Of course, there's one key difference between real life and XCOM. The dice had landed in my favour on this shot, but would the rest? Those moments, fleeting relief for a second, feel all the more hardly won for how rare they are. The moment where my sniper (who got the nickname Top Shelf) took out half an Avatar's HP in a single shot on a 64% chance was a weird mix of elation and heightened tension. What tipped the tide of that battle was an unexpected critical shot. At that point, my sole focus was on taking out the Avatars who kept spawning into the fray, whose high hitpoints and range of abilities meant the longer they stood, the less likely my chances of survival. For every squad member, there were at least another three aliens. I was taking on the aliens at the heart of the Avatar Project with a battered and bruised squad who were outnumbered and significantly outgunned. The difference is that the chaos of real life can't be managed, whereas the chaos in XCOM can.įor instance, having managed to drag myself to the endgame, my options were various shades of bad. Every choice you make will have a consequence, no matter what, so the game becomes a minor reflection of our current stay-at-home state. But, for me at least, a huge part of the reason why XCOM 2 is a perfect game for this moment in time (outside of the fact that it is very good) is because XCOM 2 is a utilitarian dream.

I realise that doesn't make this sound soothing or relaxing in the way other games people are turning to at the moment are.

Xcom 2 avatar project