XCOM® 2 ▶ Trailer
XCOM® 2 screenshot 1XCOM® 2 screenshot 2
StrategyTurn-Based CombatTacticalCharacter CustomizationRPGTurn-Based Tactics

1,958 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 3,581

Peak in the last 7 days: 4,286

XCOM® 2 Steam store

Game description

XCOM 2 is the sequel to XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the 2012 award-winning strategy game of the year. Earth has changed and is now under alien rule. Facing impossible odds you must rebuild XCOM, and ignite a global resistance to reclaim our world and save humanity.

Basic info

DeveloperFiraxis Games, Feral Interactive (Mac), Feral Interactive (Linux)
Publisher2K, Feral Interactive (Mac), Feral Interactive (Linux)
PlatformsWindows · macOS · Linux
Steam DeckPlayable
Release dateFeb 4, 2016
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows® 7, 64-bit
ProcessorIntel Core 2 Duo E4700 2.6 GHz or AMD Phenom 9950 Quad Core 2.6 GHz
Memory4 GB
Graphics1GB ATI Radeon HD 5770, 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 or better
Storage45 GB
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Review Analysis Score

Based on 416 reviews from the past 1 year

82.7/ 100
Top 50%

Steam rating: Very Positive (85%)

Metacritic: 88 /100

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 22, 2026)

A benchmark for turn based tactics in the eyes of its fans, XCOM® 2 scores 82.7 across 110,151 Steam reviews.

👍 Strengths

137 reviews say they love it and keep coming back, and some judge every other tactical game against it. 74 praise its tactical depth, describing meaningful decisions, customizable soldiers with skill trees and bonds between units that open new options. 28 enjoy how hard it is, saying the punishing challenge makes careful play rewarding and victories tense. Content Volume ranks 55th of 1351, Story & World ranks 394th of 1096, and Gameplay ranks 339th of 1396. Visuals & Sound ranks 481st of 1249.

👎 Where it falls short

58 reviews find the difficulty frustrating, saying missed high percentage shots and sudden losses can undo a careful plan. 44 feel the balance favors the aliens, with random chance overriding planning while enemies seem to land their shots and get free moves when spotted. 19 report bugs and glitches, such as freezes that cost a campaign, odd interrupts and crashes. A few add that patches have broken mods. Pricing & Fairness ranks 1047th of 1399, and Tech & Support ranks 835th of 1399.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“judges all other turn based tactical games against it” · 137 reviews
“deliberate tactical philosophy with meaningful decision-making in EU” · 74 reviews
“mods make every playthrough feel different and unique” · 26 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 64% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Strategy +3.45 · Depth of builds, tactics, and meaningful choices
Positive “deliberate tactical philosophy with meaningful decision-making in EU” · 74 reviews
Negative “strategy nullified by heavy RNG, feels like slot machine not skill” · 6 reviews

Progression 15% · Difficulty 40% · Onboarding 12% · Freedom 4% · Controls & feel 6%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 24% of reviews · Top 40% of the games we've analyzed

World +3.47 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is
Positive “rich lore and immersive resistance narrative with compelling premise” · 8 reviews
Negative “lost military atmosphere, became space fantasy instead” · 1 review

Story 14% · Characters 8%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 31% of reviews · Top 5% of the games we've analyzed

Replayability +4.02 · Reasons to play again — runs, randomness, New Game+
Positive “mods make every playthrough feel different and unique” · 26 reviews
Negative “second playthrough lacks the magic of the first run” · 1 review

Volume 12% · Variety 9%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 11% of reviews · Top 40% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +3.15 · Graphics, art style, and animation
Positive “production quality is great and feels invested” · 12 reviews
Negative “bright and cartoonish visuals of X-COM fighters” · 2 reviews

Audio 4%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 5% of reviews mention this.

Community +3.56 · Who you play with — how many, and how friendly

Playing together 1% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 19% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Balance -0.51 · Whether classes, weapons, and builds are evenly matched
Negative “random chance overrides tactical planning and skill” · 44 reviews
Positive “balanced and tactical gameplay” · 1 review

Anti-cheat 0% · Pricing 3% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 17% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Stability -0.19 · Crashes, freezes, save loss, and game-breaking bugs
Negative “glitches with interrupts and corpse behavior, occasional progress loss” · 19 reviews

Performance 6% · Developer support 7%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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