NEW FACTIONS & HERO CLASSES
Three additional factions have emerged to strengthen Earth's resistance – the Reapers, Skirmishers and Templars – each with its own unique abilities and contrasting philosophies. These factions provide powerful hero class soldiers to aid in missions and new opportunities for the strategy layer.
 
THE CHOSEN
The Chosen are the most cunning enemies XCOM has ever faced, each with unique strengths and weaknesses that will be introduced with each new campaign. The Chosen are on the hunt for the Commander and will kidnap, interrogate, and kill XCOM’s soldiers to complete their objective. The Chosen can also invade the strategy layer and ravage XCOM’s global operations. Find and raid the Chosen’s strongholds to defeat the enemy for good.
 
NEW ALIEN & ADVENT THREATS
A deadly new alien known as the Spectre, capable of creating dark copies of XCOM soldiers, has snuck onto the battlefield. Adopt new tactics to counter it as well as the explosive attacks of the ADVENT Purifier and the psionically charged ADVENT Priest.
 
NEW ENVIRONMENTS AND MISSION OBJECTIVES
Engage in tactical missions across new environments from abandoned cities devastated by alien bioweapons during the original invasion, to underground tunnels and xenoformed wilderness regions.
 
ENHANCED STRATEGY LAYER
Manage XCOM’s relations with factions and counter The Chosen’s operations from the Avenger. Employ new Resistance Orders to prioritize your personal strategy. Soldiers, scientists, and engineers can now be deployed for Covert Actions that award supplies and boost faction favor if successfully completed.
 
GREATER CUSTOMIZATION & REPLAYABILITY
Soldiers can develop bonds with compatible teammates for new abilities and perks. The SITREP system dynamically adds new modifiers to the tactical layer to make sure every mission provides a unique challenge. Advanced campaign options allow for finer adjustments to game length and difficulty.
 
CHALLENGE MODE
Utilize the perfect strategy in new regular one-shot community challenges to claim the top spot on the global leaderboard.
 
SHARE THE RESISTANCE
Customize and pose your soldiers, then add filters, text and backgrounds to generate your own unique resistance posters that appear in-game and can be shared with friends.

Gameplay – Strategy Layer
 
    Beta Strike now is applied to XCOM soldiers if the tutorial is enabled
    Scientists and engineers can no longer be used while deployed on Covert Actions
    Fixed base game soldier promotion abilities not being free in the Training Center if a cross-class ability is purchased first
    Fixed a visual issue with the inventory menu after selecting a Grenadier's utility item or grenade slot in the Hangar
    Fixed Resistance Order card duplication
    Fixed a navigation issue caused by empty Resistance Order card slots
    Tutorial: Players can now re-enter the Research screen if they’ve tried to exit during the tutorial.
    Fixed an issue that prevented soldiers from being dismissible after completing Lost and Abandoned with the Tutorial enabled
    Fixed the conventional weapon breakthrough tech causing "+1 Damage" to display on the claymore when viewed in the Armory
    Soldiers in the Character Pool now generate with a background
    Scavengers Resistance Order now only applies to resource-based POI rewards
    Weapon color defaults to 20 now instead of -1 to prevent mismatched color previews
    Camera outline and poster display update on screen change
    Fixed an issue with SPARKs getting permanently stuck in a wounded yet "Available" state after going on Chosen Stronghold missions
    Fixed the Lost World Dark Event to expire correctly
    Fixed lingering cohesion glow after creating a new bond
    Fixed an issue where faction soldiers in the Training Center promotion screen would not appear when cycling through soldiers
    Removed references to Resistance HQ from strategy notifications
    Removed the ability for soldiers to gain positive traits as part of the AWC post-mission negative trait recovery mechanic
    Soldiers on Covert Actions no longer drop their equipped items when the player enters the squad select screen
    Fixed Rescue Soldier missions sometimes appearing with no reward if you fail it the first time
    Adding additional text to the Reaper's Silent Killer ability description
    Fixed weapons with mods attached not upgrading to the next tier for soldiers who are deployed on ambush-able Covert Actions
 
 
 
Gameplay – Tactical Layer
 
    Chosen will be activated only if someone on XCOM team has been revealed
    Fixed a bug where the fog of war fails to update or disappear when the player's Codex creates a clone during a mission
    Fixed an issue where detection tiles would disappear for faction soldiers after loading a save while in concealment
    VIPs using hunker down no longer break concealment
    Berserk Rangers no longer attack squadmates
    Fixed visualization of Archon patrol pathing
    Units now take claymore damage when a claymore is detonated underneath them while on a destructible floor during tactical gameplay
    ADVENT Priests triggering Sustain while standing in the evac zone no longer fails the mission
    Alien Rulers get a 1.5X HP boost when Beta Strike is enabled
    Fixed an issue where Purifiers became unresponsive after their clone made from Shadowbind was destroyed
    Bladestorm and Retribution excludes teammates as valid targets
    Enemy reinforcement visual indicator no longer disappears
    Chosen can no longer turn into cocoons from Chryssalid poison
    Spectres hit with Stasis will no longer prevent shadowbound units from recovering when the Spectre is killed
    Fixed missing flyover for Lightning Reflexes
    Gremlins only reveal hidden units after a hack attempt is made
    Changed Skirmisher Ionic Ripjack stun chance to 25%
    Darkclaw now gains the effects of equipped ammo
    Brutal Chosen strength temporarily decreases soldier Will
    Fixed ambient lighting not being applied in some non-tactical areas
    Targetable enemy indicator refreshes correctly after navigating tactical menus
    Fixed an issue where help text and other pop-ups would not trigger during the tutorial
    Units provided by the Volunteer Army & Double Agent Resistance Orders will no longer count as units lost during a campaign
    Updated Mimic Beacon behavior for Purifier, Priest, Spectre, and shadowbound units
    Added AI AoE finder updates to enable AoE attacks on Mimic Beacons
    Fixed an issue preventing Mimic Beacons from being attacked more than once by purifiers
    Skulljack now kills units instantly if Beta Strike is enabled
    Shredded armor no longer reappears after reloading a save
    Fixed an issue where Skirmishers could use Wrath to move to an area, but not perform a melee attack
    Fixed infinite visualization hang when X2Action_WaitForAnotherAction fails to receive the event trigger it is registered for
    Fixed issue with claymores not being immediately targetable by the Reaper
    Reduced Chosen Hunter pistol range
    Skulljack no longer prevents a unit from becoming concealed
    Supply Extraction loot now recovered if XCOM evacs from the mission
    Fixed a loss of functionality caused by simultaneously entering a rescue circle and triggering a Lost pod during a Rescue Stranded Resistance Agents mission
    Fixed crash caused by too many Lost on screen at one time
    Restricting spawns in the corners of some parcels to prevent Chosen from being stuck if they spawn in the corner of a map
    Slightly reducing the aim of Retaliation civilian militia and Volunteer Army soldiers
    Shadowbound units don't get abilities granted from Sustaining Spheres.  This matches up with shadowbound units not getting built in Sustain ability from units either
    Prevent Chosen Kidnap / Extract on special units that come from HQ via Double Agent or Volunteer Army
    Fix for an indefinite hang when a unit gets the burning status effect when moving for a Skullmine action during tactical gameplay
    Holy Warrior effects no longer persist after the Priest is removed from the mission
    Chosen Sarcophagus health displays correctly after loading a save game while the shield is up
    Bluescreen Rounds no longer affect destructibles
    Updated Shadowbind to remove the Parthenogenic Poison from the target
    Decoupled GameStateUnit and asynchronous pawn load requests to prevent hung levels and crashes on level load
    Fixed crashes related to GetAllViewersOfTarget
    Fixed crashes related to GetAllVisibleToSource
    Fixed crashes related to GetAllViewersOfLocation
    Fixed crashes caused by for large block of LoadMap crashes
    Fixed GetWorldInfo crashes on RenderThread
    FixedProtection against IsAudible crashes from effects
 
 
 
Challenge Mode
 
    Added new event notifications:  5 Enemy Kills, Concealment Broken, First Soldier Wounded, Killed a Sectopod or Gatekeeper, Lost a Sectopod or Gatekeeper, and Completed Mission
    Challenge Mode replay improvements: show the reaper roll, skip challenge points banners, disable mission narratives
    Added user score and total players to Challenge Mode squad select screen
    Changed Challenge events to display completion percentages of total players for an event
    ADVENT soldiers now take an action when their shadowbound clone is killed
    Enemy units will now move or take actions when the player Shadowbinds another enemy unit in the same pod
    Challenge Mode replays will now automatically start playing
    Fixed an issue where Focus drops were not occurring in Challenge mode
    Additional score break down and stats to leaderboard
    Consolidated the objective and enemy score decrease messages into one message when appropriate
    Fixed an issue causing Challenges to auto-complete
 
 
 
Misc
 
    Character Pool now checks base game and expansion directories for available pools
    Fixed Character Pool lighting when on Stronghold shell screen
    Fixed a crash with the Character Pool trying to access a version of a unit that no longer exists
    Class pose filtering is skipped when doing a memorial shot
    Additional crash and bug fixes