XCOM 2 on Steam: resistance tactics where every choice costs you a soldier
XCOM 2 is a turn-based tactics game by Firaxis Games (published by 2K), released on 5 February 2016. It's a direct sequel to XCOM: Enemy Unknown, but with the premise flipped: this time humanity lost the war. Twenty years after the invasion, Earth is ruled by the alien ADVENT coalition, and XCOM has gone from a global defense force to a handful of guerrillas aboard a stolen warship, the Avenger. You play the Commander, broken out of captivity to lead the resistance once more. Here you buy the base game as a Steam Gift, and it lands straight in your library.
Why XCOM 2 pulls you in
The core of the series is the cost of failure. Soldiers aren't faceless units: they earn names, ranks, specializations and personality, and when a sniper who survived ten missions takes a plasma round to the head, they're gone for good. That permanent death turns every turn into a tense calculation โ break cover or wait, take the flanking shot or fall back. A missed 90% shot becomes a story you'll retell for weeks.
Unlike the first game, you now play the attacking underground. Many missions start in concealment: your squad hides in the fog of war, you move troops into position and choose the exact moment the fight kicks off. Add mission timers โ hack a terminal, extract a VIP, plant a charge within a limited number of turns โ and you get constant pressure that never lets you turtle up.
What this gift includes
You receive the base XCOM 2 game โ the full single-player campaign with procedurally generated maps, so no two playthroughs feel the same. The base game includes:
- the strategic layer aboard the Avenger: research, building rooms, growing the resistance network and racing against ADVENT's Avatar Project;
- tactical battles with class progression โ Ranger, Specialist, Grenadier, Sharpshooter and Psi Operative;
- deep soldier customization: looks, armor, names and voices;
- built-in mod support via the Steam Workshop, with a huge community library built up over the years.
One thing to keep in mind: this is the base version. The major XCOM 2: War of the Chosen expansion (released 29 August 2017) adds the Chosen enemies, resistance factions and dozens of new systems, but it is not part of this gift โ it, along with the Tactical Legacy Pack (9 October 2018) and the smaller DLC from the Reinforcement Pack, has to be bought separately on top of the base game.
How the gift delivery works
XCOM 2 is delivered here as a Steam Gift. You provide a Steam friend invite link and your account region, and our bot adds itself, sends the gift, then leaves your friends list after delivery. You don't need to accept the friend request manually, and Steam Guard isn't required โ you just need friend requests allowed in your profile settings. Delivery usually takes a couple of minutes from the moment you order.
About your account region
This is a broad-region gift. The one key condition is that your Steam account region must match the gift region, otherwise Steam simply won't let you accept it. So enter your region in the matching field when you order. And one more rule common to all gifts: XCOM 2 must not already be in the recipient account's library โ Steam won't let you accept a gift for a game you already own.
System requirements and platforms
XCOM 2 for Steam runs on Windows, with official macOS and Linux builds by Feral Interactive. It's reasonably optimized and runs on solid mid-range systems; for a comfortable run give it an SSD and a GPU around a GTX 770 or newer. Russian text and UI are supported; voice-over is in English.
If you love Firaxis tactics
XCOM 2 is a great entry point into the genre, but if you already know the universe, check out the related titles. Where the series began โ XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the original game about defending Earth. For grand strategy from the same Firaxis team there's Sid Meier's Civilization VI. And if you want another landmark story-driven game from publisher 2K, take a look at BioShock Infinite.
Who it's for
XCOM 2 is for players who like thinking several turns ahead, enjoy a real challenge and aren't afraid to lose soldiers. It's a game about tension, improvisation and small victories against bad odds. If turn-based battles with real consequences are your thing, grab the gift and lead the resistance to victory.
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