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Julian Gollop, the original creator of X-COM (along with LORDS OF CHAOS and LASER SQUAD, and advising on the new Firaxis XCOM games), has announced a new X-COM-esque strategy game called PHOENIX POINT.
The game will play in a similar way to the original X-COM, with a world map from which you can organise research, recruitment and procuring equipment and then a turn-based battle mode where you fight the enemy in procedurally-generated landscapes. In a twist, there will also be procedurally-generated monsters and enemies, assembled on the fly from dozens of body parts and types to form hundreds of potential enemies.
The plot is that the melting permafrost has released a virus known as "the Mist" that mutates both people and creatures into terrible monsters. The Mist has also spread across much of the globe, destroying civilisation and reducing it to pockets surviving in Mist-free enclaves scattered over the globe. There are numerous factions of survivors, some of whom are more interested in fighting each other than the Mist, and you have to guide your faction - the titular Phoenix Point - to victory by arranging strategic alliances or even outright conquering other factions to help gather resources to drive the Mist back.
Gollop has taken inspiration from several sources: the original X-COM (and the third game, APOCALYPSE) for the strategic layer, which will be more involved and dynamic than the Firaxis games. The other factions will be fighting one another, researching and doing other stuff regardless of your actions, so if you kick back too much you might let other factions wipe one another out but you might also end up out-resourced, outnumbered and outflanked. The second inspiration is ALPHA CENTAURI, for the very different factions and their goals and ways to appear them. The third is survival horror: although the game has lots of combat and action, the monsters are disturbing and genuinely monstrous, constantly mutating and evolving to adjust to your tactics. The Mist is also active on the battlefield, capable of warping or mutating your soldiers if you don't find ways of defeating it. Some of the monsters are also absolutely huge. The final inspiration is the modern XCOM, which Gollop has praised for its approachability and accessibility, but thinks there is a way of getting a more complex and malleable game underneath. PHOENIX POINT will have at least 3 wildly different endings (possibly more) depending on how the campaign unfolds.
PHOENIX POINT's release date will apparently be in 2018 on PC, with console versions possible.
Interesting. I might just pick this up.
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Three wildly different endings??? Cool! Do we get red, green or blue again?
Remember there'll probably be an XCOM 3, maybe even in 2018. XCOM 2 has a pretty massive cliffhanger ending.
Three wildly different endings??? Cool! Do we get red, green or blue again?
Nope. Apparently it's more of a NEW VEGAS deal, where you have three major end-states and then several dozen variations to each end state depending on how you interacted with the other factions. You can win outright by conquering everyone, or win through an alliance with other factions or, er, presumably just losing. There's also different methodologies for defeating the Mist which will have different results on the endings.
It's got to be an improvement on XCOM and XCOM 2 which had one ending each, which was a bit poor. Especially when XCOM 2 (kind of) completely ignored the ending from XCOM 1.
Sort of. They implied you were captured at that point and the rest of XCOM (and ENEMY WITHIN) was you constantly rerunning the original war as a battle simulation that the aliens could learn from.
A rather brief teaser trailer. Also, they seem to have found the marketing angle for the game: "XCOM meets Lovecraft".
They've also announced that John Broomhall has been hired as the composer (he worked on the first three original X-COM games) and Jonas Kyratzes (THE TALOS PRINCIPLE) is going to do some writing for the game. Sounding pretty good so far.
The trailer is pretty brief though. Given that journalists saw a playable build a year ago, you'd think they'd put more stuff in it.
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PHOENIX POINT is on Fig now. It's already broken its crowdfunding goal (or will do so imminently) which is quite remarkable given there's 42 days to go on the schedule.
The new preview video looks stunning. The Geoscape is far more detailed and far more advanced than either of the new XCOMS and the combat looks pretty good in action.
I might look into this after it's no longer on Epic. o_O The, uh, the breaking of their promise to their backers by refusing to honor their original promise for a year after release doesn't sit too well with me, regardless of the game's quality. I do hope the final product is good, though, so I can enjoy it when I can get it elsewhere.
I might look into this after it's no longer on Epic. o_O The, uh, the breaking of their promise to their backers by refusing to honor their original promise for a year after release doesn't sit too well with me, regardless of the game's quality. I do hope the final product is good, though, so I can enjoy it when I can get it elsewhere.
You can also get it via the Microsoft Store and X-Box Game Pass (which, despite the name, works on PC as well).
I go back and forth on this, especially as their social media guy was a total arse on how this was handled. But Julian Gollop was much more apologetic and explained that Epic's offer meant that they can keep the studio open, even with expanded staff, for another 5 years even if PP doesn't sell a single copy. That's 30+ employees whose future is now all secure for half a decade, which in a very unstable and unpredictable field is a rare thing.
I think it could have been much better-handled, but I appreciated the honesty of them saying that they're doing this for their employees and their families.
The way that SHENMUE 3 is being handled is completely horrific in comparison.
Epic Store only? No thanks.
This is out now and aside from a few bugs it's pretty good. The Geoscape is far superior to XCOM/XCOM2 and you have a lot more control over what missions to do, rather than just being reactive the whole time. The action point system means you have better, granular control over your troops in battle (so you can shoot and move rather than move and shoot) and the upgrade system seems to be better. Also, having vehicles on the map to fight alongside is very cool. Having multiple bases all over the globe is also a good idea.
There are a couple of issues. The micromanagement of ammo is urgh and not fun, and they should have just jettisoned the idea. That was one big improvement by XCOM. The presentation of the game is also not really on a par with the XCOMs, which have better music and do a great job of telling you a lot of information in a simple fashion. PHOENIX POINT's UI could be better in that regard.