Combat is turn-based, and takes place on procedural battlefields that are uncannily well generated. Only once have I seen a truck spawned partly into a wall. For the vast majority of battles the terrain is busy, interesting, and benefits from a huge leap in visual fidelity from Enemy Unknown. The snowy forests, slums, city centres and alien bases are varied both in decorative assets such as sleek futuristic cars and fluffy trees, and in the vertical variation provided by cliffs and multi-storey buildings.
They blow up nicely, too. I’ll commonly grenade a wall to remove cover and offer my soldiers highchance shots at a target. To my surprise, I also discovered that soldiers running around above ground level can fall through the floor if they’re in a burning building. Explosions can start fires that propagate, blocking floor tiles. One of my grenades started a fire next to a terminal I had to hack. Sending a soldier to stand in that fire and hack the console was not one of my finest XCOM moments.
The four soldier classes have been revamped. Enemy Unknown players will recognise the suppressive heavy weapon capabilities of the grenadier, and the sniping ability of the sharpshooter, but both can access new abilities that alter their jobs. The sharpshooter’s gunslinger skills, earned by levelling up, can turn them into an effective mid-range pistolier who can take out multiple enemies in style, while the grenadier can improve the explosive potential of their grenade launcher, effectively merging Enemy Unknown’s heavy and support roles in one class.
The other two classes are less familiar. The specialist has a drone, which can move around the battlefield to heal allies, zap enemies, or hack alien comms towers, and also has robots to disable or even temporarily steal units. The ranger fills the speedy, close-range role formerly occupied by the assault class, but they have a sword for high-risk, high-damage charge attacks, and therefore win. They can also pursue the scout skill track, which lets them strike very effectively from stealth.