Goldhawk Interactive proudly announced the release of Milestone 3 for Xenonauts 2, marking a significant leap forward in the evolution of the game’s Early Access stage. Boasting a plethora of game changing enhancements and fresh content, this update reaffirms Xenonauts 2’s position as one of the best turn-based strategy games to play on PC.

This latest milestone introduces theCruiser UFO, an addition that unlocks a trove of advanced technologies. While Milestone 5 remains the ultimate goal for campaign completion, players can revel in the extended playable time, now expanded to 260 days. This is the change I’m most excited about, as the game’s previous campaign limit felt rather short when it came to long term planning.

Furthermore, Unity 2022 integration brings with it a host of long-awaited improvements, including faster load times and seamless support for borderless fullscreen mode. With load times reduced by approximately 30%.

Xenonauts 2 Review- A Triumphant Evolution of a Classic.

Addressing feedback from the community, Milestone 3 introduces substantial AI enhancements: civilians no longer actively act suicidal, melee units make better decisions, and AI will no longer stand in a fire waiting for death.

Moreover, the community asked for the introduction of bleeding wounds for aliens, to make thing more fair. The game also added a “heal chance” to all Bleeding Wounds, so that this status no longer means a death sentence if there’s no medikits at your disposal. Coupled with usability improvements such as pre-mission soldier arrangement and streamlined item management, Milestone 3 offers a more polished and intuitive gameplay experience.

Noteworthy adjustments to mission types, including abduction missions and data raid missions. The first “Abduction missions have been updated to address player concerns. They are now explained better, and no longer end immediately when the timer expires – but the Panic gain or reduction of the mission is now tied to the number of freed civilians, so the result should feel less arbitrary“, and the second “These are the missions where you have to capture Data Sticks from the Cleaner office. Relatively minor changes here, just some UI improvements and a tweak to the objectives that means if a soldier carrying Data Sticks is killed you don’t necessarily have to send another soldier to recover the Data Sticks from their body if you don’t want to“.

With Milestone 3, Xenonauts 2 continues to push the boundaries of the franchise to new heights, proving it worthy of being considered one of 2023 best games.

Read the whole thing here.

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