You know, I love Phoenix Point. I've bought it with the expansion pass on Epic first, and spent about 150+ hours there, completing the game by all possible ways. Took a year and half pause and then bought it again on Steam, in ‘Year One’ full edition, of course. And completed it again. Then, I waited ‘till the last so far DLC ‘Kaos Engines’, and played it even more. That really contradicts my usual gameplay time, when I start the game, even some nice one, play it for 10-20 hours most, and then lose my interest somewhere half-way to the ending.

And, with that, I really hate Phoenix Point, for being too rigid and all too chaotic simultaneously, somewhere in the second, presumably better, part of the game.

First things first. I love Phoenix Point, as much as I love all that tactical genre, where some small squad of elite operatives can really change the fate and the future, by making the right moves on the battlefield. The keywords here: ‘the right moves’. Firaxis XCOM wasn't that great, because it devalued the price of the strategical part of all the games in the genre, starting from original (Julian Gollop's) X-Com and (Sir-Tech's) Jagged Alliance. All in favour of some ‘dramatic moments’, when your most skilled assault specialist suddenly miss the 95% shotgun blast, standing right in front of some really nasty alien monster. Three times in a row. On that end, Phoenix Point is in the totally better position, with its realistic ballistic system, which actually counts all the projectiles, and not throwing dices on your success every time... And it goes deeper than just shooting! You see, in the Firaxis XCOM, there was something even worse than that randomness in shooting. It was an intended busting balls idea that player can only choose one mission out of three given. Achieve something only by sacrificing something else. It's not the worst idea, in principle. But only until the moment when you already have more than enough resources to build several interceptors and transports, and enough operatives to send them on every mission around the globe! By that point, the idea of picking only one mission out of every three, really outlives itself. Luckily, Phoenix Point made it much more fair, traditional way, where you can control how fast you develop your zone of responsibility, and react to every threat accordingly. Surely, you'll not have enough to catch all the stones everywhere... But it'll never be that burden on your consciousness, ‘you chose to save New York, but let Toronto and Mexico burnt’, every goddarn hour of the game.

Also, one more thing for which I revere Phoenix Point, goes for enemies modifications. Sure, there are not that many types of them... But only until we see them for the first month or so. Then, there'll be some controlled mutations, reacting on the way you play the battles. Shoot more - and face heavily-armored grunts with machine guns, who'll be returning fire on you, or shielded bullet-sponges. Try a melee tactic - and meet snipers, which will turn on ninja mode after any hit received. Good luck finding them afterwards! Before they shot you, I mean.

Oh, well, there are more good things I could possibly say for Phoenix Point, but I can summarize them in a sentence ‘a profound tactical and strategical XCOM game experience, much better than Firaxis approach in general’.

But... There is also a point of view from which Firaxis XCOM still performs much, MUCH better than Phoenix Point. See, we have an AAA game on one end, and somewhat successful but still a bit underdeveloped indie on the other, in that inescapable
comparison almost every review makes with Phoenix Point. And our contestant here not only lacks some polish. It also lacks bling! It lacks the long chains of missions, where every map of the battlefield is not a generic one, but actually hand-crafted and thoroughly staged, to achieve somehow unique experience! At least, for a first time when you play it...

Yeah, by that part, Phoenix Point actually closer to the Xenonauts - somehow a nice game on its own, but really too prolonged and self-repeating for its own good. However, the developers of Phoenix Point have an answer on that weakness! Sure, the levels in the game are procedurally-generated, but not all of them!

There are plenty of unique missions. Maybe the staging part is not superb, but hey... We all have some limits, right? And, more than just some unique maps, we have a second part of the game, which will really speed things up!

In theory, by that second part of the game, you've made some base of resources, choose your allies, trained your operatives and gathered some weapons to go to the endgame. After some point, the last remnants of people population eventually grow hatred to each other, so, in addition to saving the shelters for alien attacks, you'll be bound to shoot people now, just because they'll turn hostile on each other. On that stage, you really need to speed up the final researches and choose a way to beat the final boss (which will be the same every time, except the side you'll pick to help you).

That's the part of Phoenix Point I hate. As much as I hate that choice of one of three missions in Firaxis XCOM. You can't play the final part in some good way. You'll always sacrifice part of the humanity in order to save the other part. So, by that final choice, Phoenix Point jumps on the same train as Firaxis XCOM. Yeah, those two are really different games, and each has some unique, superb gameplay moments and mechanics. And with that... They are too similar in that final feeling, which I can describe as ‘a bit hard to swallow, more or less good one in taste, but way too bitter in aftertaste’. So, as for my mark for Phoenix Point, I'd set it on the same 7.5/10 level, as Firaxis XCOM.

I am wholeheartedly missing the deepness of XCOM Apocalypse, which, by my opinion, still makes it the best game of all in that ‘surviving the alien attack on planet level’ subgenre. I mourn the impossibility to build some bridges between the factions in the game course, with all possible difficulties and potential benefits of such interactions. Furthermore, I pity the lack of strategic depth on the global level, even with the Festering Skies DLC, adding the air combats and new threats to the shelters.

Finally, I want to return to the first message: I love Phoenix Point and altogether hate it for its inconsistency, in many basic gameplay choices, additional mechanics added only ‘just to be there’. I hate the overloaded in number, but completely unfinished according to the general logic, the research tree - which, moreover, is buggy and does not allow you to normally finish the part of the achievements - even with the newest patch, released only a week ago.

A good game. Full of interesting stuff. Totally worth its price. But, as for the eternal love, for the place in the pantheon of the best games in existence... Phoenix Point is still severely lacking, It's too inconsistent, even while obviously being a proper ‘from gamers to gamers’ fair product. Try it? But don't get your hopes too high.

You know, I love Phoenix Point. I've bought it with the expansion pass on Epic first, and spent about 150+ hours there, completing the game by all possible ways. Took a year and half pause and then bought it again on Steam, in ‘Year One’ full edition, of course. And completed it again. Then, I waited ‘till the last so far DLC ‘Kaos Engines’, and played it even more. That really contradicts my usual gameplay time, when I start the game, even some nice one, play it for 10-20 hours most, and then lose my interest somewhere half-way to the ending. And, with that, I really hate Phoenix Point, for being too rigid and all too chaotic simultaneously, somewhere in the second, presumably better, part of the game. First things first. I love Phoenix Point, as much as I love all that tactical genre, where some small squad of elite operatives can really change the fate and the future, by making the right moves on the battlefield. The keywords here: ‘the right moves’. Firaxis XCOM wasn't that great, because it devalued the price of the strategical part of all the games in the genre, starting from original (Julian Gollop's) X-Com and (Sir-Tech's) Jagged Alliance. All in favour of some ‘dramatic moments’, when your most skilled assault specialist suddenly miss the 95% shotgun blast, standing right in front of some really nasty alien monster. Three times in a row. On that end, Phoenix Point is in the totally better position, with its realistic ballistic system, which actually counts all the projectiles, and not throwing dices on your success every time... And it goes deeper than just shooting! You see, in the Firaxis XCOM, there was something even worse than that randomness in shooting. It was an intended busting balls idea that player can only choose one mission out of three given. Achieve something only by sacrificing something else. It's not the worst idea, in principle. But only until the moment when you already have more than enough resources to build several interceptors and transports, and enough operatives to send them on every mission around the globe! By that point, the idea of picking only one mission out of every three, really outlives itself. Luckily, Phoenix Point made it much more fair, traditional way, where you can control how fast you develop your zone of responsibility, and react to every threat accordingly. Surely, you'll not have enough to catch all the stones everywhere... But it'll never be that burden on your consciousness, ‘you chose to save New York, but let Toronto and Mexico burnt’, every goddarn hour of the game. Also, one more thing for which I revere Phoenix Point, goes for enemies modifications. Sure, there are not that many types of them... But only until we see them for the first month or so. Then, there'll be some controlled mutations, reacting on the way you play the battles. Shoot more - and face heavily-armored grunts with machine guns, who'll be returning fire on you, or shielded bullet-sponges. Try a melee tactic - and meet snipers, which will turn on ninja mode after any hit received. Good luck finding them afterwards! Before they shot you, I mean. Oh, well, there are more good things I could possibly say for Phoenix Point, but I can summarize them in a sentence ‘a profound tactical and strategical XCOM game experience, much better than Firaxis approach in general’. But... There is also a point of view from which Firaxis XCOM still performs much, MUCH better than Phoenix Point. See, we have an AAA game on one end, and somewhat successful but still a bit underdeveloped indie on the other, in that inescapable comparison almost every review makes with Phoenix Point. And our contestant here not only lacks some polish. It also lacks bling! It lacks the long chains of missions, where every map of the battlefield is not a generic one, but actually hand-crafted and thoroughly staged, to achieve somehow unique experience! At least, for a first time when you play it... Yeah, by that part, Phoenix Point actually closer to the Xenonauts - somehow a nice game on its own, but really too prolonged and self-repeating for its own good. However, the developers of Phoenix Point have an answer on that weakness! Sure, the levels in the game are procedurally-generated, but not all of them! There are plenty of unique missions. Maybe the staging part is not superb, but hey... We all have some limits, right? And, more than just some unique maps, we have a second part of the game, which will really speed things up! In theory, by that second part of the game, you've made some base of resources, choose your allies, trained your operatives and gathered some weapons to go to the endgame. After some point, the last remnants of people population eventually grow hatred to each other, so, in addition to saving the shelters for alien attacks, you'll be bound to shoot people now, just because they'll turn hostile on each other. On that stage, you really need to speed up the final researches and choose a way to beat the final boss (which will be the same every time, except the side you'll pick to help you). That's the part of Phoenix Point I hate. As much as I hate that choice of one of three missions in Firaxis XCOM. You can't play the final part in some good way. You'll always sacrifice part of the humanity in order to save the other part. So, by that final choice, Phoenix Point jumps on the same train as Firaxis XCOM. Yeah, those two are really different games, and each has some unique, superb gameplay moments and mechanics. And with that... They are too similar in that final feeling, which I can describe as ‘a bit hard to swallow, more or less good one in taste, but way too bitter in aftertaste’. So, as for my mark for Phoenix Point, I'd set it on the same 7.5/10 level, as Firaxis XCOM. I am wholeheartedly missing the deepness of XCOM Apocalypse, which, by my opinion, still makes it the best game of all in that ‘surviving the alien attack on planet level’ subgenre. I mourn the impossibility to build some bridges between the factions in the game course, with all possible difficulties and potential benefits of such interactions. Furthermore, I pity the lack of strategic depth on the global level, even with the Festering Skies DLC, adding the air combats and new threats to the shelters. Finally, I want to return to the first message: I love Phoenix Point and altogether hate it for its inconsistency, in many basic gameplay choices, additional mechanics added only ‘just to be there’. I hate the overloaded in number, but completely unfinished according to the general logic, the research tree - which, moreover, is buggy and does not allow you to normally finish the part of the achievements - even with the newest patch, released only a week ago. A good game. Full of interesting stuff. Totally worth its price. But, as for the eternal love, for the place in the pantheon of the best games in existence... Phoenix Point is still severely lacking, It's too inconsistent, even while obviously being a proper ‘from gamers to gamers’ fair product. Try it? But don't get your hopes too high.