When comparing Age of Empires II HD vs XCOM 2, the Slant community recommends Age of Empires II HD for most people. In the question“What are the best singleplayer games on Steam?” Age of Empires II HD is ranked 22nd while XCOM 2 is ranked 25th. The most important reason people chose Age of Empires II HD is:
While the graphics are slightly outdated, they were very well done for their time. And when combined with the history behind the game and its wonderful soundtrack, the game comes across as extremely polished.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Awesome ambiance with a great finish
While the graphics are slightly outdated, they were very well done for their time. And when combined with the history behind the game and its wonderful soundtrack, the game comes across as extremely polished.
Pro Runs on very old computers
As this game is quite old, requiring only a 1.2GHZ processor and 1 Gigabyte of RAM, this title will run on older PC's and laptops alike without issue.
Pro Facilitates the user's preferred pace
This game neither gives the impression of being thrown to the wolves nor that of being left stranded on an island. Whether you want to move slowly and steadily through the game or take things at a more heightened pace, Age of Empires 2 will allow for both (given a little planning).
Pro It's fun to manage your squad
One of the main aspects of XCOM 2 is preparing your squad for each mission. You need to consider the terrain, objective, and enemy types. Based on these you'll select the appropriate soldiers, weapons, and gadgets. A lot of the missions have some leeway, so you'll be able to form a squad that fits your playstyle. It can either be a group of stealthy rangers, running in with machetes to surprise the enemy. Or it can be a group sharpshooters, allowing you to systematically clear the area from afar with sniper rifles.
After each successful mission/kill your soldiers will earn experience. With enough experience you'll be able to promote them and earn learn new skills. You can also research new weapons and build them. A lot of it comes down to looting alien technology and reverse engineering it back at the base.
All these things add up and it's really exciting watching your soldiers grow into unstoppable killing machines.
Pro Makes you feel more for your characters than most character driven games
One of the more fun parts about this game is managing your squad. You can customize the looks, voices, and even names of your soldiers. As you take your soldiers on missions you'll get attached to them. This will create a lot of tense moments when your soldiers are about to die and you desperately try to save them.
If you decide to input the names of your friends or family, multiply the tension by ten.
Pro Excellent suspense
Throughout the campaign you'll always be running against the clock. You have a limited window of time to save humanity before the aliens take over completely. Successful missions only set them back slightly. Unsuccessful missions set you back significantly. It always feels like you're in an uphill struggle and failing means the end. It always feels like you're not gaining an advantage and the aliens have something else in store. This is reinforced in the missions. You never know what type of aliens there will be or what their reinforcements will bring. Encountering new species makes you fear for the well-being of your squad. It's rare for a game to keep you feeling like this.
Cons
Con A lack of proper User Interface scaling makes a clunky UI worse
While this is a remastered edition of a classic Real-Time Strategy title, the UI was left largely unchanged. Selecting workers still prompts you to click buttons to bring up both economic and military buildings, then choosing whichever building you wish to construct. This is uninteresting design and makes the UI difficult to navigate.
On top of this, the game does not feature UI scaling. Since the game is bound to your current desktop display settings, the UI will adjust itself to match that resolution. This means if you play at 4K resolution the User Interface will be absurdly small, making it near impossible to see what buildings you wish to construct or what units you want to train. This is counter-intuitive design, for this era of modern gaming, and makes properly playing the game more of a hassle than it should ever be.
Con Age of Empires II HD is an unsuccessful remaster due to its outdated graphics
With the only notable upgrade being high resolution options, Age of Empires II HD fails at being a proper remaster. While higher resolutions give the game a slight face lift, the rest of the engine is left largely unchanged. This means the graphics we see in this remaster are nearly the same in its original 1999 release. Due to this, the game is grating to the eye and does not deliver on its high definition promise.
Con Demanding on hardware
Will not run on low-end graphics cards like the GeForce GT 740M or the HD Graphics 4600 / 5600.
Con Complaints about the new launcher
Sadly the Steam rating has dropped because of the new launcher, problems can be solved however: XCOM 2 How to Bypass the 2k Launcher without External Files or Configuration Guide.
Con Steep learning curve
XCOM 2 is not just about managing a squad of soldiers, you also have to manage your base and operations on a global scale. This includes managing your resources, identifying which missions you should prioritize, and allocating research for new technologies. It might take a while to learn everything needed to fully enjoy this game, especially on higher difficulties.