Watch a whole load of XCOM 2: War of the Chosen

You and I can't play the big new XCOM 2 [official site] expansion War of the Chosen until August but we can now watch a gert chunk of it. We've got aaages to wait before we can recruit new factions and classes to our cause while taking down new enemies in new areas. But after several weeks of coughing up small trailers focusing on individual classes and enemies in the expansion, 2K have opened the marketing floodgates and let sites such as our business chums Eurogamer post huge preview videos. Here, watch 80 minutes:

80 minutes of XCOM 2: War of the Chosen gameplay (Chris plays with the developer!) Watch on YouTube

That's Eurogamer's Chris Bratt playing along with designer Jake Solomon.

Or, if you're in a hurry, 2K have their own four-minute "gameplay walkthrough" (stretching the term a little) giving a brief look at similar shenanigans:

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen – Lost and Abandoned Gameplay Walkthrough [International] Watch on YouTube

Oh, but who are these mysterious foes? A handful of unique new enemies are added in the expansion, most notably the alien Chosen who are a bit like Nemeses in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. They're powerful minibosses who can return in later battles with new abilities if you don't truly destroy them. Meet the Assassin:

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen - Inside Look: The Assassin Watch on YouTube

And the Warlock:

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen - Inside Look: The Warlock Watch on YouTube

And a third who doesn't have their own trailer yet. Sorry, Hunter.

Joining are side will be three human(ish) factions who, if we can befriend them, will offer the sneaky Reapers:

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen - Inside Look: The Reaper Watch on YouTube

The burly Skirmishers, who are defectors from Advent:

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen - Inside Look: The Skirmisher Watch on YouTube

And the psionic Templars, whose video is also still to come.

This is a large number of videos. If you'd rather have some good old-fashioned written words, check out Adam's preview from June, chatting with Solomon about features like the expanded Geosphere-level strategy and new Darkest Dungeon-ish character traits.

War of the Chosen is due to launch on August 29th.