Funny / XCOM 2

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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• Throwing a flashbang grenade at any troops will pretty much guarantee a funny situation, as it disorients them, applies -20 to Aim, and -30 to Will. It also kills off any Psi Zombies, among other effects:
  • Officers can still use Mark Target, but more often than not they'll take a shot and miss for their trouble.
  • Troopers turn from semi-capable combat units into pathetic rookies, missing almost every single shot they take.
  • Mutons cannot counter a melee strike, which offers a perfect chance to strike them down with a sword... or just hang back and watch them shoot at your soldiers like an idiot.
  • Sectoids can't use psionic attacks, or summon psi zombies. Any psi zombies that were summoned die instantly, and the Sectoid is forced to use their plasma gun... which also leads to them looking pathetic.
  • Codices cannot clone or teleport, so they'll stand in the open - making for a perfect target.
  • Stun Lancers and Chryssalids cannot use melee attacks. The former are forced to use their rifle - and miss in the process. The latter, lacking any other attacks, will either run away - or suicidally approach your soldiers even further.

• This Leaning on the Fourth Wall bit from the Gamescom preview:
  In the heart of Cologne, our ground team finds the remains of an old convention center. It seems to have been the base of operations for another counter-alien force called GAMES-COM. Despite a surprising lack of weaponry remaining at the site, we managed to find some useful salvage.
• The Commander apparently took how things fell apart after their capture to heart. In every cutscene featuring transmissions from the councilman there is a shotgun hanging right above their bed easily in reach.
• The developers acknowledge and lampshade the popularity of the Vipers.
• Achievement Hunter takes on XCOM 2 and fails amazingly. Down to only two men, Ryan gets mind-controlled and chops Jack in half with his machete. The guys joke that Ryan joined the other team and somehow found a way to kill them all anyway.
• The creative team (especially Jake Solomon) has had a great deal of fun while releasing new gameplay footage, especially when it comes to showing off the customization features. The "ADVENT Blacksite" preview, for instance, features the heroic exploits of the purple-and-gold-clad Sgt. Theodore "Sweetpea" Rumblebottom, and "PSI Operative" reveal video shows off a Magus (that is, a Colonel-tier Psi Operative) with a full arsenal of powerful abilities... named Gargamel Fizzlebranch. Solomon, of course, gleefully invokes Say My Name at every opportunity.
• The Artificial Stupidity the ADVENT forces sometimes display (suicidal charging by Lancers, Advent Troopers taking cover behind burning vehicles that are about to explode) become even more blackly funny when you realize that the Advent have lost their tactical skills with the loss of the tactical data they were leeching from you while you were in stasis via that brain implant Tygan extracted from you.
  • Likewise with the complete and utter disregard that Sectopods, Gatekeepers, and Andromedons have for any sort of erected structure unfortunate enough to be in their way. After a particularly intense mission, the screen will zoom out to show a city block that's been half-demolished, which gets funnier if it was for a type of mission that rewards keeping concealed for as long as possible.
    • Including inside their own bases. Often they do more damage to their base just idling patrolling than an entire firefight usually does.
    • In a Disabled UFO mission, an Andromedon, in an attempt to charge towards your squad, can destroy the emergency beacon meant to call alien reinforcements to their position.This counts as completing that objective, making your life much easier.
    • Sometimes the first indication of an Andromedon on a mission is when it comes bursting through a wall. The shape and animation of the Andromedon instantly conjures up thoughts of the Kool-Aid Man: "OH YEAH!!"
    • It is quite funny when it happens in the Avatar facilities. After some firefights, the rather sad state of the facility may make players question if they really need to use the plastic explosives they've brought along for the job.
  • In the same vein, occassionaly cars and terrain features will explode after some larger aliens romp through a structure... on the other end of the map.
  • It's not unheard of for the enemy to kill one of their own trying to kill your forces, usually due to a charged/AoE attack. A common occurrence is when a Stun Lancer charges into a Codex's delayed-action rift or an Archon bombardment, takes a swing, and then gets blown up by the attack at the beginning of the next Alien Phase. Bonus points for hilarity if he misses.
    • Bonus irony when a Codex Clone itself spawns in the rift.
    • For triple irony, in the last mission, the Avatar can teleport itself into its own rifts.
  • Most of the time, ADVENT forces tend to attack the nearest target. This leads to much hilarity when one of them is hacked/dominated, especially as part of an ambush: the other units freak out, completely ignore the XCOM soldiers, and unload everything they have on their own squadmate instead of the more logical action of trying to take down the controller.
• In Enemy Unknown, after a unit died, they would usually just fall flat on the ground or be blasted back by an explosive, with maybe a bit of jiggling. In XCOM 2, they have full-blown Ragdoll Physics. There are few joys greater than watching a Viper or Sectoid walk right into your ranger's shotgun and be blown back ten feet by the blast... except perhaps catching an Archon midflight with a lethal reaction shot that sends them flying out of control.
  • Vipers are great for funny ragdoll moments if they're killed at the edge of higher elevation. The body falling and the tail sliding after it, or the body hanging there, swaying back and forth a few seconds, before finally pulling the tail down with it. Really puts the 'noodle' in 'Danger Noodle'.
  • If you have lots of enemy reinforcements and are in a defensible position (such as defending the Avenger), you can literally pile up the ADVENT corpses, as your soldiers keep blasting enemies taking the same cover, leading ADVENT troopers and officers flopping one atop another atop another.
  • Some of the larger enemies also have a tendency to kick around any corpses that they happen to run into, which can lead to a chuckle or two when a MEC or an Andromedon casually kicks aside the corpse of some poor ADVENT trooper to get at you.
  • This can actually be exploited, as crumbling the floor (or roof) beneath the enemy leads to their taking fall damage - which even works on Chosen that are immune to explosives!
  • Another great instance is if you're blessed by the Random Number God, and manage to have killed an enemy on the roof, then grapple up to where they were for a tactical vantage point. When your soldier throws the hook and zooms up right into said enemy's corpse, it causes it to act as if it were hit by a truck!
• There's actually an explanation as to why the Vipers have Non-Mammal Mammaries present in the notes for their autopsy:
  Tygan: And the case appears to be, yes, those are venom glands.
  • Tygan also expresses disgust over the Vipers hitting the Uncanny Valley, in his estimation.
• During the cutscene showing the Control Room, the Commander steps in, only to start about a bajillion alarms due to being "unauthorized personnel", and it only ends when Bradford exasperatedly transfers command, allowing the Commander to enter the room without setting off the klaxon.
  Bradford: I had wanted that to be a little more ceremonious...
• There's a hilarious Continuity Nod when the Faceless are discovered.
  Tygan: Such a remarkable species. If only we had some means of containment...
  Shen: Don't even think about it.
• Among the very first mods released for the game? A mod that replaced the default assault rifle with a corgi complete with barks whenever it is fired. Another day-one mod includes a construction helmet, a fancy top hat, and an Ayy Facemask.
  • Speaking of Mods.. XCOM 2 has over one thousand mods available on the Steam Workshop. Usually, you pick out a few that you want and the workshop system integrates them quick and elegantly into the game. OverEnglishMan decided to figure out what happens when you download All of Them^* Okay, not all of them, some conflict with each other to the point of literally breaking the game, but The modlist is still just shy of a thousand mods - the result is the very aptly named "Modded Beyond Reason".
• Depending on when you use it, the Skulljack can give way to a Gory Discretion Shot as the camera bugs out and looks at a wall, away from the action, only to have it pan back quickly with a dead ADVENT soldier impaled on the twin spikes.
  • Some player have reported a graphical bug that causes the ADVENT officer to be mispositioned during the animation, resulting in your operative shanking them in the crotch instead, and still somehow accessing their brain implant via the base of their spine in the tailbone. Or something like that. Ouch.
• The description for Bluescreen rounds: "Named for an inexplicable computing phenomenon common before the war..." Yes, you have weaponized the Blue Screen Of Death.
• Sometimes the randomly generated nicknames will be so incongruous that it becomes both hysterical and badass, like a Cold Sniper getting a nickname "Dr. Feelgood".
• The mere fact that the Informant / Council Spokesperson is voiced by Jon Bailey, aka Epic Voice Guy. There's even an XCOM (Honest Game Trailers) now, complete with Jon reading nonsensical YouTube comments in his Informant voice.
  • Jon had a lot of fun recording his Spokesman voice, and leftovers can be found if you digging in the game's files. Witness the Council Spokesman promising to bring the Commander to the Gates of Valhalla. For added Hilarious in Hindsight, he had already done the Honest Trailer for Fury Road before that.
• The Repeater weapon mod can lead to some truly hilarious/epic David Versus Goliath moments. Seeing a Sectopod coming at you? Not fun. Seeing the Repeater activate and give you a One-Hit Kill on the very same turn, heavily damaging the other ADVENT forces in that group from the explosion? Very fun. There is also a certain amount of Black Comedy involved in the hilarity of watching a highly-hyped Alien Ruler or Chosen get alerted to your presence, then promptly get gunned down unceremoniously because your Rookie on Overwatch landed a reaction-fire hit with their weapon and got the Repeater activation.
  • Before it was patched out, the Repeater's insta-kill ability could be applied any time an alien took damage from any sort of damage over time effects, like Viper rounds or incendiary ammo. Cue a wounded enemy dropping dead for no apparent reason at the start of the alien turn.
• Even if you don't have a Repeater, a lucky critical hit (or having bigger guns than the game expects at that point) can lend unintentional hilarity. The first time an ADVENT MEC shows up, Lily warns you that it's heavily armored and you'll have to look for weak points... only for your sharpshooter to blow it to pieces with a single shot.
• The Creator Cameos of the developers in the character pool. Not only is their mere existence humorous in itself, the humorous descriptions alluding to how they quit their day jobs to work for XCOM are hilarious as well. As the cherry on top, the avatar for the director of the game? Jake "Teardrinker" Solomon.
• Some of the random operation names are just funny in and of themselves, regardless of what happens. Operation Little Skies? Operation Moon Stank or Death Stank?
  • Operation Fallen Snake somehow ended with a Viper sprawled conveniently in an ADVENT scan tower's spotlight during the mission summary screen.
  • While streaming, Nash had the game give him Operation Bone Tower and Operation Steaming Serpent, only one mission separating the two. Nash, and the chat, were both bewildered and extremely amused.
  • Then sometimes the names are designed to make you think Failure Is the Only Option, such as Operation Failed Prophecy or Operation Downward Slide.
  • Operation Iron Prophecy: Specialist survived with 1HP after taking down 4 enemies - a literal case of Made of Iron!
  • Operation Half-eaten Father: The first retaliation mission which introduced Chryssalids.
  • Then there's Operation Moon Beast.
  • There is a 1/500 chance for the word 'Chicken' to spawn in either wordpool on any mission. This leads to things such as a Base Defense mission called 'Operation Chicken Wagon◊'.
    • One particularly lucky individual ended up with 'Operation Magic Chicken'.
  • Operation Drunken Night. It was a successful Alien Facility assault. Meaning there's a smoking crater where an ADVENT outpost used to be...
  • Operation Drunken Night (another one) ... in Liverpool... with Kelly in the lead.
  • Operation Wolf Mother, Operation Moon Walker, and Operation Sweaty Shroud.
  • Operation Half-dead Doom - 4/5 of the team was seriously wounded - one had to be carried off the field.
  • Operation Swamp Stank. Avenger defence mission. Took place in the desert.
  • Operation Witch Slap. Hilarious on its own, epic when you take down your first Avatar on it.
  • Operation Death Star. Which also happened to be a rescue mission from an ADVENT cell at the time.
  • Operation Giant Snake. First appearance of vipers in that playthrough.
  • Operation Faceless Breath. No faceless were present, but the Berserker Queen was... until she got killed by a repeater from a specialist.
  • Operation Night Fall... a daytime mission.
  • Operation Purple Cobra. What's next, Operation Average Joe?
  • Operation Half-eaten Omen, a Disabled UFO.
  • Operation Pungent Widow, rescuing a female V.I.P from a cell. Presumably she'd been in there for a while.
  • Operation Hot Priest had the Female Psionic kill most of the opposition.
  • In defiance of odds, three missions in a row from the random name god:
    Operation Spider Killer
    Operation Hammer Killer
    Operation Spider Hammer
  • Operation Hammer Blade.
  • Operation Peaceful Murder.
  • Operation Faceless Tears.
  • Operation Senseless Death◊.
  • Operation Drunken Night: Attacking the Warlock's stronghold.
  • Operation Sleeping Sleep.
  • Operation Romantic Solution.
  • Operation Bone Hole.
  • Operation Rush-hour Warpath.
  • Operation Moist Tongue.
  • Operation Northern Gods◊. In Australia.
  • Another one from Nash's most recent playthrough: Operation Swamp Hole. Apparently nobody looked out a window when they named it.
  Nash: "Do you see a swamp anywhere in this desert?"
  • Operation Starving Feast.
• Names for V.I.Ps are also randomized, which can result in combinations such as Holly Wood.
• In the ending, resistance broadcasts are shown across the globe as giving instructions to those who want to resist and reporting the events happening around the globe... as well as an extremely nervous-looking ADVENT newscaster urging citizens to remain under curfew.
• Yes, characters can take fall damage. It's often quite funny. What's even more hilarious is if ADVENT do it to themselves, as many of the structures in terror missions are quite flimsy. Watching them set fire to those structures with their A-team firing, climb onto them, then go crashing to the ground a turn later before you've even properly detected them is rather amusing. One YouTuber's soldier did to himself when trying to kill an ADVENT trooper who was right below him.
  • It gets more hilarious if in a terror mission, you shot a ADVENT trooper by Overwatch and missed... But your shot still breaks the roof of the building that trooper was moving around from right under them, causing them to randomly ragdoll as they die from the fall if they're at low HP.
• Eurogamer tries to figure out what the ADVENT soldiers are saying. Emphasis on "tries."
  ADVENT Officer: Hug that shit!
• Greg Foertsch, Firaxis' art director, requested a gun that shoots pigeons. So someone modded one in.
• Occasionally your sharpshooters will make a shot so incredible even they can't believe it. Their "did you just see that?" reaction is hilarious, especially as it usually comes moments after you've watched an alien or ADVENT trooper get ragdolled in slow-motion.
  • On that note, one of the possible lines of killing an enemy with a pessimistic squad member is beautiful gem of Black Comedy at how vastly outnumbered XCOM is this time around
    "Hard Luck" Trooper: One down, thousands to go...
  • This line becomes even more hilariously apt when it's said in a mission versus the Lost in War of the Chosen, which literally involves an innumerable zombie horde.
• Just like the last game, if you stay in the Avenger long enough, your personnel will occasionally say humorous things.
  • One of them is Bradford admitting that "The new uniform isn't bad, considering, but sometimes I do miss that damn sweater."
  • Other lines discuss Central's flying.
    Tygan: Maybe we should find someone else to fly the Avenger. I'm never going to get any work done if Mr. Bradford can't keep the ship steady.
    Shen: I wish we had a simulator for Bradford to practice on. If he crashes this ship I might just hand him over to ADVENT myself.
    Bradford: I hear a lot of people complaining about my flying, but no one stepping forward to take over... except for the autopilot.
  • After playing a map featuring a suspicious meat-packing plant, Bradford can be heard grumbling that if he ever finds out who's been leaving "ADVENT Burger" wrappers under his desk, there'll be hell to pay.
  • Tygan admits that the one thing he misses from life in the alien-controlled cities are those "damn juicy ADVENT Burgers," even if he doesn't want to know what they're made out of. He might also chime in when you're using the Photobooth to request that you tell your soldiers to "pose near an ADVENT Burger menu... For Science!, of course."
  • With the War of the Chosen expansion, there's a resistance radio broadcast that's more of a "help wanted" offer.
    Resistance Radio: Huh, now this looks interesting. I've got a special request here from one of our donors. It reads: "An intriguing offer for your listeners. I will triple the standard price for every ADVENT Burger they can deliver to this location in the remote territories." Name's a bit scribbled, it's hard to read - Tegan? Tagan? Tilgan? Tygan? Guy's not winning any awards for penmanship, I'll tell you that.
  • Burger obsession aside, Tygan can come across as the Only Sane Man compared to the others' comments in the Photobooth.
    Tygan: If anything, I fear we're making it easier for them to catalog our people.
  • Another one of said resistance broadcasts can get a little too personal.
    Resistance Radio: I probably shouldn't mention this on the air, but... woo, I've got a serious crush developing for that mysterious Commander running things over at XCOM. I'm not sure if I'm talking about a man or a woman here, but still... have you seen what's been going on?! Just today, he or she kicked the hell out of some ADVENT goons like it was just another day at the park! Ooh, ooh, OOH!
  • Another hits a bit too close to home for someone else on the bridge.
    Resistance Radio: I got a buddy out there working closely with XCOM, let's call him... Middle Officer Stanford. So my friend, Stanford, is out there in the wilds for twenty years, trying to scrape together this Resistance organization without much luck. XCOM is in shambles, his best buddy is captured, the aliens blew up their base, and Brad- I mean, Stanford, is depressed, right? Oh, hold up... looks like this is "to be continued...".
  • One Resistance Radio broadcast is nothing but a cheerful Jingle for ADVENT Burgers, while others are a bit more morbid.
    Resistance Radio: ADVENT Burger, serving humanity! ... With a side of fries.
    Resistance Radio: ADVENT Burger, where the customer is always right ... between the buns!
  • Another is a recruitment offer, of sorts.
    Resistance Radio: Hey out there, Resistance psychos! Do you crave the excitement of battle? Are you eager to get back at the aliens for all the horrible things they've done to our planet? Well have I got news for you! All you need to do is visit your local city center, and shoot your nearest ADVENT peacekeeper in the face. Do your part today!
• One of the preorder bonuses was two soldiers who supposedly were ranking officers from pre-Invasion XCOM. If you look at their biographies, they were around seven to ten years old at that time.
• When the Speaker starts his speech during the Retaliation Mission cutscene, cutting into the conversation he was having with Den Mother, Bradford just rolls his eyes and scoffs. The scene becomes less funny when a tech informs him of Troop Transports heading towards the Resistance haven.
• Several of the mods- specifically the voice packs- are hilarious to use. For instance:
  • The Freeman's Mind voicepack, which takes a twenty-seven year old scientist and neurotic individual through the front lines of the war against the Combi- I mean ADVENT. Most notably, if a soldier with this voice pack gets mind-controlled, they'll start spouting lines from the Machinima's Talk Like a Pirate episode.
  • The Bob Ross voice pack (yes, seriously)- he's so calm and serene when shooting a Sectopod to death that it lapses into absolute psychopathy. The official Bob Ross Youtube channel noticed, and played along.
  • A Tygan voice pack mod. Intriguing. "I could not have predicted those DAMN JUICY ADVENT BURGERS.".
  • Jake Solomon voice pack, because THAT'S XCOM BABY!
  • Continuing the tradition started by The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Macho Man Randy Savage enters the fray, ooh yeah!
  • In short the game becomes an extremely hilarious crossover once you installed a lot of voice packs, from a team consisting of The Heavy, Nathan Drake, The Patriarch and Trevor Phillips, to an army where everyone talks like Tommy Wiseau.
  • There are voice mods for SPARKS as well, including for several Transformers characters. It's hilarious and surreal having your team led by Optimus Prime (and if you made several SPARKS, be accompanied by Bumblebee, Ratchet, and Arcee), or sending out a SPARK-only squad consisting of Megatron, Starscream, and Soundwave.
• Gatekeepers are bastards, they're like giant, white, zombie-raising, psionic wrecking balls - until you get them panicked, that is. Then all the Nightmare Fuel goes out the window as the Gatekeeper starts pissing itself.
• During the Sectopod and Gatekeeper autopsies, the subjects are so large that they more than take up the autopsy table and Tygan has to stand on top of the body, saw spinning.
• Naming soldiers after celebrities or or fictional characters is pretty popular, but can result in unintentional humor when a ranger you named Solid Snake gets killed by a Sectopod.
• Several of the descriptions for items you buy at the Black Market are quite funny.
  Elerium Crystals: This shiny dust is some sort of miracle energy source. Good for an extra pick-me-up in your coffee too.
  Supplies: Stealing is such a harsh word for what we did in that Advent supply depot last night. Harsh but accurate.
• With the Anarchy's Children DLC, players quickly discovered that they could strip their soldiers down to their boxers◊. Cue XCOM's roster becoming an elite, alien-fighting Walking Shirtless Scene.
• From the Alien Hunters DLC is Central complaining "Why did it have to be Vipers?".
  • And then, when the second alien shows up, absolutely everyone questions Vahlen's decision to create a bigger, badder Berserker. Even Tygan's autopsy report asks why this thing exists.
  • Vahlen says she wishes the Commander had been around to stop her. In other words, she says she should've exercised restraint.
• Julian from the Shen's Last Gift DLC is basically a male version of GLaDOS crossed with a supervillain, and he knows it.
  • Get bogged down fighting the endlessly-spawning enemies in the first phase of the mission?
    Julian: This is taking too long. How much ammunition did you bring along? I'd like to get on with my life.
  • Then when you enter the second part of the level:
    Bradford: Power levels increasing all around you, Shen. Stay alert.
    Julian: Yes, it goes without saying that you're walking into a trap, Lily. Please try not to damage yourself too much.
    Shen: (sighting turrets) Think we've got a problem.
    Julian: Yes, that would be that trap I mentioned earlier.
  • As you approach the next objective:
    Bradford: Getting a much stronger read on the source of your father's transmission, Lily. Almost as if he wants us to find it.
    Julian: Another keen observation. How is it possible humanity lost the war?
    Bradford: Shen, isn't there some sort of mute button on this thing?
  • As you escape his Deadly Gas trap:
    SPARK-01: The elevators near the atmospheric control console provide direct access to the roof.
    Julian: Thank you for announcing your next move. And I am the flawed program?
  • As you run another gauntlet:
    Bradford: That thing's just gonna keep throwing units at you until you're surrounded. You gotta get outta there!
    Julian: You continue to impress me, Bradford. No wonder it only took you two decades to find your precious Commander.
  • During the portion on the second floor of the factory, Julian comments that XCOM's efforts are "actually starting to... piss me off. The sensation is quite pleasant, thank you. You will all still die, of course."
  • When you prepare to make your escape:
    Bradford: Firebrand's on approach now. Prep for evac!
    Shen: No argument here! We'll reposition near the landing pad.
    Julian: (disappointed sigh) You do realize I can still hear you, right? Dispatching all units to your location now. Try not to bleed on my new body.
  • Even after you defeat him in battle, you can choose to install Julian in a SPARK body, prompting a special bit of dialogue:
    Julian: Do you actually think I will help you?... Because I would love to! I will serve XCOM and comply with all operational directives as indicated by Chief Engineer Lily Shen! Wait! What was that? What have you done to me?! How could you... Awaiting command.
  • This results in one of the sassiest, snarkiest units on the battlefield.
    (after being shot at unsuccessfully) Requesting kill order on the one SHOOTING ME!
    (being damaged) I. AM. MADE. OF. ME-TAL.
    (low ammo) Guns fire bullets, or light, and sometimes plasma... did I mention I need ammo?!
    (missing a shot) You'd almost think I was human.
    (on Overwatch) Sounds like a job for a turret! \ I stood still for 20 years, I'm sure I can handle this.
    (dashing) STOMP. STOMP! STOMP!
    (dashing while Concealed) Look! A giant mechanical ninja!
    (losing Concealment) I'm a GIANT ROBOT, what's your excuse?!
    (using Overdrive)' OVERDRIVE!! ...Sorry.
    (makes a kill) If only ADVENT knew my actual body count. \ Do we have a leaderboard of some sort?
  • Even the regular SPARK gets in on this. Mostly due to how calm and soft spoken it is as it mows down everything you point at.
    SPARK: I apologize for your untimely death.
• Courtesy of Christopher Odd comes the most epic XCOM 2 campaign ever. One turn, one normal shot, three overwatch shots. Two overwatch shots hit, no kills. The aliens kill a soldier on their first shot - panicking another soldier who promptly throws a grenade that kills the rest of his own squad. The aliens then proceed to kill him. Game over.
  • One of the soldiers from the above campaign showed up in the character pool for the next one. Specificaly the guy that killed his teammates, who was nicknamed "Squadwipe" and trained as a grenadier. In honour of his previous service.
• Counting as a CMOA, too, this video shows an XCOM squad ending an Avenger Defense mission in 2 turns. How? One of the turrets missed a shot and hit the target on the other side of the map.
  • The comments are not an exception. Examples include "That might be the luckiest thing I've ever seen happen in a XCOM game.", "You just used all the luck you had available for the rest of your life" and "I miss 5 98% shots within 24 hours of playing and this mother fucker pulls this shite off".
  • And to clarify: missed shots can't actually hit targets like the disruptor that's keeping the Avenger on the ground. What they can hit is environmental hazards like gas tanks and the like. What actually happened is that the shots missed their target and hit an explosive environmental hazard that the aliens set up the disruptor next to. One has to imagine they were kicking themselves as they watched the Avenger fly away.
• One mod brought back Vahlen's complaining about explosive use. Cue comments full of PTSD.
• When the Avatar Project is first uncovered, Bradford places its marker in the middle of the ocean as a placeholder, its true location being unknown at the time. Come the final mission, the Avatar Project facility is revealed to be located... in the middle of the ocean.
• Shen's response to your first encounter with a Gatekeeper: "This one is uniquely graceful compared to the other species we've seen.". Just after she says it, the Gatekeeper demolishes half of a building with its face.
• In the final mission, there's an area where the aliens apparently tried to recreate a human household in order to train Faceless. In it, one can find this. That's right. A drawing of a Sectoid taking a Chryssalid out for a walk.
  • You can also sometimes find it in civilian houses during normal missions too.
  • What makes' it funnier is the implication of finding it in the final mission, that means a faceless drew it! probably pretending to be a child.
• Nothing quite says "U Mad, ayys?" like planting the X4 charges on an Alien Facility, immediately calling the Skyranger for evac and getting away on the same turn. One can almost imagine the facility commander going, "You'll pay for this, Captain Pla"-BOOM!
• During the Alien Hunters DLC, Tygan will remark he would like to meet Dr. Vahlen to understand why she chose to do research by creating three super aliens. In fact, most of Tygan's reactions to Vahlen's experiments come off as him trying really hard to remain polite and hide how shocked he is at her irresponsibility.
• At the end of the ADVENT Network Tower mission, the sheer dissonance between the Speaker saying mankind are about to receive the greatest gifts of the Elders and the hijacked video behind him showing ADVENT carrying out a Retaliation is appallingly black humour.
• It can be pretty amusing to have a hard-fought mission end unceremoniously because the last alien has succumbed to a damage over time tick or an environmental hazard exploded next to them.
  • War of the Chosen makes it even funnier when the Chosen try to encourage their subordinates at the start of the ADVENT turn
    Hunter: Alright team, let's get this done.
    ADVENT unit: keels over and dies from poison.
• Taking Overwatch shots results in Bullet Time effects. Some enemies can jump multiple floors In a Single Bound. This can result in one of said enemies doing a super jump into range of XCOM soldiers on Overwatch, time slowing down as they dramatically rise into view while your soldiers take Overwatch shots... and then their remains still dramatically falling back down in slo-mo if they get killed by said Overwatch shots.
• Animation interactions can sometimes be... interesting. Like your Grenadier unloading his cannon at point-blank range into a Berserker's crotch.
• Proximity mines, if used properly can be a great source of hilarity.
  1. Find enemy reinforcement flare.
  2. Place proximity mine.
  3. Laugh as they disembark onto the mine and get blown to hell.
  • Variation if you've not got a mine and have cleared the area, move a Ranger or Templar with Bladestorm onto the flare. Just hope there's no Purifier in that pod, or that the Bladestormer has Fortress...
  • You can also have a lot of fun preparing a landing zone for ADVENT with the special grenades available from the Proving Ground.
    Beaglerush: Alright, I'm gonna try something fucked-up for this reinforcement pod. So don't judge me. (Evil Laugh, fwoomp) Acid... (fwoomp) Gas... (fwoomp) Incendiary... With your powers combined, I'm a warcrime! Cap-tain Warcrimes, he's... a real dick... really need to try him at the Hague~
• A possible reaction from a Reaper who is revealed after shooting is to exclaim "It must have been one of you!"
  • Another Reaper line, when the squad enters concealment: "The secret is, stay quiet."
• War of the Chosen gives a glorious example after Pratal Mox opted for a... creative means of eliminating a veritable army of ADVENT forces.
  Mox: The Lost. The sounds of combat excite them.
  Bradford: And you just blew up a fuel truck?!
• Meta example. The Chosen possess Resurrective Immortality, and return no matter how many times they are killed. The aliens weaponized the same Save Scumming players have been using against them for years!
• A possible name for a Chosen? Wholename Mixedcase.
• The official XCOM 2 Twitter publicly acknowledges the existance of a certain fanservice-y rendition of a Viper. In character.
• The official XCOM YouTube channel posts a remix of Vahlen's infamous explosives and restraint line with a mixture of Enemy Unknown and XCOM 2 footage.
• The Archon, after having screamed, nods his head with his mouth closed in a fashion as if to say "Take that!"
• Combining the shirtless torso option from Anarchy's Children, Bradford's appearance in one of the default character pools, and the War of the Chosen Photobooth feature, you can create some Beefcake◊ Central posters, which can appear in missions and on the Avenger. And Bradford approves!
• In the War of the Chosen DLC, Bradford references his constant talking in the games when the Chosen become active and harass you while both in the AO and in the Avenger:
  Bradford: And you thought I talk too much, Commander. How about those Chosen, huh?
• One possible environmental object that can be found on maps is a statue holding a banana.
• When you enter the bar, you often hear from Resistance Radio. Sometimes it's simple random chatter, but there are some gems...
  • One story has him discuss a friend of his who to protect his identity refers to as "Middle Official Stanford", describing how he got drunk after his buddy was kidnapped. Then he let's slip with a "So Brad... uh, Stanford..., but the story is cut off by ADVENT showing up.
  • There's one transmission where he explains that there's no music on the Resistance Radio station because "ADVENT's pretty much got all the good stuff locked down these days". He attempts to hum a few bars but quickly gives up. And then there's this one:
  Announcer: And here's a classy number courtesy of our XCOM forces in the field. (plays the sound of aliens dying) I never get tired of hearing that.
• One that doubles as a moment of awesome: during ChristopherOdd's assault on the Assassin's stronghold, he commands the Reaper Tao Zhao to use his Banish ability on the Assassin. Tao Zhao misses with his first shot, which prompts the Assassin to taunt him...only to get wasted the moment she finishes her sentence because Tao Zhao's Repeater activated on the next shot.
  Assassin: Surely you can do better?
  Executed!!!
• One of the Warlock's possible lines: "The unknown enemy is within."
• Ryan from Achievement Hunter, JackSepticEye and TheUrsinus1 independently had mishaps involving a mission-critical NPC, an ability that pulls an enemy into convenient stabbing range, and an enemy that explodes when they die.
• Adding to the list of Epic Fails: Shooting the floor out from under your comrades.
• The "facial expressions" on Gremlin drones gives a small amusing bit in the cutscene where Shen and Tygan are preparing to send Rover through the portal.
  Tygan: I'm sure your... device will be fine.
  Rover: <sharply turns to Tygan with an extremely annoyed squint>
• Some clever sod made a Red Dwarf voice pack for the game.
  Heavy: <with the voice of Lister, firing a grenade> What I lacked technically, I made up for in loudness.
  Ranger: <with the voice of Cat, being ordered into overwatch> You can't tell me how to play this game!
  Sniper: <with the voice of Rimmer, while evacuating from the field> I'm not one for long farewell speeches, but... see ya!
• Ana Ramirez is revealed to have been a guerilla specialist during the TLP mission to rescue her, and in it, Bradford wonders how the aliens were able to catch up with a Stealth Expert like her. At first he assumes someone in her camp must have sold her out, before Bradford changes his mind and decides that her training camp's "overuse of improvised explosives" attracted too much attention. In other words, Ramirez's troops should have exercised restraint when using explosives.
• One Legacy Op concerns the defection and extraction of Dr. Tygan. It's the only time he's seen in a gameplay scenario, allowing us to finally see his callsign: Hamburgler.
  • In the same scenario, Bradford admits that if Vahlen hadn't gone missing, they probably wouldn't have taken the risk of recruiting Tygan. "Don't tell him I said that, though."
• In the final Legacy Ops mission, you must infiltrate a secret ADVENT facility to retrieve what Tygan describes as an "object of power" that was taken from XCOM's original base. Your squad fights their way to a stasis tube. Bradford opens it, and a smile creeps across his face when he sees the contents. Throughout the mission it's implied due to the stasis pod and the eerie purple glow when opening said pod that it might be a powerful psionic like Annette Durand or The Volunteer. It's his old sweater.
• Sometimes, enemy actions can get civilians running on their own in Retaliation missions. Sometimes, running civilians get shot by enemies on Overwatch. Sometimes, said civilians happen to be Faceless in disguise. Sometimes, a faceless gets outright killed by Friendly Fire.
• Putting a soldier in the R.A.G.E. suit and sending them into a mission where Berserkers are present can cause Berserkers to panic when they see the soldier in question. Nothing quite like a gargantuan beast shitting itself and running for cover upon seeing a puny human wearing the skin of its queen.

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