Phoenix Point

You've earned the right to mess with the XCOM formula when you're the person chiefly responsible for it. Julian Gollop was the co-lead designer on the original XCOM: UFO Defense in 1994, and Phoenix Point, from Gollop's new studio Snapshot Games, is a...

Phoenix Point has a lot of interesting ideas to contribute to the revitalized turn-based tactics genre but many of them are in need refining and balancing. Things like managing faction relationships and disabling individual enemy body parts are great,...

At the same time, it’s woefully underdeveloped in certain areas like mission variety and base-building, and a late-game difficulty spike is so severe and unfair-feeling that it crushed the spirit of this XCOM veteran – twice. Combine that with a general lack of polish and it leaves Phoenix Point in a state that still feels very experimental and unrefined – but it’s an interesting experiment, to be sure.

Die hard fans of XCOM will likely fall in love with Phoenix Point, a hard-as-nails challenge that offers procedurally-generated replayability and a suite of tactics to help you thrive on and off the battlefield.

May not meet the legacy of its celebrated forebear X-Com, but then few games ever will. Elegant, atmospheric, and energetic, Gollop’s latest remains remarkably hard to put down.

Like XCOM, then, Phoenix Point is a gripping tactical strategy game. Like XCOM, it’s frequently lovely to look at, wonderfully tense, and there’s a lot of depth and customisation to be found in its almost endlessly replayable combat scenarios. I like most of its unique ideas – the more freeform overworld and faction setup – but that overwhelming sense of deja vu is inescapable in much of its design.

Strategically delicious, Phoenix Point’s biggest problem is lackluster technical execution.

A very capable game that excels at the strategy layer, but the tactical sphere is a bit sterile and leaves you feeling cold.

Phoenix Point successfully introduces a slew of new features and mechanics that sufficiently evolve the XCOM-inspired genre of strategy games, though is brought down by some buggy, wonky, and unbalanced implementation of some mechanics.

Not as well-styled as the playfully and visually almost identical XCOM 2, but offers more tactical depth, for example, with hit zones.

Phoenix point is a little rough around the edges, but if you manage to look past its bugs you'll be treated to one of the most nuanced and entertaining turn-based strategy games to arrive in quite some time.ProsGreat storyWonderfully intricate...