It was announced a little while back that XCOM 2 would be launching alongside multiple mods made by the very talented Long War mod team but it was never specified how many of them there would be and what they would entail.

But after a recent interview Eurogamer's Chris Bratt did with Jake Solomon from Firaxis and Johnny Lumpkin from Long War Studios we now know that the three mods coming with XCOM 2's February 5th launch are a new SMG weapon, a Muton Centurion mini boss and a new set of leadership perks. Here's the video and a more detailed explanation:

The new SMG weapon is all about promoting a more mobile playstyle. Soldiers wielding it will do less damage than with standard assault rifles but they will be able to move a lot further on the battlefield as well as sneak more efficiently. With many of XCOM 2's missions featuring stealth the SMG should be a great fit for your front-liners as it will enable them to transition from sneaking to shooting with relative ease and without heavily impacting either option.

The second mod brings with it the Muton Centurion, a mini boss type of an enemy that will start appearing in the second half of XCOM 2's campaign. He is a fair bit larger and a lot more dangerous than the standard Muton so expect to use a good amount of firepower before you can take him down. And unlike his berserking brothers the Centurion will focus on rallying and buffing his fellow aliens rather than simply charging in so if you ever meet him make sure he's your priority target.

The third and final mod coming with the launch of XCOM 2 is the new set of leadership perks. They aren't a new class for your soldiers but rather a specialization similar to Psi-Ops. However, unlike Psi-Ops you can teach any soldier leadership skills but you can only bring a single leader to a mission. What this means in gameplay terms is that you will have to decide how many eggs you want to put in one basket because adding leadership to your best soldier is an excellent idea, until that soldier dies and your squad ends up being effectively crippled because of it.

All of this is discussed in the first half of the video with the rest being a rather interesting conversation about the development of XCOM 2 and the mods themselves so if you have any interested in the development side of things I'd recommend you give it a watch.

XCOM 2 and its mods will be arriving on February 5th while the Long War Studio's stand-alone game Terra Invicta is still in pre-Kickstarter development.