Great tactical gameplay - especially at the start, it can feel really stressful in a fun, tense way. Eventually (at least on lower difficulty levels), you can reach a point where you're sufficiently ahead that you can just keep playing indefinitely. I like that the game has real stakes with permadeath, even if I don't always like it in the moment! The new technologies / facilities give a real sense of progression across the game, and the combat has a decent level of variety with the different classes, so you can create a balanced squad to take out to the fight.

Years ago, I was introduced to the genre of turn-based tactics games with XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and for better or worse I was left chasing that incredible high ever since. The only other game that could provide that perfect mixture of strategy, risk management, and the iconic kick of RNG was none other than XCOM 2. While the sequel largely supplanted this one in terms of pure gameplay, every once in a while I still get the hankering to start a campaign in this atmospheric sci-fi horror setting to beat down aliens with my stompy mech soldiers.

But why was I so instantly captivated by this game? This wasn’t something I could easily answer at first while getting thoroughly obliterated as a newbie commander. That first campaign was confusing, brutal, yet still inexplicably fun. 1000 hours of play later, I’ve come to the conclusion that XCOM has the most perfect loop of interesting decisions and significant consequences constantly alternating one after another, keeping players invested all the way up until the endgame. The choices are weighty, varied, difficult but still intuitive to understand. Whether things go right or wrong, both newbies and veterans can always uncover a new layer of strategic depth.

I was hooked on this rapid and dynamic loop of learning, adapting, and gradually molding my troops into badass alien killers. My first campaign didn’t go very well, but as soon as it ended I was pumped to start the journey again with the knowledge that I had gained through my mistakes. Then I did it again, and again, until I finally won my first classic ironman campaign after a long, bloody war with a death toll in the 50s. That victory was one of the most memorable gaming moments in my life, and something I always hope to experience again when playing other strategy games.