#Xcom 2 character pool upgrade
#Xcom 2 character pool full

To go along with this new attachment to the characters is a relationship system that allows them to grow closer or further apart as the stress mounts during their travels. The Hellion you’ve chosen for this mission is not just a Hellion, but THE Hellion, so you grow more attached. With the increased affinity that comes from taking a single party through a long quest, it’s a lot easier to get invested in your specific characters rather than treating them as more grist for the mill. While this may seem really powerful, because of the fact that your characters have such specific roles on the team, it’s hard to slot a random character into your perfectly balanced party. If you’ve lost any characters in the previous region, it will backfill with other heroes you’ve unlocked. Certain items can exclusively be used at the inn, which generally helps by giving characters buff that will continue until the next region, so it’s important to spend your money wisely on whatever will help your party the most. You’ll purchase trinkets or combat items, improve character abilities with mastery points you’ve earned through battle, and repair damages to your carriage. These additional options and improvements will grant you more options in building out your team, so it’s often worth seeking out candles even if it means possibly dooming your current run.Įach run is broken up into regions, with stops at an inn acting as a place to rest up and spend currency. Each path changes the character’s base stats and skills in some way, giving them a slightly different focus in battle. As you improve each character, you’ll also unlock paths for them that can be selected at the beginning of a run.

#Xcom 2 character pool upgrade

It’s a tried and true formula in the roguelike space, but the risk-reward calculations are always satisfying and meaningful.Įven in failure, each run will grant you candles, a currency that allows you to unlock new characters, upgrade current ones or provide permanent buffs to your party on future runs. One path may have a meeting with a merchant, but is preceded by a treacherous section that will damage your carriage, while another path may lead to a hospital with a battle to complete on the way. Each path will lead you to various encounters and events that will affect your journey in significant ways, so choosing the correct fork on the road is crucial.

#Xcom 2 character pool full

Rather than delving into actual dungeons, you’ll guide a stagecoach carrying your four heroes through an environment full of forking paths. Make no mistake, this sequel still has Darkest Dungeon’s signature brutal difficulty, but the structure makes losses feel like less of a waste of time and more like another step in the journey. As a long time fan of Darkest Dungeon, it was a jarring change to say the least, but the benefits of the new approach quickly made themselves apparent. Instead of the XCOM-like structure where you build a large pool of units to pull from for each dungeon delve, it presents a roguelike structure where you select a core team of four that you’ll take on a longer run through one of five campaigns, each with different environments and bosses. The tight turn-based, positional combat returns as well, but the overall structure of the game has been completely redone. You’re still sending parties of four adventurers to face all types of cultists, creatures and eldritch abominations as you try to cleanse the lands of ancient evil. These are the ups and downs you can expect playing Darkest Dungeon II, Red Hook Studio’s followup to their breakout hit.įor those familiar with the 2016 original, you will find comfort in the similarities. There’s a tense moment as her resolve is tested before she becomes resolute, an unexpected boon that turns the tides of battle. The Librarian hurls a flaming book at her, putting her at death’s door and maxing out her stress.

The Plague Doctor, my only character with healing skills, is low on health and high on stress, a bad combination for a challenging encounter.

I’ve scraped through two fights in the Great Library, destroying mad cultists and immolators, and now am faced with the sinister Librarian.