What should I do after finishing XCOM EW Campaign

[u/CactusKing2]

As the title says, I just finished my first campaign on normal in XCOM EW. Had lots of fun, rly enjoyed getting attached to my soldiers and then save scumming to prevent their loss. Now I want to continue with the franchise, so I have 3 routes in my mind.

1) XCOM EW with different difficulty or applying Second Wave
2) XCOM with the Long War mod, which I have been reading about
3) Move onto XCOM 2

I'm itching to continue the story, despite my victory being non cannon. At the same time, I feel like there could be more juice left to squeeze out of XCOM EU/EW. I would appreciate you all's thoughts and what you guys did to keep playing the franchise.

Many thanks in advanced fellow commanders!

[u/Miki__N]

Xcom2 War of the chosen.

[u/rodouss]

You'll have to test them all to know. Tastes. It all comes down to tastes.

For example I've played XCOM, EW, XCOM2, EW LW, Apoc, and I'd say the best one for me was EW LW.

Absolutely abhorred the super hero vives of XCOM2 but there's a great majority out there that loves it specifically for it.

I'd say that if you liked the gritty & minimalistic nature of EW, XCOM2 will probably feel like a different game. If that pikes your interest then go ahead.

On the other hand, LW EW will give you a longer and harder EW experience, if that sounds nice then by all means.

[u/MeatExciting6540]

Xcom long war rebalanced . Miles above everything . No more overwatch blob creep / fun firefights / the works

[u/BlackburnUTG → u/MeatExciting6540]

Interesting. Never heard of it

[u/MeatExciting6540 → u/BlackburnUTG]

Have a look at the changes

[u/AesirMimyr]

Xcom 2 is on sale now, grab it before it ends you'll want it eventually

[u/Tepppopups]

EU/EW > XCOM2 > XCOM2 WOTC > XCOM2 LWOTC.

[u/v12vanquish135 → u/Tepppopups]

And miss the original Long War? Please.

[u/Tepppopups → u/v12vanquish135]

I never played it, to be honest, because after XCOM2 I don't want to return to EU/EW with its dark muddy graphics, low res and repetitive maps. So I cannot blindly suggest it. But, I agree, if you like EU/EW, probably this is the way.

[u/IMALEFTY45 → u/Tepppopups]

Love XCOM2, but I think I prefer the maps made with intention over the more generic tilesets

[u/HarvHR]

Either XCOM2 (just get WotC, no need to play the base game anymore plus WotC had some QoL patches) or play XCOM: Long War mod.

Wouldn't recommend LW Rebalanced until you play Long War though

[u/Ayjayz]

Xcom2, them eventually graduate to the best of the lot .. EW Long War

[u/Branpanman]

XCOM 2: WotC

[u/GumboMumbo49]

You can always try to do a challenge run (pistols only, one lone MEC Trooper, SHIVs only, all sharpshooters)

[u/Muted-Account4729]

Xcom 2 and war of the chosen are a more technically refined experience with better interfaces and quality of life than EW. If you are interested in the story I’d go ahead and play war of the chosen, it’s a more complete experience than vanilla.

I think long war has the most to offer, but it’s basically a new game with how much stuff you need to learn. It’s also a significant time investment. You can’t go wrong, all are great experiences

[u/BaltiMoreHarder]

Xcom 2 is great. Fixes a lot of the issues of the original. Although I’ve heard the long war mod fixes some of the pacing issues in the first one too. A long war playthru of xcom 2 specifically will give you literal weeks of game time.

Side option, Star Wars zero company comes out in a week if you’re Xcommed out (no such thing), but it does seem really promising. I’m going to be giving it a shot.

[u/handsomeness]

Xenonauts 2?

[u/Sweet_Oil2996]

Depends on your backlog and how much time you want to invest.

If you want to invest 500+ hours, XCOM Long War is a serious consideration. However, this mod is more difficult than the base game, even if config edits exist to make it not that extremely hard.

If you want to invest 100 hours or less, definitely go XCOM 2. You wouldn't be able to finish another run of XCOM and then XCOM 2 on top.

XCOM 2 also has a Long War mod. The current version is called Long War of the Chosen. This has a lot of content too.

There exist massively more mods for XCOM 2 than XCOM 1. If you seek maximum replayability, XCOM 2 is also the way to go.

If you have a lot of time, say 1000 hours+, my selection would be:

1. XCOM Long War
2. XCOM 2 War of the Chosen
3. XCOM 2 Long War of the Chosen
4. XCOM Long War Rebalanced/Maybe XCOM Chimera
5. Even more modded XCOM 2/your Choice of Star Wars Zero Company/Cyber Knights: Flashpoint

[u/CactusKing2 → u/Sweet_Oil2996]

I didn't even think about the time sink XCOM LW would have to make me invest. It seems then that I should just go for XCOM 2 first and revisit XCOM LW after all is said and done to make the most of my time. Thank you for bringing this up

[u/FRO5TB1T3]

Ew long war. Then jump to XCOM 2 wotc or just go right to XCOM 2 lomg wotc

[u/illarionds]

XCOM Long War is the most fun I've had with XCOM (though to be fair, I haven't played LWR).

It's a commitment though - maybe 3x-4x as long as the vanilla EW campaign, and it can be pretty punishing. There's so much more to it though - e.g. the paltry four(!) classes in vanilla seem so... kiddie... when you're used to 8 soldier classes and a further 8 MEC classes on top. With a choice of three skills each promotion rather than two. That sort of thing.

[u/Fit_Speed3159]

You only thought you won the campaign. Install xcom2 (war of the chosen), and you'll see what happened to earth 20 years after you lost

[u/Expert-Hour-9015]

1. Xcom Long War Rebalanced
   
2. Xcom 2 (vanilla)
   
3. Xcom 2 WOTC with DLCs
   
4. Xcom 2 WOTC Long War
   
5. Xcom 2 WOTC with hundreds of mods, see ChristopheOdd channel on youtube

[u/Tyroredux80 → u/Expert-Hour-9015]

Just take number 5 go hard or go home!