Phoenix Point Campaign Updates #2-3

Phoenix Point’s Fig campaign is going strong and is all but assured to reach the initial goal, and that leads us to a couple of updates that have gone up since we last checked.

Update #2 showcases the Chitin Armor, Fig-backer exclusive digital item, and provides the background for another one of the game’s human factions – New Jericho. An excerpt:

It was to be expected that in a moment of crisis, those without hope or understanding would gather around leaders who project confidence and some sort of solution to the world’s problems.

An external enemy provides a focus to distract from division and in this sense, the concept of ‘New Jericho’ – a united human nation, created to oppose the alien threat, is in itself a romantic vision of resistance; or would be, if it wasn’t a risk to our very existence.

The leaders of this movement see warfare and military technology as the sole solution to our predicament. Many of them refuse to accept that blunt solutions failed in the past, during the Third World War. There is a cult of personality around them, a belief that they will succeed with the same tactics as others who failed before them.

Tobias West rose to prominence during the 2020s. His security and technology firm, Vanadium Inc developed a respected reputation escorting the world’s largest shipping containers as they criss crossed the globe. West’s people were amongst the first to encounter the mist and its inhabitants. Survivors from Vanadium Inc expeditions quickly became consultants for different countries as they tried to resolve the issue, but, according to West, they weren’t listened to, as national governments preferred to blame and turn on each other instead.

Update #3 gives us a few pieces of concept art, and clarifies that the backer-exclusive items aren’t that exclusive after all and will be available for purchase as DLC, 3 months after the game’s launch. It also talks about yet another human faction – Synedrion:

Synedrion represents an intelligent and articulate ideology that has found its voice amidst the devastation of the past. The old ways are lessons of history for a new path and a new society. Great thinkers, ignored in previous struggles between neoconservatives and neo-liberalists are redeemed in the Synedrion vision for a different future.

In many ways, Synedrion is our competitor and a potential colleague. Much of its vision is an enlightened alternative that looks to make a new civilization out of what remains of the old that accommodates the changes to our world. These people intend to press forward in creating a new global nation that seeks a partnership with its citizens and its environment.

Synedrion shares our goal in preserving important knowledge from the past, but looks to adapt this knowledge into a new ecological equilibrium with our world. This equilibrium extends to the alien, who they believe should be accepted as part of their new environment and incorporated into a wider plan of co-existence. Essentially, the alien threat is seen as one amongst many ecological imperatives, which up until now, humanity has attempted to tame or ignore in much the same way as it has attempt to define itself in a subjugated hierarchy.

In practical terms, the decentralised but interconnected organisation of resources and knowledge that is part of Synedrion’s philosophy relies on stable communication networks. Where these don’t exist, the individual settlements become more fragmented from the whole and prioritise self-sufficiency. That said, their philosophy of preservation and sharing can be advantageous to us, unless we are seen to contradict their cohabitation strategy and are seen as regressive.

If this happens, it is likely they will no longer work with us.