The comparison is omni-present but do know Phoenix Point is more like X-Com: Enemy Within and Enemy Unknown than X-Com 2. If you liked that game, you'll likely enjoy this one, with a few asterisks. The novelty of its unique setting wears off long before the end and the game features questionable design decisions and a smaller budget. X-Com 2 is the better, more polished product and I would recommend it over Phoenix Point, even if the latter has its own charm.
Well, said charms are largely dependent on buying all of the bad DLC in order to play the with Legacy of the Void, an overhaul mod that provides the best way to play, alongside options to tailor the experience to your taste. I've glanced at how the game plays without mods and I'm still shaking my head (Perk assignment, vehicles, AERIAL COMBAT.).
One last warning before starting the review proper. This game lacks in-depth customization options like X-Com 2, and also lacks the dedicated modding tools to create it. The color schemes are ok but they are still applied to identical-looking armor with only one variant per class per faction and there is a total of 12 or so voice types combined available for your soldiers. Its' hard to get attached to your soldiers, whether that's a deal-breaker is up to you.
The tactical combat is well-done. The Aiming system is great and the RNG feels fair most of the time. The weapons aren't properly balanced though and you will notice there is are objectively better tools for every choice... and almost always they belong to the Synedrion faction.
The game offers a very well-rounded selection of weapons and armor, with each main faction offering their own style and arsenal. From Durability, Armor Piercing and High-Damage with New Jerich to Up-Close Lethality and Mobility with the Ainu and Accuracy and Precision (and a LOT of damage too) with Synderion.
The factions have an outstanding design but I wish more was done with them. A few more weapons and armor variants would help break the monotony of seeing the exact same loadouts every mission. Their biggest flaw is that they lack any agency however. Nothing happens without the Phoenix Project. Neighbouring Havens don't help each other out, etc.
The game doesn't have a traditional level scheme, in the sense you don't UPGRADE your weapons to new tiers, nor do you have the possibility of applying attachments. The weapons you see at the start of the game are likely the ones you will be using all through, with the exception of adding Shoulder-Mounted Rocket Launchers or Laser Rifles, alongside an Improved Sniper Rifle and Shotgun variant later on.
On the level-design side of things, the game's "procedural-generation" is less than stellar. Levels are largely the same, for the majority, the only difference is the placement of the structures and the the way they face, plus-minus some slight degradation and the cover placement. The level size also differs but somehow the leaves still look very samey. You've played one Pandoran Nest mission, you've played them all, because the objectives stay the same.
That brings us to the game's second largest issue, the sheer monotony of it all. That is, if you want to play the good-guy saving the entire world. Progress is hampered by distractions very frequently. A new nest, a new lair, another haven under attack. You'll be doing dozens of these missions to the point the main quest, which is very spread out, FEELS like side-questing.
On that subject, the overall story is underwhelming. It makes sense but it lacks the necessary width, aka the amount of content, to feel engaging. The game lacks memorable characters like X-Com's Shen, Bradford and the Speaker. In fact, barring your soldiers and the faction leaders, the entire world feels like non-characters. They lack sufficient personality and in spite of being independent factions, they also lack agency.
Worse, with Synedrion (one of the three), you are forced to pick the path of their story without sufficient information and no way to change it. Which means you might get their worse ending for no reason.
The game's story moments are fully voiced but it's just you and a static portrait of the character and MAYBE a choice.
The World-Map and Exploration on the other hand, stellar... for the early game. As the game progresses, the amount of stuff thrown at you means you will either get tired of exploring sites, won't need the resources or won't enjoy another level of fighting enemies while looting boxes.
The game has an incredibly annoying feature of forcing you to evac all of your soldiers into a static evac zone to end missions for a good 50% of the mission types. It gets annoying the fifth out of a hundred time you need to do it because you KNOW you won the mission and there is challenge in evacuating beyond the harder difficulties.
Of the DLCs themselves, none of them add anything too stellar. Mutating your soldiers feels pointless and the enemy added is just a chore. The new faction "The Pure" feels tacked on and not just because their questline can bug out. They are also noticeably harder than all other factions and lack a proper map presence (Bases). The "Legacy of the Ancients" are completely unnecessary. I have never seen another game do blunder after blunder with its DLCs like Phoenix Point, it's mind-boggling.
But that's nothing compared to the awful aerial combat, which by the end-game, throws at you nigh-unkillable flyers that can lead to a haven being wiped off if you don't somehow slay them two of them in opposite directions fast enough.
The added stress makes the whole Apocalypse feels more threatening I can almost understand the value it adds, but not being able to do anything to those flyers with 90% of the Arsenal is stupid.
Worse, the ending to said DLC plot is underwhelming. You go into a mission with only a handful of enemies, shoot them. Wait two turns as 4 of your soldiers are planting bombs whilst fending off little insects and... that's it. The strongest creature in the game is dead and you get a massive reward that prevents the faction war from occuring and makes all the tension building it up over the course of the game worthless.
Mercenaries and Vehicles are cool. Though you only really need the starting vehicle as it's an awesome artillery weapon. Them costing two slots in a dropship is not so cool. You can change that with a mod setting.
The majority of my other complaints are solved by settings available within the mod so I'll skip them. You can even disable Aerial combat through these settings.
Of the advertised"foe that adapts to your tactics", that's a lie. The Pandorans have a limited amount of evolutions and not once did they feel adapted to my tactics. More than that, according to other reviewers, they evolve the same each playthrough. I don't want to replay the game to find out.
Music is meh, it lacks the punch I would have wanted.
It's annoying you can't deploy/evac from anywhere considering you have flying dropships.
Onto performance... The game runs well. No crashes, no save-file corruption. Terrain destruction lags the game and the mission to destory the above-mentioned Aerial Behemoth was also very laggy. That's manageable I suppose as long as the game still runs.
The endings are underwhelming and Synderion is clearly the studio's favorite. Best Weapons, Best Armor, Best Endings, Only side with two paths. Best Haven Utility and a great unlockable class.
Ainu on the other hand feel very mediocre and I had to force myself to playthrough their quests. (Get Tasked to kill a bunch of bandits? Now the other factions are angry at you. Get tasked to directly kill members of another faction invading an Ainu Haven? No Opinion loss penalties.)
Overall, I'd give Phoenix Point an 8/10, the game was dragged down by its smaller budget and some clear lack of understanding of what made X-Com 2 such a great game. It's not a bad experience, it's just not a personal one.
