Phoenix Point is an upcoming XCOM-alike from Julian Gollop, the original designer, programmer, and artist of the first X-COM titles (X-COM: UFO Defense; UFO: Enemy Unknown), and a spiritual successor of these old classics. The main goal is to modernise the concept but retain the original atmosphere.
Phoenix Point has been in development for some time now, having been successfully funded via Fig. Eager to get the game done by June next year, developers have been busy, and have already released two playable WIP builds for the backers to enjoy. The third one, however, is going to be a real game changer.
As anyone who's ever played any of the XCOM, X-COM, Xenonauts (see a pattern?) or similar titles will know, Geoscape strategic layer is one of the most important features of one such game. Phoenix Point has no such feature implemented yet, but it will be coming with Backer Build 3.
Slated for release sometime early in December, Geoscape is promised to turn the early beta build of Phoenix Point on its head, add additional layers of gameplay and change the meta completely. It is also, understandably, one of the most important things to balance right, which gives it great importance.
Geoscape is considerably bigger than any of the previous features that were implemented in, say, Backer Build 2 (vehicles, classes), which is why it will take longer to get it into the game. To alleviate potential concerns, devs have also shared a proper development roadmap for anyone interested to check out.
