XCOM: Enemy Unknown

[Monk]

I have to say I wish this game was about twice as long as it is. I know what you're thinking. "Monk, you spent 40 hours on a single playthrough, how the heck can you want MORE."

There's a point in the game where if you're playing well, you turn a corner, and so long as nothing utterly disastrous happens you really can't lose, like Arjos said, you become unbeatable. I mean yes, Sectopods are scary and Ethereals are a real pain, but by the time you get to that point you have so many safety nets that as long as you don't lose 5 of your squad, back to back, you're fine. It's a far cry from the early game where every shot, every grenade, every moment is a tense struggle for survival against the simplest of enemies. Once you hit Titan armor you can really play pretty fast and loose with your soldiers with almost no negative consequences to your actions, as long as the aliens can't frontload like, 20 damage a turn, nothing can really kill you. You'll always be able to put down some cover fire, fall back and heal up. I guess that's why Sectopods are so dangerous and have such cheap abilities, they are literally the only things, minus mind control units, that can kill you after you get Titan.

There simply comes a point where the tension that the game builds so beautifully in the early game gets lost. In some ways that's incredible because now it's time to throw the aliens off your world. Payback is a and all that, but I had way more fun when it was me and a half dozen, outmatched grunts against the unknown. A fight where every square could reveal a new and deadly enemy that I've never seen before. I don't know.

I think if they ever make an expansion or a DLC that is a continuation of the story (not the upcoming DLC that is a side-story) I think they should really work hard to throw you back into that tense feeling. Some kind of strategic layer consequence needs to be there that shakes you out of your comfort zone, even when you're rocking full titan. I know they had trouble getting Base Invasions to work and those would have accomplished exactly what I am talking about. It doesn't have to be invasions, but it needs to be something.




tl;dr the first 4 months of the game are some of the most engaging and tense action i've ever had as a gamer, and the late game simply cannot compare.