Disclosure: The developer provided us free access to a Backer Build.
Phoenix Point is a game currently being developed by Snapshot Games, a development team being led by Julian Gollop, the original creator of XCOM. Its development started through a crowd-funding campaign at Fig last April 2017 and currently has a target final release in June 2019. As promised by Snapshot Games, Phoenix Point will simultaneously release on Linux, macOS, and Windows.
The core mechanics is very similar to that of XCOM 2 but one of the notable differences is enemies have body parts that can be attacked through manual aiming. Another differentiating feature of the game is ammo is not unlimited and you have to check crates scattered in the map to look for extra ammo. Describing the game play is boring so just watch the video below.
NOTE: This is a pre-alpha development build of the game. Nothing in this video should be considered final and there are features that will still be implemented in the final release.
I tested the game on Ubuntu MATE 17.10 using my Radeon RX 580 8GB running on Mesa 18.0.1. Though I only get around 20 – 40 FPS at 2560 x 1080 resolution with Fantastic graphics quality, I’m impressed that the game runs on Mesa without graphical glitches and I didn’t encounter any crash or system freeze. There are still no official system requirements but I think our Gaming PC Build for November 2017 should be able to run the final build of this game at 1080p, 60 FPS, with high image quality.
If you’re a big fan of XCOM and you want to support the development of Phoenix Point, you can pre-order here. Access to a Backer Build which will be updated once every 2 months will be given those who will pre-order.
Related readings:
Newbie Friendly Guide to Using Linux for Gaming
Milestones of Linux as a Gaming Platform
