
This time, it isn't Bradford's fault, and they die out of their own carelessness.
Author's Saving Throw: Just like in the previous game, a good number of soldiers die in the scripted tutorial to demonstrate the high stakes of the game. The game in general feels like you're constantly being interrupted when you're on the strategy layer, and the repetitive dialog lines from Bradford, Tygan and Shen do not help this one bit. An entire mod called "Shut Up Bradford" was released to get him to talk less during missions, but he still interrupts you whenever the Avatar Project progresses. Annoying Video-Game Helper: Bradford just won't shut up, interrupting you to tell you when civilians are dying during retaliation missions, confirming that the thing that's your objective is your objective, and stopping your scanning dead for a good twenty seconds to tell you that the Avatar Project is progressing.
Of course, given ADVENT's methods, XCOM still comes off as more moral by default no matter what.
Alternative Character Interpretation: As a reddit post points out, XCOM are now either a heroic resistance against earth's occupation, or a terrorist organization who, while having noble goals, will stop at nothing to see them through, collateral damage, civilian casualties and ensuing chaos be damned. Accidental Innuendo: The PsiOp's line "My lance pierces all!", occasionally shouted in all its hammy glory when they use their Null Lance ability, may elicit a chuckle or two if the PsiOp in question happens to be male.