What makes XCOM 2 stand out is how involved the developers are when it comes to mod-capability.
Firaxis actually released the Unreal Development Kit to help modders create custom content for the game, creating one of the strongest modding communities for any video game out there.
Modding allows for infinite ways to enjoy the game, and there’s a lot to dig into.
So there’s always going to be something out there to keep it interesting.
Nothing makes a soldier look more battle-ready than having that badass thick black line under their eye.
Soldiers and face paint, is there a better duo?
And whatever the reasons may be, you’re definitely going to want this in XCOM 2.
Custom Face Paints adds 20 custom face paint designs into the game.
Your soldiers will be looking scarier than ever with any of the options available here. The mod even includes a texture for the famous Braveheart face paint pattern, which is cool too.
Need more customizations? You can’t go wrong with Capnbubs Accessories Pack.
One of the more popular soldier customization mods out there, Capnbubs Accessories Pack adds a ton of options for head accessories, including helmets, facemasks, caps, and more.
What’s great about this mod is that the textures try to stay close to the original XCOM art style, so everything fits in perfectly with the base game.
Another cool thing is that the mod still gets updated pretty often, with new accessory options being added in from time to time.
You’re definitely going to be spending way too much time in the customization menu with this one installed.
With any mod-capable game, you’ll find mods that pay tribute to other popular video games, movies, or public figures.
That’s cool for players, since who doesn’t love infinite crossovers?
The CX Praetor Armor mod fits that category perfectly. It adds the option to use Doomguy’s armor from Doom 2016.
Who wouldn’t want to use one of the most iconic shooter characters in any game?
The pack comes with tintable armor sets for male and female characters, along with other customizable options like transparent or non-transparent visors.
The James Earl Jones portrayal of Darth Vader has become so iconic over the years, there’s just no reason to skip over this mod.
It adds 110 quotes from the film series, which can be used to replace male voices in the game.
The chance to hear Vader speak “as you wish” while commanding your soldiers, or “I want them alive, no disintegration” just before an attack… it’s just too good to pass up.
His taunt of “perhaps you’re not as strong as the emperor thought” can even work as motivation to make better decisions on the battlefield.
Another undoubtably iconic voice performance is Mark Hammil’s Joker.
I don’t know about you, but even with the recent Joaquin Phoenix portrayal (good as it was) Mark Hammil’s voice is still the one I hear whenever I think of the Joker.
The mod includes over 650 Joker lines, with name and location references removed. So you won’t be hearing anything about Batman here.
Being a tile-based game, it can be important to maximize your limited movements per turn.
While the base game allows you to rotate the camera in 90-degree angles, sometimes it’s just not good enough to get a clear look at your destination, and what possible threats might be in your way.
Free Camera Rotation fixes that, granting completely free control of camera angles in the game.
You’ll be able to make smaller adjustments, in 45-degree angles, or even freely rotate the camera to get any visual you wish.
Strategy games can get quite repetitive over time.
Especially when the same animations play over and over for each action.
Sometimes you just want to get things going a bit faster.
Stop Wasting My Time is the perfect mod for that.
What it does is basically removes most of the unnecessary time-wasters in the game, from the 1-2 second pauses after shooting, to the unnecessary enemy cinematics scattered throughout.
It doesn’t have any impact in terms of what you’re supposed to see, so you don’t have to worry about missing anything important.
Similar to the Evac All mod, Overwatch All/Others is also designed to save some time by avoiding repetitive commands.
It just becomes tedious to have to put each soldier on overwatch one at a time.
The mod adds two new options, allowing you to put all soldiers on overwatch with one click, or to put everyone other than your selected soldier on overwatch.
Not only does it save time with fewer commands, but you’d be skipping the mandatory pauses at the end of each turn as well.
Another one from modder ²²², who also gave us ShowMeThePersonel – ShowMeTheSkills makes it much easier to find information as well, this time focusing on skills and perks.
Coming back from a mission with wounded soldiers, it’s inevitable that you’re going to maximize your bench roster in XCOM 2.
Having assigned different skills and perks across your roster, it can get tedious to find who you assigned what to.
ShowMeTheSkills makes it easy, displaying skills for each soldier in the squad selection menu.
Now you won’t have to go through multiple menus to find that information anymore.
Much faster deciding who gets what equipment and whatnot.
This applies to XCOM 2, since knowing what you’ll be up against allows you to prepare better by choosing the right skills and equipment for each battle.
Show Enemies on Mission Planning is a small mod that will save you a lot of time by displaying the enemy types and quantities detected by the Shadow Chamber, all directly in your Mission Planning screen.
The information is available in the Geo screen, but who wants to keep going back and forth just to check if everything fits?
Games with market mechanics always tend to be a bit intimidating.
If you’re anything like me, you eventually become the hoarder you never thought yourself to be, refusing to let go of any items in case they might come in handy later on.
XCOM 2 is no different with its Black Market feature, where you can go to sell items you no longer need.
The Blackmarket Usage mod should come in very handy when you’re selling your crafting items, as it basically tells you exactly what you can give up.
If an item is completely useless, you’ll know.
If an item can be used to craft things, you’ll be told what they can be used for and how many pieces you’ll need.
It makes navigating through the black market much simpler than it has to be.
XCOM 2 being a tile-based game plays out like a tabletop game when it comes to combat.
This means that much like rolling a pair of dice, attacks have different percentage chances of being successful, along with critical and dodge probabilities.
In XCOM 2, these details aren’t readily available.
And that’s where Perfect Information comes in.
It gives you information like hit, crit, and dodge percentages that wouldn’t normally be displayed.
This is especially useful for attacks taken from overwatch, where this information is super helpful.
A huge part of strategizing in XCOM 2 is positioning your soldiers to successfully attack enemy aliens.
As you move around levels and learn more about how combat works in the game, you’ll find that flanking is a huge part of that.
You’ll have to maneuver your squad to get tactical advantages over your enemies, considering line of sight against environmental obstacles around the map, and sometimes it’s not as simple as you might think.
Gotcha is a mod to help with all of this.
It turns the little red icon next to enemy health bars yellow when you hover any tile that allows you to flank the enemy.
It may seem like a small upgrade, but most players consider this to be something they can’t play without.
Further improving on Gotcha, the New Target Icons mod makes it easier choosing where you move your soldiers around the map.
New Target Icons basically adds icons for different target types beyond XCOM, Alien, and Advent, making it easier to position your soldiers.
The icons give you a better idea of who should be attacking which enemy, so you’ll be able to make better battle strategies with that information in mind.
Character customization plays a big role in XCOM 2.
Soldiers level up as they gain experience in combat as well.
You’ll inevitably end up favoring some of your soldiers more than others, grinding to level them up to the tippy-top.
Tactical Kill Counter is a brilliant mod to help with this process, displaying how many kills each unit has accumulated along with how many more kills they need to be promoted to the next level.
This is useful in the early game as well, since you’ll be able to identify which of the newbies racked up some kills during battle.
Here’s a small mod that will prove useful during battles: Free Reload by tjnome.
Certain weapon components in XCOM 2 grant your soldiers with free reloads.
And strangely enough, these aren’t displayed during combat.
All Free Reload does is adds an icon in the skills portion of your UI, so you’ll easily be able to tell if you have any available free reloads remaining.
The Advanced Warfare Center is the base game’s built-in feature where your soldiers can earn random perks, but it isn’t without its flaws.
How it works is that recruited soldiers are given a random perk if you already have the AWC built. Or all soldiers are given random perks when you build it.
The problem stems from the fact the random hidden perks are assigned to be activated in a specific soldier level.
If your soldier receives a perk for a level he hasn’t reached yet, then it activates once they hit that level.
Here’s the rub: picking up a perk meant for a level lower than his current level. This would mean that the perk would never be activated. Frustrating stuff!
One problem with concealment is that sneaking around still consumes time during missions.
The mission timer is also a big part of how combat plays out, and this was likely designed on purpose.
Some players might even say that mods affecting the mission timer are a bit of a cheat.
But True Concealment is also said to be the most fair modification to the mission timer.
Here’s how it works: the mission timer doesn’t run down while you’re hidden from enemy sight, making stealth gameplay all the more rewarding. Not too cheaty, just helpful.
Additional Mission Types is another mod that keeps the game interesting. Especially when you feel like you’ve seen everything the base game has to offer.
It introduces a few new mission types to the campaign, like defense missions and VIP rescues among others.
Certainly a great way to keep the campaign mode fresh as you’ll be playing through new scenarios.
If you’re looking for more of an entire overhaul, you might want to look into the whole Long War mod for XCOM 2.
Pavonis Interactive’s Long War for Enemy Unknown was one of the major reasons Firaxis expanded on the second game’s mod capability, which in itself is pretty indicative of how good it is.
They’ve come back with Long War 2 for XCOM 2, adding tons to the game like a longer campaign, new classes, a wider range of customization options, and much more.
Guerilla War is one of the less popular overhaul mods, but it’s certainly worth a peek if you’re a hardcore XCOM 2 player.
It drastically changes combat mechanics to make things a bit more challenging.
So if that’s what you’re after, I would recommend giving this a try.
It also includes an interesting play on the mission timer, where Advent has unlimited reinforcements. This means lingering in a battle for too long will just get you beat from the sheer number of enemies that come your way.
Now if you’re seriously looking for a more challenging XCOM 2 experience, without changing much of the gameplay, A Better Advent is the mode to try.
Much like a new game+ mode, A Better Advent introduces around 60 new enemy types to start.
While none of them are overpowered, you may find yourself struggling to find weak spots or defensive strategies for some of the new abilities they have.
The mod also features an improved AI, so enemies will be much smarter too.
