For most games the point of continuity, what might be called the “canon ending”, assumes the player won the game. So for Firaxis to opt for computers as the only platform for the game they must be losing a huge number of sales (although ironically the performance issues that have dogged the game since release wouldn’t be out of place on the laziest conversion from PS4 or Xbox One).Ĭreatively, the biggest risk taken here is how XCOM 2 frames itself as a sequel. Years of getting dodgy PC versions of console games has only served to support this idea. For years, PC gamers have been told that they are an afterthought in game development.
The biggest and most overt risk that XCOM 2 has taken is to abandon any console releases. By flouting these conventions what XCOM 2 has done is taken huge risks, which is perhaps appropriate given that the entire game is about knowing when to push your luck. When you make a sequel to a videogame, tradition dictates that you aim to make a game very similar to that which went before, but better, brighter and with broader commercial appeal. On paper, XCOM 2 isn’t so much of a sequel to 2012’s XCOM: Enemy Unknown as it is a departure from rationality.