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Game News Xenonauts 2 now on Kickstarter

Darth Roxor

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Tags: Goldhawk Interactive; Xenonauts 2

Xenonauts 2, the "non-chronological sequel" to the only recent X-COM clone worth a damn, has just launched a Kickstarter campaign. If for some reason you are still oblivious as to what this game is about, maybe the video and description below will enlighten you.



XENONAUTS-2 is a "strategic planetary defense simulator" that puts you in charge of a clandestine military force attempting to protect the planet from extraterrestrial invasion. It is the sequel to the acclaimed Xenonauts, successfully Kickstarted way back in 2012!

We are building a hugely complex strategy / tactics game that gives you total control of your organisation all the way from the command staff in your base down to the troops on the battlefield. The formula will be familiar to anyone who has played the classic X-Com games from the 90's (or the modern reboots), but Xenonauts-2 expands those foundations to create something deeper and more distinctive!

The action takes place in the modern day - but in an alternative timeline where decades of alien interference has prevented the end of the Cold War, leaving NATO and the Soviet Union teetering on the brink of a catastrophic nuclear war. Can you hold humanity together long enough to end the alien threat forever?​


The Kickstarter aims to gather 50k in pound sterling, and it seems to be already going strong. Backing for £18 gets you a copy of the game with early access access, £25 buys you a ticket into the closed beta, and everything above that nets you an additional copy or whatever trinkets you might be interested in. There is also an alpha combat demo (alternative GOG link) available if you have any doubts.
 

CRD

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at first they had me, then I read the kickstarter and they lost me with that crappy simplified basebuilding clone from firaxis.
 
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thesheeep

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That's not a review, Darth Roxor. What's wrong with you?

Hmm...
We're keen to support both Mac and Linux, and theoretically we shouldn't have any problem doing this because the Unity engine upon which we're building Xenonauts-2 natively supports both. We plan to start experimenting with Mac and Linux builds shortly before our launch into Early Access (hopefully towards the end of the year) - we just don't want to take money for something we're not yet completely sure we can deliver!

So yes, there's probably going to be Mac / Linux versions of Xenonauts-2. However if you can only play the game on Mac / Linux then it's probably best to hold off backing the project until we're able to tell you that for certain!
I would have preferred a clear yes or no.
Though I'm somewhat hopeful and will back the game anyway - in the worst case, I can just fire up that Windows drive.
 

PanteraNera

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at first they had me, then I read the kickstarter and they lost me with that crappy simplified basebuilding clone from firaxis.
Same here, there is a big post on their forum about this "new features": link

While I do like the idea's in theory I think overall it is way to much of an XCOM rip-off.
Sure one does not have to reinvent the wheel but a lot seems to be like a 1:1 copy (extraction, power management, more limited space).
 

J_C

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at first they had me, then I read the kickstarter and they lost me with that crappy simplified basebuilding clone from firaxis.
:facepalm:
It is just a graphical layout. Firaxis X-com was shit not because it had a base like this, it was shit because the mechanics attached to this layout. I'm sure Xeno 2 won't be dumbed down like Firaxis X-Com was.
 

CRD

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It is just a graphical layout. Firaxis X-com was not shit because it had a base like this, it was shit because the mechanics attached to this layout. I'm sure Xeno 2 won't be dumbed down like Firaxis X-Com was.

Yes and no. It's a graphical layout yes, but at the same time restricts how to build a base, everything is the same size, there is no complex designs and you have limited rooms. On top of that, they give us one single main base. Compare that kind of base management to the possibilities of the first x-com

Same here, there is a big post on their forum about this "new features": link

to be honest, I don't buy the "this is better and expanded!!". Everything they talk on that thread is a dumbed down feature.
 
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Grotesque

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9fab5549e9de772097488c3d94541582_original.png


Really!?
And they want my money?
Nope!
 
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I remember thinking the first one would fix what the Fireaxis reboot soured me about.

...Then I had to admit i was actually having way more fun with the Fireaxis game, even taking into account all its shortcomings, than I ever had pointlessly forcing myself to enjoy Xenonauts.
And that's without even taking XCOM 2 and WotC (net improvement over vanilla) into account.

Honestly, even if you are completely impermeable to change and want to stick to an experience "close to the original", just play the original. It still plays and looks better than Xenonauts.
 
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Yeah, that was quite shocking. A one-to-one NuXCom ripoff. No idea why they did that. It's not like there are no other possibilities.
Especially because their entire selling point was sticking closer to the original.
If they are going with "dumbing down" they are going to be destroyed in the comparison when it comes to production value.
 

Darth Roxor

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> implying there ever was more to basebuilding in x-com than putting your main lift next to hangars to create an anti-base invasion killzone
 

CRD

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> implying there ever was more to basebuilding in x-com than putting your main lift next to hangars to create an anti-base invasion killzone

At least the game had more options to play different and try things even if it wasn't the most efficient design. They could have build on that and fix the shortcomings, but instead they choose to "streamline" it.
 

Darth Roxor

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Can't streamline something that is already streamlined and largely irrelevant.

It was only Apocalypse that had something more interesting going on with basebuilding, since all the new locations you could move to were limited in terms of available space and layout. I'd rather have them build on that myself, but saying that 'zomg betrayal dumbed down where's muh elevator next to hangars' is preposterous.
 

Andnjord

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Well goddamnit, I haven't backed anything on Kickstarter since the Torment debacle. Guess it's gonna be time to break open the wallet again. Don't disappoint me Goldhawk!
 
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Grotesque

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I'd rather have them build on that myself, but saying that 'zomg betrayal dumbed down where's muh elevator next to hangars' is preposterous.

What's up, nuRetard!
Because you trashed Pillars 1 with your review you thought to yourself that's time to compensate by eating shit in the obnoxious apologism division?
 

PanteraNera

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It was only Apocalypse that had something more interesting going on with basebuilding, since all the new locations you could move to were limited in terms of available space and layout. I'd rather have them build on that myself,
This.
Basebuilding hasn't evolved since than and I really hope that Goldhawk comes up with something interesting.
Have you read the thread in their forum about basebuilding, the one I linked earlier?
It sounds just so much like XCOM, which to me is not interesting.

Honestly in my opinion X1 was a faithful but "soul"-lacking copy of X-COM UFO Defense.
I hope they do some own stuff to add "soul" to their game and not just do a XCOM X-COM hybrid without a soul.

Maybe Goldhawk can clarify on this?
To me it seems that you try to incorporate some features from XCOM (to give more choices/consequences).
But the beauty of XCOM was that the player had choices like building a second base with an B-Team.
Maybe rather than restraining players from doing certain things, by limiting their options, balance the game so its harder to pull certain things of.
 

jungl

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gameplay was pretty damn slow in the first game and kind of repetitive. You'll always want one or 2 chumps with shield or robot slowly approaching the unknown parts of the map. Worse thing was your troops had the visual awareness of fruit flys and you couldn't tell from the graphics if alien can shoot you at some places but always assume they the best half court basketball player in the world with eagle eyes and will shoot you across the map. I actually think nu xcom is better when it comes to combat.
 

sser

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When you realize Xenonauts was built off an engine that ran cartoon restaurant simulators, you'll realize just how amazing this game can be with a brand new engine. Looks dope.

Also the part I care most about,

We have retained the Time Unit system from the first game that gives you a huge amount of freedom in how you choose to interact with the battlefield (virtually all of which is destructible). We're giving the player even more tactical possibilities this time around - for instance, even the hulls of crashed UFOs can now be breached using the right equipment!
 

almondblight

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What happened to that other game they were developing? About interplanetary combat troops or something?
 

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