Playing poorly actually got me further, which was disappointing. Regardless of the difficulty levels I attempted, the result was always the same-random garbage either making me lose or making me win. I missed several times in a row on enemies I had a good chance of hitting. Strong units got one-shotted from across the map from enemies I couldn’t see, instantly killing them. When I did manage to get invested in some missions, I found myself rewarded with cheap deaths, busted enemy AI, and mechanics outright refusing to work. The result is a poor version of a better game. Considering that the PC version’s been patched several times over, it feels like the studio handling this version of XCOM 2 has been doing things independently of Firaxis. Physics freak out at the drop of a hat, turns feel oddly laggy and slow, cover is often irrelevant… I could go on and on. Characters take entirely moronic routes from point A to point B. The camera awkwardly snags on things and obscures your vision. Gameplay-wise, it’s the same strategy system we saw in Firaxis’ first crack at the bat, just with everything significantly more sluggish and less functional than before.

Xcom 2 war of the chosen difficulty