Phoenix Point

Phoenix Point

Console: PC
TV Standard: Other
Developer(s): Snapshot Games Inc.
Publisher(s): Snapshot Games Inc.
Release Date: 2020-06-01
Players: 1
Co-op: Yes
ESRB: E10+ - Everyone 10+
Type: Action, Strategy

In 2022, Earth's scientists discovered an extraterrestrial virus in permafrost that had begun to melt. Only about one percent of the virus's genome matched anything recorded by scientists up to that time. Named the Pandoravirus, humans and animals who came into contact with it mutated into horrific abominations. By the late 2020s, a global apocalypse began when melting polar icecaps released the Pandoravirus into the world's oceans. The alien virus quickly dominated the oceans, mutating sea creatures of every size into hybrid alien monsters capable of crawling on to land.
The oceans transformed in alien ways after which the Pandoravirus began to infect the world's landmasses with an airborne mutagenic mist. The mist was both a microbial contaminant and a conduit that networked the hive-mind of the Pandoravirus. Humanity was not prepared; everyone who failed to reach high ground where the mist could not reach succumbed to it. The monstrosities of this future world are intended to evoke themes of tentacles and unknown horror familiar to fans of H. P. Lovecraft. 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.
The game starts in 2047. 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. The Pandoravirus controls the oceans, contaminating all sea life, and has brought humans to the brink of extinction on land. Various factions control the havens of humanity, and they each have very different ideas of how to survive the alien threat.