XCOM 2: War of the Chosen

Can't believe I forgot to review this, but WotC is an amazing addition to XCOM2 *but* $40 is kind of steep for content that should arguably be included in the base game. Pick this one up on sale.

Still recommending at 2025!
Be sure to download the Alternative Mod Launcher.

ToS controversies aside, XCOM 2 is awesome as a standalone game, but WotC really gets it to shine.
Overall, it's a great DLC to get. It restructures the game to add more objectives, while also including additional classes, enemies and background to the XCOM world.

THUMBS NOT REALLY UP, BUT NEITHER REALLY DOWN IN THIS ONE.
XCOM2 base game is a good experience.
Unlike the first game, XCOM 2 never felt bare bones to me.
Off course it's a change in direction for XCOM, if we don't count Interceptor, Enforcer and The Bureau. You don't have a fixed base, but the new mechanic adds new things to the table.
The tactical combat squad gameplay is very good, and the overall management of resources has an interesting new perspective.
Story is good, and soldiers customization is a great feature if you mod the game.
Game has mod support, however I don't recommend modding game mechanics before a complete play through.
It's just common sense, as you got to see how the base game is, so you can decide what needs changing.
WOTC DLC, by the other hand, is a mixed bag.
It does add some good things, and other not so good ones.
There are additional options for gameplay, like changing mission timers for example.
It allowed me to reduce the amount of mods I had in the game to 92 :)
There are soldier bonds now, which is a cool new feature for the squad.
The Chosen themselves can be annoying at times, as they will be hunting you, and you should be hunting them.
They do evolve along time, as your soldiers also do, and they are a good addition to the game, bringging another layer of challenge.
Actually, different from Enemy Within expansion, WOTC changes the game in a much deeper way, as the Chosen are now the main protagonist and Nemesis, so to speak. At leat until you take them down.
There are three neutral factions with three new soldier classes added. They are totally different from each other, and worth it if you know how to use them.
You can build relationship with these new factions, resulting in bonuses to your gameplay.
These two new features together (chosen plus three new factions) will put an additional load of management in your hands, which can feel overwhelming some times, but works well.
What in my opinion didn’t fit well in the game are the lost.
It’s a zombie shooter shoehorned content.
I know some people have fixation for shooting zombies, and these missions are easy enough to use them to increase rookies XP, but they are really boring and out of place.
Fortunately, it’s possible to get rid of them with mods, which I did:
The other issue I got with WOTC is that the DLC doesn’t change XCOM2 end game missions to increase difficulty and rebalance the game for the new added content. It just puts a cap to the size of your squad, which in my opinion is quite lazy solution from developers.
I don’t know if there are mods to change this. There are so many mods around, that it’s difficult to know.
So, is this DLC worth buying? Well, since the game can be modded, I would say yes.

Loved Xcom 1. Enjoyed 2 the first time around but even though it was a little more complex, something felt like it was missing.
This expansion has rounded the game out beautifully, I'm really impressed. I wish all expansions were as considered and comprehensive as this.
Just finished my first ever Ironman run (on Xbox) and honestly it was one of the most rewarding gaming experiences I've had for sometime.
Highly recommend and looking forward to the third if / when we get it.

One of the best single-player games ever made, with immense long-term motivation and re-playability.
There are some drawbacks, though. The balance in difficulty between early and late game is just idiotic.
And even after all those years, the game is still somewhat buggy, which can really kill your mood when playing in ironman mode.
And you need the alternative launcher for the mods to work.

This expansion about matches the base content in that it's pretty decent, but still unremarkable. It definitely does make the game better, and I wouldn't want to play without it, but, like XCOM 2, it's not fantastic or ground-breaking.
I like what it does to make classing a bit more in-depth. It improves somewhat on how one-dimensional and boring it is in the original by adding three new factions that each can give you a unique soldier and adding some additional talents to individual troops in your roster. That being said, it's definitely an attempt to salvage a pretty bad system, so while it improves on it, it's still not great.
I see what they were trying to do with the bond system, and I like it in theory, but in practice it doesn't come that much in handy. The abilities you unlock through soldier bonds were kind of weird/poorly explained and rarely kicked in for me, meaning I only ever really used the bonus action ability. (Even that one has limited usefulness, because it takes an action from the user.) The trait system is basically a direct ripoff of Darkest Dungeon's and doesn't really work. I only ever saw it kick into effect maybe 5 times and a soldier developing a trait usually just meant I'd send them to the med bay for a few days to have it removed.
The Chosen are actually pretty fun to fight. They're annoying as hell over comms, but that just made it so much more satisfying to kill them and I liked each of their death scenes. They give you some cool, incredibly OP weapons when they die, too, which is kind of fun, but also feels kind of cheap.
The Lost are another addition that's just sort of meh. They were more of an annoyance on most missions than an actual obstacle and having to sit through a dozen discovery cinematics for each group of them got old fast. They have that obnoxiously slow walk that every strategy game gives zombies, too, so you spend a lot of time just watching their, usually unimpactful, turns.
The resistance faction soldiers are fun to use though, and I like the covert ops system which lets you undertake some passive missions and adds some new strategy to the game. Between using or not using this expansion, I'd say use it (although it isn't worth $40).