Phoenix Point delayed to September
Good news, friends: you will get to go outside and see the sun this summer, because Phoenix Point has been delayed again. The new turn-based tactics 'em up directed by Julian Gollop, the co-creator of ye olde original X-COM games, was previously delayed to June 2019 and now Gollop says it'll be here in September. The delay is for the usual reason: because they want to make it better. And hey, this means we can escape the siren song of battling terrors from the deep this summer, then Phoenix Point will be waiting for us when the weather turns.
"Even though the game is on track to be content-complete much sooner, the extra time will give us the chance to test and polish the gameplay much more extensively, and I think that the end result will be well worth it," Gollop said in announcing the delay.
Apologising for pushing it back again, he added that this extra time "will help the game live up to your expectations." If they can afford to do this, peachy. And given that the game has been partially crowdfunded by a Fig campaign, expectations are a big concern - and potential point of backfire.
Phoenix Point, to refresh your memory, is a turn-based tactics game about managing squads of soldiers battling mutant monsters melding all sorts of wildlife. That's not just a backstory to justify cool crabmen (and to give a crabqueen tits), as the enemy will mutate across the campaign in reaction to your tactics, growing new adaptations to counter you.
Our boy Brendan played a preview chunk last year, and came away saying "Phoenix Point is so much like XCOM it scares me." Yes, Gollop may have co-created ye olde X-COM games, but he's also made clear Phoenix Point's debt of gratitude to the modern XCOM reboots by Firaxis. Fine by me, friend-o.
September it is.