This is an incredible game! Assuming you like the XCOM’ish combat style, I think the main deciding factor will be how much complexity you want to deal with. There’s a lot of gameplay systems in here so I think a lot of the more casual players are going to get overwhelmed. I presume that number of systems is why this game has the “Difficult” tag on it. The game itself isn’t all that difficult unless you make it that way with the difficulty controls.

The other thing that might bother people is the length of missions. Early on, the game’s missions are pretty short but, as the game advances, the maps get larger and the number of combatants increase. There are options to speed up animations but there’s no way your 8 characters plus 6 cops are going to take down 75 enemies in an hour.

Still reading? Good. So what is this thing? Well, I guess you could start with X-Com. Take away the base building and world-view map. Force iron-man mode (sorta, see below) but take away practically all penalties for getting killed or wounded. Add a lot more loot (most dropped by enemies directly into your pockets but also some in boxes scattered around the map). Add far more class variety. Add a much larger campaign. Add a story that’s big on character and world development. Add in pets that you can capture and develop. Add in mechanical pets that you can build and develop. Throw in synergy between characters (if you didn’t get it already from XCOM 2’s War of the Chosen). Enhance the combat system so faster characters move more. Put in weather effects and reduce visibility a bit at night. Put in terrain effects, too. Add a good sized crafting system. Oh, and a food system, though I don’t think many folks bother with that one.

Got all that? Now put away the measuring cup and add about a dozen barrels of power customization. Seriously. Each character can slot a bunch of “masteries” which are (mostly) passive skills. One gives extra protection against piercing attacks. Another causes your character to do a melee attack on the first target that gets close enough to them. Another lets you pass more xp to lower level characters. Another lets you summon 2 robots instead of just 1. It goes on and on and on. This game has well over 600 masteries! Some masteries are just for robots, or for your pets, or for certain classes, but every character has access to an insane level of customization!

I should clear up something about that iron-man mode comment. The game appears to save very frequently, at least in on-line mode. If you need to stop playing, you can do so at any time and you won’t lose much progress - probably none at all if you’re in a battle. The same is true if your machine crashes on you. If you get defeated, though, it isn’t game over! You can go back to a checkpoint, restart the mission, or just take the loss and go back to your office. Still, you can forget about saving the game after every lucky shot.

Not everything is wonderful, of course. I think the worst strike against this game is that some of the systems just don’t seem worth learning. Paying your characters, for instance. Every pay day the game will ask you if you want to pay the character the agreed amount, a little more, or hold their pay for a while. Unfortunately, everyone gets so little pay that the choice is always going to be to pay them more. So why ask? The “motivation” penalty for getting defeated in battle is so easy to heal that it may as well not be there, either.

It’s also pretty weird to me that a cop with decades of experience is happy to hand over command of his officers to some young guy that’s only been on the job for a couple of years. (And it’s even weirder that I find that so weird, given all the people casually tossing lightning bolts and fireballs around!)

Overall, though, this game is a huge winner. And it’s cheap, too!

This is an incredible game! Assuming you like the XCOM’ish combat style, I think the main deciding factor will be how much complexity you want to deal with. There’s a lot of gameplay systems in here so I think a lot of the more casual players are going to get overwhelmed. I presume that number of systems is why this game has the “Difficult” tag on it. The game itself isn’t all that difficult unless you make it that way with the difficulty controls. The other thing that might bother people is the length of missions. Early on, the game’s missions are pretty short but, as the game advances, the maps get larger and the number of combatants increase. There are options to speed up animations but there’s no way your 8 characters plus 6 cops are going to take down 75 enemies in an hour. Still reading? Good. So what is this thing? Well, I guess you could start with X-Com. Take away the base building and world-view map. Force iron-man mode (sorta, see below) but take away practically all penalties for getting killed or wounded. Add a lot more loot (most dropped by enemies directly into your pockets but also some in boxes scattered around the map). Add far more class variety. Add a much larger campaign. Add a story that’s big on character and world development. Add in pets that you can capture and develop. Add in mechanical pets that you can build and develop. Throw in synergy between characters (if you didn’t get it already from XCOM 2’s War of the Chosen). Enhance the combat system so faster characters move more. Put in weather effects and reduce visibility a bit at night. Put in terrain effects, too. Add a good sized crafting system. Oh, and a food system, though I don’t think many folks bother with that one. Got all that? Now put away the measuring cup and add about a dozen [b]barrels[/b] of power customization. Seriously. Each character can slot a bunch of “masteries” which are (mostly) passive skills. One gives extra protection against piercing attacks. Another causes your character to do a melee attack on the first target that gets close enough to them. Another lets you pass more xp to lower level characters. Another lets you summon 2 robots instead of just 1. It goes on and on and on. This game has well over 600 masteries! Some masteries are just for robots, or for your pets, or for certain classes, but every character has access to an insane level of customization! I should clear up something about that iron-man mode comment. The game appears to save very frequently, at least in on-line mode. If you need to stop playing, you can do so at any time and you won’t lose much progress - probably none at all if you’re in a battle. The same is true if your machine crashes on you. If you get defeated, though, it isn’t game over! You can go back to a checkpoint, restart the mission, or just take the loss and go back to your office. Still, you can forget about saving the game after every lucky shot. Not everything is wonderful, of course. I think the worst strike against this game is that some of the systems just don’t seem worth learning. Paying your characters, for instance. Every pay day the game will ask you if you want to pay the character the agreed amount, a little more, or hold their pay for a while. Unfortunately, everyone gets so little pay that the choice is always going to be to pay them more. So why ask? The “motivation” penalty for getting defeated in battle is so easy to heal that it may as well not be there, either. It’s also pretty weird to me that a cop with decades of experience is happy to hand over command of his officers to some young guy that’s only been on the job for a couple of years. (And it’s even weirder that I find that so weird, given all the people casually tossing lightning bolts and fireballs around!) Overall, though, this game is a huge winner. And it’s cheap, too!