Phoenix Point is an Xcom ripoff thats free to play this weekend.

[shortylickens]

Phoenix Point on Steam

The acclaimed strategy game from the creator of X-COM. Fight tactical battles on procedural maps against a foe that adapts to your tactics. Manage diplomacy and economy on a global scale. Research, explore, overcome. Now includes Steam Workshop support for mods!

store.steampowered.com

35 gigs, took me some time to download.

Story is almost exactly the same as Xcom. Creatures rise up from the melting polar ice caps and wreck earth. Underground resistance has to fight back.
Its a solid game. Plays exactly like the two recent Xcom titles. This one gives you a little more flexibility in the run-shoot-run process. You can also change the width of Overwatch.
If you are lucky enough to have a vehicle on the map, it can be used to lob mortars a fairly long distance.
Some of the better weapons have finite ammo. Its a lot, but fairly limited.

 

[shortylickens]

There are other factions in the game, and you can have diplomacy with them.
The Pandora virus spreads slowly across the globe, and eventually takes over sites which attack your Havens, so they have to be dealt with.
Your soldiers have a free shoot mode, which seems cool but really is just a pain.
Also I was wrong, ALL weapons have limited ammo, so on a really tough map you will be using the Bash command a lot.

Its getting Mixed reviews on Steam. Most people find more than a few faults or nitpicks to complain about.

 

[NTMBK]

I feel like calling it a "ripoff" is very unfair The designer of the game is Julian Gollop, who designed the original X-COM back in the 90s!

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Wasn't this an Epic Store exclusive for a while? If its getting torn a new one on steam I can understand why...

 

[NTMBK]

Wasn't this an Epic Store exclusive for a while? If its getting torn a new one on steam I can understand why...

Why? The Epic Store is just another shop. I don't particularly see why I should have loyalty to one soulless company or another.

 

[shortylickens]

No I've read the reviews. No one is complaining about exclusivity or anything like that. Its legitimate complaints about the game.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Why? The Epic Store is just another shop. I don't particularly see why I should have loyalty to one soulless company or another.

- Personally, it's that I'm deeply invested in one launcher/storefront (Steam) and have had bad experiences having my games scattered across others (B.net/Uplay/origins/stardock/gog) that I've decided to go all in on Steam.

But my comment mostly referred to Epic Store not having product reviews by users, which incentivices devs who lack faith in their products to take the exclusivity money for a knowingly half-assed product. If you know you're going to get eaten alive on Steam due to reviews, wouldn't you take Epic's money and run?

 

[shortylickens]

Gog isnt so bad. You can just download the entire installer and keep it.
Also, Gog frequently has bonuses for free, like wallpapers and soundtracks and strategy guides. If those exist on steam you always have to pay extra.

 

[Borealis7]

the game released in an unplayable state and thats why i didnt play it. is it working properly now?