From the perspective of someone who's never played strategy games much, I mostly recommend it.

I did/do enjoy the game, but I have some gripes from a beginners perspective.

The game has a case of what I like to call "sequel syndrome", where you're expected to know a lot about the mechanics from the start. The tutorial mission basically just shows you how to move your soldiers and make them shoot at bad guys. (Though I suppose that's part of the fun)

As for general gameplay, it's very smooth, the UI is easy to navigate, and everything is clearly labelled and intuitive. I have issues with the difficulty though. I started my game on "Rookie" as I didn't want to get thrown into a game I had no idea how to play and get my cheeks clapped instantly, but even that was still a bit of a challenge before I really got the hang of positioning my soldiers to not die. From what I've read the game was exclusively playtested by the developers who as you might imagine, are XCOM experts. The ever advancing Avatar Project also kind of ruins the pacing of the game, it feels like you're being rushed through everything. You have very little time to actually research/heal soldiers/build new equipment before you get a pop up saying "DO THIS MISSION NOW OR DIE."

Can't wait for all the elitist strategy game players to roll in and tell me I'm casual/trash/brainlet and I should uninstall.

TL;DR game's good, has a bit of a learning curve, pacing is rushed, there are mods that disable the Avatar Project if you want a more casual experience. Though I recommend completing the game at least once with it enabled.

From the perspective of someone who's never played strategy games much, I mostly recommend it. I did/do enjoy the game, but I have some gripes from a beginners perspective. The game has a case of what I like to call "sequel syndrome", where you're expected to know a lot about the mechanics from the start. The tutorial mission basically just shows you how to move your soldiers and make them shoot at bad guys. (Though I suppose that's part of the fun) As for general gameplay, it's very smooth, the UI is easy to navigate, and everything is clearly labelled and intuitive. I have issues with the difficulty though. I started my game on "Rookie" as I didn't want to get thrown into a game I had no idea how to play and get my cheeks clapped instantly, but even that was still a bit of a challenge before I really got the hang of positioning my soldiers to not die. From what I've read the game was exclusively playtested by the developers who as you might imagine, are XCOM experts. The ever advancing Avatar Project also kind of ruins the pacing of the game, it feels like you're being rushed through everything. You have very little time to actually research/heal soldiers/build new equipment before you get a pop up saying "DO THIS MISSION NOW OR DIE." Can't wait for all the elitist strategy game players to roll in and tell me I'm casual/trash/brainlet and I should uninstall. TL;DR game's good, has a bit of a learning curve, pacing is rushed, there are mods that disable the Avatar Project if you want a more casual experience. Though I recommend completing the game at least once with it enabled.