Taste Like Crab, Talk Like People
I have not played the older or first Xcom games before. But when I first heard Phoenix Point included one of the original developers for the series, Julian Gollop I was curious about it. I followed updates, and I remember reading mixed and negative reviews for the game. So, I did what I did for most games. I waited.
Well, it seems as if the game is about as done as it can be, and I saw that a community rebalancing mod, Terror from the Void (at the time of writing this review), recently released version 1.0. I decided to just buy the game and see if it was as bad as reviews claimed, or if I would like it. Now that I have played the game for multiple days, I think writing a review is a good idea. I have a lot of thoughts on the game.
It is important to note that this game has had some controversy in the past with backers and the game being on the Epic Games store. You can read more about this here. I don’t have much to say. I invested 0 dollars in this game, and I waited years later and bought the game on Steam. I think this is worth pointing out, though.
Phoenix Point Review Information
Why Did I Review Phoenix Point?
I want to voice my thoughts on what I like, and don’t like about it. I gave this game a longer trial run than most games, so I have a lot to say.
I will also be doing some comparisons to Xcom games made by Firaxis Games and Xenonauts. Both are alien defense-type games I enjoy playing a lot.
How Long Have I Been Playing Phoenix Point?
I have played the game for multiple days. When writing this review, my total play time was about 32 hours.
How Did I Review the Game?
I bought Phoenix Point on Steam, as I do for most games. I played the game with all DLC enabled and with the Terror from the Void enabled. Please note and remember this context. I have no idea what the game is like without the DLC, or how it was in the past.
Gameplay Review
How Does This Game Work?
Phoenix Point is like Xcom and other related games. Your goal is to defend the last of humanity and find a solution to the current threat. The world has mist everywhere, and people are turning into crabs!
So, while not strictly speaking an alien invasion (not giving any spoilers, but if you know, I suppose you can debate this), the aftermath of past events leaves the world in a similar state.
You control bases and micromanage teams to fight the crab people. Also, sometimes humans as well (somewhat often, depending on how you play).
Phoenix Point is a very open-ended game. Unlike the Firaxis Games Xcom series, this game does not have a linear path to winning. There are multiple ways to beat this game.
The Shooting Is Great!
Every time a gun shoots, the game simulates every bullet. Phoenix Point does not have a percentage chance to hit. Your shots hit if they can physically connect with whatever you are shooting at. The game does this by having a giant circle as your aiming guide. All shots land in the outer circle, but only some shots land in the inner circle.
You can free-aim as well. Every single shot can be aimed. So, if you think you can make an odd or hard to hit shot, you can try. Even if the standard aiming option doesn’t show it. You can also aim at different body parts of crab people or humans. Want to shoot someone in the foot for some odd reason? You can try. I suppose a better example would be shooting people’s arms or destroying their guns.
This system took some time to get used to. I had to stop trying to play this game like Xcom as some mechanics that work great there do not translate well in Phoenix Point.
This shooting system feels a lot fairer. You (mostly) only miss when you are taking far away shots. Get close enough to enemies, and you can have (almost) a 100% chance to hit. This system also means positioning matters so much more. So much more than the cover does.
Speaking of cover, it works a lot differently than I thought. Unlike in Xcom games where cover gives you bonus defense, in Phoenix Point, cover only helps in that bullets can’t hit you if there is stuff between you and whatever is shooting at you.
Sometimes you are much better off moving somewhere where you can’t be seen. You or your enemies cannot shoot things if they are unseen.
I somewhat like this. But it feels weird. I guess I am just too used to the ways of Xcom. If you are like me and used to playing those games, you will need to change ways to survive in Phoenix Point.
The Weapon Upgrade System Feels Weird
Compared to Xcom how the guns work in this game feels strange. Most new guns and weapons you unlock are not upgrades but do different things. Few guns are clear best choices compared to others.
The Gauss guns New Jericho makes are not necessarily better or worse than the laser guns Synedrion has. The guns and armor you make as Phoenix Point are not any better and sometimes worse than the other factions. Maybe the developers did not want one faction to be clearly stronger than the rest?
I feel this takes away the satisfaction of seeing higher numbers and feeling stronger. Without stronger weapons, everyone feels the same, even with different guns. The system Xcom has is simpler. But it feels so powerful when you switch from conventional weapons to laser weapons. Even if the damage is not that much higher. I guess I just like the mental feel of straight upgrades.
My Thoughts on the Missions
The missions in the game are OK.
The missions I did the most were defending havens. You go in and shoot up some crab people, and then the level ends. There are more specific story missions. But pretty much every level is to shoot everything in sight or do a thing and then leave.
Not much in terms of variety. But to be fair, neither Xcom or Xenonauts have much variety in level types either. I suppose in a game based on shooting up stuff, you can only do so much. Overall, I feel neutral.
My Thoughts on the World Map
The world map, or Geoscape, is where everything outside of missions happens. There is a lot to do and see in this world. The world has many havens. These are where the three factions live. There are also places you can explore and see what happens.
You can also activate more bases. This is an interesting change compared to Xcom. You are not limited to one location. To beat the game, you need to expand and have many bases.
There is a sense of urgency, as if you stall or do nothing for too long, mist will spread and lead to people going crazy and dying. Havens also get attacked somewhat often. This is what thing I felt different compared to Xcom. In Xcom, despite it being an alien invasion at a certain point in the game, you really can’t lose anymore. Not so much in Phoenix Point.
My Thoughts on the Factions and Story
I saw someone on Reddit say all the factions are flawed and no one is really the “good guy”. I somewhat agree with this. I somewhat prefer the Synedrion faction. But you can pick to help whatever faction you like.
It does not really matter what you do to factions or how you interact with them. You can be friendly to all of them and steal and attack all of them, and if you game the system right, they will still be friendly to you. If friendship number goes up, they are cool with whatever.
I suppose I like the factional differences. But honestly, I think Phoenix Point should have copied the Xcom story and had the world aligned behind a single organization. That is what I thought Phoenix Point would be. The funny thing is that the lore says things were somewhat like that in the past.
But when playing the game, you pretty much just wear gear and use weapons from whatever faction you like the most. You might as well just be in that faction. In fact, maybe that could have been the way to go. You start the game as a faction. Just make Phoenix Point another faction to interact with.
The story in Phoenix Point feels like how Xcom 2 happens after failure in Xcom. Phoenix Point has no previous game to continue.
The game ends differently depending on whether you help a faction to a conclusion or if you just do the story missions started from Phoenix Point. That is somewhat interesting, I guess. But at the end of the game, even if the story missions change, the way you get there is still similar.
I feel I would have been fine if the only way to win was through the Phoenix Point missions. I don’t feel angry that the Xcom games have only one win objective.
My Overall Thoughts on the Gameplay
I wanted to like this game a lot. I even restarted multiple times to see if I could change up what I was doing. All I can say is that how this game works does not click with me like Xcom does. Even though I like the shooting system, everything else feels like a challenge or a chore. I like the more simple and single focus the Firaxis Xcom games have.
The story, while somewhat nice, is not compelling enough reason to want to the finish this game. Even though I could on very easy mode or even just end levels, I am frustrated. I want to enjoy the game until I finish it. I just went and read the story online, and yeah, it was about what I expected.
It does not seem like this story will ever get some kind of sequel either. I think this is a bit sad. I would have liked to see this team take a second chance at this type of game. Firaxis does not seem interested in Xcom anymore. I hope Xenonauts 2 is fun.
Presentation Review
How the Game Looks
The game looks nice enough. I don’t feel too strongly here, positive or negative. I am not much of one to care about how games look, as long as nothing looks too wrong.
I like how the Pandorans look and move around. I suppose I also like how distinct the factions look.
How the Game Sounds
This is where I think the game excels. The music in the game does a good job of setting the tone. Unlike the upbeat music of the Xcom games, the music is more mellow and a bit dramatic. I like it.
The sounds are OK enough, I suppose. Nothing sounds odd or strange.
The way the guns sound is OK. The people in the game sound a bit too cheerful and a bit corny, considering the tone the rest of the game has. But you can disable these speech barks, so whatever.
My Thoughts on the Value of the Phoenix Point
Is Phoenix Point Worth Buying?
This is a tough choice. I felt the game was worth buying because I wanted to see how this game was for years.
I spent about $32 (USD) for the base game and all the DLC. I feel the price is OK. I would have liked to enjoy the game more. But I don’t feel I wasted my money. I suppose I can just lie to myself and I say I bought the game to review it.
I can’t even say if you like Xcom give this game a try, as Phoenix Point is so different compared to modern Xcom games.
I would say to download and try the demo of the game, like I did. It is hard to recommend this game. The demo is long enough to see if you like how the tactical and Geoscape sections in the game feel.
Do I Recommend Buying DLC and Other Content?
Since the Terror from the Void requires all DLC to be installed, I do recommend buying the complete bundle for this game. When I bought everything, it was only about $6 (USD) more than the cost of the base game, so that seems fair to me.
I can’t say anything on if the game is fun without DLC or the Terror from the Void mod. But if Terror from the Void, which is considered the best version of the game by fans, still feels off, I assume I would not like this game without DLC or the mod much either.
My Overall Thoughts on Phoenix Point
Phoenix Point does some things well, but overall, I don’t like the complete package. I wish some of the mechanics in this game could be used in a better game. Some parts of the game feel fun. But Phoenix Point is not good enough for me to want to play this game anymore.
Do I Recommend People Play Phoenix Point?
Not really.
But again, you can always just try the demo and see what you think yourself. The demo is a very good.
Will I Keep Playing Phoenix Point?
No.
But who knows? Maybe in the future, I might give the game a try again. I own it, after all, and I played far too long to get a refund.