The Aggressor XCOM 2
About the game
The game “XCOM 2” was made by “Firaxis Games” and was published by “2K Games” in 2012.
It belongs to the genre of “ Global / Local Strategy”. It is part of the series "XCOM".
It is a single-player game.
The game is classified by the database as one with a “Designated Aggressor,” a “Fictional Setting,” and an “Active Player Role."
About the Aggressor Categories
Aggressor Type: Designated
- This game features the “Designated Aggressor." It indicates that the game tends to focus on one side of the conflict, either constantly or episodically. The Aggressor(s) are set by the narrative and rules of the game and cannot be changed by the player, meaning that the perspective on the Aggressor is fixed.
Setting Type: Fictional
- This game has a fictional setting that, nonetheless, is strongly influenced by historical events or processes. This can serve to provide a layered sense of meaning or separation between darker or more serious topics of history and sometimes requires the player audience to do more decoding in order to grasp the historical commentary.
Player Agency: Active
-
In this game, the player's agency towards the Aggressor(s) is enabled by the game and they are able to take actions. This can include resisting the Aggressor or acting as one themselves.
Individual Assessment
In “XCOM 2," you command a human resistance operation in a science-fiction scenario where malevolent aliens have invaded and successfully conquered Earth under a suppressive military regime. The player then fights back by building a resistance network and attacking different production facilities. The focus lies on global management as well as real-time local strategy instances where resistance soldiers fight against an often overwhelming alien force. By making the aliens the ultimate “other” - invading Earth militarily, building authoritarian regimes, and abducting humans and experimenting on them - the perspective on the Aggressor is fixed. The player is put into a no-questions-asked situation where they actively take up the fight against the all-evil Aggressor. Being critical of the premise, players could question if all the military action might not make them themselves an Aggressor as well, yet the game does not allow for this reflection.
