Phoenix Point - the "new" X-COM Terror From the Deep

Crowd backing page here. Their trailer is here.

Our page for the game will be here.

I can best describe this as OMG OMG OMG—the original creator of X-COM: UFO Defense's newest project, a Spiritual Successor to XCOM Terror From The Deep.

Humanity has been wiped out by a virus that combines human and animal to create horrible mutants. You're in charge of the Phoenix Group which is battling the sea-borne mutants and dealing with other human factions.

It looks very similar to the old and modern X-COM titles, where you play a strategic game protecting the world from aliens by commanding a base and then fighting them in squad-based tactical combat. Shaking up the formula will be giant alien monstrosities to fight as well as the enemy forces mutating to counter your tactics against them.

Sounds pretty awesome. I'm hoping that they get the game funded and hoping they don't have any conflicts with Firaxis and the modern series; since X-COM 2 hints that the third game may be their take on Terror From the Deep.

edited 25th Apr '17 11:04:25 AM by Rotpar

Man, I'm getting some serious The Shadow Over Innsmouth vibes from those mutants. Rallying a paramilitary organization to defend the Earth from the Cthulhu aliens? Sign me up.

Can they drown us?

That would definitely suck, so...maybe?

I like the creepy look, but the game is literally too dark for me.

If it's literally too dark, you can always up the gamma level.

It's also the first screenshots while they're trying to raise half a million dollars, who knows what it'll look like later?

Kinda sounds a bit like UFO Aftermath mixed with Aftershock / XCOM Apocalypse...but looks great so far. It's actually great that they went with post-apocalypse plot, since the organization of XCOM in original or various other games based on it, the doctrine, the equipment its funding makes no fucking sense IRL.

Also...I wonder how the Behemoth battles would be.

edited 26th Apr '17 4:26:41 AM by onyhow

They described that mission type in an interview. It involves dropping your troops onto the behemoth's back and deploying a drill, at which point you have to defend the drill long enough for it to breach the surface and deploy a canister of poison to kill the creature.

^ Sounds fun! Though I really wish that the behemoth will have actions that would affect the mission too...like shifting terrain and such.

Also apparently they're taking some ideas from Firaxis XCOM...it's good to see that there's some good ideas to be taken from there. And that the game is trying to capture the spirit of the game but not bog it down with old mechanics.

edited 26th Apr '17 4:36:05 AM by onyhow

I wonder where the surviving portion of humanity is located.

Ironically they're taking the whole "aliens look like people in lobster suits" joke from the old XCOM games and doubling down on it.

Since I've seen nobody mention this: This is being made by Julian Gollop, a creator of the original XCOM and the namesake of EU's Gollop Chamber.

I've been longing for an XCOM-like with some twists for a while now, so this could be right up my alley. I normally don't back games, but I'm considering it for this one. My only complaint is with the art style, which I know some people would disagree with me on. After XCOM went guerilla, I personally wanted a return to special forces and army dudes. But perhaps there will be customization for this one. I know it made no sense but I never cared for the apocalyptic aesthetic and I liked the modern setting of EU.

^ Well most people here I think already knew about Gollop making this.

Also, funny you mention about the SF and military, consider that in nearly every X-Com Style games your soldiers always start out being worse than an RL untrained recruit, let alone an SF member. Which is, of course, utterly stupid for a force that's basically the last line of defense.

^^ Yeah. While there's a lot of reason to not like it, I like the alien designs in the Bureau's initial reveal. Lots of nonhumanoid aliens. Though since the enemies in this game would most likely compose of a lot of mutated humans, it kinda makes sense on some level...kinda wish it goes with UFO Aftermath style mutants a bit more tho. Car crab and Deathbellow, anyone?

edited 26th Apr '17 8:07:37 PM by onyhow

Well, when it comes to panic it does make sense because you're facing an alien force (literally) of incomprehensible strength. I have no excuse for their aim though.

As long as they are not firing point black, XCOM soldiers are decent shots compared to RL soldiers.

^ Except that the game doesn't simulate actual fire and maneuver, suppression, etc tactics of real life. And has no support, no recon, no combined arms. Oh, did I mention sending 1-2 fireteam against numerically AND technologically superior foes?

Also the argument breaks down when the game soldiers go up in ranks and has better accuracy. Must mean they went full superhuman then.

edited 26th Apr '17 8:57:47 PM by onyhow

Kinda, yes.

And getting better weapons.

SCOPE = +10 AIM

Eye mutation = 5 AIM

Light Plasma Rifle = +20 AIM.

edited 26th Apr '17 8:59:56 PM by RAlexa21th

^ And only LPR does that for gun. Other laser or plasma weapons give jack shit on accuracy. And no weapon specific accuracy boost in XCOM 2 either.

Scope...yeah, we do that already RL. Point?

And, again, you're still not addressing the issue of troops in game can't do much compared to troops IRL, while still being hamstrung by accuracy issue. Or the number of troops being fielded.

edited 26th Apr '17 9:19:45 PM by onyhow

Speaking of suppression and firing strategy, Julian said "yes" to a question in the comments about whether or not there would be bullet physics. Whether or not this means there will be things like suppression ( a la Xenonauts) and cover destruction remains to be seen. The trailer makes it look like it uses EU's lock on system, however.

Other things taken from the comments:

The game will use a hybrid between T Us and the EU system. Every unit gets 2 actions, but can also spend will for extra actions. Spotting an enemy also stops your movement and you can either move or shoot (in his words, not sure if you get a free action or not).

The game will use a system similar to Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars where you get a mix of guaranteed and potential damage depending on your range.

Lower limit for starting squad size is 4.

Focus is on singleplayer. Campaign will be highly replayable and deep.

Why would I talk about other issues? I'm not disagreeing with them.

And I'm not sure what you mean by Support and Combined Arms because I'm pretty sure they are possible .

edited 26th Apr '17 9:30:49 PM by RAlexa21th

^ Oh, okay.

^^ I wonder if the map will be procgen or not though. And yeah, I really like the sound of 2 action + will. More flexible than pure 2 action but no micromanaging bullshit of TU.

Even with SCOPE, the SAS can only achieve 10% accuracy at long distance.

^ And the combat in XCOM games is at long range, obviously.

Seriously, the engagement range that existed in game is very close range compared to RL (as in close enough that RL shotgun should still be deadly, not the accuracy down to like 2% after 10 tile (slight exaggeration on range, though I did once see the shotty accuracy go that low) in XCOMEU). Accuracy argument breaks down there.

Where's air support? Helo? Artillery? Mortar? Tanks? AFV? Also no recon drones or observation crafts to help scout.

edited 26th Apr '17 10:40:27 PM by onyhow

He had this to say about that:

Some might be happy to hear this, but I always have mixed feelings about procedural generation. Playing through XCOM 2, every map felt the same especially since you were sticking to the roof tops. And No Man's Sky demonstrated that procedural generation doesn't make experiences feel unique on its own. I felt EU's hand crafted maps provided variety and favored different strategies.