Everything you need to know about PS4’s XCOM 2 expansion War of the Chosen, out 29th August

Hi, I’m Garth DeAngelis, Lead Producer on XCOM 2. As a lifelong console gamer, I can’t wait to see XCOM 2: War of the Chosen arrive on 29th August.

While we’re waiting patiently for launch day, there’s still time to brush up on your XCOM 2 skills by taking back Earth, avoiding permanent death on the battlefield, and meeting different alien species that want to obliterate you. You’ll need to hone these skills because War of the Chosen will provide you with new challenges to dive into!

You see, after we finished developing XCOM 2, the team sat down and came up with many, many new features to inject into XCOM 2: War of the Chosen. (Seriously. Many.) This is an expansion bursting at the seams, and you’ll feel it from the opening minutes you play.

War of the Chosen features an altered story that provides a twist on the original premise. You will be introduced to the titular Chosen, elite hunters selected by the Elders to terrorize you over the course of your campaign.

They’ll taunt, interrogate, and capture your heroes if you’re not careful, all while developing their own sinister strengths and weaknesses. You’ll need to adapt and deal with the Chosen to survive.

To counter the Chosen, you’ll be introduced to three new playable classes: The Reapers, Skirmishers, and Templars – all with powerful and heroic abilities. Be sure to check out the Chosen and Faction Inside Looks here!

The Chosen and human Factions are just the tip of the iceberg. Two new ADVENT units, the Purifier and Priest, and a new alien, the Spectre, will be introduced into the enemy menagerie.

You’ll travel to new pockets of the world, like underground tunnels, xenoformed forests, and abandoned cities from the original XCOM: Enemy Unknown invasion.

Within these cities, you’ll encounter an additional enemy type, the Lost. These husks of humanity are a tactical game changer, as they mindlessly flock towards XCOM in huge waves. If you’re smart with your shots, you can leverage the new Headshot Chain mechanic to cut through them quickly or use tools to have them do your bidding, luring them away from you and towards ADVENT and alien alike.

On top of that, we loved adding other awesome features, like Soldier Bonds so that some squadmates can work better together over time, the new Photobooth mode, which allows you to “posterize” your favourite squads and missions with unique filters, backgrounds and whatever text you choose to create your very own resistance propaganda.

There’s also a new Challenge Mode, to compete against the world in one-time missions so you can see how well you do against other XCOM 2: War of the Chosen players.

I’m not exaggerating, this game is fully loaded!

So gear up and remember these tips: Use explosives to destroy enemy cover, tier up weapons and armour before focusing on the Avatar Project, and low cover is no cover! Stay alive and good luck…

On 29th August, the real war begins.