Still, I persevered and was rewarded by one of the most engaging, thoughtful games that I have played for a long time. I was initially underwhelmed on my first play, with many game-breaking bugs and glitches and a lack of polish.
![phoenix point faction classes phoenix point faction classes](https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/image001.jpg)
Some of the stunning original concept art demonstrating a slick, futuristic interface didn’t make it into the final production release. I was hungry for more and so was excited to learn that Gollop was working on a new game and was quick to back it on fig.co back in 2017 and waited in great anticipation.Īs I played through the backer builds, I saw the game slowly coming together but found that the graphical polish and quality that we hoped for were not there. Like millions of other gamers, I have put hundreds of hours in XCOM 2. It ushered in a new genre and spawned 12 other games, with the franchise hitting its peak in 2016 with the widely acclaimed XCOM 2 from Firaxis Games. Back then, I was running it on my Commodore Amiga 1500 and was fascinated by the depth of play, grittiness of story, and the evil ferocity of the aliens. I’ll start by saying that I have played every single XCOM game (even the frustrating The Bureau) since I first fell in love with XCOM: UFO Defense in 1994. Having put over 100 hours into the game, not only do I really like it, but I think that it is one of the most intriguing games released for several years.
![phoenix point faction classes phoenix point faction classes](https://assets.rockpapershotgun.com/images/2019/12/Phoenix-Point-Media-4-1212x682.png)
This game, designed by legendary XCOM creator Julian Gollop, deserves a lot more love – and recognition that he has pulled-off a major feat. I know that the general consensus is that Phoenix Point hasn’t lived up to the promise, or to the hype, but I disagree.