XCOM 2: War of the Chosen is a turn-based Shakespearean tragedy generator, and also there are aliens. Steam users have been sharing their tales of devastation, woe, and, every once in a while, victory.

There's a mod for XCOM 2 called Overwatch Mercy Squadmate. It does exactly what the name and picture here suggest, adding the angelic healer to XCOM 2's new expansion, War of the Chosen.

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen is a very good arts and crafts game that also includes the occasional tactical battle against aliens. Show me your best posters!

"Nothing lasts forever," my mother told me when I was a child. "Not even 2K's library of games — a few of which are pretty solid — on the App Store.

If you've never played XCOM 2, here's my advice: skip the vanilla version and start by playing the new expansion, War of the Chosen. It's the best 2K's XCOM series has ever been.

Back when Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor first came out in 2014, people pretty much immediately started asking, "When will other games get Nemesis Systems?" Flash forward three years, and the most prominent game to do it is… Shadow of War, the sequel to Shadow of Mordor. But soon you'll be able to add XCOM 2 to that painfully short list as well.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle was one of the strangest announcements at E3 this year, and fearless Kotaku editor-in-chief Stephen Totilo got a chance to play it for about 15 minutes. Based on what we've seen so far, this mash-up works surprisingly well!

Last year, the father of XCOM, Julian Gollop, teased a new project called Phoenix Point. Details were scarce, other than the promise of "turn based tactical combat - world based strategy". Well, the big reveal has been made and Phoenix Point looks amazing.

I totally get it. You're still recovering from December's barrage of sales and don't have the fortitude (or cash reserves) to spend more on games right now. However, if you're keen on Firaxis' XCOM 2 and passed on recent discounts, well, I have great news — Humble currently has it on offer for $US12 (about $17 Australian).

Angela "Overkill" Hill is the strawweight champion of the world's most prominent women's MMA organisation, Invicta. She's on the verge of a second crack at UFC glory. Last time around, though, she found herself too bogged down by the pressures of fight life to compete as well as she could. These days, she's using cosplay and video games to keep herself focused and sharp.

If, like me, you're not at PAX Aus and wondering what you were going to do with your Sunday, it's time to fire up XCOM 2 with a mate and get alien-slaying. Team Dragonpunk has just released its "Tactical Co-Op" mod for the game and while it's technically a beta, it's good enough to have fun with.

It's strange watching the games of your childhood given a fresh coat of paint and reimagined into something new. Sometimes they turn out as good (or better) and other times... well, let's not talk about them here. XCOM is a series that landed in the former category, but what was it about the franchise that made it good reboot material? Perhaps a history lesson will help.

Earlier this year Firaxis recruited the aptly-named Long War Studios to craft mods specifically for XCOM 2 and the most succulent fruit yet of their labours — the Long War Toolbox — has just arrived.

Fresh from his last title, Chaos Reborn, which is doing alright for itself on that fancy Steam thing, X-COM progenitor Julian Gollop has just teased his next project: Phoenix Point. What is it exactly? I have no idea.

Supernatural crimes? Turn-based tactics? A detective main character who sounds like when he says he wants a whiskey on the rocks, he means jagged shards of gravel? Gee, Witch House, it seems an awful lot like you're trying to get my attention.

OK, so you don't need to answer that question, because the reply is rather obvious. Yes, of course we would. That hasn't stopped BioWare executive producer Mark Darrah from gathering votes for such a hypothetical project via Twitter.

"Rough" would be a kind word to explain the release of XCOM 2 earlier this month. Not as disastrous as Batman: Arkham Knight, but developer Firaxis is by no means happy with the game's current state.

There's a lot to like about the new XCOM game, but perhaps the coolest thing about it has little to do with tactics, or balance, or visuals. It's the game's ability to take what could have been a glorified tabletop wargame and turn it into something that creates stories.

Video: GTFO here, Advent.