Xenonauts 2 - Kickstarter Live and Funded

Xenonauts 2 is on Kickstarter and has already funded. There is also an alpha combat demo to try out.

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The Setting

Glad to see you made it, Commander. We got the helicopter away from CENTRAL with a dozen or so survivors, our Chief Scientist included - although naturally he spent the entire flight complaining that we'd rescued his lab assistants instead of his research notes.

That's where the good news ends, I'm afraid. The political situation is continuing to worsen - NORAD is reporting something with Soviet transponder codes buzzing the Eastern Seaboard, but I know for a fact the Soviets don't have any jets in the area. If we let the aliens run around unopposed for much longer we're going start seeing mushroom clouds on the horizon…

We'll have ATLAS Base online by the end of the day. In the meantime, you need to figure out a strategy for rebuilding our organisation, bringing the political situation under control and defeating a vastly superior foe that we know almost nothing about. Best get started, eh? There's coffee in the pot.

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?

Xenonauts-2 is not a chronological sequel to the first Xenonauts but rather an updated portrayal of similar events. The game is in development on Windows PC and is expected to launch on Steam & GOG in late 2018; we will hopefully natively support Linux and Mac on release but cannot yet offer a firm promise of this (please see the FAQ for further details).

We've been developing Xenonauts-2 for three years now and the game is in an advanced state. If you want to check out how things are progressing, you can download a free demo of a single tactical combat mission at the link below. Bear in mind this is still an alpha; expect it to improve a lot before release!

More information.

While they funded the game the first day, I doubt they are going to get the 250K stretch goal. A game like phoenix point, with a bigger scope and Gollop name on it, only got around 340K from backers funds.

Doubt they'll get that much either. Also the timing was a big unfortunate with steam sale starting tonight (supposedly) which might take away some momentum.

Personally I find xenonauts 2 more promising though.

X2 more promising, but the engine is wretchedly slow on a machine than can run XCOM:EW smooth. Gonna tell them need for serious optimization.

Of that voting which bugst out doesn't work - cannot send - the MODDING I saw the only viable option. The other appear to be default features put onto a voting list. :-o ?

The first game was no buy for me.
Is something improved enough to make me back this sequel? Can't spot it.

Originally Posted by Kordanor
Also the timing was a big unfortunate with steam sale starting tonight (supposedly) which might take away some momentum.

There is literally never a good time to release a computer game. It's like releasing a movie and saying, "Oh no, there's a new superhero movie releasing right then!"

Originally Posted by screeg
There is literally never a good time to release a computer game. It's like releasing a movie and saying, "Oh no, there's a new superhero movie releasing right then!"

Well, there is a spectrum of good/bad. And the choice could definitely have been better.

The first game was no buy for me.
Is something improved enough to make me back this sequel? Can't spot it.

Pretty much depends on what your issue was with the first game in the first place.
In my opinion it was already quite perfect. It had some issue (on ironman) with repeititiveness/grind, there were some bugs, and the last mission wasn't made well.
Out of these things there isn't anything you could use to pitch in a KS project. (aka: "Our new game is featuring less bugs and the last mission won't suck!")

Starting to look (and even sound) like Jagged Alliance 2… with aliens.

Yep, a no-brainer for me. I can see why it funded so easily.

Originally Posted by ChaosTheory
Starting to look (and even sound) like Jagged Alliance 2… with aliens.

Well, I'd describe Xenonauts 1 already as a mix of XCom (Original) + Jagged Alliance 2.

Imho Jagged Alliance is also the logical "succession" of XCom mechanics. While Firaxis new XCom was turning the old principle in an abstracted and mostly simplified board game version.

Originally Posted by Kordanor
Well, I'd describe Xenonauts 1 already as a mix of XCom (Original) + Jagged Alliance 2.

Imho Jagged Alliance is also the logical "succession" of XCom mechanics. While Firaxis new XCom was turning the old principle in an abstracted and mostly simplified board game version.

Yeah. What I would've really liked to see is the original X-com/JA2 combat style but with added character building and special abilities like in the newer XCOM titles. I actually think the much criticised UFO titles did this fairly well, albeit in a RTwP combat system.

The first game was a huge success, and we shouldn't be surprised that this new iteration scored massive funds quickly. Now, we'll see what gets changed up for the second volume, some of the changes being talked about are pretty exciting to me. We don't have a lot of companies that do games in this genre with competence.

I had never played through the first one and it's been in my library for a while so I'll play it in parallel to my expeditions run-through.

Seems like fun but looks outdated.

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I tried the first and it was just too… outdated. This one looks better.

Perhaps when this is well on its way, they can dig up the Curries and do a proper Jagged Alliance 3? I couldn't throw enough money at that Kickstarter…

EDIT: LinkedIn says Ian Currie is "looking for opportunities"… Hmm..

They have now doubled their goal… I wonder if they expected anything near this as they will likely need to delay the game potentially because of the success.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
Now, we'll see what gets changed up for the second volume, some of the changes being talked about are pretty exciting to me.

Hopefully more than a dozen different maps! If the dev had released X1 with his original map variety I don't think he would have even made back his investment. It was down to a volunteer modder to round out the game to what it was, and even then it really didn't have enough variety to sustain my interest over the sixty (eighty, a hundred?) ground missions it actually takes to finish.

Originally Posted by screeg
Hopefully more than a dozen different maps! If the dev had released X1 with his original map variety I don't think he would have even made back his investment. It was down to a volunteer modder to round out the game to what it was, and even then it really didn't have enough variety to sustain my interest over the sixty (eighty, a hundred?) ground missions it actually takes to finish.

Played on ironman for a bit more than 80 missions. But that's only because I thought "screw it, not playing another 20 missions to level new characters" when I entered the final mission (and lost). And yeah…was quite repetitive unfortunately. More maps and especially more enemy variety would have helped. or just a shorter game.

I would be seriously disappointed if the only changes we see in the second iteration were only map changes/upgrades. That would be better accomplished at the expansion level, I'm hoping for possibly an extra class or two, more weapons/resources, and just a ridiculous amount of content.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
I would be seriously disappointed if the only changes we see in the second iteration were only map changes/upgrades. That would be better accomplished at the expansion level, I'm hoping for possibly an extra class or two, more weapons/resources, and just a ridiculous amount of content.

Extra class? Are there classes at all? That would be great.

They are scrapping the interception system from X1 completely, which to me is kind of sad because I actually enjoyed it, it was a welcome change from the static engagements of the originals. Since it was somewhat "twitchy" it obviously didn't sit right with many other fans though. I hope they come up with something fun to replace it, where skill (tactical skill since twitch is out) can actually make a difference. It's cool if you down something "too early" if you play your cards right.

Well I was stretching it calling them "classes", more like skill sets and traits I suppose. Don't want to give false hopes!!

I'll miss the interception program from the first one though, I quite enjoyed that. Added a little mustard to the whole experience for me.