Phoenix Point

 PC
User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 398 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 161 out of 398
  2. Mixed: 94 out of 398
  3. Negative: 143 out of 398

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. StrategyAddict
    Dec 28, 2019
    5
    After almost a hundred hours into this game, it`s might seem hard to give it a low rating. I do because much of this time was spend grinding for resources, doing the same missions over and over again, running into bugs, looking for story missions (that actually differ from the ordinary kill everything missions). I spend all this time hoping it would get better, but research takes foreverAfter almost a hundred hours into this game, it`s might seem hard to give it a low rating. I do because much of this time was spend grinding for resources, doing the same missions over and over again, running into bugs, looking for story missions (that actually differ from the ordinary kill everything missions). I spend all this time hoping it would get better, but research takes forever and after all this time in the game I'm nowhere near the end - even though I couldn't tell because there's not really a clear story ark.
    The game certainly has it's pros, like flexible class composition and great measure of freedom in planning and executing on the strategic level. Also the diplomacy is a big plus.
    On the other hand, there are only very few types of enemies and the weapons are very similar to each other - most of which you get early in the game. The overall game progression it ridiculously slow. I guess the first 20 hours or so are neat and that's what most reviewers see.

    But then it falls apart. No new missions, enemies, weapons. But grave balancing issues. Some skills and especially combinations of skills are overpowered so that it looks like an exploit: An attack on the third biggest alien base requires you to kill a specific big alien, which you can see from your starting point. With the right skills, you can kill it in one action, ending what is supposed to be one hard type of mission with just that.
    And that's even more sad, as you usually have to kill everything. In missions where you don't, balancing fails. Often in not in your favor, so that half your soldiers get killed the first enemy turn, no matter what you do.
    Oh! I'm a die-hard XCom fans since the original one in the 90s from Micropose. I really would love to see a proper remake. What troubles me in phoenix point also is the practically none-existent base building. You just discover bases (and can't even choose the location) and then you seldomly need to build anything in them. You build one storage unit, one alien containment and it's enough for the game. Hospitals are useless because you can use medipaks instead, base defence non-existent.

    What brings me to the last point at which I quit. If your base get's attacked you'll get a timer. You can move soldiers there, if you have them near. But they need to be relatively near, because even the fastest vessel doesn't cross a third of the globe in that timer. If the timer runs out before you can send in troops, you'll love that base. So - you'll have to reload and send troops before the attack timer even starts. If you did a difficult mission just before or during the timer and don't want to reload to much earlier. Your bad. You'll lose a base without having had any chance to do anything about it.

    And after all those hours spend doing repetitive missions for resources and not being offered anything new to keep you going, that really breaks it for me.

    Could have been much more. I suspect they just ran out of budget. Due to the fact that it's a crowd-founding game. With all the additions build in and a lot of balancing and bugfixing, it could really be better then the Firaxis XCom. Shame I couldn't wait and played it now and not after a year. Maybe I'll take another look then. Glad I bought it, so they can work on it some more.    … Expand
  2. spitfire_ch
    Dec 25, 2019
    5
    Promising game that is crippled by an absurdly high level of difficulty. Even on Easy I have to use a trainer to have a chance in later missions. But that destroys the fun of the game completely. Even if I hate to give up, I have to realize now that it makes no sense to torture myself with it any longer. This isn't a game, it's frustrating, hopeless work without any pay. That's really aPromising game that is crippled by an absurdly high level of difficulty. Even on Easy I have to use a trainer to have a chance in later missions. But that destroys the fun of the game completely. Even if I hate to give up, I have to realize now that it makes no sense to torture myself with it any longer. This isn't a game, it's frustrating, hopeless work without any pay. That's really a pity, because the game mechanics and the story would in principle be a lot of fun.… Expand
  3. watchm824
    Dec 25, 2019
    5
    The game quickly bored me and began to annoy. You will not see anything new in this game. Better to play XCOM again.
  4. D3D11
    Feb 12, 2020
    6
    This game is the shining example of how to make something absolutely mediocre. Whoever said that this was from the creators of X-Com, is lied. There is a retextured X-Com game with the missing about 70% of the fun, an added 40% not fun, including unnecessary game mechanics, like AMMO.

    This game shows the difference between professional game making and amateur game making. You can feel    This game is the shining example of how to make something absolutely mediocre. Whoever said that this was from the creators of X-Com, is lied. There is a retextured X-Com game with the missing about 70% of the fun, an added 40% not fun, including unnecessary game mechanics, like AMMO.

    This game shows the difference between professional game making and amateur game making. You can feel that the creators absolutely not loved the game at all, and they aren't really even players.
    You get CRABS (???) instead of aliens, a terrifyingly bad MOBILE HUD instead of a clean and professional one, an overtextured, terribly optimized graphics instead of a nice and clean one and the most boring campaign you ever had.

    The story is just simply idiotic.

    I really wanted to love it, but I caught myself falling asleep constantly.

    Why did they even had to make this game?

    EDIT:

    After playing 20+ hours, I have to say that this is pretty much a decent game. While I still don't like the art-style, the game mechanics is pretty interesting and contains lots of stuff which was missed from X-Com2. Only, you have to take time to unravel this. But there is still no interesting story-line. The optimization is terrible, including the huge loading time.

    Therefore I give it a 6 score instead of a 3, after all.    … Expand
  5. geesloper
    Mar 13, 2020
    5
    [Edit 14-Mar-20 - I'm going to bump this up to a 5/10, because the March patches have done a lot to address the issues. That said, I still had to cheat the final level (and it was horrible even with cheats), so I'm still not persuaded it deserves more than 5/10]

    I am so bitterly disappointed in this game. First and foremost, it is *stupidly* difficult and unforgiving. There's nothing    [Edit 14-Mar-20 - I'm going to bump this up to a 5/10, because the March patches have done a lot to address the issues. That said, I still had to cheat the final level (and it was horrible even with cheats), so I'm still not persuaded it deserves more than 5/10]

    I am so bitterly disappointed in this game. First and foremost, it is *stupidly* difficult and unforgiving. There's nothing innovative about the monsters, they just hit really hard, and can take repeated sniper rifle shots to the face without dying. I should note that I've played similar games without issues, *and* I had Phoenix Point on the easiest setting. Worse, it's often not apparent that you've made a critical error until literally twenty hours of gameplay later, by which stage it's much too late to actually do anything about it.

    Secondly, the devs repeatedly pushed the release date out, ostensibly to make sure that it was polished and bug free. I also waited a month after it came out to avoid the worst of the (inevitable) bugs. Despite this, it was buggy as all hell, and even the hotfixes just seemed to solve one set of problems while creating another.

    Finally, it is very poorly optimised. My PC is relatively high-end, but it runs like a pig, and frequently hangs on enemy turns (which, as it happens, cannot be halted or interrupted so you can reload).    … Expand
  6. Winterpsy
    Feb 6, 2020
    5
    A good beginning and a terrible mid game.
    Enemies are bullet sponges, or can ruin your day too suddenly in no time (two bombarding artillery aliens one shooting your soldiers from across the map)
    Equipment doesn’t scale well to be competitive I found many missions to be boring and a slugfest, chipping away enemy hp slowly. Some map designs are horrible. (Alien hives, with endless    A good beginning and a terrible mid game.
    Enemies are bullet sponges, or can ruin your day too suddenly in no time (two bombarding artillery aliens one shooting your soldiers from across the map)
    Equipment doesn’t scale well to be competitive I found many missions to be boring and a slugfest, chipping away enemy hp slowly.
    Some map designs are horrible. (Alien hives, with endless reinforcements)
    When it takes over 30-50 mins for a single resource run map due to slow AI turns, I decided to uninstall.
    Had high hopes. Waiting for the patches.    … Expand
  7. SupereM
    Feb 7, 2020
    6
    I want to like this game, but it still has numerous bugs like enemies getting stuck inside objects. It just feels unfinished.
  8. jarjanes
    Feb 26, 2020
    5
    I could write for hours about this game but for God’s sake I’d just point out the main issues that pushed me to give the score of 5.
    Fist of all, the game is boooooooring. The missions are always the same. There are 7 types of enemy. They said that Pandora could mutate; the true is that the kind of enemy, mutated or not, is always the same (crabman is always a crabman, with shield or    I could write for hours about this game but for God’s sake I’d just point out the main issues that pushed me to give the score of 5.
    Fist of all, the game is boooooooring. The missions are always the same. There are 7 types of enemy. They said that Pandora could mutate; the true is that the kind of enemy, mutated or not, is always the same (crabman is always a crabman, with shield or machine gun). So the missions are always the same.
    Second: the game play is not balanced. Some classes are a waste of time, other are overpowered. The skills are always the same with very little options. So every assault or priest or heavy soldier, at the end, is always the same.
    Third: base attack is awful, terrible, boring. At the end of the game you would defend your base a lot of times (10, 15, 20 times) with attacks every 30-40 minutes of gameplay and the mission are always the same and the same and the same. The only things that change is the starting position of the soldier. So booring (did I say it?). And by the way: what is the sense of having the pandoran attack preannounced 16 hours before if you can’t choose the starting position of your man? So you find all your soldier scattered in the base and you lose 3-4 turns just to regroup. It’s not realism is wasting my time!
    Fourth: what is the sense of making me recharge every magazine of very weapon of the squad?? Can’t it be automatic? Again we’re to talking about hardcore game, etc… but about boredom.
    Fifth: research? What? After 5-6 hours of gameplay you’ll have all the weapons researched. No improvement, no surprise. So in the end: same enemies for the same soldiers with the same weapons, armors, gears, from the start to the end.
    The true good ideas are: the aim system (XCOM should take note), the movement system (versatile) and the lovercraftian background.
    We are far far far away from fireaxis (maybe just because XCOM are fun…).
    Try it if you have times (a lot) to waste.    … Expand
  9. ravenblade
    Apr 3, 2020
    5
    As a platinum backer I been disappointed several times throughout its development but let's keep it short and stick to the game at hand: It still needs a lot of work until it's in actual release-ready state. Mechanics feel clunky, animations feel drawn out, the storytelling is a bit lacking in regards of depth and and in general after a short time you've had already your fill of theAs a platinum backer I been disappointed several times throughout its development but let's keep it short and stick to the game at hand: It still needs a lot of work until it's in actual release-ready state. Mechanics feel clunky, animations feel drawn out, the storytelling is a bit lacking in regards of depth and and in general after a short time you've had already your fill of the game. After all the trouble I really thought the team could pull at least something on XCOM 2 level but this feels like are just only aspiring to be as good as Firaxis latest sequel in this series which started off as Gollop's brainchild after all.… Expand
  10. vurst22
    Feb 20, 2020
    6
    It is hard to say for me but I am bit disappointed with game. I loved to tune airplains and base in X-Com Apocalypse. I loved X-Com 1 and 2 tactics missions, but nothing from it is here. Base is just picture - not very clear what room is it. And airplains cannot be modified. Research is not very interesting since not very usefull equipment is there (at least in the beggining) and mainly anIt is hard to say for me but I am bit disappointed with game. I loved to tune airplains and base in X-Com Apocalypse. I loved X-Com 1 and 2 tactics missions, but nothing from it is here. Base is just picture - not very clear what room is it. And airplains cannot be modified. Research is not very interesting since not very usefull equipment is there (at least in the beggining) and mainly an absurdly high level of difficulty. First missions were fine, but suddenly it increased difficulty madly. No joy to play on such level. Hopefully They will work on it yet but I am afraid that it will not be the game I was expecting.… Expand
  11. Leeroyfan101
    Apr 14, 2020
    5
    Overall, I like the game and see it has potential. Sadly, its wasted potential. Notice I said I like the game, not that I enjoy the game. The game itself has a fantastic framework and some intuitive ideas. But sadly it's patched together in a way to frustrate the player, rather than challenge the player. I would say most of the issues stem from odd balance decisions exacerbated by in-gameOverall, I like the game and see it has potential. Sadly, its wasted potential. Notice I said I like the game, not that I enjoy the game. The game itself has a fantastic framework and some intuitive ideas. But sadly it's patched together in a way to frustrate the player, rather than challenge the player. I would say most of the issues stem from odd balance decisions exacerbated by in-game bugs.
    The Overwatch mechanic, for instance, is almost pointless to use. Not only do you have to risk the fact that your soldier might naturally miss. But also have to roll the die on if the ability will activate at the correct time. There have been so many instances where the enemy would run through the engagement zone I set without triggering the ability. Then when they cross an object that is obstructing the line of sight of my soldier is when my soldier would decide to start shooting.
    On a similar note, your troops shooting at their cover is also an issue. It's just a glaring and obvious bug that you think would be the first thing the developers would fix. When you see it happen, you're dumbfounded. It's the sort of thing you would see from an Early Access game, not the final product.
    Other issues are that your grenades sometimes do no damage for no reason, troops missing shots on Pandorans when the area of fire within the body of the Pandoran.
    For the balance side:
    Sirens mind control - this has been the bane of my existence, mainly because of how one-sided this mechanic is. First of all, it requires no line of sight from the enemy doing it. If you're within range, you get mind-controlled. Your "Will" stat contrary to what you might assume, doesn't actually help. This ability also comes at the cost of the victim. Even if you manage to kill the Siren, it uses up the turn of the victim. What makes this worse is past the early game, there is usually more than one of them. In similar tittles, units that could mind control are balanced by being physically weak. Not the Siren, she has high armor, as well as blades for arms that also make her deadly in close combat.
    Chiron's ICBM's - It's an organic lifeform the size of a tank and armored like one too. That, for some reason, behaves like it has some sort of laser-guided missile system. It can accurately shoot you from across the map without even seeing you. Is this fair? No. Is it fun to deal with? No.
    The Spawn System - Enemies can attack the same turn they spawn in. I don't even know how to describe how unfair this is. There is no amount of skill in the world that can help you against an enemy that essentially cheats. You are at the mercy of the game and simply have to hope luck is on your side.    … Expand
  12. Bubber
    Dec 21, 2019
    6
    Being a huge fan of the original XCOM game I had high expectations for this Phoenix Point. I hoped for an added layer of complexity compared to the Firaxis XCOM games. But unfortunately it just feels a bit messy and become boring quite fast, many of the added features seem pointless and don't really add anything to the gameplay.
  13. PEnchan707
    Dec 11, 2019
    5
    TL;DR It's unbalanced, completely unfit for Ironman mode (which isn't even in the game yet) and feels like a Beta.

    The good bits: There's 6 classes that all have their uses, which can also dual-class. There's plenty of room for experimentation. Enemy variety is quite good. Lovecraftian feel works well. Atmospheric music. Interesting aiming system which allows for    TL;DR It's unbalanced, completely unfit for Ironman mode (which isn't even in the game yet) and feels like a Beta.

    The good bits:

    There's 6 classes that all have their uses, which can also dual-class. There's plenty of room for experimentation.

    Enemy variety is quite good.

    Lovecraftian feel works well.

    Atmospheric music.

    Interesting aiming system which allows for greater tactical variety.

    Wide variety of equipment (though something that is definitely a downside is how you unlock it)

    Downsides:

    Very slow start. You can expect the initial 10-15 hours to be comfortable, even on the penultimate difficulty setting, bar a few specific situations here and there. This means that starting a new campaign is tedious and repetitive.

    Missions are, generally, repetitive and many don't feel like they're important. For exmaple, you have to defend other people's bases a lot, and there's not much variety in those missions. You feel like you're running around putting out fires and not getting on with your own objectives.

    Ridiculous yo-yoing of difficulty with some, quite frankly, silly situations that can occur due to enemy composition and/or spawn areas. There will be instances you lose soldiers, or maybe the entire squad, to these kinds of things. That means one of two things; 1: Restart the campaign with all the tedium that brings, as mentioned above. 2: Savescum your way through, which for many will be completely ungratifying.

    Bugs. For example, your team might spawn behind scenery they cannot move out from. Game can get stuck on enemy turns.

    Unbalanced mechanics that make things very unpredictable and either very hard or, sometimes, very easy. On their own turn, for example, you or the enemy can only fire once or twice. However, a mechanic called return fire can mean that guns can be fired up to any number of times when it's NOT the shooters turn. Example;

    You have a squad of 6 soldiers. An enemy stupidly runs into the middle of you and takes no cover. The logical thing to do is blast him, right? Well, not if he's wearing armour. If you shoot him, you'll just chip a bit of health off, but he'll blast you for a quarter of your health. If you were to shoot him twice with all your team, 3-4 of them would be on half health by the time you take him down. Instead of shooting him, you go overwatch and wait for him to run to cover. Everyone shoots him and hopefully, on your next turn, you can finish him off.

    Sniper rifles and armour shred weapons are king since enemies rely on heavy armour to provide a challenge later on. It leads to a shallow experience with little variety, despite there being so many classes, items and weapons.

    The geoscape (world map) is very limited and base management is very shallow. You'll have 6+ bases but you won't really care as you'll just use them to heal troops. They do little else and defending them is sometimes such a pain you'll simply get fed up and just maintain 2-3 on opposite sides of the world so you have global coverage.

    Attacking the big enemy camps is either long and tedious or short and cheesy. You see, if you play like a normal game, the enemy has infinite reinforcements. So instead you just cheaply send in a 'ninja' to stealth-bow the alien hatchery until it's destroyed. Or riskily jump-pack a heavy trooper with a sniper rifle over to it. Not satisfying.

    When you take all this into account, Ironman mode is a non-starter. I think that's why they haven't implemented it yet. They know the game's structure doesn't fit such a mode.    … Expand
  14. joshbreviews
    Dec 7, 2019
    6
    I really REALLY wanted to love this.

    As of writing this review, it's nothing more than a slightly polished beta. PROS: Very interesting story premise. Cool enemy visual designs. Interesting warring factions premise. Interesting take on x-com aiming system. Interesting take on global map mechanics. CONS: Direly lacks polish. Horribly un-intuitive user interface, making it an    I really REALLY wanted to love this.

    As of writing this review, it's nothing more than a slightly polished beta.

    PROS: Very interesting story premise. Cool enemy visual designs. Interesting warring factions premise. Interesting take on x-com aiming system. Interesting take on global map mechanics.

    CONS: Direly lacks polish. Horribly un-intuitive user interface, making it an absolute chore to learn the game. The game tends to hide important information. Game balance is a total mess. Clearly not play-tested enough.

    Some examples of how messy PP is right now:

    1) Mini-bosses called Sirens attack you in handfuls - MINI-BOSSES. HANDFULS. Inexplicably, the devs intentionally actually created the Siren and intended them to be all-powerful with no weaknesses or counters. The only way to survive an encounter with a handful of Sirens is to hope that they don't all attack at once, which is totally outside your control. One or two, you can defeat. But 3 or 4 at a time? You're dead. Dealing with Sirens is RNG. Will your snipers miss hitting breaking the head or tail? How close will they spawn? How small is the map? Which of your allies gets mind-controlled first? Note that Sirens can mind-control AT RANGE, MULTIPLE TIMES, AND IT HAS NO COUNTER. You will encounter squads of Sirens very early in the game, meaning you'll have to save-scum to scrape by. A SINGLE mind-controlled ally often results in a total squad wipe. It's telling that the devs did NOT ship this game with ironman mode.

    2) Random, run-ending base attacks with ONLY 12 HOURS WARNING. Before the 12hrs, it's RNG. You won't know until it's too late because your plane is halfway across the world. Also, of course, a handful of Sirens will join the assault so you need all hands on deck or it's game over.

    3) Allies WON'T DUCK when ally behind wants to shoot, resulting in friendly fire. Seriously?

    4) The game does not show you the percentage to hit. Seriously? In an X-Com-type game? Who thought this was a good idea? The realistic bullet-tracking is cool, but the game needs more consistency. I NEED TO KNOW THE CHANCES OF A HIT. This is especially notable on one-shot soldiers like snipers or heavies. The lack of percentage calculation is very, very infuriating, considering this is a core concept in these types of games. I understand that they wanted to eliminate the comical 99%-to-hit-but-miss-at-point-blank scenario...but at what cost? PP is much worse off for it.

    5) The maps are smaller and the enemies attack you all at once the moment they know where you are. This make combat faster and tighter, which is good, but somehow it's not quite as good as x-com. I'm not a game dev so I'm having a hard time elaborating. One, the combat skills your soldiers get feel very...generic. They don't really feel like they add flavor to the soldier's specialty. Add to that the cross-class system and it makes each soldier feel less special. X-com's leveling system is more fun and more intuitive. It gives you limited but meaningful choices. PP just throws a bunch of generic buffs at you to choose from. Two, somehow the enemies feel very generic, too. Sorry, can't elaborate well. X-com did enemies better, too. For whatever reason, fights play out very same-y in PP. In x-com, they were more dynamic.

    After an additional year of polish and patching the core mechanics, this could be a GREAT game. But as it stands, this is nothing more than a prototype. If you buy it now you're just a beta-tester. It sucks bad because there's a great game hidden under the thick muck.    … Expand
  15. Vasot
    Dec 13, 2019
    6
    Good but inferior from XCOM games in many aspects. Quality is surely worse from XCOM games with worse menus much worse base management and characters are poorly designed and lack emotion. Feels like an old Flash game sometimes with some minimalistic static screens. There is no aerial combat and the gameplay is more complicated that it needs to be, The plot feels lacking and it's not thatGood but inferior from XCOM games in many aspects. Quality is surely worse from XCOM games with worse menus much worse base management and characters are poorly designed and lack emotion. Feels like an old Flash game sometimes with some minimalistic static screens. There is no aerial combat and the gameplay is more complicated that it needs to be, The plot feels lacking and it's not that interesting when you fight the same mutant alien crabs. Overall it's not as good as the XCOM series sorry… Expand
  16. justlikeme
    Dec 3, 2019
    5
    Какой позор. Кто эти продажные журналисты-обзорщики, которые ставят такие положительные отзывы? Просто не пишите больше обзоров, не позорьтесь.
    Поиграл пока только обучение, но уже вижу насколько плоха игра. Лет 10 назад она была бы хороша, и выход XCOM Enemy Unknown было бы логическим развитием этого жанра. А вышло наоборот - деградация от лучшего в 2012 и 2016 годах к худшему в 2020.    Какой позор. Кто эти продажные журналисты-обзорщики, которые ставят такие положительные отзывы? Просто не пишите больше обзоров, не позорьтесь.
    Поиграл пока только обучение, но уже вижу насколько плоха игра. Лет 10 назад она была бы хороша, и выход XCOM Enemy Unknown было бы логическим развитием этого жанра. А вышло наоборот - деградация от лучшего в 2012 и 2016 годах к худшему в 2020.
    Во время прохождения обучения вспомнил невольно первую атмосферную обучающую миссию в Enemy Unknown, насколько она была атмосферной и технически отполированной. Игра погружала в себя с первых шагов. Здесь же никакого сочувствия этим кускам мяса в кривом интерфейсе нет, и обучающая миссия каждый ход заставляет меня отдать их на растерзание, как-будто хочет заставить меня считать их расходным материалом.
    Игру пройду (скорее всего), но не надейтесь на что-то качественное если думаете о покупке. И не сравнивайте её с XCOM, это лишь её дешевая реплика.    … Expand
  17. DrShepherdLIVE
    Dec 3, 2019
    5
    OK game. Tactics are more like the old X com titles which I was looking forward too.
    The visual design though is a bit different. You know someone else was drawing and creating the stuff here.
    Has some bugs and a lot of stuff is unexplained. You dont even know that you can build stuff in your base when you dont explore every button in this game. Feels like a very low budget game whit    OK game. Tactics are more like the old X com titles which I was looking forward too.
    The visual design though is a bit different. You know someone else was drawing and creating the stuff here.
    Has some bugs and a lot of stuff is unexplained. You dont even know that you can build stuff in your base when you dont explore every button in this game.
    Feels like a very low budget game whit really nothing innovative in it. I couldnt tell if some random was making this game or a well known game designer in the industry.    … Expand
  18. wait4JA3
    Dec 9, 2019
    5
    what a dissapointment!
    big fan from the old xcom and the new from firefax is nice too.
    i was hoping for an old x-com with new engine :D or an firaxes xcom with more deepness that game is boring and it lacks at love u can not grow an experience general soldier who done many missions.they are max lvl (7) in very short time. can remember how much fun it was at the old x-com to    what a dissapointment!
    big fan from the old xcom and the new from firefax is nice too.

    i was hoping for an old x-com with new engine :D
    or an firaxes xcom with more deepness

    that game is boring and it lacks at love

    u can not grow an experience general soldier who done many missions.they are max lvl (7) in very short time.
    can remember how much fun it was at the old x-com to have those "special" soldiers.

    there is not rly any basemanagement.yes u can trade and sell stuff but it is useless.

    the maps are soo damn boring,firaxes did way better job.

    the geoscape is .. yes boring :D and confusing. i miss the ufos

    the soldiers management is a nightmare.

    for what i need another phoenixpoint base? why do i need a better aircraft?all useless.
    with weapons its almost the same.
    its just not fun if the research have new things for u.
    the feeling with that research result, where u get finally the plasma gun to kick the technically superior aliens in the ass are not exist.

    there are so many more things i could write but i spare u people more from my bad english

    lets hope for xenonauts2 than    … Expand
  19. mechagamera
    Dec 17, 2019
    5
    This game is a hot underdeveloped mess. An intriguing story and concept of a long dormant virus released from melting permafrost is wasted. The global map and games overall pacing are underdeveloped. The bases have no strategic game to them and look like place holders for real content. Maps are small and cluttered and most times you out gun the enemy except when your forced to face armoredThis game is a hot underdeveloped mess. An intriguing story and concept of a long dormant virus released from melting permafrost is wasted. The global map and games overall pacing are underdeveloped. The bases have no strategic game to them and look like place holders for real content. Maps are small and cluttered and most times you out gun the enemy except when your forced to face armored monstrosities a few hours in with no hope of beating them. Gear and Danger should escalate slowly over time. It just isn't fun in it's present form.… Expand
  20. drumbunny
    Dec 6, 2019
    6
    The core game is fine and fun but far from polished. The cover mechanic is broken on many maps as well as the line of sight. In such a strategic game it can break a mission if you rely on the line of sight indicator.

    Also the maps and missions get repetetive pretty fast...
  21. Klarum
    Dec 16, 2019
    5
    The game is fine. But this is an indie level game, that was crowdfunded, and it shows. So I dont understand why it is being sold at AAA pricing and exclusive on EPIC.
    Wait for it to come to Steam and at a discount. By then the bugs of the game should be fixed and they had a year to add content to the game.
  22. seathian
    Dec 7, 2019
    5
    Before i start i have some bias from the whole steam epic store switch, but still the game is dated and has too many bugs. you can say its good for a kickstarter game or indie dev but at the end of the day they got backed by epic hard so they were no longer a kickstarter in terms of funding. the game truly deserves a 5 or 6 at this point with some polish and maybe see what they do in theBefore i start i have some bias from the whole steam epic store switch, but still the game is dated and has too many bugs. you can say its good for a kickstarter game or indie dev but at the end of the day they got backed by epic hard so they were no longer a kickstarter in terms of funding. the game truly deserves a 5 or 6 at this point with some polish and maybe see what they do in the coming months a 7 or 8 if you get over your bias for the dishonesty… Expand
  23. napocapo69
    Dec 13, 2019
    5
    After advancing further in the campaign I'm forced to tone down my previous evaluation of the game (see below). The balance is absolutely broken.
    For the readers I'll give you an example:
    In one mission (Pandora attacking one of my bases) I had 7 (quite skilled unit) against the enemy team composed of 3 Antron and 2 Sirens. The Antron is in theory a md level unit with: Defense -    After advancing further in the campaign I'm forced to tone down my previous evaluation of the game (see below). The balance is absolutely broken.
    For the readers I'll give you an example:
    In one mission (Pandora attacking one of my bases) I had 7 (quite skilled unit) against the enemy team composed of 3 Antron and 2 Sirens.
    The Antron is in theory a md level unit with:
    Defense
    - health points slightly superior to your average unit
    - armour 2 or 3 times the amount of armour of your average unit
    - shield to limit the visibility on the vulnerable parts
    Attack
    - rifle/railgun in one arm
    - grenade launcher in the other arm
    - melee attack with poison
    Along with that this "mid level" unit returns fire (if the shield is not deployed) when attacked

    The Siren has:
    Defense
    - health points significantly superior to your average unit
    - armour 3 or 4 times the amount of armour of your average unit
    Attack
    - can take possession (for the duration of 2 turns) up to 2 of the enemy units per turn (depending on the will power)
    - melee attack with poison
    Along with that this unit can recover a significant amount of will power.

    To make a long story short I started the mission with 7 friendly units vs 5 enemy units.
    After 3 turns the game was 5 vs 6; 5 remaining friendly units (of which one without weapons because the rifle was disabled) against 4 enemies (I managed to kill one Antron, but the 2 sirens were still in good shape given the insame amount of armour/health) plus two of my units siding with the enemy.
    The following turn it was 3 (2 + 1 useless unit) vs 8 enemies (4 pandora units + 4 "traitors").

    You can guess the outcome.

    With this balance the game is unplayable at veteran level.

    ------ Previous evaluation-----

    Compared to Xcom2 it shows the lack of production quality (lack of cut-scenes, poor customization options, no modding support). It is also true that it costs 50% less than the price of Xcom2 full price when it came out. There are some bugs, not many, but overall it is more polished than Xcom2 initial release. I spent over 1500 hours on Xcom2 (I played everything) and I remember the bad performance which lasted for over 1 year; but still I loved that game. In this regard Phoenix Point is quite polished and with much better performances than Xcom2, let's be fair.
    Technically is not a masterpiece but it is good; maps are fine, textures (in gameplay) are good as well the sounds, and animations are decent.

    World map is a mess and it is hard to find you own bases, but actually, the main flaw of this game so far is the balance. That must be fixed; some enemies (SHILLA for instance, with overkill skills , 1300 health points and over 400 of armour) are a way too powerful.

    So far the bad and the not so good. Let's talk about the good.

    The game mechanics are great with much more depth than Xcom2. Compared to the Xcom2 base game, you can customize the soldier loadout with much more options, there are many more classes, more weapons, more technology trees. But the main great feature of this game is the shooting mechanics that allow you to shoot a specific part of the enemy's body; you can slow down the enemy by shooting at the legs, make it vulnerable removing its armour, rip-off his arms or weapons to diminish the threat, and so on. Simply great idea and overall well executed. And there is much more.

    In conclusion this is a good game. If you haven't played Xcom2, play that. But, if you have played Xcom2, you should consider this game, it's fun.

    Considering the price, it is a 7 out of 10. Could be 8 if they fix the insane balance.    … Expand
  24. Ivanhoefb
    Dec 6, 2019
    5
    I’ve only played a few hours, but I enjoy the depth and variety of play. Like any complex game, it takes a bit to understand the systems, especially the range your weapons are effective and how to best level up your troops.
  25. huliolopez
    Dec 8, 2019
    6
    Relatively weak game. It has nice feeling of dying world with alive population counter and some good mechanics, but some bad as well. Why mist an global map looks like red outline, and not like mist? Why mist is totaly absent on tactical battelfield? Why I can't hire crew that I want, instead I have to fly from one haven to another in hope they have a sniper for hire (usually they don't,Relatively weak game. It has nice feeling of dying world with alive population counter and some good mechanics, but some bad as well. Why mist an global map looks like red outline, and not like mist? Why mist is totaly absent on tactical battelfield? Why I can't hire crew that I want, instead I have to fly from one haven to another in hope they have a sniper for hire (usually they don't, so keep flying). Why my heavy soldier sometime dies after landing? Why base managment and diplomacy are so primitive? Why there are so many controller bugs - camera flying off the screen, lists not scrolling, some skills can be called only using mouse. Naming convention - Odin? Eidolon?Acolyte? Do you gues have at least some creativity? it's not a bad game, I like it - but sometimes it feels cheap.… Expand
  26. sherbz
    Dec 5, 2019
    6
    IMO Phoenix Point does everything that XCOM does, but does it worse. And the other game to compare it with - Xenonauts - it only manages to beat it on a handful of occasions. Thats not to say it is a bad game - because it is not. But honestly i was expecting more. One area it falls down in dramatically is in sound. The soldiers sound like their recordings were done in vacuum tubes.IMO Phoenix Point does everything that XCOM does, but does it worse. And the other game to compare it with - Xenonauts - it only manages to beat it on a handful of occasions. Thats not to say it is a bad game - because it is not. But honestly i was expecting more. One area it falls down in dramatically is in sound. The soldiers sound like their recordings were done in vacuum tubes. The music is there, but not tied to the script. It basically has a lot of good ideas and the germ of a good game is there, but it really lacks overall execution. Which is a real shame (im a backer btw). I dont begrudge my backing. But i dont think this will be taking the title of best turn based squad game from XCOM anytime soon. Firaxis's offering is smarter, better designed, and just better in all facets. If you want to play a polished game of a similar ilk then play xenonauts. If you are willing to wait, then Phoenix point may end up surpassing it. But that time is not now. For the vast majority of people, there is not really much to see here. Go play XCOM you fools.… Expand
  27. Zerg82
    Dec 9, 2019
    5
    Скорее, не понравилась.
    Интерфейс, как из задницы. Хотел бы я посмотреть на того умника, кто его спроектировал.
    1) Самое ужасное - в игре нет процента попаданий. Его тупо не показывают. Показывают только возможный урон, который, как правило, сильно отличается в одну из сторон. А процента попаданий нет. То есть, выбирать одну из нескольких целей, как мы это делали в XCOM, останавливаясь    Скорее, не понравилась.
    Интерфейс, как из задницы. Хотел бы я посмотреть на того умника, кто его спроектировал.

    1) Самое ужасное - в игре нет процента попаданий. Его тупо не показывают. Показывают только возможный урон, который, как правило, сильно отличается в одну из сторон. А процента попаданий нет. То есть, выбирать одну из нескольких целей, как мы это делали в XCOM, останавливаясь на той, в которую проще попасть - здесь нельзя. Это так разрабы избежали типа претензий за промахи при 95%.

    2) Солдаты не вызывают сочувствия. Вообще никаких эмоций к ним нет, как в Total War, какой-нибудь. Какие-то безликие существа, с которыми у тебя нет никакого душевного контакта. В XCOM было иначе. Там мы брали их из академии, потихоньку прокачивали, изучали кто как выглядит. А тут они почти все в масках - лиц не видно. Боты, которых не жалко отправить на убой.

    3) Врагов видно сразу, как только начинается бой, хоть они на другом конце карты. Они тебя видят тоже сразу. Никакой интриги, и тупо толкотня на маленьком пяточке.

    4) Мини-боссы Сирены, если нападут сразу по 3-4 штуки - всё, начинай сначала. Победить их можно только по одиночке, максимум по 2 штуки. Но то как они бегают - от тебя не зависит, поэтому если Сирены бегут толпой к тебе - перезагружайся.

    Итог: сыро как на морском дне. Такое впечатление, что это даже не бета, а альфа. В игре нет душевности, и тупая система стрельбы. И никакими патчами это не исправить. В общем, надеялся на большее, а получилась посредственность.    … Expand
  28. Biberattacke
    May 1, 2020
    7
    Julian Gollop als einer der Erfinder der UFO/Xcom Reihe hat versucht Xcom von Fireaxis Konkurrenz zu machen. Wir nehmen die Grundfrage Vorweg: Ist Phoenix Point das bessere Xcom. Antwort: Nein! Aber es macht ganz viel richtig! Die Taktikkämpfe sind herausfordernd und selten unfair. Die Gegner sind sehr abwechslungsreich, und jeder erfordert eine andere Taktik. Die Waffen und Utilities dieJulian Gollop als einer der Erfinder der UFO/Xcom Reihe hat versucht Xcom von Fireaxis Konkurrenz zu machen. Wir nehmen die Grundfrage Vorweg: Ist Phoenix Point das bessere Xcom. Antwort: Nein! Aber es macht ganz viel richtig! Die Taktikkämpfe sind herausfordernd und selten unfair. Die Gegner sind sehr abwechslungsreich, und jeder erfordert eine andere Taktik. Die Waffen und Utilities die man seinen Teams mitgeben kann ergänzen das Spiel sinnvoll. Die Strategiekarte mit den einzelnen Basen ist.. naja OK. Vielmehr war bei Xcom 2 diesbezüglich aber auch nicht drin! Das Spiel ist also recht gut, aber warum nur eine 7/10? Bietet es doch so noch so viel mehr wie verschiedene Fraktionen, eine solide Storyline, die auch zum mehrfachen durchspielen anregt. Die Antwort ist: Es zieht sich wie Kaugummi! Mein Gott Walter, warum ist das Endgame so künstlich verlängert? Ständig sich wiederholende Missionen und im letzten Viertel machen ein gutes Spiel mit sehr guten Ansätzen zum Sisyphosarbeit. Schade! Sehr Schade, denn das Potential den Genrekönig Xcom 2 vom Thron zu stoßen war in Ansätzen vorhanden.… Expand
  29. Nartau
    Nov 2, 2021
    7
    Great game in terms of mechanics and best shooting for X-COM clones out there, but man micromanagement of items gets tedious over time and just unbearable in the late game.
  30. MadclownJack
    Apr 8, 2020
    6
    Love it so far. It's reasonably easy to get into, easier if you're versed in micromanagement from earlier UFO games. It contains enough new mechanics to distinguish itself from its equivalents, but also contains enough familiar mechanics so as not to appear repellent to anyone. Enemies have interesting designs, and so do player characters, and playable factions (in the form of theLove it so far. It's reasonably easy to get into, easier if you're versed in micromanagement from earlier UFO games. It contains enough new mechanics to distinguish itself from its equivalents, but also contains enough familiar mechanics so as not to appear repellent to anyone. Enemies have interesting designs, and so do player characters, and playable factions (in the form of the occasional recruits). Huge fan of the mutated sea creatures (lovecraftian horrors)! I do hope, however, that there's no timer mechanic present, because i am currently having a lot of fun just finishing random missions, if only to study the enemy behavior (and have their AI study mine, apparently) and to accrue necessary materials/loot. The mission variety is similar to that of the last XCOM games, with a twist towards eldritch horror, rather than science fiction alone. I think this is a worthy addition of the turn-based sci-fi horror genre. I am not a backer, and i got the latest build of the game, and again, so far, it's been very stable. No crashes, bugs, nothing. Every XCOM/UFO fan owes it to themselves to play this. 9/10

    Edit. After a full week of playing i found out that i often had to resort to save scumming to be able to progress due to the game being terribly unbalanced. On top of that, Bosses just destroy everything in their path and trample anyone found under them just by moving. Why? I mean the game is fine as is, why resort to such cheap, borderline unfair mechanics? Are they really going for realism THERE? So great, it's a tank. Fully armored, highest HP in the game, shoots literal nukes. Why the trample mechanic? Such a detriment to an otherwise great game. Insult to injury, i managed to kill set boss but had to evac because an enemy got stuck behind an indestructible wall becoming unkillable, making all my effort a waste of time. Also why am i stuck with the crappy weapons and armor while the pandorans are evolved to hell in like 10 missions? The Sirens kind of feel cheaper than the rest and multiple ones in the same mission just isn't fun or fair. I can deal with one of them, but again, savescumming. Also, i feel as if i'm bottle necked to lose the campaign because i feel no progress in research, or armor and weapons upgrades.That said, Had to detract two points from grade. Must be re-balanced and fixed stat. Still good, just not as good as previously thought. 7/10

    Edit 2. Just had a mission with two Sirens. Mind-controlled 4 of my 6 characters in one turn. It's worth mentioning that they are fully armored and can't be killed by anything less than 3-4 subsequent attacks. I can't pretend this is any sort of fair anymore. I'm all for learning to play but this is clearly not that. I'm also starting to feel that this is somehow by design, to prevent players from reaching an end point to a game that is in reality unfinished. 6/10

    Edit: Apr 04. Updated to hell, STILL has weird difficulty spikes. Sirens still spawn 2 at a time. Still able to hijack two soldiers in one turn. On the side of new things BioArmor looks nice. The Pure are just another unnecessary stumble you're set to slip on. Weapons still feel waaay too slow to research, forcing you to either steal or slowly grind diplomacy missions. It's like, there's a ton of choices and stuff to do, but all of them leading to the realization that the leaders in this world are illogical narcissistic caricatures of men/women, inevitably bent on mutual self-destruction. God i want to like this game, i really do. It's got great, GREAT ideas. Some of them well executed even. But it's just not for me. Guess i just want a coherent tactical turn-based strategy that'll let me win every once in a while, without giving me anxiety and forcing me to choke the HDD with saves. Also, why do my characters still miss shots at unobstructed targets a literal FOOT in front of them? What sort of RNG is this exactly?    … Expand
prev
Page:

Awards & Rankings

27
#27 Most Discussed PC Game of 2019
97
#97 Most Shared PC Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 48 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 48
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 48
  3. Negative: 0 out of 48
  1. GameCritics
    May 7, 2020
    80
    Even with all its technical flaws and strategic hiccups, Phoenix Point manages to pull together some of the best aspects of classic and contemporary turn-based tactical design and, in doing so, it somehow leaves me wanting more. It’s not a recommendation that comes without caveats thanks to the bugs and hiccups, but the struggle is worth it.
    Read full review
  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Feb 28, 2020
    80
    In some ways, the game may look simple, but the opposite is true. Thanks to the difficulty and intriguing environment you will spend dozens of hours playing the game. [Issue#301]
  3. Games.cz
    Feb 28, 2020
    80
    This is a true spiritual successor to X-Com games. The tense atmosphere and terribly lopsided fight to save humanity make this a wonderful strategic experience.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »