Phoenix Point News

The Acheron, The Fearsome New Enemy of DLC 4: Corrupted Horizons

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Developed in secret by humans of unknown allegiance, the Acheron is an artificially-created Pandoran, the enemy species featured in Phoenix Point. Whether it was engineered to help humanity win the war against the Pandorans or to amass great power for its creators is unclear at the start... but now that it has escaped, there’s a new threat to the world that must be dealt with!

The Acheron is positioned as a larger support unit in the game that strategically buffs enemy units while hindering and hampering Phoenix operatives. It has an array of abilities that range from leaping across the map, firing off pepper clouds to reduce the accuracy of attackers, or allowing it to hang back and heal friendly Pandorans, call for reinforcements, or worse, resurrect dead ones to fight for its cause!

Introduced as part of Corrupted Horizons, the Acheron becomes a new enemy available both in DLC 4 specific missions and regular missions the player will engage enemies within. Players will need to have enabled DLC 4 though in order to make the Acheron available in-game.

As the game progresses, the Acheron will also evolve gaining more strength and dangerous powers. These evolutions boast different visual styles and abilities, and it’s crucial for players to know how to counter each of their strategies.

Its most devastating contribution though is its innate ability to spread Corruption, a new game mechanic that affects the infected soldier’s will to fight. The only way to stop this new plague is to capture and research one of these strange creatures and complete the DLC 4 story arc, but even then, the threat of the Acheron itself will still be present.

Phoenix Point: Corrupted Horizons will be available on October 1st for PC, and included within the Xbox and PlayStation release of Phoenix Point: Behemoth Edition on that same day.

For more, here are some insights from our development team on the Acheron and what you can expect!

What was the inspiration behind the Acheron as a unit?

The Acheron was a creature from Snapshot's archives that was inspired by the War of the Worlds' "harvesters." Originally, it was supposed to be a protector of the citadel but has since evolved into its own unit.

How does the Acheron fit into the larger Phoenix Point storyline?

The Acheron (along with the [REDACTED]) is one of those things that appear in the chaos after the Pandorans appear. While the big factions (Phoenix, New Jericho, Synedrion, and the Disciples of Anu) aim to restore the world and save humanity in their own way, there are a lot of smaller factions with other motives. The Pure and the creators of the Acheron are examples of such factions, and the Acheron is an example of what happens when things go wrong.

How do you see the Acheron changing up the tactical game?

“Call reinforcements, because there can never be enough Pandorans on a mission.”
“Resurrect Corpses. Not only does it add more enemies, similarly to Call Reinforcements, but it also has an element of continuity - what units die in the mission and where exactly is now a valid concern.”

Wait, what’s this REDACTED above???

Stay tuned as we share more info about DLC 4 in the lead-up to its release!

Phoenix Point's Corrupted Horizons DLC adds the bioengineered Acheron creature

Phoenix Point's next DLC, Corrupted Horizons, is due out in October, and it's adding some game-changing new units to the XCOM-style strategy game. We've gotten a first look at one of them, the Acheron, and it's another mean-looking Pandoran threat that's going to force you to reconsider your tactics on the battlefield.

Acherons are large, four-legged creatures that have been developed by one of Phoenix Point's human factions - although exactly which one is responsible for the monstrosity is unclear. Whatever its provenance, the Acheron is a heavy-duty support unit that can not only call in Pandoran reinforcements, it can also reanimate dead Pandoran units you've already dealt with.

The Acheron's main role, however, ties into a new game mechanic Corrupted Horizons will be introducing to Phoenix Point. The creatures can spread corruption, a miasma that saps soldiers of their will to continue the fight. You'll have to capture and research an Acheron as part of the fourth DLC's story arc in order to uncover the means to fight back against corruption - but even when you do, it'll still present a threat during battle.

Read the rest of the story...

Ambrose Balance Update Now Available

Our latest Phoenix Point update, “Ambrose,” is now available for all our operatives around the globe.

The patch started its life with a very simple task at hand: to cut some tedium of mid - late game. This is something that had previously been discussed at length by both our community and internally, so we were not short of ideas. But as often happens in gamedev, shortly after we began working on the task, conditions shifted, and we found out that things won't be so straightforward.

We had settled on a release date for our PlayStation and Xbox Behemoth Edition, and in that case, it was precisely "Ambrose" that would go for a console certification. The whole console certification process is long and complex, as well as the process of merging and syncing up new content for both PC and consoles. To reduce the possibility of further complications, we decided to keep "Ambrose" changes strictly to the "data" kind.

This also meant that we had the opportunity to incorporate other changes that were also discussed at length by both community and internally, namely to address the difficulty for Rookie and Veteran players. At the same time, we wanted to keep the game challenging for all players, including bringing some new fun with some old toys.

Your feedback has been crucial in shaping up "Ambrose," with many of the ideas of how we can better balance the soldier's gear coming from your suggestions. There are a few things that came out during testing that we plan to address in the following updates (yep, less tech in scavenging) and we are also closely monitoring all feedback around the "economy" changes and the reduction of the amount of HD mission. Even with the launch, the job is not done with it going live. Soon, we’ll be talking more about what’s coming in DLC 4: Corrupted Horizons, what to expect from the console Behemoth Edition, and other updates coming later this year for the game.

A huge thanks to all of you who take your time to share feedback on the game, and test or discuss the elements of “Ambrose.” And for everyone that has yet to play Phoenix Point, as of today, we’ve introduced a price reduction for our Year One Edition to $39.99 USD, so get in there now as the world’s not going to save itself! Try using the code HERECOMESTHEPHOENIX on the main game menu (look for the little key in the bar on the lower-left) for a little treat from Odin…

Full patch notes are as follows:

Ambrose- v1.12

Geoscape

The cost of late-game faction research is lowered by approximately 35%.
The build time of story haven zones is lowered by 50%.
The rate of Pandoran evolution is slowed down with approximately 20% on Rookie, Veteran, and Hero difficulty.
The rate at which the Pandoran bases conduct their attacks is reduced.
Increased the rewards for scavenging and haven defence missions by approximately 20%.
Increased the number of total food, training, elite training, and factory zones in Havens
The Neutral weapons and armors are now available for manufacturing to the player from the start of the game.

Tactical

Increased the maximum strength for the player's soldier to 35.
Increased the starting strength of the soldier for Rookie, Veteran, and Hero difficulty with 2.
Increased the strength of all human characters by 2.
Reduced the amount of damage “Bash” does.
Increased the number of enemies in the beginning of the game for Hero and Legend difficulty.
Increased the chance of enemies dropping items on death.

Mutations, Bionics and weapons adjustments

Venom Torso - damage increased to 55, Shoot Spike cost reduced to 1AP, 10 stealth and 2 speed added, maximum range of projectile removed, effective range reduced to 22 , ammo reduced to 16.
Tentacle Torso - Paralysis value increased to 24, stealth penalty removed, perception bonus increased to 6, 1 speed bonus added.
Screaming Head - Psychic Scream cost reduced to 1AP and 4 WP, but is restricted to one use per turn, 4 WP bonus added.
Judgement Head - WP bonus increased to 8.
Shadow Legs - shock damage of Electric Kick increased to 200.
Propeller Legs - Rocket Leap distance increased to 9 tiles.
Juggernaut Torso - Demolition State cost reduced to 2WP.
Scion of Sharur - viral damage increased to 15.
Destiny III - damage reduced to 70, ammo capacity reduced to 12, manufacturing and ammo cost reduced.
Nergal's Wrath - effective range increased to 14.
VVA-2 Arms - ammo capacity reduced to 5.
Ragnarok - ammo cost is reduced to 16 tech and 49 materials.
Autocannon - weight reduced to 4.
Praetorian 2 Body Armor - armor reduced to 18.
Guardian XA Helmet - armor reduced to 26.
Guardian XA Leg Armor - armor reduced to 29.

Mutogs adjustments

Venomous Head damage increased to 60.
Ramming Head damage increased to 150.
Slasher Tail damage increased to 70.
Basher Tail damage increased to 60 and shock damage increased to 200.
Paw Strike damage increased to 80.

Pandoran changes

Damage of the Evolved Organic Machine Gun reduced to 45 per shot.
Siren Injector Arms viral damage increased to 6 (per hand).
Arthron Shieldbearer gets 2 additional speed.
Scylla Thureus, Scylla Imperator, Scylla Hegemon, Scylla Regina, Scylla Smaragdos, Chiron Smaragdus, Siren Armis have now evolved 50% virus resistance.

Legacy of the Ancient changes

Excavation time of Ancient Sites reduced to 8 hours
Manufacture time for archaeology probes was reduced by approximately 40%.
Lowering the requirement for Triton Umbra and Scylla Smaragdus to be researched by the aliens.

Bug fixes

Few minor bugs were fixed.

Phoenix Point: Corrupted Horizons Arrives October 1st

You can watch the Corrupted Horizons teaser below, but for the impatient, the new DLC arrives on October 1st.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The details so far: "A new deadly strain of the Pandoravirus appears that saps the will from every being it touches! This is a deadly threat to Phoenix, but can they make use of it against the Pandorans, as well? New enemies, a new soldier type, and new campaign missions."

Much more to come on Corrupted Horizons. Also, for those looking to take the fight to consoles, we've announced our Phoenix Point: Behemoth Edition for PlayStation and Xbox One, with a free upgrade later to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S | X, also releasing on October 1st.

Phoenix Point - Kickback and Kill Pandorans Livestream

Hey everyone - we're playing through some Festering Skies in a more casual playthrough, so please stop by to ask questions, share your war stories or give advice as it's highly likely we'll lose some operatives along the way without you!!

Livestream starts at 12PM PST/7PM UTC.