Shock Tactics is taking what worked in XCOM and accelerating the pace

Strategy fans have had a lot to be happy about over the last few years, and it looks like they may have another game to keep on their radar. Shock Tactics is an XCOM-like turn-based strategy game where players lead a team of mercenaries who are trailblazing an unknown alien planet. Along the way, you will establish outposts and dig sites to uncover and harness the secrets of the world to your advantage. And you will need them.

Players will face off against pirates, alien creatures, and the troops of the Imperial Consortium in a turn-based battle system that will feel very familiar to those who have played any of Firaxis' XCOM games. However, Shock Tactics mixes things up with its focus on aggression, which accelerates the pace of battle.

Point Blank Games' Game Director Leonard Kausch said:

"Shock Tactics is our own vision of modern-age strategy games. The very aggressive turn-based gameplay forces players to get rid of familiar habits and defensive tactics and deal with new, more active ways of fighting enemies. We can’t wait until the players finally can see the results of our development."

Here's a list of features per an official press release:

• Aggressive Tactics: Always drop right into the action and bring the fight to the enemy before he can reinforce his positions. Play fast tactical assaults on time sensitive objectives and stay in full control.

• Challenging squad tactics combat: Lead your strike team against smart enemies that employ a large array of tactics. Know your enemy, build a strategy, rule the battlefield.

• Strike team progression: Harness the power of the alien artifacts to upgrade your base, built new weapons and armor and train your soldiers with different abilities to fit your playstyle.

• Full Control: Action Points allow you to move your soldiers with full control and the interrupt system enables long sprints that are stopped when new enemies are spotted, so you can assess the situation and spend your remaining Action Points accordingly.

• Hostile Planet: The procedurally generated world map leads to different strategic situations in each game session. Fight in three different environments of Hephæst to claim the alien artifacts.

• Fate of Hephæst: Experience a story revealing the secrets of the planet while the great factions steer towards a final battle deciding their fate in the galaxy.

Shock Tactics is currently on track to release in Q1 2017 exclusively on PC.