Phoenix Point

I tried to like this game, but let's break it down [The Good] Really cool free aim mechanic, the selling point for me; Cool interacting factions, with different ideologies, tech and strategies for you to uncover and build from; Interesting enemies, with multiple behaviours; Flamethrowers! [The Bad] The complete edition presents like "more content! more everything!", but if you start a game with all enabled as a first playthrough, you are in for a bad time, since there is a lot of content, there is a LOT of mechanics to get used to, and no proper time or intro to that, so is overwhelming. Tried again, less DLCs this time, but with the feeling that I am missing some content that I paid for, still grindy and with weird progressions, where the enemies evolve but your tech and equipment does not, the skill trees are weird and sometimes conflicting, you cannot build experimenting too because there is no reset for your choices and skills The things always seem to be out of your reach some...

Compared to xcom2: this has better combat overall. i liked the limb targeting system and the accuracy is slightly less BS. but the enemies are a lot spongier, making later battles feel like endless slug fests instead of gun fights. The world map and factions were a good idea on paper. in reality, it felt like the devs wanted to annoy and hinder your gameplay by micro managing resources that make no fing sense... 200-600 riffle bullets are equivalent in cost to a 6 person jet fighter or 4-5 manufacturing facilities (that make the bullets!) And to add insult to injury, your characters throw away excess ammo when they reload! The horrible aerial combat mini-game is put to shame by some old ATARI games. It does offer more replay value. but i would rather regrow my wisdom teeth, just to have them torn out again, than play more of this tedious mess.

I tried to like this game, really did. And it does a lot of things very good. The aliens and factions are interesting (although the factions break down a bit the deeper you go), the setting and story progression is not bad and they did try a lot of interesting new formulas here, like the free aiming. The point where I hit a wall and lost interest was the tech progression though, because there is none. Yes, you can adapt/use the different faction weapons, but there is no clear "upgrade" as in similar games like XCom, Xenonauts, or even Jagged Alliance, if we talk squad-based TBS games. Regarding your troops armor and weapons you are just stuck at a level little more advanced than what you started with: there are no tech tiers, no upgrade paths (i.e. "assault rifle" -> "laser assault rifle" -> "plasma assault rifle" / "gauss assault rifle" -> ...). And this put a huge damper on my enjoyment of the game. I get it: Phoenix Point is trying to be different. But this difference is not for me...

I'm going to vote yes on this but I really wish the developer had given me the option to turn off the wave attacks on my bases. I tried twice to start this game and both times I was overwhelmed because I can't figure out what I need to do to finish the campaign although I was able to hold them off longer the second time. I played for 76.9 hours so I obviously did have fun but I feel frustrated that I can't finish the game. I think I'm going to go on to other games that are easier and not bother with a third attempt.

The great thing about this game is the battle system. The devs put a lot of work into it and it's well polished in my opinion. But something happened when they designed the world view where you do base building, movement between the cities, and diplomacy. I get the impression that they ran out of money. One problem is quests that cannot be completed. In one case you need to get an important notebook at a site but its just not there. In another case you must sabotage one city's research, but there is no research facility to sabotage. But the biggest problem is troop management. You can hire troops and assign them to different bases. But after that you can't do anything with them . You can't move them or assign them to different groups, or even use them on any missions. You can build ships to move them but can't assign them to those ships. For all missions you are stuck with the original 6 hires that you assigned to your original ship. That's a nasty oversight. I spent ove...

I got this because I was looking for something to scratch that XCOM itch. Shows its hand early, but it is not that great of a hand, although the lore is pretty good!

after all the updates and DLC the game is actually fun, a good XCOM fix, but there is a lot of micromanagement if you're into that sort of thing.

Overall, I enjoyed this game. I did have a lot of issues with the mouse cursor disappearing and I do not remember the game telling you to side with a faction if you want to finish the game. Besides that, combat was very satisfying and it was interesting to expand your team, bases, and gear. With 3 factions, there are at least 3 ways to beat the game. Each faction has pretty unique units that will join you as well, so you can really get some interesting units and gear. Some of the missions do get repetitive.

I thought I had found a new Xcom to play. I thought I'd try not to compare it too much, but then saw how 95% of the game mechanics were exactly the same as Xcom, just with worse implementation and execution. Sure there were a few new things or improvements on the old xcom systems, though they were overshadowed heavily by the old systems mechanics just done in a worse way. Poor customisation and progression, lackluster class design, missions felt nearly the same but were far more boring and you can spend 60% of a mission running around whilst enemies fight npcs and you are just micromanaging movement instead of combat. There are so many things that could've been tremendously good if implemented correctly but somehow they ended up being pushed to final release without being sorted out. I couldn't take anymore of this after 18 hours. It just felt so boring and samey, barely any gear progression and too much micromanaging of resources. I'd give it a generous 5/10.

The story is the best part but just watch a playthrough. I find this game boring.