One of XCOM’s best mods is getting a sequel.
The official XCOM site announced today that Long War 2 is coming to XCOM 2 on PC. The first Long War was a fan mod for XCOM: Enemy Unkown that came out in 2013. It was one of the most popular for the turn-based strategy game, adding new units and weapons in an entirely different story campaign. It also brought new concepts to the game, such as fatigued soldiers (so you couldn’t send the same people on multiple missions in a row). Also, the enemy aliens also research their own improvements, making them a more formidable foe over time.
Long War Studios, which is now named Pavonis Interactive, created the original Long War and is working on the sequel. It’s site lists the developer as an independent studio. 2K told GamesBeat that Pavonis is partnering with the publisher and Firaxis for Long War and other XCOM 2 mods.
The video game industry is filled with examples of mod developers that became parts of bigger studios. Team Fortress Classic and Counter-Strike were both mods for Half-Life before Valve took their creators in, and the Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients has had the people who worked on it go on to form League of Legends studio Riot Games and also join Valve to create Dota 2.
We don’t know much about Long War 2, but XCOM developer Firaxis said that it will release more information in the coming weeks.
XCOM 2 came out for PC in February in 2016, with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions following in September. The console versions, however, do not have mod support, so Long War 2 is only slated for a PC release.
Mod support is a great way to keep a community interested in a game. Not only does it give players new content, but it can bring together fans who want to make their creations a part of their favorite games.