Valve offers 40 percent off the Steam Controller to celebrate XCOM 2 support

By Brad Bourque February 5, 2016

xcom 2 steam controller play — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Looking forward to playing XCOM 2 from the couch? Well now you can, but there’s a bit of a catch. Firaxis today announced early access for the Steam Controller, with a set of native features that are unique to the Steam gamepad offering.

In a new post on the Steam Controller page, Valve developer Pierre-Loup A. Griffais explained the details of how the controller would actually work. There are three main features that are enabled with native controller support, mostly centered around changing the control scheme and settings of the controller based on the current state of the game.

XCOM 2's native integration allows the player to do the following with the Steam Controller:

Use a different control scheme based on the in-game situation
Experience precise and responsive 1:1 camera controls using the touchpads in the Geoscape and Tactical view
Instantly select your ability with the flexibility of the controller’s Touch Menus

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These feature are just part of the first move toward supporting the Steam Controller. Firaxis and Valve are both interested in feedback from the community in shaping future integration and support. As part of that effort, Valve is offering a 40-percent discount on the Steam Controller when purchased with XCOM 2, for a total price of $90 for both. Anyone who pre-ordered the game can take advantage of the discount by buying the Steam Controller separately.

The Steam Controller is more of a mouse and keyboard replacement than a gamepad. The large touchpads are the perfect platform for selecting abilities, customizing characters, and zooming around the battlefield without a lot of excessive D-Pad or joystick use.

While early adopters of Valve’s first-party gamepad option will be stoked to find their new toy will have native XCOM 2 support, this move is likely to irk some users. Over the last few years, the Xbox 360 controller has become a standard gamepad option for PC gamers. No word on whether XCOM 2 will support the Xbox 360 controller in the future, but this collaboration could help push more gamers towards the Steam option.

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Brad Bourque is a native Portlander, devout nerd, and craft beer enthusiast. He studied creative writing at Willamette…

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