having these internal debates, so you
might talk to different people with
different demands.”
And the faction you side with, if
you decide to side with one, can also
directly affect how you win the game.
“Each faction has its own solution to
the alien menace,” says Gollop. “They
haven’t developed it at the start of the
game, however, so you can choose to
ally with one of them and work with
them to achieve their goal. There’s also
a fourth solution to the game besides
siding with one of the three factions,
which you can pursue without creating
any alliances, but it’s more difficult to
pull off.”
The game’s tense turn-based
combat will have you making equally
interesting and important decisions,
albeit on a smaller, more immediate
scale. One of the most exciting features
is how, thanks to the weird mutating
properties of the Pandora virus,
enemies are procedurally generated
from dozens of different parts, and
you’re never sure what it’s going to
throw at you next.
“The alien mutation system works
at a strategic level,” says Gollop. “For
example, there are arthropod-type
enemies with primitive claws and
shields. But if you beat them a few
times, and decisively, they’ll go through
a mutation process. So next time you
face them, they might be able to use
human weapons, or develop different
types of attacks such as poisons. And
the more they defeat you, the more
successful the mutation will be. This
will require players to constantly
change and adapt their combat tactics
in battle.”
Another interesting feature is the
free aim system. Similar to VATS in
Fallout, this lets you target specific
body parts of an enemy, opening up a
realm of tactical possibilities. “This is
on that side of things can choose to
automatically resolve battles. “You
can’t automate battles, because they’re
really the essence of what the game
is all about,” says Gollop. “However,
you do have a lot of choice in what
battles you pursue. It’s a much more
free-form mission system than you’d
normally find in a game like this. You
can instigate battles if a faction has
something useful: an aircraft factory,
say. You land your squad, fight the
local defenders, and steal the aircraft.
That’s your choice.”
And, in an example of things
coming full circle, it’s clear in Phoenix
Point’s slick animation and interface
that Firaxis’ XCOM has inspired Gollop
in some ways. “I love those games,” he
says. “I really like the sense of drama
they manage to get from a turn-based
game. There’s some impressive 3D
graphics and camera work in there.
A nice interface too, which works
smoothly with a mouse and keyboard
or a controller. XCOM 2 in particular
had great character customisation.
They obviously streamlined a few
things compared to the old X-COM
games, most of which I think were
good decisions. And they managed
to reach a really wide audience with
those games, too.”
It’s great to see Gollop return to the
genre that made his name. Phoenix
Point is set for release in June, and
it’ll be interesting to see how it stacks
up against Firaxis’ take on XCOM.
The added layer of grand strategy
— warring factions, diplomacy,
espionage, and so on — will hopefully
sit comfortably alongside the more
granular, turn-based decision-making
of a battle. With such a rich, storied
history of making strategy games,
from the ZX Spectrum to the present
day, I reckon Gollop can pull it off.GAMES PREVIEW Wimportant tactically because a lot of
the aliens’ abilities stem from their
various mutated body parts,” says
Gollop. “If you have, say, a crab-type
enemy with a shield and a gun, you
can disable its arm to knock the gun
out of its hand, which limits it to
using a close-quarters shield bash.
Some mutations have weak spots to
deal extra damage, too. If you attack
an enemy’s leg, it might stop it from
moving as quickly.
“When you’re fighting a monster,
the free aim system is more important
than ever,” Gollop adds. “They’re like
organic battleships with multiple
weapon systems and you have to try
and pick a strategy based on that. Do
you want to take its weapons out? Or
focus on the most vulnerable part of
its body? These things are all a very
important part of your tactics
in battle.”PICK AND CHOOSE
Grand strategy games are obviously
an influence on Phoenix Point, and I
wonder if players who want to focusABOVE: This post-
apocalyptic Earth is
a grim place, but you
can save it from total
destruction.BELOW: The
mutation system
means you never
know what enemy
will come at you next.