Phoenix Point was one of my most anticipated game releases of the past year or two. However, due to the fact that the developers chose to make the PC release a one year Epic Store exclusive really put me off purchasing it at launch. I buy very few games at launch, mostly due to my backlog of games, and generally only pony up for a really great concept of a game. Sadly, I'm a Steam fanboy... but more to the point, I REALLY HATE the idea of exclusives. That's something that console gamers can keep for themselves, the it doesn't sit well in the PC Gaming ethos.

Anyway, crank finished. The Epic Exclusive was only for a single year, which meant that Phoenix Point launched on Steam as the Year-One Edition with all previous DLCs and beta testing completed!

So, Phoenix Point is a XCOM clone... but not just ANY XCOM clone. This is designed and re-imagined by the ORIGINAL creator of the XCOM genre. THE JULIAN GOLLOP and his Snapshot Games studio. So, that is why it was such a big deal for people like me, who have played all the XCOM releases and clones through the intervening decades!

The Setup

The game's tutorial sets you up as a stranded and isolated soldier of the Phoenix Point team. Phoenix Point appears to be some sort of shadowy organisation that has been disbanded for some time, but the appearance of horrifying monsters from the sea has formed the basis for reactivation of this paramilitary outfit.

It is interesting to note that tutorial isn't just dealing with a face soldier making their way through scripted tasks for the player to learn the basics of the tactical game. It takes the opportunity to tell a short bit of back story about the "aliens" that have invaded and slight setting for where humanity finds itself in 2047. It's a very different society than what we have now!

In the intervening years since the present, a Pandoravirus was discovered and released from permafrost that had melted due to climate change. It turns out that animals and humans would mutate into horrible monsters upon contact with this "mist". This first wave was successfully dealt with... however, the ongoing climate crisis melted the permafrost and virus into the oceans, which is where humanity now faces it's invasion from.

Humanity is now partitioned into various enclaves spread around the world... struggling to survive against the Virus Mist and the mutated monsters that now roam the Earth.

The Game

The tactical game is very similar to every other modern XCOM clone, with cover mechanics and pools of action points for movement and active abilities. The most notable difference in the tactical game is the pool of Action Points can be divided among movement and different levels of skill abilities instead of a fixed Move/Shoot or Move/Move choice. So, 10 action points can be used for 4 movement, and 1 for a pistol shot, 2 for a rifle burst and 3 for another active skill.

This is much closer to the original XCOM from the 90s, where soldiers had a total number of points to split throughout their turn. Although it is a little less streamlined than the Move/Shoot flow, it does allow for a greater depth of tactics. I really quite enjoy it much better... but you do notice that the flow of tactical battles is slower and more thoughtful than the method that Firaxis pioneered.

The shooting mechanic is one of the areas which has been heavily overhauled. Instead of a set percentage of hit and miss, you now have two options. An automatically targeted "shoot" and manually aimed "free aim" option. The automatic shot will just target the enemy in a way that is most likely to have hits landing... regardless of where they will land.

The free aim option allows the player to aim the shots, akin to a First Person Shooter. Really, you can swing around and target whatever you like! This becomes much more useful if you are fighting tough enemies, as you will want to target individual body parts to disable abilities or to get around armour. Of course, you are always welcome to try taking down enemies the hard way (auto shots...) but expect much pain and frustration!

A point of interest, when an enemy is obscured or invisible, you can still free-aim where you think they are... and let fly in the dark! Very useful!

Both options for the shooting rely on this aiming system pictured above. 100% of the shots will land in the outer circle, with 50% landing in the inner circle. The size of the circles is dependent on the skill of the shooter and the type of weapon that they are using. Each shot is traced individually, so watch your fore- and back-grounds!

This method of aiming and fire resolution is a great alternative to the completely RNG based that is employed in most of these games. It's actually a really good evolution of the system, meaning that there can be more emphasis placed on shot placement instead of a straight up hit-miss. Again, more detail but less streamlined.

The Geoscape functions in a very similar way to all the other games in this sort of genre. What is interesting it the fact that missions pop up everywhere around the world, so travel time is definitely a factor to keep in mind. Especially as you WILL have to return back to base to rest and hospitalise your soldiers. Some mission will also be out of reach, as you will need to be able to hop through a chain of known sites to get from one place to another. Nothing is worse than seeing an enclave fall because you didn't know how to get there!

Every node on the Geoscape has a number things that it could be hiding. Sometimes it will be a tactical mission, which means that you are taken to one of a range of missions. Many of the mission flavours are one where you will need to complete an objective and get out intact, with the enemy constantly arriving from the edges of the tactical map. There are very few where you are fighting to wipe out the enemy, and generally those are the defence type missions where you are on home ground.

Some of the nodes can turn out to an enclave that is affiliated to one of the Human factions that have survived the original Pandora Mist. You can trade with them, recruit or just attack them for their tech and supplies! However, you do have to be physically present with a team to interact with them.

These enclaves are the future of humanity, and they will be attacked by the monster mutants. Often, they have some ability to defend themselves... in some cases, a much better ability than your own team! However, it never hurts to have boots on the ground to help... and to pick up any bits of tech that might drop!

Other nodes will hide a text based event that will have a decision tree that will end in some sort of diplomatic, supply or tech changes. The choices do hint at potential outcomes through common sense, but sometimes, it you can be taken off guard!

That does bring us to the three human factions that each of the human enclaves follow. The Disciples of Anu (evolve with the Pandoravirus), New Jericho (Human purity and engineers) and Synderion (technology and adaptation) each emphasise a different approach for dealing with the current crisis. As usual, their goals are quite opposed, although you can juggle at least two of them for quite some time!

Each faction has it's own unique soldiers and tech tree that is unavailable to you unless you steal or kill for it... or make nice with them! And that tech is often quite a good deal better than what Phoenix Point has as it's own base.

Within each faction, there is also a divergence and power struggle in which you are called upon to mediate. For instance, Synedrion asking me to choose between repelling and confining the Mist or to eradicate and eliminate the Mist.

The base construction is very familiar, in fact you could mistake it for an updated version of the original XCOM! Unlike the Firaxis version, Phoenix Point will make you have more of a distributed network of bases rather than a single central location.

Soldiers are much more in keeping with the original vision of XCOM. They are squishy and they go down fast even if they are of high level. Firaxis turns their soldiers into unkillable machines by the late game... you never have that luxury here!

Equipment is much more detailed and granular as well.. you can mix and match pretty much anything, and you will find that you will need to quite a bit as you are constantly running up against supply constraints for engineering... and you will just have to scavenge and make do with whatever bits and pieces that you happen to have lying around!

Each soldier will have two classes that it can specialise in at full development as will as a skill tree of personal skills. It's detailed, but you will find yourself gravitating towards some preferred skills.

Research is a critical part of any XCOM-type game. What I loved about the research here was that I did find the story part of the mechanic quite compelling! There was so much that was new and unusual about the setting, and the research would also be advancing social/political discoveries in addition to the biological and engineering applications.

It's tough going though... you will have a lot to research whilst trying to hold the front!

As mentioned above, the backstory of the game is much better developed in a real political powerplay. There is much to discover about the Pandoravirus and the Factions... and how Phoenix Point fits into it all! It's a more gripping story than aliens bad, humans good.

... and those monsters... they keep evolving to change up your tactics! They grow faster, more armoured, stronger... sigh, you always have to think of new ways to most effectively take them down! It's a great challenge and a better option than just having difficulty spikes!

Visuals, Sound and Performance

The game looks and plays smoothly on the gaming laptop that I installed it on. No problems at all, and it would even run decently on battery (not mains) with the throttling that that implies.

It has a grittier art style than the XCOM remake, and I think I do like that better. Sound was unfortunately pretty unmemorable... I don't seem to recall anything good or bad about it. You do hear the monsters lurking around, but this isn't a FPS so it isn't that much help!

My Thoughts

Phoenix Point is a XCOM successor by the original developer that is much closer in style to the original game than the Firaxis remake. I LOVE the Firaxis remake, especially with the War of the Chosen DLC or Long War Mod. However, the Firaxis version does place an emphasis on streamlining at the cost of details. Other XCOM remakes have taken the details route, but have often proved to be a muddy and complicated mess.

Phoenix Point does really hit a nice middle point. Hit locations and targeting, a new story setting with a gripping story, more details in equipment... and a sense of being always vulnerable at all times. This is exactly what any old-school gamer wants in a tactical Turn-based strategy that emulates XCOM.

I love it! (PS; I still love XCOM from Firaxis as well!).

Review Specs

Played at 1080p (144Hz) on:

XMG Fusion 15

CPU: Intel Core i7-9750H
RAM: 16 GB
Storage: SSD (SATA/Nvme)
GPU: Nvidia GTX 2070 Max-Q

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