#PHOENIX POINT PS5 HOW TO#

Once More, Onto The Breachīut enough about story, the action and strategy is the reason we’re here, and Phoenix Point is both excellent and somewhat lacking in this regard, all at once. It wasn’t spectacular, but the story and lore were pretty interesting and probably kept me more invested than expected. The faction system ties into the game’s available endings and scenarios nicely, but other than deciding who you prefer, there’s no real stakes or penalties from staying neutral. Of course, you can go full-bastard and antagonise all of them should you wish, but I genuinely didn’t see much value or reason to do so, as becoming friendly with them opens opportunity for trade and after some work, provides you access to their research and distinct items.īasically, it pays to be good, which means there’s little incentive to do otherwise. They’ll still war amongst each other, but it didn’t seem to matter much.

#PHOENIX POINT PS5 HOW TO#

Selecting a response might piss off one or both of the other factions, but in my playthrough it was easy to keep track of their percentage of friendliness to know how to respond best, and I was able to ally with all 3. I say should, because in reality it’s actually quite straightforward to keep them all on board. Additionally, they’ll often bicker between each other, so choosing your responses wisely should appear important, if you want to keep yourself in their good graces. Frequently, you’ll be required to make text-based choices in response to their questions about your actions, intentions and views about your existential predicament. The leaders of the factions are well-defined with clear belief systems you’ll need to navigate. Narrative is delivered through cinematic stills with some decent voice-acting for the various leaders and characters who shoulder the responsibility of moving the plot forward. Much of Phoenix Point’s story therefore revolves around scouring the globe for information to defeat the Pandoran threat, while either aligning, balancing or antagonising the different factions. These 3 factions, defined as the stubborn-minded humanity-first New Jericho, creepy but intriguing Disciples of Anu who believe only in evolution even if it means incorporating Pandoran life into human, and finally, Synedrion, who… argue a lot? Effectively a satire of a “utopic” civilisation, they are the least interesting of the three.

After decades of fighting, humanity has been reduced to 3 main factions, who hole themselves up in “havens” to provide protection from the Pandoran’s mist – a ghastly cloud of gas that slowly envelopes the globe. There’s a brief introduction to get you up to speed: a cataclysmic event occurred on Earth when creatures started emerging from the sea and not-so-slowly destroying anything human looking. Treading familiar territory, Phoenix Point introduces you to the new crustacean foe you’ll be fending off throughout your time in the campaign. Not all of them land perfectly, but it provides the title with its own identity despite the glaring overlap. With some interesting strategic additions to combat, new emphasis on managing relationships with factions and more dynamic methods it employs to ramp up the threat of ending your campaign, Phoenix Point certainly brings some new and engaging elements to the table. Having said that, this old dog has without doubt learnt some new tricks, and Phoenix Point differentiates itself from its ideological predecessors in some subtle and unique ways. The similarities extend to level design, the overall focus and tactical nature of combat encounters, as well as the constant pressure of being low on resources, units and technology to balance which battles you will, and more importantly won’t, take on in your quest to save the Earth from a new fleshy threat: the Pandoravirus. For newcomers, there’s a brand new story, complete with its own history and lore, so entering at this point wouldn’t be inaccessible at all.

Integrating challenging and chastening turn-based gameplay with a ruthless and time-sensitive global strategy structure, XCOM players will immediately feel right at home. Given the aforementioned talent behind Phoenix Point, it should come as no surprise it plays immensely similarly to Julian Gollop’s previous outings.

Phoenix point ps5