Xenonauts 2

Just completed my first campaign on normal difficulty. If I had to describe it in a word... uninspired. I don't understand how it took so long to make when It's basically a graphical upgrade over the original and that's about it. There's very, VERY little new here. Equipment and aliens are mostly either rehashes of what you've seen in OG xcom or pretty much directly ported from Xenonauts 1. The few things added seem to have basically been ripped from modern XCOM (i.e. SHIVs/a temporary human faction/timed missions). Balance seems off. Strategically the early game with the nuclear threat is over seemingly before it even begins. You spend the first few hours fighting nothing but humans and then they basically disappear entirely and you're left with a rehash of the first game. Panic/the Doomsday counter never felt like a threat so the only danger was base defences. Story missions seem to unlock far sooner than expected and there aren't many of them. Tactically, it feels identical basically Xenonauts 1. Brutal and unforgiving which is what you want, but it's also frustrating at times when even your colonel in endgame armour goes down in just a couple of shots. And most surprising of all, it doesn't even run very well. Base assaults, larger missions and just the strategic layer can absolutely chug. I won't say I didn't have fun, but this could've been so much more.

This game has LOADs of potential, but it is held back by very poor gameplay decisions, namely AI cheats. Every game like this, going back to X Com, has that issue of the "99% chance to hit miss" meme. Each one tries its best to have some sort of work around to keep the game intense and allow for some error. This game though just flat out cheats with no recourse. AI, even basic enemies on easy, will sometimes cross map kill your troops that are in cover in one shot, a shot your troops are incapable no matter what of making. You can have 3 soldiers with 80% chance to hit all shoot at an enemy and all will miss but the enemy's shot will hit your covered soldiers without issue. I have even had situations where my soldiers are completely blocked from cover and so couldn't shoot but the enemy was able to shoot them from the same angle. It makes no sense and makes it all but impossible to properly plan as you dont know which cheat the enemy gets, shoot through objects, perfect accuracy, or both. AI cheats are necessary for a functional game like this, but when you add excessive AI cheats to artificially increase the difficulty you end up with situations where there is no strategy involved. Its just RNG. RNG isnt fun in a game thats supposed to be about strategy. If no strategy works because AI can cheat so much then what is the point? I get it, RNG is just a part of games like this, but it should be a fair RNG, not one slanted so heavily against the player because the AI cant be bothered to use tactics themselves. this game has been in early access for years. There is no excuse for the AI to still be so broken.

X-COM: UFO Defense (1994) is my favorite game of all time. I loved Xenonauts 1. Even with its technical limitations, it had charm and personality. Xenonauts 2 is a much more refined product, but I am saddened to say that, in exchange, it lost some of the charm, immersion, and personality that the previous title had. It seems that moving to a fully 3D presentation on a brand-new engine has turned the game into a much more generic experience, at least visually. The assets and textures in Xenonauts 2 look and feel like the cheapest options from the generic Unreal Marketplace. Forget about assets that simulate the wear, tear, smoke and decay found in real battlefields. In Xenonauts 2, there is virtually no attention to detail when it comes to immersive visuals. Everything—from the walls, props, vehicles, soldiers, and aliens—looks pristine, clean, and artificial, like something out of the Barbie movie. As a result, the game feels noticeably more "gamey." The robotic, very limited and repetitive animations don't help either. Even the sound design is generic and bland. Other than the fantastic music, nothing else is particularly memorable in the sound department. And don't even get me started on other important aspects of immersion such as impact effects, shadows, weather, volumetric clouds, fog, and explosions. Everything feels like it was made in PowerPoint (but now in 3D). I've seen the developers blame the Unity engine, but the engine is clearly not the issue. Other recent Unity games, such as Menace, look far more distinctive, use virtually no generic assets, and possess a level of personality and immersion that far surpasses Xenonauts 2 despite having had less development time. On the technical side, the game is also incredibly inefficient. Loading times are both long and frequent despite the relatively lightweight textures and assets used on each map. Finally, don't even get me started on the map design. Unlike the believable locations found in X-COM: UFO Defense and Xenonauts 1, many maps in Xenonauts 2 look like collections of cover assets scattered randomly across a flat surface. And don't take my word for it! Take a screenshot from any random mission in X2 and try to match it to a real-world location. You'll quickly notice how "mobile game"-like the map layouts and assets appear. Then compare it to a screenshot from Xenonauts 1 and the difference is like night and day. That game offered believable environments and immersed you in the feeling that you weren't playing a game but operating in a real location, facing real danger in a real war. It had a soul. It was unique. It was the opposite of generic. The other big letdown is the campaign itself. Previous XCOM likes featured campaigns that each felt unique, different, almost random but "random with direction". X2 campaign feels staged, almost like modern Fireaxis Xcoms. You can play 10 campaigns and you will always follow the same pattern, the Cleaners Stage/Phase, the Escalation Phase and the End game, and while XCOM games allowed you to play as short or as long campaigns as you wanted and "take your time" this one forces you into those "phases" whether you want it or not. Instead of a simulation of a real world it now feels like a mobile game on a loop in the background with a clock as its main "forward" mechanic. The saddest part is that despite all this there aren't any other modern XCOM like games currently that are clearly better than Xenonauts 2 and so players praise it like it is the second coming of Jesus and it certainly deserves praise in many areas but it is rather the lack of competition than its real quality bringing the good reviews forward. Don't get me wrong, technically Xenonauts 2 is an impressive achievement built on a much more capable engine. Yet it still falls short of what Xenonauts 1 accomplished for the X-COM genre back in its day and the devs and the game barely scratched the surfaced of everything that could've been improved from the first game given how powerful the Unity Engine can be. I actually disliked how players referred to Xenonauts 2 as "Xenonauts 1.5" during Early Access. But now that the game has fully launched, I find myself struggling to call it anything else. With its more generic visual style, reduced personality and charm, and modernized mechanics and technology, Xenonauts 2 ultimately feels closer to Xenonauts 1.5 than a true evolution of the series. Xenonauts 2 is like the recently released Ferrari Luce electric car. It has the brand name and the latest technology, but it completely misses the point of what made classic Ferraris legendary. The result is something technically impressive yet cold, generic, and uninspired—closer to a vacuum cleaner in design than a true Ferrari. If you like a souless clone that is technically the best its ever been, be my guess and play this game. PS: Yes, there is still a chance that mods could save this game from mediocrity but they would have to create all the graphics, textures, sounds, effects, models and animations from the ground up.

首先，必须澄清一种关于本作常见的批评误区：有很多人动辄将本作与重启后的《XCOM：Enemy Unknown》甚至是《XCOM2》进行比对，藉此来证明它的画虎不成反类犬——然而《Xenonauts 2》和重启后的《XCOM》均是对于自1994年发售的《X-COM: UFO Defense》在不同路径上的再现，只不过重启后的《XCOM》更偏向于战术上的简化和持续正向积累的养成体系，而《Xenonauts 2》在诸多机制上更加靠近《X-COM: UFO Defense》罢了。认为祖辈在设计上试图效仿后辈，岂不荒谬？ 那么，《Xenonauts 2》与《XCOM》系列的区别在哪里呢？尽管它们确实都围绕着宏观战略+具体战术的双层决策机制（以及与此相应的对资源的管理）展开，成长体系也都基于在事件或者战斗中缴获外星人的武器、尸体和飞船碎片，并对其进行逆向研究从而提升科技/获得正向反馈，具体的战斗设计都与掩体和命中率息息相关，但两者在细节上的处理方向是全然不同的。 具体而言，相较于《Xenonauts 2》依然沿袭旧《X-COM》的TU制（时间单位）和敌人全局活跃等设计，《XCOM》大幅简化了触发战斗时的游戏流程——一是采用双动作点数系统，将相对复杂的TU计算简化为清晰简明的移动+战术选择，辅以只让敌人在视野内遭遇时才开始触发其行动轮的设计，整体上令它的策略性变得轻量化了；二是在战略层面和养成层面，《Xenonauts 2》的士兵在宏观层面上是消耗品（特别是在资源管理的角度上而言），《XCOM》则有着RPG化的、高正反馈度的成长体系，损失一名队员的代价在中后期是相当高昂的，而相较《Xenonauts 2》对于全球多基地防卫体系的强调（尤其体现在雷达的覆盖范围上）和需要具体操作的空战设计，《XCOM》的战略层面可谓是极尽简化之能事，玩家只需要着眼于成长培育/资源管理和具体的任务选择就好。再加上《XCOM》对于镜头特写和动画运镜的突出，故而一者呈现出快节奏、高视听表现和受众面较宽的趋向，一者则依然保持着旧时代的部分风格。 与前作相比，《Xenonauts 2》首先在底层架构上全面采用了Unity 3D引擎，从而解决了一代因引擎所导致的视角问题，也使得Z轴上的战术博弈更为直观了。在完全重做并且细化了空战系统的同时，《Xenonauts 2》在战略层面新增了基地建设时的相邻加成、训练中心提供的经验保底和全新的、由特工带来的行动点数系统，些许丰富了战略上的抉择。就战斗设计、敌人类型与任务类型而言，二代新增了如护送VIP、拦截车队、获取数据、解救平民等一系列崭新的任务类型，也新增了人类形态的敌人和新的外星物种，像是战术执行时的命中率预览、完全对称的视野/弹道以及士兵装备的模块化插件（尤其是前两者），就很好地解决了一代在战斗时的一些痛点。 只是，成也萧何，败也萧何。源自《X-COM: UFO Defense》时期的一些设计，既是本作独特风味的直接来源，又在某种程度上成为了限制本作进一步发展的绊脚石——尽管可以看出制作组从一代到二代的目标始终都是以现代化的、更加合理的设计再现《X-COM》昔日的辉煌。由于早期电脑的计算和引擎限制，彼时的游戏设计许多时候往往只能以单一的随机概率来粗糙地呈现如风速、后坐力、目标移动和掩体材质等因素对于命中的影响；而在这些因素完全可以被细化处理（基于硬件生产水平的进步）的今天，沿用旧机制与其说是某种对于“硬核与拟真”的再现（讲个笑话：不在一条射击直线方向上的步枪手随机命中了另一侧的狙击手），倒不如说是路径依赖惯性背后的守旧心态。不过，话虽如此，还是衷心希望《Xenonauts 2》乃至可能的后续作品，在今后能够在保持系列风格基调的前提上实现突破与创新吧。

TEN YEARS (10) of development, an eternity in Early Access, daily patches after release, only to have the same game, the same problems (some even worse), and zero polish. They completely ignored user feedback, went silent for months and just kept going with it. I want to reiterate TEN YEARS. >Please reduce the number of timed missions -> Now all missions are timed (except the random one with the UFO shootdown). And the timers went more restrictive year after year. You have to RUN every mission, no matter the risks. You just never have enought time. >Please reduce reinforcements and missions with reinforcements -> Now all reinforcements have high AP (cheated) and will reach you regardless of your running speed (plus, they are always infinite whenever they are present). 50% of the mission types have reinforcements. >Please reduce the number of objectives to capture -> Now you must scan the entire map in 3 turns or (see above). It is physically impossible to evacuate before several turns of reinforcements. >Please, improve the armors, on a general level -> The best armor in the game crumbles after a single hit from a mid-level alien weapon. >Please, remove mana (Operation Points) or at least make it more plentiful for the pre-invasion phases -> Building a base now requires 10 days of accumulation + money + time, while you have to stop the Doomsday Clock from increasing or you won't even see the invasion begin. Also the Doomsday Clock disappear after three months making all the efforts you have made COMPLETELY USELESS. Thanks i hate using funds to prepare another base or just acquiring more advantages. I love wasting three months on NOTHING and now i have 100+ hp aliens doing 80+ damage at hit. >Please, remove the fact that a damn bush has the same amount of cover as a concrete wall -> now even the glass in a door cover as a solid rock. They've been so inept at managing cover that playing without a generous supply of explosives to remove it is practically impossible. >Please, just fix the AP usage in a *reasonable* way, walking 3 meters can't use the same AP as reloading a machine gun. -> Now going around two chairs is the same AP as throwing a grenade. The enemies also have SO many AP, more than 100. You see them running more than you, shooting one or two times (always at max %) and then run to cover, it's so frustrating. You can move.... maybe four meters, hip fire and you are empty. Remember: you have to RUN as fast as you can for the objectives. It's a NIGHTMARE. XCOM at max difficulty is more fair than this. I could go on for pages, but the review has a character limit. For the record, personal comment: the first law of ballistics says that if you can hit me, I can hit you. Every single cornering cover or misfire can be ignored by your opponents, but not by you. I've seen a pixel on a wall give 100% cover when the alien on the other side, without moving, completely ignored it (without breaking the cover). This cannot happen in 202X, it's offensive to the playerbase of the genre. The overwatch is completely random, but holy hell it always, 200% works, when it's a friendly fire overwatch, 150% damage, oneshot. This is the ONLY and i repeat ONLY game where there isn't a better rule to avoid friendly fire on overwatch then "just deactivate after every turn, for every soldier". I would laugh but it's the exact same for the first game, it has been flagged a lot, there are mods that fixes it but the devs just refused to listen and to fix their own damn game. Go to hell. This is a farce and a complete waste of time. This should be the prime example of why we should abandon incompetent devs who only waste time and aren't interested in the feedback of the people who pay their salaries. And no, positive reviews when the tutorial achievement is 60% are worth NOTHING. Half the "playerbase" hasn't even started the game. I can't accuse them of review botting because I don't have proof, but draw your own conclusions. I am just done with them. Do not buy anything else from them. There are much better turn-based games, play the old XCOM games, play literally anything else except this.

Оценка скорее нейтральная, чем строго негативная, но из того, о чем хотелось бы написать, претензий и просто ворчания сформировалось у меня, к сожалению, больше, чем положительных эмоций. У игры нет своего «лица». Это практически всё та же Xenonauts, скромно и, будто бы, не очень уверенно перенесенная в 3-D. Ни визуально, ни концептуально, ни сюжетно, практически никак не изменившаяся. Зачем нужна была первая часть – более или менее ясно. Ностальгия по классике, более честное и свободное распоряжение очками отряда в тактических сражениях (по сравнению с X-Com от Firaxis) и т.д. Но какую творческую задачу ставили перед собой разработчики второй части я, честно говоря, не понял. Графика осталась такой же аскетичной, схематичной, «кубичной» (все объекты в игре выглядят как игрушки в кукольном домике, расположены строго под 90 градусов, имеют преимущественно острые углы, отчего поле боя напоминает какой-то любительский макет с посредственно покрашенными миниатюрами). Да, камеру теперь можно вертеть, но глазу по-прежнему не за что зацепиться. Да, не в графике вся соль. Однако, если бегло посмотреть на скриншоты первой и второй частей, не сразу поймешь, что это разные игры. А, учитывая практически одинаковое наполнение, в чем вообще был смысл? Сюжет кампании, порядок исследования, технологии, игровые возможности, противники – абсолютно всё уже было, ты как бы играешь в другую, новую игру, но при этом играешь в старую. Подача прогрессии линейная. Сбил такой кораблик – вот тебе новая броня. Сбил другой кораблик – вот тебе новый самолётик. Ты буквально интуитивно знаешь уже, какие исследования и за что тебе дадут. Как действовать, что строить, какой отряд набирать, как будут развиваться твои возможности. Те же враги. Головастики мелкие, головастики большие, гачи-ящеры, жуки, бронированные «бехолдеры»… Классика – скажет кто-то. Я скажу, что это уже копия с копии, выдающая себя за оригинал. Удивлять игрока никто не стремится, ощущения «вау» от очередного «технологического прорыва» или от встречи с доселе невиданным монстром не случается. Ну хоть немножко свежатинки можно было добавить? Досадные мелочи, которые могли бы и доработать напильником. Вроде и смешно придираться, к примеру, к тому, что все женщины в игре по телосложению не отличаются от мужиков (за исключением облегающего стелс-костюма, хоть на том спасибо), но для раннего доступа такие визуальные перлы допустимы, а в релизной версии, откровенно говоря, режут глаз. Нельзя было для женщин несколько картинок нарисовать? Брони-то в игре раз-два, да обчелся. Старые болячки игровой механики упоминать скучно, но таки да, боец с меткостью 100 вполне может в упор (буквально стоя на соседней с врагом клетке) попасть только одним патроном из трёх в очереди. Проверено неоднократно. И это, мягко говоря, уже даже не смешно (хотя иногда, учитывая абсурд, всё же потешно от испанского стыда). Какой цели служат турели и боевые платформы (особенно в мидгейме и эндгейме) – непонятно. Характеристик не качают, меткость имеют максимум 65, занимают место лишнего прокаченного бойца. Допускаю, что я чего-то не понял, так что заранее прощу прощения у адептов за свою узколобость (без сарказма). Тактические бои в целом ощущаются устаревшими, «деревянными», предсказуемыми, даже с прокаченным отрядом. Добежал, присел. Добежал, выстрелил. Побежал, увидел врага, убежал обратно. Всякие изысканные тактические схемы применять иногда получается, но игровых ситуаций для этого катастрофически мало. В основном бой – это нудные, позиционные перестрелки – кто кого первый увидел, тот и молодец. Игра постоянно навязывает ситуации неизбежного урона (особенно отчетливо заметно на миссиях по захвату сбитых НЛО), как бы имитируя «челенж», но на уровне ощущений лишь навязывая фрустрацию пресыщение от искуственности предлагаемых ситуаций. Инопланетяне, как правило, стоят до победного прибитые к полу в своих каморках и ждут, когда ты к ним заглянешь, покрутишься во все стороны и умрёшь от ответного выстрела. Буквально сидишь, вымучиваешь расстановку, этого сюда, этого туда, этот прикрывает наблюдением, этот открывает дверь… Стреляешь в гада, сносишь ему топовой пушкой треть HP, гад стреляет в ответ и убивает бойца (или, в лучшем случае, отправляет его в лазарет на месяц). Пробуешь иначе, кидаешь свето-шумовую, подавляешь очередью, на следующем ходу даже подавленный враг убивает бойца. Круто? Хардово? Прям мурашки от ощущения опасности задания? Нуу… не знаю. Сомнительно. Механика навязывает «метовые» и скучные паттерны, не особо поощряя творческие ходы. Крайне редко бывает, что прям радуешься эко ты всех разложил красиво. Нудно, монотонно, осторожно, скрипя зубами, стыдясь неисчислимого сейв-лоада, – да. Лихо и нестандартно – половина бойцов к медсёстрам на укольчики (зато весело). Что по самим бойцам. Кому как, но мне прокачка в этой игре навевает скуку. Бойцы, как и сама игра, напрочь лишены индивидуальности. Специализацию им можно назначить любую, в любой момент. Если боец часто ходит на задания, то к эндгейму он может работать хоть снайпером, хоть стрелком, хоть любой иконкой, которую вы сами создадите (в игре можно назначать свою специализацию, закрепляя за ней соответствующую сборку снаряжения), была бы в арсенале пушка подходящего тира. При этом нет никаких перков, особенностей, связей с другими бойцами. Знай себе воюй, бегай или сиди в тренировочном центре (у меня парочка болванов дослужись до полковников, ни разу не поучаствовав в боевых операциях). Есть медальки, но их насыпают за очень простые достижения, и уже к середине игры весь отряд в орденах, что тоже не добавляет воякам индивидуальности и, как следствие, привязанности игрока. Зато гибкость и универсальность – ну, допустим. В сухом остатке играется всё это вполне нормально, ожидаемо, размеренно, даже местами приятно (просто из моей искренней любви к жанру). Поклонникам пошаговой тактики, на безрыбье, рекомендовать можно. Просто, повторюсь, каких-то новых эмоций игра ни в одном из аспектов не дарит и вызывает стойкое ощущение ленивого ремейка, а не свежего продукта. Очередной долгострой раннего доступа, который не стоило приобретать на старте в надежде, что уж к релизу-то понакрутят ништяков.

I loved Xenonauts 1 and backed the sequel's kickstarter many moons ago. It took TEN YEARS to reach 1.0 of what's basically a remake of the first game, but the final product is absolutely worth playing if you're into the genre. I don't think there's any other game out there as faithful to the OG X-COM formula. There's a big detailed xenopedia, multiple custom base building, meaningful choices for weapon manufacturing and progression that can totally screw you over if you get it wrong, and soldier loadout micromanagement. It stops shy at requiring you to buy each individual magazine like the original X-COM did -- you still have to reload and carry the individual items into the mission, but the supply is infinite back at the base. I've seen people criticize the art style for being generic or bland, but I've always appreciated it. It grounds the whole fiction into reality by depicting what's pretty much regular paramilitary dudes facing aliens in the real world, gradually progressing into sci-fi tech upgrades. The one letdown and downgrade from Xenonauts 1 are the vehicles: you just get these 2 flavors of a person-sized mini-tank, as opposed to the cool 4-tile machines from before. Special mention to the air combat minigame, which is simple yet extremely satisfying when you maneuver your fighters into a victory as the underdog, or pull off a no-damage fight with clever positioning and real-time-with-pause micromanaging. It made shooting down UFOs much more fun than just clicking autoresolve. I encountered a few minor weapon-reloading and graphical bugs, nothing serious. Well worth the money overall, I hope the developers didn't burn out after taking TEN YEARS with this one and they carry on making games in the genre.

The game is good in general and worth its money, yet still I cannot recommend it, since having a decade since Enemy Withing release, this game provides only air fight better and maybe some weapons. All the rest is much worse, attack mechanics are a complete crap: you either one shot the enemy or shoot at your heel; no skills in soldiers profession; In the end all soldiers are the same 100 atts each, no uniqness; etc

Not sure why the review score isn’t higher. This is a great turn-based strategy game, like the old-school X-COM from the ’90s. Everything feels familiar, and the difficulty level is just right. Also, surprisingly, the research notes are actually enjoyable to read. In other games, the text is usually just plain boring, but not here. The background music and sound effects are just right—they enhance the experience without drawing attention to themselves. Great game.