Let me just get this out of the way right at the beginning, this is the one and only time in this preview I will say X-COM. Xenonauts is a reimagining, or a love letter, to the original game, and wow is there a lot to love about this. As a huge sci-fi fan, especially that which involves UFO’s and aliens, Xenonauts is based during the cold war in the 70′s and the world is on the bring of a hostile alien invasion. You build a base anywhere in the world, build new parts onto it, intercept UFO’s with your jets and shoot them down, then send out a drop-ship to investigate the crash site and eliminate the alien threat on the ground. Of course, there’s much more to it than that, but that’s the jist of it. Xenonauts is a strategy game through and through, methodically ordering your scientists to research the captured alien technology and use it to your advantage, get your engineers to put research into effect and creating new models of jets and other boy toys. The game is almost layered into the command center part of the game, the dog fighting minigame and the turn-based ground combat.
Xenonauts sport a fantastic art style, with the some awesome looking pictures drawn for each weapon, unit, alien, vehicle and the in-game encyclopedia. An isometric view for the ground combat sticking to the roots and doing a brilliant job of paying homage all whilst providing a breath of fresh air to each and every part of the game. From developer Goldhawk Interactive, Xenonauts is currently in alpha, and you can get access to the latest build by pre-ordering right here. But you can also help in the final months of development by pledging to the Xenonauts Kickstarter fund and get yourself a discounted version of the game, t-shirts and much more depending on how much you want to pledge.