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.

This is XCOM 2, only bigger, richer and better. War of the Chosen greatly expands the campaign of the base game adding recurring rivals. Those are the titular Chosen. Unique aliens who will hunt down XCOM in order to recapture the commander. The chosen are a constant thorn on the side of XCOM, sabotaging them on the strategic level, attacking and harassing them on the tactical level. They add a very interesting dimension to the game that I didn't quite realize it was missing. They are also rather likeable, or at the very least engaging as characters to interact with.
But the DLC goes further than that. It's just more on all levels. Greater variety in stages. Different mission types. More enemies to contend with, some being quite interesting like the purifiers. An entire different faction to deal with tactically, the so-called Lost, aka the zombie hordes. Additional mechanics for the troopers like bonds that can form between them and expanded skill-trees. Even 3 whole new types of trooper serving factions that you can interact with via a completely new covert ops mechanism. It's layers and layers of depth all of them adding that much more of an oomph to the game.
Frankly it can feel a bit overwhelming if going at it with zero experience playing XCOM 2. There is just so much this DLC adds that it could make the campaign feel overcomplicated. I would suggest that newcomers play the base campaign at least once first. After that, it's War of the Chosen all the way. This is one of those rare DLCs that are absolute must haves. If you are an XCOM 2 fan, don't even question it, you need this.

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.

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).