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While Firaxis are wise to double down on their capacity for systemic storytelling, I’m a little less sold on War of the Chosen’s expanded cast of scripted characters. Joining the beloved Bradford, Shen, and Tygan are three rebel faction commanders, plus another three bigshot aliens - the Chosen of the title. It's an approach that lumbers the very early part of the game with an excess of dialogue that doesn’t play to the studio’s strengths. The introduction of the Chosen in particular feels one dimensional - three snarling characters defined by their chosen weapon, a barely repressed desire to murder each other, and not much else.
Thankfully, these thinly drawn characters are the faces of some elaborate new ideas that weave directly into XCOM 2’s existing campaign. The Chosen, as you've probably heard by now, are Shadow of Mordor-inspired recurring bosses with unique powers and weaknesses that develop over the course of a campaign. I can confirm they have a habit of kidnapping your best soldiers and gloating over comms on the world map (seriously, who gave them the ship’s number?)
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