tactics, enriched with new elements like concealing units in the shadows, timed mission objectives, and permanent death of soldiers, which gives every decision weight and forces the player to plan each step and the order of actions within the squad. Between missions, the player manages research, equipment production, and the strategic world map, where they compete against the alien's growing control, represented by the so-called Avatar Project. On a modern PC, the game demands a bit more performance than its predecessor due to more detailed models, environments, and procedurally generated maps, but it remains accessible even on mid-range machines.

The visual style and music continue the series' tradition, but the tone is rawer and more tense, matching the role of rebels fighting underground and defending the last remnants of human resistance. XCOM 2 was received by critics as a worthy and in many ways bolder sequel than Enemy Unknown, especially thanks to its higher difficulty and the constant pressure of time limits that curbs overly cautious play. To this day it's considered one of the best modern representatives of turn-based strategy, and players still remember it thanks to its extensive modding community, which expanded the game with new missions, units, and entire campaigns.

Why play it: For fans of tense turn-based strategy with high difficulty and constant time pressure, still expanded to this day by a rich modding community adding new missions and campaigns.