Phoenix Point - Rapid Fire Review

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Delrith Reviews the new turn based strategy game from Julian Gollop, creator of the original X-COM! How did this original Kickstarter Project come together? Find out!
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[@full_regalia8649]

This game needs a solid year of polish and added content. Also needs to come to steam with mod support.

[@Ralathar44]

What a coincidental time frame :P.

[@ParanoidJackson]

It is coming to Steam/GoG with Mod Support next year! Or were you being sarcastic? If so touche!

[@EcchiRevenge]

Just in time for a proper steam release!

[@MaledictGaming]

@@ParanoidJackson It's supposed to (not sure about the mod support, but thez mentioned plans for it in the past), so yeah kinnda sorry for the people who bought it in Epic, but I also think that it will end like Xcom Enemy Within, mess when it came out, a brilliant piece once finished.

[@ParanoidJackson]

@@MaledictGaming I'm a Fig Backer from the first week. When they signed the Epic Games deal some Fig Backers jumped ship demanding a refund. I read an email and/or post from SnapShot stating we would all get another copy.

[@MWBalls]

Should have included the clip where the civilian you were protecting got sniped from across the map on turn 1.

[@virtualaffinity]

Sounds like a synedrion sniper problem. 80 something effective tile range + synedrion armor giving +30% accuracy in a set. Fucking why

[@virtualaffinity]

@@madattaktube Yeah that can happen, or you get too close to one of the big guys when they die as they become impassable terrain themselves. And goo... fuck goo

[@louisstabile1182]

That seems realistic. No joke.

[@JackIsNotInTheBox]

I just started playing XCOM 2: War of Chosen after playing Phoenix Point and XCOM 2 is just so much better. The atmosphere and the animations.

[@otakon17]

XCOM 2 has got better funding and a bigger team.

[@otakon17]

@@SittingOnEdgeman I meant more in response to the graphics and aesthetic not the gameplay balancing.

[@bernardoheusi6146]

X COM is an AAA game, research before posting shit

[@fall190]

@@bernardoheusi6146 xcom is cheaper than pheonix point, if you want to pay a more for a worse game go ahead

[@grilledchicken5301]

Fall XCOM has been out for 4 years I don’t expect it to hold a price

[@Brandon34098]

the kickstarter also betrayed its backers at first claiming it will be released on steam then changed to releasing on epic through a exclusive deal

[@HarshNerf]

If you get the game it's not a betrayal. The studio gets enough money to survive longer and make more sequels -which is what backers SHOULD want

[@XShrike0]

To be fair, they are supposed to be giving out Steam keys as well, when it gets released on Steam. These exclusives are looking more and more like betas for the Steam release.

[@theuglytruth5556]

Who cares where it's released at, just play the goddamn game

[@merten0083]

Just pirate the game. Tim Sweeny already paid for your copy.

[@SableLeaf]

@@theuglytruth5556 Hey, people have a right to complain, similarly to how you have a right to complain about them complaining, but telling others to just submit makes you look like a dick.

[@Demiand_]

I lost 2 soldiers and everything went down very quick. Being unable to recruit* new soldiers because to recruit* you need to complete misions, where sometimes every enemy attacks the same soldier and they kill him/her.

[@BoydofZINJ]

The first few missions are hard. You are correct, you can get an early death spiral if you miss read a position and get someone killed. With that being said, you can restart any mission and know where the enemies are (from the previous start) and use that to help you pass early missions. Cover is THE most important objective to be behind when fighting and the cover has to be facing the general direction of the enemy. If the cover is north and the enemy is south or east or west then the cover is meaningless. Unlike XCOM you can fire then move or move then fire and move - as long as you dont use up all your tile movement and action points. As a result you can be under full cover, move 1 left and have a better shot then fire then move 1 right and be behind full cover again.

[@chooky4626]

recruit... close though???

[@Demiand_]

@@chooky4626 sorry English is my third language, but I tried to share my experience with this game.

[@Demiand_]

@@BoydofZINJ I like the game, and that death spiral felt amazing and frustrating jeje

[@virtualaffinity]

@@BoydofZINJ You're forgetting that the type of cover also matters, if the enemy can blast your high cover or the high cover is actually garbage and could barely even be considered low cover then you may very well get hit or die. And do not even bother using cover when fighting synedrion snipers, they can accurately hit someone's head from across the entire map, all they need is a head poking out which happens even at a slight angle to a high cover wall. Just never fight synedrion or abuse the shit out of buildings and let them come with overwatch going. And fighting new jericho heavies with rocket launchers or even just pandorans with grenade launchers is a nightmare. Cover won't protect you. I find it incredibly frustrating how enemies will abuse their ability to throw grenades, rockets, etc whenever possible, even if they would just hit a single guy because explosions are most of the time devastating. Using a heavy who has a lot of armor doesn't matter either, while he might not die, 2 grenades are enough to break his gun and render him useless. That said, I find the best strategy to win the game is to create heavy/assault mix squads with one priest who has instil frenzy. Make sure everyone has high willpower and speed because health and strength late game doesn't matter shit, you will get one shot regardless. So this way you rush the enemy before it happens, also give your heavies new jericho rocket launchers, they are overpowered as fuck and are pretty much a more powerful grenade, yet cost just as much as one. Though it also works if you give everyone anu assault class armor, even the heavies. Heavies with rage burst, speed and max willpower, overpowered combination, and depending on the weapon also not that expensive ammo wise, possibly even just as expensive as a grenade, yet doing far more damage. Even found an exploit where you only need a single assault guy with dash and 20 willpoints. Go to your least favorite faction's research center and just dash the objective when stealing research, you get 600-800XP each time and it only takes about 30 seconds or less each time. You can power level the rest of your squad this way, especially since after finishing you can just do it again, endlessly winning in the first turn. You also gain massive favor with 2 of the 3 factions then. Oh and also, do not destroy pandoran nests early and mid game. If you can help it, get a second squad going with a new aircraft as soon as possible and use them as a 'haven defense force', you can seriously farm resources and reputation this way I am playing on hero difficulty late game and the game is manageable with this strategy, doesn't mean it completely saves you from bullshit moments though, save scumming and rage still happens. Srsly sirens need a way to have their mind control disabled or be limited to 1 mind control. When you have priests you can also only mind control 1 person, so why should they be allowed multiple. They only way you can disable their mind control is to have people high on willpower and destroy the siren's head before it mind controls, this way it cannot initiate any mind control. And what's the deal with mindfraggers, why are they allowed to mind control with 0 willpoints. At least they are easy to just bash off when someone has it on their head. Anyway, enough rambling, the game is in a weird masochistic way enjoyable, but it needs so much polishing I am not even sure they really care to do all that. They had all the time as well as epic exclusivity money apparently 'to make a better game', yet this is what they provided. Not only that, there have been backer builds for months. For what exactly? I would think the game would at least be good entirely then when people can give feedback on it, and it's free of charge feedback too.

[@maximerogeon3815]

When I started I wondered "wtf an xcom like without Ironman?!" And after 4 hours in it "ohhhh I get why now" I didn't finished it yet and damn I love xcom games, but this one broken in too many ways, I ll give it another shot in a year or so.

[@HarshNerf]

Yeah Ironman needs technical polish. This game is a new series though

[@donaldbell2554]

Do you wish you waited to buy it looks sweet I love xcom

[@AirOne1333]

@@donaldbell2554 i wish i waited yes because epic games suck so much i may rebuy the game on steam later maybe

[@donaldbell2554]

@@AirOne1333 thank you I'll wait

[@marjohnbuncio2782]

This will be a glorious game once modders get their hands on it

[@Yojimboforlife]

In a year's time when it's finally out on steam i will have forgotten all about this game

[@HarshNerf]

Nah there aren't many xcom like games. I can count like 5 good ones off the top of my head

[@csabawars]

Ufo after series cool too if you want to spend you time with a cool budget series. ;)

[@Rex1987]

i sure will remember it. By that time most of the bugs will be fixed, and the DLC will be out = a much better game. Plus i am not buying anything on epic at all.

[@Yojimboforlife]

@@Rex1987 time will tell 🤘

[@RauschenPauli]

i mean. its already forgotten. if you want a differrent xcom game just play xcom 2 with alot of mods.

[@grittynerd]

Why every X-COM type game must have mind control enemies, i get it's scary but in the end it's so abused it's boring. I want something original to fight against, not always my own team like saying "we don't know what is hardest than your fully equipped and trained people".

[@Lord_of_Dread]

TBF Julian pioneered that, so it's his idea to use. If you've played the original X-COM games then you'd know its part of the series' DNA.

[@grittynerd]

@@Lord_of_Dread I know that it's an idea from the original series, still when there're plenty of titles that do that maybe it's time to move on to some new idea. Maybe put mind-control but limited to few situations just as a special event. I like when aliens have their own way to fight, must all be able to control the mind of other sentient beings? I want different threats to humanity ;)

[@White_Tiger93]

terror from the deep is much scarier than this...

[@DisemboweII]

Better than mind control would be fighting a mirror of your own team members, like the cliche "evil clones" or "doppleganger" style. That way you still have full control over your own team, and you know the enemy's strength and weaknesses; with well-written AI they would also react to yours, too. This sort of game would benefit more from stuff like summoning portals that spew out progressively harder (eventually impossible to kill) enemies unless shut down, with the possibility that you can actually go into them as some sort of extra hard mode challenge in exchange for forbidden technology or a ton of resources. Reward the challenge but don't make it mandatory!

[@Chadronius]

In XCOM, you actually had a counter to mind control. You either have a high Willpower stat, which you usually get willpower buffs when you level, or equip the mind shield, which is easily made from a few sectoids.

[@Doctorgeo7]

Kinda surprised angry joe didn't review this himself. Edit: And now I'm glad I have to wait a year before playing this on Steam.

[@bernardoheusi6146]

He barely plays strategy, WTF are you talking about?

[@Doctorgeo7]

@@bernardoheusi6146 That didn't stop him from reviewing XCOM 1 and 2

[@TheRufas24]

@@Doctorgeo7 yep his a huge fan of the xcom genre which you would know or see if you watch his rewiew :P

[@Doctorgeo7]

​@@TheRufas24 Angry Joe being a huge fan of XCOM is why I was surprised he didn't review this himself. :P

[@0kewl]

@@bernardoheusi6146 He said himself that the original Xcom is his all time favorite game, you stupid fuck

[@Rex1987]

Its a shame you didn't put more light on how Julian Gollop made a huge mistake on promising that it would come to steam during the Kickstarter and then turning around 180 degrees and being bought out by Epic. Calling out bad business practices is a hallmark of the angry joe show. Other than that it clear that the game does need more time to be a polished good game from the original dev that made Xcom. For instance, one another key difference from Firaxis Xcom 2 is that you are not just limited by only having 2 actions pr soldier. You can move gradually and still shot. That means that you can move out of cover, shoot at the enemy and move back again. But sometimes you don't have control over what side you want a soldier to sidestep out from. Sometimes they will not sidestep at all. There is already the first patch out that fixes some of the problems with balance and crashes.

[@donjohnson1765]

i swear people go full retarded when it comes to this game and their steam launch, heres the problem. they promised it come out on steam but heres the thing when they promised that THEIR WAS NO EPIC GAME STORE AT ALL, WHAT SO EVER, NEVER WAS, NEVER WOULD HAVE BEEN when it was announced. Epic then game and bought competing games, thats just straight buisness, in the mind of julian gollop when he did the conversion its obvious and for good reason he thought his fanbase would back him because they cared about supporting him and his game, how could have predicated more people cared about steam than him and his game?

[@killervztwogaming5796]

maybe dont give money to a kickstarter... considering most end up sucking or never actually come out. problem solved.

[@KingOfBlades27]

People seriously make game companies taking Epic deals way bigger thing that it actually is. If really a game going to epic store makes you cancel your pre order then you didn't want to play the game to begin with.

[@killervztwogaming5796]

@@KingOfBlades27 and proof is in the sales. Metro, division , borderlands, and control all sold like hotcakes. its a vocal minority that are screaming about epic deals.

[@rikou1986]

It's a game review..... not a dev/platform review.

[@timofaust1315]

Can not hear "this game has a lot of potential" anymore. 2019 is a year of unfinished releases and it is only getting worse.

[@thedeepfriar745]

There’s multiple problems that contribute to that: games are more expensive to make now, the internet is incredibly impatient. And there’s such a push to finish the game as quickly as they can so that it can start making a profit to have funding to fix bugs and start on other projects

[@iansrven3023]

to be fair this game is very complex, alien invasion simulator. Xcom 2 terror from the deep was so broken you couldn't actually finish it if you researched in the wrong order. Granted no excuse, but it's an entire new game. Much like Outer Worlds, which is also very unbalanced. Good things in patches and future

[@timofaust1315]

@@iansrven3023 Agreed. But because one game was a mess at release, that should not make the case that other games should, too. And just because one game could turn it around, does not mean all games will, either by devs being uninterested to follow up, being incompetent at what they do or are running out of budget and want to cut losses.

[@jwmdlm07]

Please do a rapid review of Children Of Morta it needs more attention

[@RaisinBagelz]

Anyone else see his character names? Lol "Alex or Whatever", "OtherJoelina"

[@Nyx_Avatar]

For the Siren's mind control you destroy their heads and they can't use the ability. Same goes for every enemy, click on their info and see what abilities they have then destroy the limb attached to it. equipment can be destroyed too making some enemies and your team useless. For example if you or enemies arms are taken off they can't use their guns

[@martonpapp6920]

you have to destroy the head of the siren to zero its willpower. It wont be able to mind control anymore

[@kasumimi]

Yep... apparently very few people are aware of this

[@leeviheiskanen1271]

And equip tinfoil hats to your troops

[@Magemaster55]

Disabling siren's head is a great way to break mindcontrol link and halve siren's WP pool. Though if you leave it alive, siren will recover WP back and could make another mindcontrol attempt.

[@DavidWMiller]

@@Magemaster55 It can't mind control again with a disabled head. Latest patch made that more clear, but it was always the case.

[@xXA7XxGunslingerXx]

Isn't the free aiming mechanic similar to Valkyrie Chronicles?

[@AdimasCrow]

Was thinking this when he brought it up

[@TheExecutorr]

yes pretty much. YOu basically get a hit circle and every shot will land somewhere in that circle. So it's totally like that, only in an XCOM-type of game.

[@nahuelleandroarroyo]

Yes but without friendlies ducking or enemies going probé because "high stats"

[@elitereptilian200]

game is so glitchy, buggy & unfinished that it makes you wonder where the hell all that Epic money went since its pretty clear none of it went in to the game..

[@DisemboweII]

It went to the cunts that made the golden handshake, you can guarantee regular employees gained nothing from it.

[@chaosakazero]

*screams at DS * "objection!" Oh wait wrong phoenix series

[@DatCheese]

No no you got it Wright. This is a sequel to Phoenix Slam. The planned next game is Phoenix Smug.

[@predat11]

7/10 way too forgiving for this game. In current state I'd say 4-5/10 max

[@rasmusazu]

Hmm.. I enjoy it. But then again, everyone is different, and to be fair. I just go on it, play a combat scenario or two and then stop. And no, I didnt get it from Epic, I got it with a bottle of rum. I'll support them where I was gonna support them from the start, until they changed their promise.

[@predat11]

The issues I have fall into the balance category. You hardly feel like you ever get stronger with tech and broken things like ralley the troops spam unlimited dashes and rageburst really kill the game for me. Also, seems they couldnt get the skills to work right either since reloading a save resets the use of all ralley the troops even if it was used on the same turn anyway leading to endless uses as long as you have will. The game promotes rush tactics of getting the objective done turn 1 or dashing to rage burst shotgun spree enemies to death with no issue with endgame shred shotguns. Unfortunately I don't like this playstyle as it holds now.

[@rasmusazu]

@@predat11 Really? As i said, i got the game with a bottle of rum. But i havent had save corruption or the skill reset in reload... Maybe its because the game uses a cloud save thing from Epic and the version i have doesnt? I donno.. I mean i could have the same problems.. But i feel like i would have noticed since i save scum quite a bit.

[@predat11]

Maybe that is the case. Epic has issues with their uploading cloud saves with this game almost always it requires an upload to cloud on startup. I regret not going your route with obtaining the game. Really thought they had something good going with it to rival xcom. Perhaps dlc will fix it but in it's current state I say $20 would be a fair price, not $40

[@Rex1987]

@@predat11 once they get the necessary paperwork done, people can pick up the game on the game pass for pc for like 5 dollars. That what I will be doing until steam release in December 2020.

[@AtrociousNightmare]

Del, your reviews kick ass. While Joe's are funny with the skits and everything else, yours are detailed and straight to the point. I love both formats and you are nailing it.

[@rasheedqe]

I feel like that first patch was made in response to this video.

[@luisemoralesfalcon4716]

I loved the performance of Other Joe in your Jedi Fallen Order review.

[@shadushio9682]

In my opinion, all EPIC has done for PC gaming on the consumer side is hold games hostage and thereby bring the console wars to PC in the biggest form yet.

[@JuraIbis]

Julian Gollop wants you to stun-gun crabmen in doorways. It's been 25 years and it's still a core game mechanic.

[@AllanSavolainen]

First I saw the price, 39eur and I was happy. Finally a game I could buy. Then I saw DLC on the page and was read: "DLC 1 - Blood and Titanium Expand the power and versatility of Phoenix Point operatives with cybernetic augmentations. Unlock new abilities for your soldiers, new research projects, and new approaches to tactical combat. But beware: enemies will bring cybernetics to bear against your team, too." So, the game is just out and offers DLC that adds new game mechanics?!??! Yes, it costs only 5eur, but still, I don't want to support a developer who does this kind crap. During the first month or two all the DLC should be only skins and other stuff that doesn't affect the gameplay. So sad, as the game looks like fun.

[@nikajo__8755]

Allan Savolainen There is no DLC released for the game currently. They are releasing 5 DLCs in total but they haven’t finished any of that content yet. Some of the DLCs don’t even have names yet, last I checked.

[@tazamane9705]

XCOM Enemy Unknown also offered DLC that added new game mechanics cough Enemy Within cough

[@shadushio9682]

This game needs more content and a lot more refinement before it even approaches being truly good. As it stands, it's "meh". When it's no longer exclusive to EPIC and on sale for at least half off, I'll probably grab it.

[@thedeepfriar745]

To add more content the game needs funding ie people buying the game

[@virtualaffinity]

@@thedeepfriar745 That isn't entirely true in this case. You see they already have the DLCs most likely on their shelf, ready to be released. But they wait for the deadline. Those 3 DLCs already announced can already be bought and since day 1 they say exactly what they will add into the game. I would not be surprised if they were scrapped out of the game to purposely make them DLC for more money. But anyway, as far as content goes, they already have everything planned or mostly finished, it's just about when they add it, those being the DLC launch dates. Perhaps the 2 unannounced DLC are ones that can actually be considered DLC which they worked on POST LAUNCH, not BEFORE LAUNCH. I cannot stand games who already develop and made before launch DLC for the game that is not even out yet, I just find this stupid. Why not launch the game earlier then and make money while you work on the planned DLC in the meantime. I wouldn't be surprised if they were twiddling their thumbs right now, nothing to do other than releasing very minor bugfix patches.

[@ufuk5872]

@@thedeepfriar745 Ha ha ha, you're a funny guy.

[@PaddyyYY]

Disabling certain bodyparts can also removes abilities. For Sirens it is their head that disables the mindcontrol. You can see this when opening their info screen and inspecting their limbs etc.

[@paulrussert]

one thing I liked WAY more than xcom was the AP system rather than "2 move system". I'm surprised to hear about all the issues, I've logged almost 40h since release and haven't had A SINGLE technical issue. Feels good free aiming a heavy weapon at a wall and killing the enemy on the other side :) Also IIRC crippling the head of a Siren disables mind control

[@MikeyMike87]

Favorite part of the game, I miss the hell outta the AP system.

[@virtualaffinity]

I never had any technical issues either. The game never froze up, crashed, or anything. In that sense everything worked well, just massive lag when tons of objects were destroyed at once, and my CPU isn't even bad either being an i7 4790K. I do enjoy the AP system a lot as well. But crippling the head of a siren doesn't entirely save you, at least not when it still has high AP, it'll remain to have at least 10 willpoints then if no enemy was killed and this is enough to mind control most of your guys if you used a lot of dash for example. Though I suppose this is where strategy comes into play. But then again, you really do not want the enemy to get the upper hand onto your position especially because of how ridiculously powerful enemies like the arthron get with machineguns doing 200+ damage if every hit connects. And most do connect because they also become more accurate

[@AirOne1333]

@@virtualaffinity yea and especially when they get that machinegun upgrade and your guys are still stuck with basic weaponry or even the new jeriko vehicule having a normal LMG meaning it cant even damage the improved armor every arthron come with later on .....

[@virtualaffinity]

@@AirOne1333 Exactly, it's all about rushing your tech before the ODI hits 25%, cuz by then you will really get fucked. I already found the perfect strategy to beat late game hero as a piece of cake. Spam 5 priests in a mission, have 3 or 4 wear the headpiece which gives +2 willpoints each turn to any ally in the area, 1 or 2 with the instil frenzy headpiece. You also want to give them the sniper class and quick aim, nothing else apart from mind control. Ignore all other abilities they can get unless they got a good personal ability that will aid in this. Put everything into willpower and speed, maybe a bit of strength if you want to carry 2 sniper rifles and make mind control easier by disabling heads. Don't use viral weapons instead then use the synedrion paralysis sniper rifle, it is redicilous especially cuz one preist can dish out 30 paralysis in one turn with 2 quick aims. Then you want 2 assault guys that also have heavy profiency, if possible, select 2 of your best assault guys which can have heavy weapons proficiency +30% damage with the deceptor. Only give them dash and rageburst then. Bum rush the enemy by activating instil frenzy with one of your priests giving +50% speed. Make sure your assault guys are also maxed on willpoints and only use them to dash priority targets or the objective. Do not engage small targets, your priests can do that or your endless mind controlled minions can. I haven't done it yet but I will try soon to just rush a citadel this way and win within the first or second turn. From what I have tested, this is easily possible. Oh and a little extra: pandoran enemies will not attack their mind controlled allies which you are controlling. Only return fire and overwatch might get them killed but they will completely ignore them otherwise, thus also giving you the ability to rush with those while playing defensive in a citadel for example. With haven defence this doesn't work though, you want to rush the enemy quickly, especially priority targets such as the artillery explosive launching guys late game which I encountered now by 35% ODI

[@nahuelleandroarroyo]

If you enjoy the AP system try Xenonauts, visually is not as stunning but gameplay wise is better

[@alexanderbenkendorf688]

Huge respect to gollop who invented the genre. I played almost all his games released in 1983 and above, including xcom precursors on zx spectrum.. Many of the game mechanics that were invented in 1980ies by Gollop himself then are STILL present in Phoenix point! So it's kinda laughable that people call this game the 'new' xcom ripoff. Overall unpolished game ofc, but I'm happy he's still doing his 'thing'!

[@CaedoGenesis]

Protip for SIRENS, cripple their heads! They lose most if not all of their will pool, which is required to cast and maintain mind control. First massive patch just came out today with tons of nice fixes too. Return fire got reduced to single direct target (thank goodness), and SIRENS are now disallowed from using recovery when mind controlling.

[@Zulzon80]

I love your rapid fire reviews, Del! Keep up the great work!

[@aleale8320]

11:10 RIP Angry Joe -2019 11:12 The Other Joe: He's dead (screaming in panic)

[@daledude22]

Epic Store exclusive. I'm outta here. Not buying on principle.

[@tyrongkojy]

Temporarily.

[@planexshifter]

@@tyrongkojy You don't fucking get it, do you? Are you really THAT dense? If you EVER buy this, you are supporting this greedy bullshit. That "it's only for a little while" attitude is why these assholes are getting away with this bullshit. So, as a gamer for over 30 years- thanks for helping ruin the PC gaming experience. You are supporting greedy assholes, so I assume you too, must be an asshole.

[@yingyang7448]

@@planexshifter Jesus, chill. Lmao.

[@TheExecutorr]

well I payed for it before it was Epic Exclusive, so I don't really care. just waiting for the Steam release to play the patched version. After 1 year of beta testing on Epic, it hopefully will turn out to be fine.

[@nicholaskondas5592]

@@planexshifter if its only on steam its the same shit, so why do u care that much, maybe u should complain more about the epic store as a whole and not that a game is now an epic exclusive. You are only hurting the developers by not buying a game and epic takes less so developers make more and not shitty ass epic or valve. By not supporting a game based on the store it is placed in you only help valve be even shittier and help valve not give a shit about these exclusive deals. If valve cared they would've helped developers for an exclusive deal, and they didnt and they never do and they curate like shit so valve has a lot of issues as well as epic.

[@jaylim1094]

How is Phoenix Point Year One version?

[@Flimflamed]

Great work on these reviews. Always super informative and entertaining. Keep up the good work!

[@rasmusazu]

Its really weird.. I'm not having all the issues that are displayed here.. I did have one time where the game "froze" (as in the UI didnt reappear). But it did appear after like a minute anyway. Save corruption, I havent had that either in about 10-15 hours of gameplay. The thing about reloading a save resetting cooldowns, I havent had that either.. I really dont know if its because I got the copy together with a bottle of rum (Yo-ho, yo-ho a P*****'s life for me.)

[@dushikorsou1]

It can also be you just rolled luck of the dice and on your hardware it runs fine. I had the same with batman arkham knight ran fine for me, but it was so bad for other people they gave everybody a refund no matter the playtime so a free game for me! Ty WB for fucking up so bad on the pc port.

[@virtualaffinity]

It's probably hardware. I never had these technical issues either which were mentioned in the video. Sure, the game does have many bugs, though those are all game-based, not hardware. Though crashing, freezing and such, I suppose that is just our luck on the hardware. I am not even running high end. perhaps actually high-end specs break with this game. After all, higher-tech is more complex, and this game lacks complexity xD

[@Amdor]

Returning to Phoenix Point after 4 years - man is it good. If you snag steam version you get at least 2 free dlc that expand mechanics and add lots of content, and for just bit more in a bundle there is way more stuff that I can deal with in one playthrough xD

[@sylphsylph2118]

you do know the team that worked on phoenix point isn't inspired by but the original people from the first x-coms that existed and terror from the deep ,they were bought franchisewise so had to make a new name

[@m3divh]

You can shoot sirens head off(Cripple) which stops their mindcontrol and makes it unable for the to use it.

[@Wolfsheim23]

Did they ever patch up the problems and any unbalance probs in the game? I played it back in Dec and it was good but I just quit for some bug and just now want to go back.

[@javonyounger5107]

There is a way to help stop mind control, go for the head. Disabling the head will leave sirens without the willpower needed to mind control most troops.

[@bestliutr]

Dashing shotgun to the head is what I use against sirens. Got me out of a 4 siren team wipe once.

[@trishtrash9339]

"next time i do better" is a very impotent thing in games, as it gives you a feeling of growth. The question is just: Do i really have the option in this game? Or is one lost mission enough to snowball me into game over. In XCOM2 you can loose multipel battles and soldiers and still have fun. But what i saw about phoenix point: this doesn't seem to be the case. Loosing need to be as fun as winning. Or at last not not-fun. If i want not-fun i don't need to pay for it. Loosing should give new options, to keep fighting. Needing to save scum is symptom of a bad game(developer).

[@juancontreras1480]

7/10? According to Twitter, there are a lot of issues with the game deleting people's saves. So many problems that it didn't even release on Game Pass. At it's current state? If it's unplayable or barely functional, it's less than a 5.

[@DavidWMiller]

Is he supposed to review it based on people's experiences other than it's own? Someone else not being able to play a game has nothing to with how much he enjoyed the game. He mentioned those issues as existing, that's enough.

[@redrobby9939]

10:45 the game assumes you have basically min-maxed your characters (not stat wise rather with your abilities and class), and cross class them with the advanced classes that you unlock from the factions when you get to 20%. The power scaling for your guys can very easily go through the roof if you built them correctly, and the game assumes you did just that. For that reason I feel like that is why they make the enemies utter bullshit at times. I agree with your scoring of it being 7/10 (still pushing it), but if i didnt catch on to the builds you can do i can definitely see myself rating it lower, not just because of that but also because of the various bugs and such that i saw so far. (and i only had one time where i had a save issue, and i only lost a day, not the whole campaign)

[@virtualaffinity]

I had one bug once where the entire campaign didn't work as intended. I didn't notice this as this was the first time me playing or even properly seeing the game. Ambushes literally never happened, it took 8 fucking hours for elite units to appear in the game and at around 10 hours I had enough because one of the aircraft glitched out and with 6 dudes being forever stuck in one place. There were also some other bugs like the intended 'endless respawning' in hives was also not a thing. You cleared the map and that was it. It was actually a blessing that bug, at least for that. I obviously thought after 10 hours playing on normal difficulty that this is what the game is, extremely slow and broken to the point it becomes unplayable. Thankfully it is not actually that bad when I revisited it just trying to see if hero difficulty fixes that, besides, I think it's far more enjoyable when the guys you buy don't start out with the best tech the faction has to offer as they do on normal and rookie. Though overall I wouldn't give the game any higher score than 5/10 - wait for fix. And that is being generous.

[@jpeake13]

Any idea if we're gonna get a mechwarriors 5 review? Ik you guys streamed it once but ye.

[@erebostd]

Angry Joe Show has very little angry Joe and game reviews in the last year... ☹️

[@snaplemouton]

That sigh at 4:32 though. This is the sound of a man that is so done with that shit that he no longer has the strength to even raise his voice in anger.

[@grumpyhermit8657]

does it have base defence buildings like the original ?

[@miel307]

Mind control can be fixed when destroying the head right?

[@gruvee9334]

Probably somebody ahead pointed it out already, but the music at 7:01 is just like the one from the original Xcom/UFO 1994 during just about any UFO recovery/terror mission. Certainly, anybody today rather have some blasting action music. Nonetheless, this is just nerdy nostalgia.

[@00pugsly48]

Good review Del. Glad people are giving him a chance now. It’s a great way to get coverage for more games

[@Watertribewesley]

Del shootin em down once again. Gonna watch a little later! AJSA stand up!!

[@spark1539]

I'm so glad you saw this game.

[@Mikx100]

You can disable the mind control by hitting the monster on a specific part

[@ufuk5872]

Yeah 2 sniper shot in the head, and in the late game there gonna be more than one. You dont guarantee to hit them either oh yeah breaking the head don't stop the mind control it only stop when the siren die, this is some basic shit that some how make the game complex? Remember the sectoid in xcom2? just flash bang it, done and done.

[@ffa2dramachick]

I thought if you disabled the sirens head, it disabled their mind control... Or kill so many, they didn't have the will TO mind control.

[@IrondragonGamingYouTubeChannel]

Del with the 18 min 'rapid fire review' lol 😂

[@MrElvisNilsson]

"Not having a solid counter to something that kicks your ass so hard blows" >.> There are 4 ways to counter mind control: 1. Out range it (it's very short range). 2. Make the Siren run out of Willpower points. 3. Kill the Siren. 4. Don't get return fire (the newbie trap) on your assault troopers unless you know what your are doing. Sorry man, but bad review. If you struggled with Sirens after 15h of play, you where doing it wrong. Maybe the teaching mechanics/ui is to blame, but I had no such problems after meeting my first Siren on 3rd mission and just reading it's info panel. It told me most of what I needed to know about Sirens from the first turn I saw them (and yeah, she did MC one of my guys that turn, and I broke it the next).

[@GunzofWar101]

Yeah I wish the game would explain this stuff more. After my first encounter with a siren, I made sure to read its bio. But to be fair, mind controlling 3 soldiers in one turn is just too much. This goes for priests too. Priests make this game WAY too easy even on legend, especially since you can tell them to drop their gun so your guys can pick it up. If I knew about sirens from the beginning, my A-team would look a lot different. When I first started ranking up my dudes, I kind of ignored will points. Now, first thing I do is get recruits up to 10 will just as a start. I've got my original squad just running defense because theyre just not as effective and too much of a liability with low will.

[@Tony_Ugatz]

Thank you for bringing this....seriously

[@memoryfoam2285]

While not as profitable to Snapshot, it would've been much more consumer friendly to release it on Steam as originally planned for a lower price since they knew they were releasing a not quite finished crowdfunded game. Edit: I've played quite a lot of pheonix point so far and experienced very few bugs but from other people's experiences I'd say to wait until it's a bit more polished or on discount

[@rasengdori13]

XCOM 2 (disregarding shot percentages) was VERY well-balanced and fair with enemy AI, progression, and difficulty. Hearing that this game screws that up is very off-putting for me. I’m gonna wait till they rebalance the game and it goes on Steam.

[@DICKBUTTPENISDRAGON]

Fish, and plankton, and sea greens, and protein from the sea.

[@paradoxacres1063]

Is it really fair to compare this *Kickstarter* game to XCOM, though..? 🤔

[@KingOfBlades27]

He wasn't. But at the same time it is the most obvious comparison.

[@chukolance]

Play "Xenonauts 2" when that comes out. Worse graphics for better gameplay. Love to see how that meshes with your nostalgia goggles.

[@abradley101]

Was really enjoying this on release even with some major bugs but currently got to my first major base mission and have just come across sirens. Can't complete the mission no matter how many times I try. Just giving it a breather for awhile. Hopefully they'll fix some op enemies and abilities. That siren scream is just ridiculous!

[@mister00z84]

Last patch make siren tied MC to their head

[@fistimusmaximus6576]

Any chance joe will do a full review of this? I remember hearing about this being developed and getting excited then heard the bad news of being epic games exclusive which instantly shut it down but since then ive heard nothing so came here. Any news if this game is worth playing no in 2020?

[@Chadronius]

Is this Terror of the Deep? We're fighting fish people here, guys. Also, did the dev's not think about adding any sort of mind shield in this game? I absolutely hated having my characters mind controlled, so I slapped some high Will PCS or a mind shield to negate an enemy mind control. There really is no counter to that, huh?

[@MrAnthonyDraft]

Epic money was used so that the studio didn't have to lay off their workers...

[@ufuk5872]

They should fire some with this kind of fucking quality.

[@GrapeFruit524]

this sadly still just makes me wish i was playing xcom 2 with mods

[@syafiqsafiuddin8356]

I beat the final mission a few days ago with only a single operative, Infiltrator + Psychic and won 🤣

[@phantomshotgun]

sounds like the game balance needs some more cooking and refining. But once the game balance and bugs are fixed, i'll defiantly get this game. especially once mod support is up as well. i want to recreate some characters with voice packs like in xcom 2

[@cweber9112]

I can tell that you never played the original 1993 version of xcom. You would have noticed why they chose the music that they did. Total fan service. Great review. Looking forward to seeing more from you

[@wishbone1231]

Wheres your jumanji next level movie review?

[@HarshNerf]

It's with their frozen 2 review

[@shadeling6717]

So by the time it is put on steam it might be worth picking up.

[@markobrod]

Godzilla is approaching the generator !!!

[@paperguns115]

Another great review. I enjoy watching these, even if I am not interested in the game. The difficulty description is my favorite part!

[@lettmons]

can it be played with a controller?

[@brianstanton2721]

That's so true too, as soon as I heard it was from the makers of XCOM I bought it and love it lol

[@kyleh636]

AJ should have reviewed this one!

[@megalodon0076]

Hey, they fixed and polished it. And I have to say: playing this is more enjoyable than XCOM series from firaxis (it is still good, bud i like this more). The best way to play this is with Terror from the void mod from workshop. It makes game more balanced and ads new mechanics.

[@klonvomhaus]

Very informative. Thanks Delrith.

[@brianstanton2721]

I think the best part about this game in my opinion is how you can go into free aim mode and all but ensure your rounds connect. In XCOM if you miss you miss haha

[@MrImjustaminorthreat]

I mean if Epic exclusives are gonna be little less than beta tests to polish the game for the release on other platforms then maybe they aren't quite as bad as I thought.

[@taomahNEGEV]

'' shitshow of total fuckery''

[@OverlordZephyros]

HOW do these turn based games get BAD FPS!!??? 🤷🤔 I mean very few resources happens compared to say a first person shooter game

[@BTML498]

I've been seeing a lot of ads for this game on Facebook and Reddit. I put hundreds of hours into XCOM 1 & 2. Something though was holding me back from buying this. I guess it just looked a little generic, or it wasn't showing enough in the ads to justify itself... Man am I glad I waited for a review. I'm not touching this game with a ten foot barge pole.

[@tb1271]

I was honestly surprised when I learned that people were getting so many bugs. I have put a lot of time into the game since it has come out and I am apparently one of the few that has found almost no bugs. The only issues I have had were a few infinite loading screens, but the autosave was there to come back to and an issue where my first campaign got erased but that was down to a glitch with the epic client. I don't know if I was just lucky or if the devs were doing bug testing on rigs with my set up.

[@ashman8891]

on top of everything he mentioned, they even need to fix the load times. 3 mins to start a mission is just too much. the rewards for capturing and vivisecting aliens needs to be drastically changed. 15% dmg increase for capturing a scylla?? that's it?! freaking seriously???? rewards are nowhere near as satisfying as xcom. 5/10 would be a more accurate score for this game.

[@ufuk5872]

Oh you dont get it, you need to pay for the expansion to improve loading time just like they did with Xcom2: Wotc.

[@ashman8891]

@@ufuk5872 unbelievable how fixing games that were broken on release through a paid dlc is actually seen as a good thing these days

[@ufuk5872]

@@ashman8891 consume product and get excited for next product Man truer every day.

[@Demovitron]

Cool, I'll hopefully get a fixed and discounted full version, when I buy it on steam.

[@caullicollie]

Sounds about right. Word is it was pushed to release before it was 'ready', but they delayed twice (i think) and had all that money from kickstarter. After completing i felt like they missed the ball, but it has potential to be incredible after modding/patching; in particular, I thought soldiers & kit are much too dear in order to staff all bases & make save-scumming not the only option. There looked to be the beginnings of an economy system which never got padded out, sadly, and the only way to honestly beat the game is to learn all the cheesy loopholes with multi-classing & combat tactics (cover in particular seemed to have no particular effect). An overall criticism would be that it just doesn't seem to have been balanced or play-tested enough, in a way that really p*sses away all the fun & goodwill it accrued in the early game, as PP itself morphs into a tentacled grind-beast. On the other hand, the artwork and animation (in most cases) are ace - I received the artbook with my copy as an early backer & it is really almost better looking at that than playing the game in its current state. I'm looking forward to continued patching and support, though, given that 5 (!) DLCs were announced shortly prior to release. By the time the game hits Steam & other platforms this game could have evolved into a juggernaut, and I hope that this is the case for the dev team for pursuing such a stark, risky aesthetic. The DLC decision seems a little greedy, given the kickstarter origin, but I guess if you like the game enough to encourage the dev team to continue working on it like some kind of magnum opus then I suppose it's fair to ask for periodic cash boosts. Great review Del, am sorry that I missed seeing you play it on Twitch.

[@Fester_Flea_Down]

He's absolutely right about the terrible difficulty scaling. Stuff hits the fan so quick in the later missions, you'll be sitting there questioning life as your soldiers are debuffed to oblivion.

[@royrdze]

The mind control can be stopped by having a mind control unit with the ability to make squad mates in a certain area immune but that’s still very niche :-/

[@Belnick6666]

and UFO 2 Extraterrestrial still struggle to be released....

[@tyrongkojy]

I'm getting on xbox, but whether I get right away or wait for a sale depends on whether the game gets more balanced. Like, limit the number of sirens that can spawn at once, maybe.

[@taomahNEGEV]

"You die from total bullshit". Does not sound like fun. Pls revisit the One Year Edition to see if the game is improved.

[@josephwemp691]

del you killed joe nooo

[@Shadowcam00]

They pulled that Epic-store bullcrap, but still released an unbalanced, buggy game that looks like it should have come out 7 years ago to compete with (and probably lose to) XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Up against XCOM 2, especially with its modding community, there's no contest.

[@Barl3000]

So basically, if you really want to play the game, wait for when it comes out on other platforms in a years time. It will hopefully be somewhat fixed at that point.

[@penguinsareForever]

I realized your scripts are filled with numerous add-on adjectives that don't change anything about your sentence....