Phoenix Point
The creator of XCOM, Julian Gollop, came back into the mainstream strategy gaming sphere with his updated take on the sub-genre he created with Phoenix Point. Despite a rough launch and a contentious period of exclusivity on the Epic Games Store (remember when Epic did that? It was so stupid), the game went on to receive years and years of post-launch support and is now in an excellent state for fans of turn-based strategy in the vein of XCOM. The basics are all there, with a dynamic campaign being interspersed with turn-based strategy battles; this time, the enemies are not aliens from space, but aliens in nature, in the sense that they’re mutated creatures coming from the sea that threaten humanity’s rule over Earth.
Despite its brutal difficulty spikes from time to time, and some DLCs being a better than others, the game’s Willpower system gfives players a lot more flexibity over their squads, the free-aiming shooting system allows for the targeting of specific enemy limbs, which can help you strategize around of, and help you get out of a sticky situation, and then there’s the whole evolving alien menace as the Pandoras (name of the sea aliens) procedurally mutate based on your tactics, so that you can’t ever rely on a single well put together strategy from begining to end.
Conclusion
I’m 100% sure that you have never played some of the games on this list, and if this article inspired you to give them a go, I would love to know which ones you did. Are you going to be fighting the Pandorans in Phoenix Point? Or the creepy creatures of Fear & Hunger? Do let me know in the comments down below; I would love to hear all about it! If you have already played some of these but have further recommendations for underground turn-based strategy games, please do let us all know about them!
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