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XCOM 2: Escalation
Continue the fight against an imposing alien force with this original novel based on the hit video game XCOM 2. Under constant threat by the alien invasion, humanity's fate is in the hands of the last remaining military XCOM. The elite unit is the only hope for the people of Earth. The novel follows XCOM as they continue to fight for freedom, redemption, and survival. Fans of XCOM 2: Resurrection will enjoy this exciting addition to the XCOM story and its use of elements of the popular game.
- GenresScience Fiction
190 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 12, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 23, 2018
If you are a fan, read. But be advised -- it's a lazy book with lazy characters with no development and boring plot.
If you want something good in this genre read 'Gaunt's Ghosts' instead (Warhammer 40K).
If you want something good in this genre read 'Gaunt's Ghosts' instead (Warhammer 40K).
March 29, 2018
Probably not the author’s fault but the story doesn’t even lineup with the game.
June 25, 2019
Absolutely the best of the XCOM2 tie-in books. Also, if you are a Skirmisher fan, this is THE book to get, as there is tons of Skirmisher lore in this, as well as some Reaper and general world lore. The plot is a little wonkily paced and put together, and it ends on a cliffhanger (where the rest of the plot is continued in the War of the Chosen DLC), but in the end I gave it 5 stars because I didn't care about these weaknesses through the whole book, because the characters and characterization was so great.
To be clear, since the official summary is not: this book is set after both Resurrection and the Factions graphic novel. It's unclear how long after Resurrection, but probably at least a year or three after Factions. XCOM is up to fighting strength, with mid-level equipped troops on hand, and Mox, who ended Factions still in ADVENT, is now training Skirmishers and is one of Betos' most trusted lieutenants. The plot follows a good handful of POV characters: newish Skirmisher Darox and his team; Dr. Marin, a scientist on the Avenger; and Petrov, a Reaper who survives the Hunter wiping out her team. You also see them have significant interactions with familiar faces from the game (Mox, Bradford, Tygan, and Volk, in particular-no Templars, as they show up as a plot device but never speak with anyone), as well as other new characters.
Amazingly, I liked all of these folks. The major characters had a good amount of time to interact with each other and show you who they were, and even the minor characters got to dig into their quirks and opinions, without the author beating you over the head with it. Little moments such as Marin trying to cheer up his soldier friend who'd just lost part of his squad in a battle, Darox talking to a friend who is squeamish about having his chip removed, and Petrov chatting with Darox about what it was like working in ADVENT all make the book. Also, the conversations were just fun to read, with little bits of lore about the world tucked everywhere, and this is the sort of stuff I like in my military-ish sci-fi.
The plot ostensibly revolves around the Reapers, Skirmishers, and XCOM all coming together to investigate new ADVENT activity in their area and to try to fight the Chosen, who've just started hunting them. (For this reason, the book plot doesn't mesh flawlessly with Mox's introductory mission in WotC. In this book, Mox, Bradford, and Volk all know of each others' factions, and they even successfully work together. So, the game's beginning antagonism/distrust between the factions seems off.) There's a few operations that the characters take part in, with a good number of nods to gameplay elements. But, overall...this is a book about the characters, not about the plot, and it shows. One mid-book operation ends up feeling pointless and the enemy's actions never explained. The ending feels rushed, with some of the final sequence happening off-screen and it not being terribly clear to the characters if they succeeded or failed. From a stand-alone plot standpoint, it's pretty lopsided, with a very weak conclusion. As a very long, fanfictionesque prelude to War of the Chosen, however, it really, really succeeds.
To be clear, since the official summary is not: this book is set after both Resurrection and the Factions graphic novel. It's unclear how long after Resurrection, but probably at least a year or three after Factions. XCOM is up to fighting strength, with mid-level equipped troops on hand, and Mox, who ended Factions still in ADVENT, is now training Skirmishers and is one of Betos' most trusted lieutenants. The plot follows a good handful of POV characters: newish Skirmisher Darox and his team; Dr. Marin, a scientist on the Avenger; and Petrov, a Reaper who survives the Hunter wiping out her team. You also see them have significant interactions with familiar faces from the game (Mox, Bradford, Tygan, and Volk, in particular-no Templars, as they show up as a plot device but never speak with anyone), as well as other new characters.
Amazingly, I liked all of these folks. The major characters had a good amount of time to interact with each other and show you who they were, and even the minor characters got to dig into their quirks and opinions, without the author beating you over the head with it. Little moments such as Marin trying to cheer up his soldier friend who'd just lost part of his squad in a battle, Darox talking to a friend who is squeamish about having his chip removed, and Petrov chatting with Darox about what it was like working in ADVENT all make the book. Also, the conversations were just fun to read, with little bits of lore about the world tucked everywhere, and this is the sort of stuff I like in my military-ish sci-fi.
The plot ostensibly revolves around the Reapers, Skirmishers, and XCOM all coming together to investigate new ADVENT activity in their area and to try to fight the Chosen, who've just started hunting them. (For this reason, the book plot doesn't mesh flawlessly with Mox's introductory mission in WotC. In this book, Mox, Bradford, and Volk all know of each others' factions, and they even successfully work together. So, the game's beginning antagonism/distrust between the factions seems off.) There's a few operations that the characters take part in, with a good number of nods to gameplay elements. But, overall...this is a book about the characters, not about the plot, and it shows. One mid-book operation ends up feeling pointless and the enemy's actions never explained. The ending feels rushed, with some of the final sequence happening off-screen and it not being terribly clear to the characters if they succeeded or failed. From a stand-alone plot standpoint, it's pretty lopsided, with a very weak conclusion. As a very long, fanfictionesque prelude to War of the Chosen, however, it really, really succeeds.
November 8, 2022
XCOM2: Escalation By Rick Barba is a video game tie-novel based on the “XCOM video game franchise”.
In the world of XCOM2, Earth’s various governments facing an unknown extraterrestrial onslaught, surrendered to the alien invasion force. XCOM, the elite paramilitary unit created to defend the planet, was betrayed and forced underground. As Earth’s survivors poured into the eerily clean and perfect New Cities, XCOM began to secretly rebuild and retool for the right moment.
Twenty years later, XCOM has emerged from the shadows, and has taken the fight to the alien invaders. But it isn’t just XCOM fighting this war of liberation. New factions of homegrown pockets of human resistance have sprouted in the Colorado hinterlands. Gritty bands of Reapers, expert marksmen and fearsome cannibalistic hunters of alien flesh operate in the high-country wilderness. Tribal enclaves of former ADVENT Soldiers powerful human-alien clone hybrids called Skirmishers roam the alpine passes of the Continental Divide, wreaking havoc on their former alien overlords. Other factions operate more overtly, some with mysterious and unsettling capabilities.
In response, the alien overlords the Elders have unleashed a lethal and terrifying new force called The Chosen. Two of these alien commandos called the Assassin and the Hunter have begun slaughtering various resistance cells. It will be up to XCOM to unite these two resistance factions under its direction in hopes of countering this new deadly alien threat.
The story is simple and relies on your knowledge of the games to care about certain characters and the significance of seeing particular aliens which is probably fair since no one will read this who isn't a fan already. Unlike the previous book author Barba does a good job with the various different resistance fighter characters, and exploring the the new factions. Barbra’s various action seuences were also well done. The firefights struck a strong balance between realism and staying true to the quirks of the RTS gameplay and mechanics. I also enjoyed the use of familiar characters well used and not over done. The book doesn't spoil any major storylines from ‘XCOM2: War for The Chosen’ expansion or the base ‘XCOM2’ game. I don't think anyway and while the book wrapped nicely it still teased some things to come.
As an XCOM fan, I loved the book. It’s got all those elements that players enjoy — random encounters, uneven combat (human weapons versus alien tech), scientists and engineers doing their best to try and close the gap in tech, and a squad of characters that the reader will come to know just as they do with their own squad in the game. It’s well-done and stands on its own, with only a causal experience with the games needed.
All in all, XCOM 2: Escalation managed to give me just what I needed. Author Rick Barba has done his homework with the XCOM universe and delivered an origin-story that provides a good back story to the ‘XCOM2: War for The Chosen’ DLC expansion.
In the world of XCOM2, Earth’s various governments facing an unknown extraterrestrial onslaught, surrendered to the alien invasion force. XCOM, the elite paramilitary unit created to defend the planet, was betrayed and forced underground. As Earth’s survivors poured into the eerily clean and perfect New Cities, XCOM began to secretly rebuild and retool for the right moment.
Twenty years later, XCOM has emerged from the shadows, and has taken the fight to the alien invaders. But it isn’t just XCOM fighting this war of liberation. New factions of homegrown pockets of human resistance have sprouted in the Colorado hinterlands. Gritty bands of Reapers, expert marksmen and fearsome cannibalistic hunters of alien flesh operate in the high-country wilderness. Tribal enclaves of former ADVENT Soldiers powerful human-alien clone hybrids called Skirmishers roam the alpine passes of the Continental Divide, wreaking havoc on their former alien overlords. Other factions operate more overtly, some with mysterious and unsettling capabilities.
In response, the alien overlords the Elders have unleashed a lethal and terrifying new force called The Chosen. Two of these alien commandos called the Assassin and the Hunter have begun slaughtering various resistance cells. It will be up to XCOM to unite these two resistance factions under its direction in hopes of countering this new deadly alien threat.
The story is simple and relies on your knowledge of the games to care about certain characters and the significance of seeing particular aliens which is probably fair since no one will read this who isn't a fan already. Unlike the previous book author Barba does a good job with the various different resistance fighter characters, and exploring the the new factions. Barbra’s various action seuences were also well done. The firefights struck a strong balance between realism and staying true to the quirks of the RTS gameplay and mechanics. I also enjoyed the use of familiar characters well used and not over done. The book doesn't spoil any major storylines from ‘XCOM2: War for The Chosen’ expansion or the base ‘XCOM2’ game. I don't think anyway and while the book wrapped nicely it still teased some things to come.
As an XCOM fan, I loved the book. It’s got all those elements that players enjoy — random encounters, uneven combat (human weapons versus alien tech), scientists and engineers doing their best to try and close the gap in tech, and a squad of characters that the reader will come to know just as they do with their own squad in the game. It’s well-done and stands on its own, with only a causal experience with the games needed.
All in all, XCOM 2: Escalation managed to give me just what I needed. Author Rick Barba has done his homework with the XCOM universe and delivered an origin-story that provides a good back story to the ‘XCOM2: War for The Chosen’ DLC expansion.
August 10, 2025
"Bleh."
That's all I really feel like writing on this drek, but okay, I should write at least WHY it's drek.
Basically, the novel is a prequel to XCOM 2, dealing with XCOM's remnants, the Reapers, the Skirmishers, and the Templars. I assume that means something to you if you've played the games (I haven't), but even if it wasn't that familiar with the setting, I doubt I'd like this much more. Because ultimately, this book has three types of content - action scenes, characters recovering from action scenes, or characters preparing to go into action (scenes). In essence, it's the game mechanics transcribed into novel format, and it's as narratively, thematically, and characterly thin as you'd expect.
I'm not even sure why Rick Barba wrote this, since as far as I can tell, almost all of his work is in strategy guides, so maybe that's why the book is like a pseudo walkthrough? Whatever. It was still drek. It's absolutely possible to write compelling fiction about small squads/groups of characters, but this just isn't it.
That's all I really feel like writing on this drek, but okay, I should write at least WHY it's drek.
Basically, the novel is a prequel to XCOM 2, dealing with XCOM's remnants, the Reapers, the Skirmishers, and the Templars. I assume that means something to you if you've played the games (I haven't), but even if it wasn't that familiar with the setting, I doubt I'd like this much more. Because ultimately, this book has three types of content - action scenes, characters recovering from action scenes, or characters preparing to go into action (scenes). In essence, it's the game mechanics transcribed into novel format, and it's as narratively, thematically, and characterly thin as you'd expect.
I'm not even sure why Rick Barba wrote this, since as far as I can tell, almost all of his work is in strategy guides, so maybe that's why the book is like a pseudo walkthrough? Whatever. It was still drek. It's absolutely possible to write compelling fiction about small squads/groups of characters, but this just isn't it.
August 3, 2018
not same as the game even though the book was released after the expansion, but it was worth reading.
so sad because advent burger is not shown in the book....
so sad because advent burger is not shown in the book....
July 2, 2019
Reads pretty much like a fanfic but if you're a hardcore fan then it's a treat nonetheless.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews