Didn’t report back on XCops: Snakeporn Squad did I.
I get the impression that it was originally intended to be a mobile-only gapfiller then Firaxis decided it was worth fleshing out into a modestly sized regular game, and… I think they made the right call on that, actually. The consolidated turn sequence makes it completely different from regular XCom, requiring you to shut down specific enemies before they can act, take defensive moves etc. rather than alpha striking all the time. Getting past later levels requires working out all the fun little combos you can set off between the various characters. There’s a good gradiant in the difficulty levels, although there’s a couple of characters that trivialise the entire thing if you set them up right (looking at you Blueblood). It feels like they’re testing out new ideas with the tried-and-proven formula, and that’s always good to see.
Downsides: It’s very buggy, and I’m pretty pissed off Firaxis haven’t released a patch to fix the numerous game-ending crashes weeks after release. The dialogue is hilariously bad, and I hope to God they don’t think that fixed characters as your soldiers is the way forward after this because I do not want to hear any more shite from writers who clearly would rather be working on an Netflick called something like So That Happened.
Ultimately for 8 quid I feel I more than got my money worth. Recommended if you see it on sale.
