Welcome back, Commander - XCOM 2 War of the Chosen Walkthrough Ep. 1 [Legend Ironman]

► Giveaway rules:
I am giving away three Steam copies of the XCOM 2 Collection. To participate in the giveaway, simply leave a comment below this video including (but not necessarily limited to) the word “giveaway”. Leaving multiple comments will not increase your chances of winning. The winner will be announced in the next episode.

We start our completionist walkthrough of XCOM 2 War of the Chosen in this first episode on Legend difficulty with Ironman mode turned on! After talking a bit about the completionist objectives for the series (Legend difficulty, Ironman mode, all achievements), we bring ourselves back up to speed with a quick run through the tutorial - unlocking the "First Blood" achievment - before we finally engage the aliens in our first proper mission on legend difficulty. We meet our four-person squad consisting of characters created by Patreon supporters and attempt to unlock the "Like Clockwork" achievement.

Achievements in Part 1 of the XCOM 2 War of the Chosen walkthrough:
• First Blood
• Like Clockwork

Chapters:
0:00 Intro: What to expect
4:55 Opening Cinematics
10:18 Tutorial
27:53 First Mission
45:30 Back at the base
49:38 Outro

In this completionist walkthrough, we attempt to beat XCOM 2 War of the Chosen on Legend difficulty with Ironman mode turned on. On Legend difficulty, the hardest difficulty setting in XCOM 2, enemies will be deadlier, more numerours and harder to kill, while we unlock new technologies slower and have to pay more to purchase useful items. To make things even harder, we also play with Ironman mode turned on, making all of our decisions permanent. Ironman mode prevents us from reverting back to an earlier save file if things go wrong, so if we mess up, we will have to live with the consequences. Paired together, Legend difficulty and Ironman mode provide by far the toughest challenge in XCOM 2 – but they also offer the most intense gameplay experience.

Since this is a completionist walkthrough of XCOM 2 War of the Chosen, we will also focus on unlocking almost all achievements in the game. The only achievements that will not be covered in this walkthrough are those relating to the (now defunct) multiplayer mode as well as the "The Few and the Proud" and the "Exquisite Timing" achievement. The first would severely limit the number of community creations that this series could feature and the latter would require us to quickly rush through the game, likely resulting in missing a lot of achievements and defeating the purpose of a completionist playthrough.

This XCOM 2 Walkthrough covers the complete XCOM 2 Collection, including all downloadable content and expansions. We will not only play through the XCOM 2 base game, but also the War of the Chosen expansion featuring new factions, missions and enemies, the Alien Hunters DLC featuring powerful new aliens, the Shen's Last Gift DLC featuring a new soldier class, and the Anarchy's Children and Resistance Warrior Pack DLCs with additional soldier customization options. Additionally, War of the Chosen, Alien Hunters and Shen's Last Gift all introduce additional achievements for us to unlock.

XCOM 2 is a turn-based action strategy game developed by Firaxis Games and the sequel to XCOM Enemy Unknown (and its Enemy Within expansion). It includes new units for XCOM and the aliens, new gameplay mechanics, more character customization options and a deepter tactical layer. However, XCOM 2 does not pick up where Enemy Unknown left off: Instead, the game assumes the player's failure to defeat the alien invaders in the first game and therefore begins twenty years after the events of XCOM Enemy Unknown on an Earth ruled by the aliens. Always on the run, the remnant XCOM forces must find a way to rise from the ashes, expose the insidious truth behind the occupation and eliminate the alien threat once and for all.

[OneEyedPhoenix]

Consider trying the "Nice mission debriefing" mod. It changes nothing about the game mechanics but adds more stats (and awards like MVP) to the debrief screen. As all soldiers are patreons it would be interesting to follow their performance.

[sleethuzama]

Just an extra note when you say that your soldier is a thirteen year old boy, XCOM2 takes place in 2035. XCOM Enemy Unknown was 20 years before (2015) so he would have been only 6 during the invasions, I think most young children watching Chrysalids eat their neighbors might have some alien PTSD.

[MARIOMAC]

So excited to see the return of XCOM on the channel. The playthrough of the first game was already ridiculously impressive, and I can't wait to see how Pete demolishes the sheer brutality of late game WotC

[chaoticstarfish]

After 3 years since the start of XCOM:EW, it's finally here! By the way Pete, don't forget make backup save files. I was playing XCOM 2 to get ready for the series and had 6 files corrupted before I could finish the game once.

[teabag]

It's good to have you back Commander

[lordravenblade]

"Cover your tracks and get out! No one can know you were there" -->Leaves without picking up the dead body or unconscious body (who saw her before being knocked out).

[michaelnelson]

I love what happened with all the classes! The Norwegian simply pulled out a machete like sword, the trained military family member became the marksman, the reckless to protect gal was given explosives, and the edgy 13 year old is the tech specialist. The classes could not have lined up better!!

[dahuntre]

The class assignments are spot-on! The soldier nicknamed “Twitchy” getting the grenade launcher is perfect. And kudos to the PTSD-ridden teenager shotgunning that last alien at point blank.

[PeteComplete]

► Giveaway rules:
I am giving away three Steam copies of the XCOM 2 Collection. To participate in the giveaway, simply leave a comment below this video including (but not necessarily limited to) the word “giveaway”. Leaving multiple comments will not increase your chances of winning. The winner will be announced in the next episode.

[DmytroBogdan]

I like how smooth your commentary is - never overlapping ingame VOs.
31:23 its 2035 and that guy is 26 yo

[davysmith]

Hearing Pete say "A mistake on my part" was a nice reminder of how humble and genuine he is. Not many people would admit a tactical error on the highest level, and that's respectable. Also, thank you Pete, your videos are an inspiration for me to use my brain and not let it grow idle and stale. :D

[sleipnirnordic]

I absolutely love when I 100% a game, and that's why I love Pete's videos. His smooth voice coupled with his in-game knowledge makes everything entertaining to watch. Don't change Pete, we love you. Looking forward to yet another successful series.

[QuestionableObject]

The cheekiest thing about Xcom 2's premise is that you, the commander from Xcom 1, have been put in a VR tube by the aliens and they've been picking your brain for human metastrategies to thwart human resistance. So basically victories in Xcom 1 are also canon just canon in the sense that it was a VR simulation for the benefit of the aliens lol

[mikea]

Pretty stoked for this series, I've had a soft spot for grid based tactical games since FFTactics.

[ceruleanjove]

31:01 XCOM 2 takes place in 2035 (XCOM: EU took place in 2015), so Ash would actually be 26 rather than 13

[Cap__puccino]

I just finished binging your first xcom series after discovering it a couple of weeks ago. Perfect timing! I appreciate your approach to playthroughs. I love seeing people who know what they’re doing be very good at video games.

[daOriGinooGrapeBeer]

Central: "welcome back... Commander"

Me: *shedding tears*

[spyrodragonsbane]

Can't tell what's more impressive, your smooth narration, your strategic brilliance, or your editing skills. This looks like it was a monumental task in editing but I don't know if everyone knows how much time you spend polishing in all of your series. Anyway, super excited as always, and I have to give my MVP Schwamenian. Stepped up when he needed to be.

[sfbismarck]

Oh heck yeah. I've been waiting for this a long time

[Acelnorst]

Here we go! Waiting for the new series! Really excited for XCOM2.