I really wasn’t kidding when I said this mod was comprehensive: nearly everything that the base game did with the geoscape has been either jettisoned completely, or else altered so drastically that it’s barely recognisable in its new form.
There’s still an Avatar Project counter along with associated Dark Events that you can counter by doing certain missions. You still fly around unlocking new regions with Intel. So, here’s what’s still the same on the geoscape: On its surface Long War 2 is supposed to make the game longer and more intricate, just as the original Long War mod for XCOM 1 did, but what’s impressed me about this sequel is how nearly every single one of its geoscape mechanics embraces the guerrilla concept, weaving it into the game’s structure far more seamlessly than Firaxis managed. The base game tried to run with the idea that XCOM was now a guerrilla organisation that had to work in the shadows to undermine the alien regime, but aside from starting most battlescape missions in concealment it didn’t actually do a whole lot to play to that concept, and in places it was painfully obvious that several of the mechanics (Terror missions, the missions where you can counter one of three Dark Events etc.) were simply hurriedly repainted versions of things that already existed in the first XCOM. Well, no, that’s not quite fair, it does add a fair few new weapons and enemies, but that’s a comparatively low-key change and takes a backseat to what Long War 2 is really here for, which is a massive and comprehensive restructure of the mechanics behind the geoscape and battlescape layers of XCOM 2. With the slightly more relaxed (or less obsessive, anyway) attitude I’m taking this year, though, I have the opportunity to do ridiculous, time-expensive things like reinstalling XCOM 2 along with the recently-released Long War mod for it to see what all the fuss is about.Īs a mod, Long War 2 doesn’t do much in the way of the classic mod approach of adding new assets or enemies to the game. That might sound a little strange considering the high volume of PC games that I get through, but it’s partly because of the high volume of PC games that I get through: I usually play games with an eye to reviewing them, you can’t review them fairly if they’re plastered in mods, and over the last few years I’ve had little time to revisit games I’ve already played to see how they change. 
I’ve not dabbled with mods for many years.
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