Xenonauts 2, the anticipated strategy sim and sequel about resisting an alien invasion from developer Goldhawk Interactive and publisher Hooded Horse, will officially launch on July 18th, 2023. The announcement coincided with a new gameplay trailer, featuring a brief overview of the mechanics.
Xenonauts 2 will be available on PC via GOG, Steam, and the Epic Games Store. There’s no word on a console port, and the previous game was never released on consoles. You can watch today’s new release date trailer on the Hooded Horse YouTube channel:
Today’s trailer is mostly an abbreviated version of the trailer from last January, and even explains the key mechanics all over again. So, those who felt dismayed with the previous trailer won’t be won over here.
The Xenonauts series continues to prove itself a worthy successor to the classic XCOM games, though it seems like very little has changed since Xenonauts. In fact, even the graphics in today’s trailer are more or less interchangeable with the first Xenonauts from around a decade ago.
The result feels more like some highly belated DLC. That could disappoint some longtime fans, though it could be a deliberate attempt at nostalgia. It also would have been nice if Xenonauts 2 was a little more ambitious, to better justify itself. But the mechanics should remain as entertaining as ever.
Xenonauts has a strong sense of scope, allowing players to delve into a good variety of both small and large-scale management. The broad freedom really lets the tactics get creative, too.
It’s very likely that will be more than enough for Xenonauts 2 to succeed, particularly with the existing fanbase. Hooded Horse also released a gameplay trailer for Fragile Existence back in January, another sci-fi strategy game, which is probably going to get a release date sometime soon too.
You can read more about Xenonauts 2, Goldhawk Interactive, and other upcoming strategy games by following our news section.
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