Despite its retro influences, Phoenix Point isn't an appeal to nostalgia. There's less of the waiting around, although there is a lot of repetition.īut on the tactical side, things are more mixed. You're always flying off somewhere, scooping up resources, doing little side missions or trading or uncovering more areas. Overall, Phoenix Point feels more active on the strategy side. The plot ties in to the history and relations of the factions too, and it's a colourful enough ride. Uncovering the history of your own faction, the Phoenix Project, and its work are your only hope, since merely shooting monsters as they come is a losing battle. They're not the vital fortresses you'd expect from an XCOM game, and are mostly used to bridge the gap to the next plot-critical spots and triangulate Pandoran bases, which takes some getting used to conceptually. You can raid them for resources, stolen aircraft and unique technologies, but must balance all this with the main priority: protecting humanity from Pandoran attacks.īase management is surprisingly lacklustre. Some offer a side quest or recruit for hire. Many of the locations you discover are occupied by human factions who'll trade food, machine parts, or science juice. You actively explore the globe, reactivating abandoned bases, scavenging for resources, setting off flavour events with multiple choices, and chasing plot threads. With the world already wrecked, there's no sitting around waiting for invaders.

Replacing aliens with post-apocalyptic, Lovecraftian sea mutants (Pandorans) changes the structure as well as the tone, for starters. Prior to 2012's XCOM, most of those efforts were okay at best, but some were doing interesting things, and it's those things that Snapshot Games cherry picked from and formed into something fresh. Its influences include almost every effort to advance what is arguably a genre of its own since the release of its great-grandfather UFO in 1994. I like it overall, but after two and a half years of updates, it remains a frustrating game. When I got sick of Phoenix Point, I started a new game. When I (very quickly) got sick of the XCOM games, I uninstalled them. It's one of the most evenly mixed bags I've ever rummaged around in. I don't quite want to say hate, but I'm also not quite sure why. There's a lot to like about its final form. I’ve definitely enjoyed it more than on its release in 2019, and its DLC adds more to think about and manage during what were once long lull periods. This is The Rally Point, a regular column where the inimitable Sin Vega delves deep into strategy gaming.ĭo you ever feel like you're sitting down with a game like a worried parent, saying 'I just don't know what to do with you?' Because that's how I feel about Phoenix Point after the last few months of playing it on and off.

Jelly party panic