Phoenix Point

When I heard that Phoenix Point was somewhat of a spiritual successor to the X-Com series I knew this was a game I had to keep my eye on. Anything that has you dealing with an alien threat is cool in my book. If you are like me and like strategy games that have a real sci-fi twist to them then I suggest you keep your eye on Phoenix Point.

A Story Of Hollywood Proportions

What is really grabbing my attention is the story and the setting. In the near future, an alien virus is found frozen, but it has started to melt. Animals that were contracted by this virus were mutated! This is bad, but what was even worse was that the polar ice caps melted and the virus entered the ocean which then infected every single creature in there.

To make matters worse, these creatures came onto land and due to a “mist” people and animals on land were affected too. In the year 2047, mankind is on the brink of extinction expect for a few factions that are scattered around.

The Factions

Phoenix Project is the main one and who you start the game playing as. These are the most like the “government” and want to keep the world safe. Disciples of Anu are kind of a cult and they look to this virus as something to do with an alien god that they worship. New Jericho is a military kind of force that wants to fight the creatures head-on with powerful force. Synedrion is the most advanced of the factions and wants to build a better humanity out of the disaster that the world finds itself in.

Each faction has their own motivations, skills, abilities, and personality and they all sound very different. As well as fighting the threat of extinction from the alien virus and creatures, you will have to deal with these other factions in trading and also trying to get resources before they do.

Combat!

The combat is what will probably make or break Phoenix Point. In this early stage, it is hard to get super in-depth about it, but it does look very similar to what the last few X-Com games offered. This means that it is a tactical strategy game where you need to manage your resources, make new stuff and also deal with other people.

It sounds like it is going to be very in-depth and also a lot of fun. I can see many people, myself included sinking hundreds of hours into this game!

Mutating Aliens!

One of the things that sounds very interesting to me is the way the aliens can mutate and evolve as you progress. This sounds very interesting and if you try to keep using the same tactics to fight them, they will evolve, learn how to counter this and you will be in trouble!

This forces you to keep on learning new skills and abilities to fight off the aliens as they evolve.

Phoenix Point is shaping up to be a fantastic and action-packed strategy game. I really hope that the gameplay is going to be as exciting as the story is. For fans of strategy games, this one here simply must be on your radar.

Anticipation Score: 8/10

Pros:

• A very cool sci-fi story
• Each faction is very, very different
• The way the aliens can evolve is really cool
• Lots of new abilities to learn as you play
• Combat looks to be a lot of fun

Cons:

• It may have a steep learning curve
• Will the aliens mutating make them overpowered?