Mods have added a new perspective to games for a long time. Ever since they became a thing, they’ve been adding more and more layers to already great games. Be it something as simple as a UI update, or as radical as a feature length campaign. One of the most famous mods out there is the Long War mod for XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Developed by Long War Studios, it is a massive expansion that doubles the game length and severely adds difficulty to an already hard game. It’s so difficult that the developers of Enemy Unknown referred to their base game as a twenty hour tutorial for Long War. There have been some mods by the Long War team for XCOM 2, but as of now they’re taking it up a notch. They’ve announced that they’re working on a Long War 2 mod for XCOM 2.
Long War Studios, now going by Pavonis Interactive LLC, has not released much information on Long War 2. The only concrete information about it is that it is being developed in partnership with 2K Games and Firaxis. More information has been promised for the coming weeks and it will be released by 2K games. It is safe to assume that Long War 2 will have many of the elements of the original mod. Apart from that, whether it will expand or streamline the experience, we can only wait and see.
Long War 2 being announced is hardly surprising. Pavonis Interactive has been active for quite some time, and Firaxis and 2K Games have publicly praised them. The original Long War is even credited with influencing XCOM 2’s mod support. Without it, the game’s Steam Workshop may not have been included. It seems that plenty of people are looking forward to Long War 2 as of this announcement. If you’re interested, buckle up. If it’s anything like the original, it’s going to be brutal.