We start in media res with a dead shieldbearer and MEC but an elite Lancer and purifier remain standing. (I put this behind a spoiler in case you want to be surprised while watching the video.) Still, ignoring 5 points of armor is pretty darn good. The only tradeoff is that it doesn't use any custom ammunition that your sharpshooter has equipped, which means it won't be as effective against robots if you have Bluescreen rounds. The Darkclaw is more powerful than the plasma pistol and pierces armor. The only real downside is that we can't equip a repeater on it, but I'd say the pros outweigh the cons. That's huge! Stationary snipers are already great, but one who can reposition every turn is absolutely deadly. The big thing that elevates the Darklance is that it only requires a single action to fire, which means you can move and shoot (or move and go into overwatch) on the same turn. So on paper, that's a pretty good gun, but maybe not an exceptional one. It's also a bit more powerful than our magnetic rifles are, but the plasma lance matches it on that front.
The Darklance has a 20% aim bonus (very nice), a 20% chance to grant a free action (also very nice), it comes with four free reloads (decent) and it does 4 damage even on a miss (why not). That's one more than you can generally equip on a weapon, but the tradeoff is that you don't get to choose them (ie, no repeaters). In addition, you can actually get some quality posters out of the tool with enough dedication.Chosen weapons all come with four top-level modifications equipped that can't be changed. A neat way to promote a highly anticipated expansionĪll in all, XCOM 2: War of the Chosen - Propaganda Center is exactly how developers should approach the concept of marketing and hype, since it’s both an advertisement and a neat distraction for the fans. In addition, it’s a great way to get hyped for the upcoming expansion pack. Thus, you can navigate through the menus with ease, as well as rotate, zoom in and pan the view to get the exact look you want for every image. You can even add text and choose the type of font you want to use, which means that you are free to create serious posters and hilarious memes alike.Īs far as the interface is concerned, everything is surprisingly handy and simple-to-use, especially since all of this uses the game’s actual engine. The photobooth is where your creations come to life, and you have plenty of options in terms of how the characters are arranged, the background drop, as well as filters and a few special effects to spice things up. Use the photobooth to create convincing posters You can also choose from a large variety of poses, depending on the message you want for your poster.
Whether you want to change their facial attributes, specialization or toy with their armor, everything is left up to you, which is very nice. There are a handful of pre-created characters to choose from, but every one of them can be customized down to the tiniest detail. It features the same graphics engine as the game, on the other hand, and you can also export the characters after you are done and use them in the upcoming episode. XCOM 2: War of the Chosen - Propaganda Center is not a demo for the upcoming expansion, but more of a sandbox tool that allows you to create characters, pose them and create posters or memes to spread around the Internet. The franchise made a glorious comeback a few years ago, and it now has fans all hot and bothered with the announcement of a serious expansion pack called War of the Chosen.
XCOM is probably one of the most well-known turn-based strategy series out there, especially since it spans over two decades, even if only two full releases have been developed in that time.