You're going to lose. Honestly, that’s the first thing you need to accept before you even click "New Game" on the Long War 2 XCOM 2 mod. It isn't just a mod; it’s a total overhaul that turns a fun tactical romp into a grueling, month-long geopolitical simulation of a desperate insurgency. Developed by Pavonis Interactive (formerly Long War Studios), this is the project that Firaxis themselves basically blessed. They gave the developers early access to the game’s source code because they knew these guys understood the "fantasy" of XCOM better than almost anyone else.
The vanilla game is about being a superhero. You have a flying boat, you pick a mission, you kill some aliens, and you feel great. Long War 2 XCOM 2 hates that. It wants you to feel like a ragtag group of rebels hiding in a basement, terrified of a patrol of ADVENT troopers.
The infiltration mechanic changes everything
Most people jump into Long War 2 and immediately get wiped because they don't understand how time works. In the base game, you fly the Avenger to a site and start the mission. In this mod, you have to "infiltrate." You send a squad to a site and then you wait. Sometimes you wait for five days. Sometimes you wait for twelve.
📖 Related: Lies of P All Lie Options: How to Actually Reach the Real Ending
The longer you wait, the lower the enemy presence becomes. If you try to launch a mission with 0% infiltration, you’re looking at "Swarming" enemy activity. That means 40+ aliens against your squad of five. It's a suicide mission. You have to learn to say no. That’s the hardest part for XCOM veterans. You see a mission pop up with a great reward, but you only have three days to infiltrate. A smart commander ignores it. A dead commander tries to "Force" it and loses their best Sharpshooter.
This creates a massive shift in how you manage your roster. You aren't just managing six or eight superstars. You need fifty or sixty soldiers. You'll have Alpha squad, Bravo squad, and "those guys who usually die" squad all out in the field simultaneously, scattered across different continents. It's chaotic. It's messy. It's brilliant.
Why the strategy layer is a different beast
In the base game, the Geoscape is basically a shopping list. In Long War 2 XCOM 2, it's a game of counter-intelligence. You have "Havens" where rebels work for you. You have to tell them what to do: gather Intel, scavenge Supplies, or Recruit more people. But here’s the kicker—if you put everyone on Intel to find missions faster, ADVENT notices. They’ll send a "Faceless" spy into your haven to steal your supplies or, worse, trigger a "Retaliation" mission that wipes out your workforce.
The AI, specifically the "ADVENT Strength" mechanic, is dynamic. If you keep hitting missions in New Mexico, the AI will literally move its "legions" from South Africa to New Mexico to stop you. You can see the troop transport happening on the map. It's a living, breathing war. You aren't just fighting a script; you're fighting a simulated commander who is trying to outmaneuver you on a global scale.
Class overhauls and the "Shinobi" meta
Pavonis didn't just tweak the numbers. They rebuilt the classes. The Specialist is now a dedicated hacker or medic. The "Shinobi" replaces the Ranger’s stealth role, and they are arguably the most important unit in the game. Why? Because Long War 2 missions often have "fixed" extractions. You aren't there to kill everyone. You're there to hack a laptop and get out.
A single Shinobi, remaining in concealment the entire mission, can scout the entire map while your other four soldiers sneak around the edges of a patrol's vision. It’s a game of inches. When a firefight does break out, the "Technical" class—another mod addition—is your panic button. They carry a flamethrower and a rocket launcher. It feels amazing to melt a pod of three Sectoids in one turn, but then you realize the noise just drew every other pod on the map toward your position. Oops.
The mistakes that kill 90% of campaigns
Let’s talk about the "Golden Path." In vanilla, you can take your time. In Long War 2, the "Avatar Project" is a relentless ticking clock, and the mod adds "Liberation" chains. To actually win, you have to liberate a whole region. This involves a sequence of missions that culminates in a massive assault on a regional HQ.
Most players fail because they don't focus. They spread their efforts too thin across the globe. You need to pick one region and hammer it. Get that HQ down. Get that steady income. If you don't liberate a region by the time the aliens start fielding Muton Elites and Sectopods, you’re basically cooked.
Another huge trap? Research. In this mod, research takes forever. You can't just research everything. You have to specialize. Do you want better armor so your rookies survive a single graze shot, or do you want Mag Weapons so you can actually kill a Berserker? You can't have both in the early game. If you try to be a jack-of-all-trades, you’ll be fighting armored aliens with literal assault rifles. It's not a fair fight.
The "Graze" mechanic and the RNG frustration
People complain about XCOM's 95% misses. Long War 2 introduces "Graze" hits. Basically, there’s a chance for a shot to do partial damage instead of a full hit or a total miss. It sounds small, but it changes the math entirely. It makes the game feel slightly more fair—your soldier might survive a shot that would have normally killed them—but it also means you can't always rely on a "kill" to save your skin.
The environment is also more destructive. Fire spreads. Roofs cave in. If you use a grenade to blow up a wall, there’s a high chance the loot the alien was carrying gets destroyed. It forces you to be precise. You start using "Flashbangs" more than "Frag Grenades." A well-placed flashbang in Long War 2 is worth its weight in gold because it breaks psychic links and lowers enemy aim, which is often the only way to survive a turn where you’re caught out of position.
Is it actually fun?
That’s the big question. Long War 2 is "fun" in the same way that Dark Souls or Dwarf Fortress is fun. It’s a "losing is fun" kind of experience. You will have moments of pure, unadulterated rage when a Chosen or an Alien Ruler shows up and decimates your A-team. But the highs are higher. When you successfully evacuate a squad of wounded soldiers from a Swarming mission with the objective in hand, the adrenaline is real.
You feel like a commander. You aren't just clicking buttons; you're making choices that have consequences twenty hours of gameplay later. That soldier you saved in March might be the Colonel who hits the game-winning shot in November. Or, more likely, they'll die to a random Overwatch shot from a nameless ADVENT grunt in June. That’s XCOM, baby.
Technical hurdles and the "Long War" legacy
We have to be honest: the mod is heavy. Because it's tracking so many variables, the load times can get chunky. Even on a high-end PC, the turn calculations for a 40-alien mission can take a minute. It’s the price you pay for the complexity. There’s also the "Long War of the Chosen" (LWOTC) version, which integrates the War of the Chosen DLC features. If you’re playing today, that’s actually the version most people recommend, though the core Long War 2 XCOM 2 experience remains the foundation of it all.
✨ Don't miss: Xenoblade Chronicles New 3DS: What Most People Get Wrong
The community around this mod is still incredibly active. You can find sprawling spreadsheets online that calculate the exact "Infiltration" hours needed for specific squad sizes. It’s a subculture of gamers who looked at one of the hardest strategy games on the market and said, "Make it harder. Make it longer. Make it hurt."
Your next steps for a successful campaign
If you’re ready to dive in, don't just start clicking. You'll be back at the main menu in two hours. Do these things instead:
- Download the "Gotcha Again" mod. It’s a UI tweak that works with Long War 2 to show you exactly which enemies will have line-of-sight on you before you move. In a game this punishing, "hidden" information is your biggest enemy.
- Focus on Intel first. Put nearly all your rebels on the Intel job in your starting region. You need to find missions with long timers (7+ days) so you can send a full squad and hit 100% infiltration.
- Build the GTS (Guerrilla Tactics School) immediately. You need to train your rookies into specific classes. Leaving a soldier's class to "Random" is a recipe for a squad full of Medics and zero damage dealers.
- Accept the losses. You will lose soldiers. You will lose regions. You might even lose the whole first campaign. Treat the first ten hours as a tutorial.
The mod isn't about being perfect. It’s about managing a disaster. Once you lean into the chaos of the insurgency, Long War 2 XCOM 2 becomes one of the most rewarding tactical experiences ever created. Just remember to bring a Shinobi. Seriously. Bring two.