Xenonauts (XCOM spiritual successor)

[DjchunKfunK]

The game is finally official finished.

“We have now released Xenonauts V1.0 on the Steam Stable branch, which marks the end of formal development for Xenonauts. This is effectively the final version of the game, minus any stability patches that may be required. Official release and leaving Early Access for the game is in about two weeks, but the remaining time is mostly going to be spent on sending out review copies, the PR around the launch, porting to Mac / Linux and getting the Kickstarter rewards sorted out etc.”

“There have been a lot of changes made since the previous Stable version. The game has a much smoother difficulty curve, more information for new players, new line of sight mechanics, much improved AI and all sorts of finer polish.”

[Me]

So, is it any good?

[NG]

If anybody is interested in buying this, the cheapest place I've found is at the Humble Bundle store, currently £11.99.

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p/xe ... storefront

[Snowy]

So, is it any good?

If you miss playing the old XCOM, or want a new, shiny version, then yes it is excellent.

Procedurally generated, destructible environments and turn based - all you could wish for imo

[Vykromod]

Been playing this the last few days having noticed that it's officially out of Early Access.

It feels almost exactly like my experience with the original X-COM. I've noticed two things that are missing. One, I've got all the basic equipment I can eat. It's assumed that a not-so-secret paramilitary organisation funded by governments across the globe can get access to guns and bullets without the commander explicitly ordering them by the clip. Two, I don't feel like I'm fighting with an interface designed by someone who wanted to actively hurt the player.

I've seen advice in X-COM to fund your operations by getting a solid laser production line going and selling the things for huge profits, basically turning the organisation from UFO defence to an arms manufacturer that fights aliens on the side. No idea if that works here, but I'm going to try. Just, you know, after getting everyone basic armour so they don't die messily if an alien looks at them funny.

[DjchunKfunK]

Goldhawk Interactive have announced that they are working on Xenonauts 2. They say that due to the money they made on the first game they are able to be a bit more innovative with the sequel and it will include:

3D graphics.
A reworking of the air combat.
A complete overhaul of how the aliens look and play.
A Cold War setting.

Like the original the game will enter Early Access first, but Goldhawk say that the game will be more complete this time around. They are aiming for a 2017 release date.

http://www.xenonauts2.com/

The cold war setting sounds like it could be really cool, but it's a shame that they are moving to a 3D setting. I liked the look of the original and feel like a small team will struggle to create something as good visually in 3D.

[Lee]

Sweeeet

[Quietman]

Going 3D sounds like a mistake given how much praise X-COM 2 is getting. Would be better to keep them differentiated I would have thought, but then I'm no expert!

[DjchunKfunK]

Yeah I thought so too, but then I can understand the desire to allow players to rotate the camera and for that you need to go 3D.

[katarn]

*casts Raise Thread*

Finally spending a bit of time with this.

First thing I learnt, don't choose a night mission as your very first mission at the start of the game. Your vision is reduced and you're just stumbling around blindfold.

Also, assault rifles seem mostly useless as far as I can tell. Might as well just have soldiers with shotguns and sniper rifles.

I'm guessing I need shields early on till I research armour.

[Lee]

It actually looks pretty sweet in 3D models, found an old video of it being played.

[katarn]

Getting a bit more into it now. Some more thoughts:

I scratched the idea of shotguns until I develop body armour. Having a couple of soldiers with pistol+shield (and high bravery) is essential early on, plus the vehicle is much more useful than 2 extra soldiers. At least for the time being.

I'm finding the heavy machine gunner a bit useless. It requires so many TU's, a lot of the time the targets are already dealt with by the time they're in position. Snipers are far and away my most productive soldiers.

Overall, combat is very nice though. Really similar to the originals.

The base UI works nicely, air combat is a bit shite. I miss being able to manufacture and sell stuff on markets for a profit (the sell value is always 50% of the engineering cost here).

[katarn]

The ground combat in this is *so* much better than the modern XCOM games. Sure, visually it's not as pretty, but it plays superbly.

No bullshit mechanics with groups of enemies magically appearing behind you, no turn counter, cover system is much clearer, and every TU you spend is an important one. Very tense stuff.

[Lee]

Exactly katarn

[katarn]

This is currently where I'm at.

In hindsight, I would have slightly rearranged my 3 bases to get better coverage. I only have 2 of the 3 radars in each base so far. I've sort of given up on Australia (no great loss tbh) but I should be okay to keep funding from everywhere else.

As you can see, I've currently got 2 dropships going out to kill/capture downed aliens, with a third about to happen hopefully. Not sure if I really needed 3 separate strike teams. Loving this game man.