Skip XCOM 2 Loading Screens Using The Caps Lock Key

Loading times are the bane of virtually every gamer. There were times when you could get a lot accomplished in the time that it took a level to load. Thankfully PC gamers using SSDs have been treated to significantly faster load times, due to the increased read/write times on the drives. But in a recent game, there appears to be a really strange way to speed those pesky loading screens on their way.

In XCOM 2, when you complete a mission, you get a screen that gives you a recap of the mission stats and such. The screen will hang out for upwards of 30 seconds or more, giving you more than ample time to breeze through them, and possible run to the other room to grab a drink. It's the sort of thing that's annoying, but it's just part of how the game works, and you accept it. But it turns out that you don't have to wait around for it to finish.

If you come to that mission recap screen, and you've gotten all of the information you care to soak in, you can just press the Caps Lock key to continue. That's right, the same button you press when you want to yell at people online will speed up the loading screen significantly. In fact, if you watch the video below, pressing the Caps Lock key right away leads to the screen going away in just a few seconds, as opposed to 30.

The developer has actually responded to this discovery, and has an explanation for it. "Hitting the key, through a rube-goldberg-esque series of events, forces all outstanding load requests to be filled immediately in a single frame. This causes a massive hitch, and potentially could crash the game. If you don't care about those adverse effects the synchronous load is faster."

Maybe that's not the most technical of answers, but there you have it. It might completely crash your game, but it might be better than waiting around for those pesky loading screens all day.

VIA: Eurogamer