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 focus
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 customization. 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.the former, the latter may react badly.”
You also have to consider the structure of each faction
before you go charging in looking to make a deal. “With
the Disciples of Anu, you can’t just march in and talk
directly to the Exalted. You have to progress through
several levels of their, let’s say, priest hierarchy to reach
her. The Synedrion are changing leadership a lot, as
they’re 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 important tactically because a lot of
the aliens’ abilities stem from their various mutated body
ABOVE: 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.Phoenix Point
COVER FEATURE