[2] Phoenix Point is intended to be a spiritual successor to the X-COM series that had been originally created by Snapshot Games head Julian Gollop during the 1990s.

Phoenix Point is set in 2047 on an Earth in the midst of an alien invasion, with Lovecraftian horrors on the verge of wiping out humanity.

Players start the game in command of a lone base, Phoenix Point, and face a mix of strategic and tactical challenges as they try to save themselves and the rest of humankind from annihilation by the alien threat.

[6] Likewise, the works of John Carpenter influence the themes of science fiction horror, particularly related to the mist that both hides alien monsters and creates them.

[8] The alien mist and monsters created by the Pandoravirus have overwhelmed and destroyed worldwide civilization, reducing the remnants of humanity to isolated havens that are sparsely spread across the planet.

[4] West gained his prominence in the 2020s as the head of Vanadium Inc., a technology and security firm which provided escorts for container ships as they traveled the world's oceans when the Pandoravirus mist and mutations first began to appear.

[15] New Jericho havens typically are fortresses at abandoned industrial or hilltop locations,[14] and they have an extensive manufacturing base for military technology.

[15] Allied with the Phoenix Project, they successfully place a targeting beacon at the alien control node allowing for a decapitation strike.

[18] In the 1990s, the original X-COM series of video games introduced and integrated global strategy and tactical combat through which players try to save Earth from alien invasions.

[19] Though a multiplayer mode has not been ruled out, a survey answered by likely players has focused on developing Phoenix Point as a single-player game.

[22] In Phoenix Point, the alien threat evolves as part of a gameplay system designed to generate a wide variety of challenges and surprises for players in tactical combat.

[13] When the Pandoravirus encroaches on new regions, animals and other biological material found, including humans, are recombined to increase the pool of available body parts for the creation of new aliens, through mutations.

[21] For example, a mutation might generate aliens with a new melee attack ability or a new defensive counter to certain types of weapons used by the players' soldiers.

[7] The Geoscape serves as the nexus for players to monitor their exploration and make choices concerning strategic operations, development, and relationships with other human factions.

[4] For example, mission locations could be havens of other factions, scavenging sites at abandoned military or civilian infrastructure, alien encampments, players' bases, and other Phoenix Project facilities.

[4] Players also can obtain access to vehicles with customization options that their soldiers can bring into battle for heavy weapon support and tactical transportation.

[25] Soldiers lose will points from injuries, a comrade dying, encountering a horrifying monster, and special enemy attacks.

[9] The injuries which soldiers suffer and even just the ordinary experiences of battle can lead to drug addictions, permanent physical disabilities, or even insanity that will require players to research new technologies to rehabilitate.

[26] These tactical options allow players to combat adversaries which may be significantly tougher than those found in more traditional X-COM games.

[31] Crediting the success of the campaign, Snapshot Games announced the next day that they had hired four developers and planned to grow their team to include around thirty by the end of the year.

[32] Phoenix Point was initially expected to be released in the fourth quarter of 2018 through Steam and GOG for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux platforms.

Gollop stated the added funds from the exclusivity deal would help assure a trouble-free launch and support early post-release content better.

[39] Kyratzes provided writing for the story and premise of The Talos Principle that was noted for being as much responsible for its success as its gameplay mechanics.

[11] His plans for Phoenix Point borrow from grand strategy video games with procedural generation elements and emergent gameplay like Crusader Kings II.

[13] Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri similarly influenced how Gollop plans to develop more 4X-like dynamics into the open-world strategy aspects of Phoenix Point.

[6] Phoenix Point also draws inspiration from the Fallout video game series with how players can target specific body parts of enemies during combat.

[11] Phoenix Point writers, Allen Stroud and Jonas Kyratzes, wrote short stories which help establish the setting and narrative themes for the game.

[31] Upon its release, Phoenix Point was met with "mixed or average" reviews from critics for Microsoft Windows, with an aggregate score of 74/100 on Metacritic.

"[96] PCGamesN reviewer did not agree with GameSpot about the aiming in the game, as he writes it does not give more control, as there are many external factors influencing where a shot lands.

[88] Network N Strategy Gamer wrote of the game's "lack of character" compared to XCOM: Enemy Unknown and that it "doesn't seem to have found that human touch that made Firaxis' own take so appealing.