In many ways, Grim Dawn reminds me of Guild Wars 2 …. It doesn’t get a lot of attention, but when it comes up in conversation, it’s always praised for being a really great game. Why? Well the major selling point for me is that it’s bloatware free:

No anti-cheat
No third party EULA
No third party account
No launcher
No live service
No Battle Pass (gacha system)
No overpriced DLC/cosmetics
No third party loot filters
No PhD needed to understand the game before even playing it

That’s It…Genius!

Grim Dawn is nearly 10 years old, and by now it is so streamlined that as a virgin player experiencing it for the first time, felt flawless. The fun comes in learning more about the game’s nuances from external sources. Any questions I had I could instantly find from a build guide, forum post, or tutorial video.

This game is also not very processor / graphically intensive. Playing on my 10+ year-old HP Workstation (on it’s second life now) I was able to complete my first run on Veteran mode all through the main campaign, including both expansions. While I did have one crash where the game froze on me, it mostly functions perfectly.

Gameplay is intuitively simple, using point and click with the mouse and fast keybindings for abilities and potions. While the enormous walls of text that pop-up from every loot drop might seem intimidating at first, the simple UI design and color-coding make things quick and easy to understand. Building your character is highly flexible, allowing you to experiment with different skills, including the variety of choices you can combine from its dual-class system. Map exploration is easy to navigate and OMG! You can actually rotate/zoom the camera! (I love that)

There is certainly a nostalgic factor with Grim Dawn, but it’s more that just a descendant of Diablo 1 & 2 and Titan Quest. It’s simply a really well made game that doesn’t do anything crazy or controversial. Crate Entertainment knew what they wanted to make; they knew what players wanted. And with the upcoming third expansion - – slated for 2025, now is the perfect time to play this amazing game and see for yourself what all the praise is about.

Long War of the Chosen 1.1 is the latest update to the popular Long War mod adapted for XCOM 2: War of the Chosen. This was a great opportunity to try Long War again, only this time to experience it with a myriad of other mods. Encouraged by Christopher Odds new season 8 play-through, I was meticulous in my selection since the recent update incorporates many features of older mods. While not as extreme as other players, this is the most mods I have played with, and I’m happy to report everything worked.

LWotC is different from Long War for the original XCOM: Enemy Unknown / (Enemy Within). Because the game’s lore shifts focus with you being a Resistance movement instead of a global military force, and because you now have Rebel Havens to manage, your gameplay loop goes something like this:

1) Equip fighters and organize them into squads

2) Send your squads to “infiltrate” select missions

3) Begin combat once infiltration completes

4) Use Intel and Supplies to upgrade your base & equipment

5) Manage Havens to gather supplies, intel, new recruits or go into hiding

In addition, you need to focus your attention on eliminating The Chosen, contacting new territories, operating covert missions and keeping the Avatar project from completing. This game really lives up to the name “Long War”. What really stood out to me with the new 1.1 patch was the variety and enormous number of enemies I encountered. I faced over 100 unique Advent and Alien units, including a Chryssalid Hive Queen, which was originally introduced in a separate mod called The Hive. Talk about terrifying!

Unlike the first Long War, where I said in my review how that mod really made the game feel like the ultimate form of XCOM, LWotC is not an evolution but rather an alternative. It massively overhauls the game with new soldier classes, perk trees, equipment stats, mission types, pod encounters, etc. But really only adds one new mechanic in the form of Havens. So it really comes down to how you want to play…the War of the Chosen expansion already completes XCOM 2 while the modding community continually adds to the game.

The choice is yours, Commander.

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<< Original Review >>

XCOM 2 improved on the foundation of what made this new XCOM special.
XCOM 2: War of the Chosen & Tactical Legacy expansions finally complete the franchise, making this one of the best (if not 'the' best) tactical turn-based strategy games I have ever played. It's not surprising to see many similar games adapting XCOM's style of gameplay and mechanics. When reviews and articles compare them to XCOM, that alone should tell you how successful / influential this game has become.

On its own, XCOM 2 is simply an improved or expanded version of XCOM, building on what made the first one work and adding more "features". Whether you love or hate it, what really sells this game for many fans are the MODS. So many Mods, there's practially a Mod for every mechanic and cosmetic in the game. So even if you finish the game, or never felt like it managed to reach it's true potential, you can bet the Modding community has you covered with more than enough content to play for many more hours - at least until XCOM 3.