User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 398 Ratings

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  1. 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
  2. Dec 5, 2019
    3
    Глючная, сырая, скучная, безликая. Разнообразие тактик? Нет. Баланс на высокой сложности? Нет. Хотя бы экшон и графон? Тоже нет. Кто-то купил в EGS за 300р. - вот её цена, а не 1799р.
  3. 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...
  4. 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.
  5. Dec 6, 2019
    8
    Just started and i must say the game is very good, have an old laptop so i have to play on low setting but still looks fine, but used to have sinclair so maybe graphics isnt a deal breaker for me. the game works great but some loading times. But i think most of the negative reviews are because people were just expecting too much and some people thought it would be more user friendly likeJust started and i must say the game is very good, have an old laptop so i have to play on low setting but still looks fine, but used to have sinclair so maybe graphics isnt a deal breaker for me. the game works great but some loading times. But i think most of the negative reviews are because people were just expecting too much and some people thought it would be more user friendly like the new XCOM games who are great by the way. And its the same with this game as any other game today that is its probably put out a little bit soon so we have to wait for patches and upgrades for some time and hopefully after few months it will be even better. have been playing Fallout 4 finally and its great and everything works fine and all the dlc's are good too. If you want a great turn based game then check this out Expand
  6. 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
  7. 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.
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  8. 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.
  9. Dec 7, 2019
    8
    While some of the mission types pop up far too often (I'm looking at you scavenge missions), there is a lot of detail to get into and depth to explore.

    I prefer the movement mechanics to xcom, though they did take getting used to!

    The story is interesting and I'm currently working with the faction I least thought I would. Enjoyable fun that will keep me going for quite some time!
  10. Dec 8, 2019
    4
    This is still a prototype: no balance, no final UI (what i see is can not be considered as final at all), no UX.
    A very big disappointment instead of a game.
  11. Dec 10, 2019
    10
    7.5 It's rough around the edges, but it's made by Gollop, one of the brightest minds of the age of computer games, with that said, the story is good, the tactics and animations better than XCOM's, the ufopedia good as usual, the only thing it needs is a bit more game options (like turning off right clicking run) and more to do on the geoscape, the inclusion of the APC is great, finally7.5 It's rough around the edges, but it's made by Gollop, one of the brightest minds of the age of computer games, with that said, the story is good, the tactics and animations better than XCOM's, the ufopedia good as usual, the only thing it needs is a bit more game options (like turning off right clicking run) and more to do on the geoscape, the inclusion of the APC is great, finally snipers are not useless compared to Firaxis version, also the random positioning of the enemies is way better and the surprise factor well done, i suggest you play on the hardest mode to enjoy it the most, music is fantastic and is based on the original scores, the game have some bugs but is mostly optimized and well done, this is probably one of the few good Unity games out there, i know the exclusivity deal with Epic games store is not cool but at least when it launches on Steam, the game will be way better. Expand
  12. Dec 4, 2019
    10
    Потом напишу полноценный обзор, как пройду со всеми дополнениями, пока игра великолепна! Чувствуется рука автора оригиналов хоть и осовремененная и всё ещё нуждающаяся в развитии. Подождем-увидим.
    justlikeme, не позорься на весь земной шар! Эта игра от создателей оригинальных X-COMов 90х годов, а не той шляпы с названием Enemy Unknown, создатели которой не имеют ничего общего с
    Потом напишу полноценный обзор, как пройду со всеми дополнениями, пока игра великолепна! Чувствуется рука автора оригиналов хоть и осовремененная и всё ещё нуждающаяся в развитии. Подождем-увидим.
    justlikeme, не позорься на весь земной шар! Эта игра от создателей оригинальных X-COMов 90х годов, а не той шляпы с названием Enemy Unknown, создатели которой не имеют ничего общего с оригиналом. Даже Xenonauts больше X-COM чем Enemy Unknown!
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  13. Dec 5, 2019
    10
    An amazing game. I'm new to the genre and feels quite difficult. Still in brings me in a very pleasant way in its dark atmosFEAR. It's quite fun to make mistakes only to find new and new things. Everything is quite beautiful with nice attention to detail. Just love what those guys have done. Keep on!
  14. Dec 9, 2019
    10
    Extremely enjoyable game with a long developer commitment for continuous content and support! Can't wait to see what comes next!
  15. Dec 6, 2019
    4
    I have been waiting for this game for a LONG time. Too bad i didn't buy it before it migrated to epic games as if i had i would get the rest of the game for free. Now i have to spend another 30$ to get the expansions which i am sure will help this game out.

    I agree with other reviews in that, for now, Install x-com 2 and have a much better time. Perhaps the game will improve. Or
    I have been waiting for this game for a LONG time. Too bad i didn't buy it before it migrated to epic games as if i had i would get the rest of the game for free. Now i have to spend another 30$ to get the expansions which i am sure will help this game out.

    I agree with other reviews in that, for now, Install x-com 2 and have a much better time. Perhaps the game will improve. Or not, and releasing it right before Christmas was a cash grab. I think this hurt them in the long run....... Long War????
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  16. 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
  17. Dec 3, 2019
    10
    Much needed true successor to the original Xcom. Well done Snapshot Games!!!
  18. Dec 5, 2019
    8
    Disclaimer: As of the writing of this review, I have played this game for 10 hours. These are my initial thoughts on Phoenix Point.

    As a long-time fan of XCOM 2 (125h in the game), I was very excited when the news about Phoenix Point dropped. But has this game, clearly a love letter to the XCOM franchise, lived up to the hype? XCOM 3? One thing is for certain, the game certainly
    Disclaimer: As of the writing of this review, I have played this game for 10 hours. These are my initial thoughts on Phoenix Point.

    As a long-time fan of XCOM 2 (125h in the game), I was very excited when the news about Phoenix Point dropped. But has this game, clearly a love letter to the XCOM franchise, lived up to the hype?

    XCOM 3?
    One thing is for certain, the game certainly *feels* like XCOM. The cover system, the overworld hub, crazy alien enemies, three factions to ally yourself with, and a customizable army at your command all help with the perceiving of this game as an XCOM successor. If you're looking for anything that's remotely XCOM, you shouldn't hesitate to pick this game up. Also, I will stop saying XCOM now.

    THE BAD
    For first-time players in the genre, the first few hours of the game may feel like you being thrown in at the deep end. The tutorial throws a significant amount of information at you; action points, will points, the VATS-like targeting system, the Overwatch system, cover, base-building... The depth in the game is great (more on that later), but the easing-in of players could, in my opinion, have been done better.

    In the visual department, Phoenix Point is nothing tremendously special. The overworld globe lacks detail, and consists of hardly anything but little circle-blips indicating locations to explore and faction bases to trade with. In battle, too, the graphics seem a little outdated, and not as polished as we have come to expect in 2019. It's not *ugly*, mind you - but it could have been better.

    Some reviews I've read have talked about bugs. So far, I have yet to encounter any game-breaking bugs. Loading times on the enemy turns can be a little long, and can make you feel like something's gone wrong, but have resolved themselves every time they happened to me. The largest bug I have encountered is that of line-of-sight indicators. Whenever you select one of your units and hover over potential movement destinations, a small sight indicator allows you to see which enemies you can target from that position. It's happened to me a few times that the indicator revealed itself for a certain location, but when I move to it, the game doesn't allow me to fire on any enemies from that location. This is annoying.

    Finally, the most major thing that has irked me is the 'end-turn'-button (Backspace). It has happened to me three times already that I accidentally pressed Backspace rather than Escape to cancel a proposed action - but when this is done, you automatically skip your turn, no confirmation required. This has led to soldiers lost and angry restarts. What's worse - you can't re-bind the button to something you definitely won't use. So you're stuck worrying about possibly pressing the button and outright losing your game.

    THE GOOD
    Besides the previously-mentioned similarities to XCOM (which is a good thing), so far I am enjoying the story. Information about the world is drip-fed to you rather than being exposited all over immediately, and I am curious to see where exactly the Campaign will lead to.

    The missions are also, so far, fun to play. Enemies are varied and well-designed, and the VATS-like aiming system is great, although not *always* as accurate as it seems to me. I am enjoying the Willpower system which allows you to spend a certain number of points each mission to perform special feats, like a small extra movement for no action cost or lowering the action cost of shooting. Snipers so far are my favorite, with their high damage output and pin-point precision.

    There's plenty of depth in the game for the micro-managers, too; you'll spend quite some time assigning your favorite gear to your favorite characters, building your base from the ground up, manufacturing and scrapping new weapons, etc. Whilst the customizability can be a little confusing at some parts (I myself am not particularly keen on the dozen of different stats for each soldier) and lacking in some elements (there's no real character design customization options), it's still sufficiently deep to be enjoyed.

    CONCLUSION
    Whilst there's certainly more to come in the game that can change my verdict, so far I can say that Phoenix Point is likely to be enjoyed by fans of the XCOM franchise and strategy fans at large. Whilst there are some issues that will hopefully be solved in later patches, the game is fine to play as-is, and is certainly an enjoyable experience.

    7/10 GRAPHICS
    8,5/10 GAMEPLAY
    -1 Information overload in tutorial
    -1 Small bugs & Missing features
    +2 Combat experience (Aiming & Willpower systems, enemy variety)
    +0 Customizability (Nice and deep in some parts, lacking in others)

    TOTAL SCORE
    15,5/20 = [8-]
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  19. Dec 5, 2019
    10
    Big game, not only xcom clone. Gameplay choices that make it much more tactical and compelling than xcom. In general less refined than xcom but will follow patches and dlc to fix.
  20. Dec 3, 2019
    10
    Great game! I've been following the development of the game from the very beginning, and am very pleased with the game!!!
  21. Dec 7, 2019
    10
    First time - Low budget boring game.
    Second time - strategic orgy.

    Who loves XCOM2, must play. This game needs time for understanding. I recommend.

    XCOM2:
    better graphic
    more complex

    PHOENIX POINT:
    similar to old XCOM
    more interesting enemies
    interesting ideas
  22. Dec 9, 2019
    10
    Amazing Game. If you liked classic XCOM or even the newer version, you will love this game. I can see it being a classic for years to come. It's a life stealer though. Set some time aside.
  23. Dec 7, 2019
    0
    I want to like this game, I really do. Supported them prior to release and was excited to play. This game is full of bugs, can't even get past the tutorial. Really weird as the alpha/beta seemed to be rock solid. Must be them trying to rush the game out to hit release dates...
  24. Dec 7, 2019
    10
    Лучшая пошаговая стратегия, за последние лет 10, продуманная и глубокая. И самое главное минимум ТУПОГО РАНДОМА. Почти шедевр. Желаю разработчикам финансового успеха и сам куплю игру и все дополнения.
  25. Dec 7, 2019
    10
    Game is flawless! Similar to Xcom, but way better! Everything Xcom lacks this game has. Way more forgiving than Xcom. Must play!! Support Spattercatgaming on YouTube. Buy through his link please!
  26. Dec 8, 2019
    10
    It's revolutionary game for the XCOM genre, you can shoot whatever you want, no matter if it's environment or enemies or even friends. There is no logical abstraction with random chances of the shooting, the randomness comes only from the weapon's spread angle. You can make yourself a hole on the wall and shoot whatever you see through that whole... but it can also shoot you back, it'sIt's revolutionary game for the XCOM genre, you can shoot whatever you want, no matter if it's environment or enemies or even friends. There is no logical abstraction with random chances of the shooting, the randomness comes only from the weapon's spread angle. You can make yourself a hole on the wall and shoot whatever you see through that whole... but it can also shoot you back, it's hilarious, I've never seen such freedom in a turn based game. Yeah it has some bugs, the AI is "thinking" too slow sometimes (which is normal I guess, having in mind this freedom I'm talking about), but It's a first official build after all, we all know how developers launch first, fix bugs later now days. Expand
  27. Dec 5, 2019
    3
    A good add-on for XCOM2, I don’t see the creator of "UFO Defense" here. There were a lot of words, but it turned out as always!
  28. Dec 6, 2019
    9
    it's a really great games, i played arround 7 hours of it, if you like the xcom series you will like this.
  29. Dec 15, 2019
    9
    I was very surprised. First from the game and then from a lot of Xcom veterans here on metacritic who polarize on the game.
    To me this was one of the best Xcom experiences across the last couple of years minus a few flaws.
    At the start, and with my high hopes, i felt a little bit disapointed about the game and I thought "well, it is not very deep, only 3 character classes, and the
    I was very surprised. First from the game and then from a lot of Xcom veterans here on metacritic who polarize on the game.
    To me this was one of the best Xcom experiences across the last couple of years minus a few flaws.

    At the start, and with my high hopes, i felt a little bit disapointed about the game and I thought "well, it is not very deep, only 3 character classes, and the gameplay and customization is a abit shallow"
    But then with more and more hours in the game pretty much exploded in my face and soon i almost lost the overview of all my soldiers, all the classes and builds and loadouts and so forth. And while it became a lot to care about it did not become this behemoth like LW2 where things become messy after a while. In short - the game started to shine a lot later than expected.

    The gamplay works better for me than in the last two xcom titles, because it manages two things very well:
    1. The tactical games are much more predictable and therefore planable and "tactical"
    2. I did not need or want to save scum all the time although it was dificult every now and then. Which makes the gameply so much more fluid.

    There is one thing that is mentioned often in the critics which is "the soldiers dont have personality" which is true but i felt it to be a kind of advantage. I had loved characters in Xcom1 and 2 too. OFC.
    but this led to sad faces when the loved ones get hurt or killed.
    But Xcom has always been about exactly that: expendable soldiers, about losses and the hurt of war.
    Adn this does phoenix point manage very well the soldiers dont get too close to our heart and the skill trees are not toooo deep and this makes them expendable and taht makes the game concept work since we dont care(too much) about a soldier getting badly hurt or leaving someone in the base for a couple of days.
    Still- while I love the "new" aim mechanics so much more tahn the "old" (after some getting used to it)

    Still while this stuff worked good, and replayability is there because of the factions system there is some minor to major flaws imho.

    First , as metioned, it starts too late to develop its qualities. Second the game scales somehow strange. In the first twenty hours it was kinda (too) easy and by now it is really hard. All my soldiers have to be snipers because the storm rifle does 40 dmg max and almost all my enemies have 40 -60 armor. Ending in 0 dmg for "normal" rifles. I dont kow if I missed some research somewhere though...
    Anyways I feel extremely outdated with my weapons.
    The Story is not reeeally engaging thats true. I am not a lore guy- in fact I never in my gamer career was a guy who reads quests or backgrounds since I always found game lore very badly written even in "praised" games. But I like and need immersion and that is a little bit off in phoenix point.

    So all in all - it is a definitve recommend from my side. It is not Xcom3 but it is an awesome Xcom2.5 with great ideas and dynamics.
    And if you compare the Budget from Xcom 2 and Phoenix point - Phoenix Point CLEARLY did the better job in almost every aspect of the game.
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  30. Dec 17, 2019
    10
    It's a great game in the tradition of the old and venerable XCom (not the recent games, but the old ones from the 90s), made by the creator of that games. Its true it is made with a low budget and it shows in sound that could have been better, between scenes graphics of variable quality and some small details like that. But the problems are all in these non-essential issues. The core ofIt's a great game in the tradition of the old and venerable XCom (not the recent games, but the old ones from the 90s), made by the creator of that games. Its true it is made with a low budget and it shows in sound that could have been better, between scenes graphics of variable quality and some small details like that. But the problems are all in these non-essential issues. The core of the game, the playability, the game itself, is great. Its well thought and implemented. No clicking wrong soldier or place (unless you *really* mess it), easy to understand interface. The game itself isn't easy to master and that's a great thing, you have to think, learn, play to get the hang of it. I'm currently on my third play and already seeing I made something wrong, but still can't say precisely what. So lets go on and discover!

    One point I complain a bit about is that we could have sceneries related to the places in the world where they are. Or more variation at least. This limitation was an aspect of the original games but by then we had games on 3 1/4 disquettes, now we have much more freedom so this could have been addressed.

    Another thing I'm asking myself, will it be possible to customize things around? I mean, at least the cosmetic part? I would love to be able to recreate my team of Hollywood actors as soldiers like I did on the original XCom games! (: By then we only had the photos of faces and names to change, now it would be much more complex, but...

    All in all, I'm loving to play this game. I like a lot the new XCom, played 1 and 2 to the end many times vamilla and customized, but Phoenix Point is like returning to the *real* thing.
    Can't wait to see the DLCs!
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Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 48 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 48
  2. Negative: 0 out of 48
  1. 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.
  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. 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.