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The Phoenix Project
An organisation designed to activate whenever the world is in peril, the Phoenix Project is composed of many cells gathering the world's best. The player controls one of these cells, which lost contact with the others.
- Abnormal Ammo: While everyone gets in on the action, they can make weapons from all the faction's technologies, including poisoned, paralyzing, and viral darts, grenades, and canisters of acid-producing bacterial cultures.
- Ancient Tradition: The Phoenix Project has existed in various forms throughout much of recorded human history, although it hasn't been very successful, with quite a few periods where it went offline for a long time before being imperfectly revived.
- Cassandra Truth: The Phoenix Project was revealed to and promptly ridiculed by the public for years before the infamous "Big Egg Incident", along with having been regarded as a waste of taxpayer money by the US in the 1970's.
- Cool Plane / Future Copter: The Manticore is a tilt-jet VTOL which serves as the initial aircraft available in the campaign, and is a well-balanced transport.
- Expy: Of XCOM.
- Fragile Speedster: Their units are less armored, but more mobile than ones from New Jericho.
- I Did What I Had to Do: One of their endings results in them not allying with any of the factions, and releasing a virophage that kills the Pandoravirus...but also a significant portion of what's left of humanity, and wiping out the other three factions as well. Phoenix Project then takes over the world and leads humanity to start rebuilding. While no one's happy with what they did, they tell themselves it was the only way to ensure humanity survived.
- Gas Mask Mooks: A customization style for their units. Justified considering their archenemy.
- Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: Start with conventional firearms, and have to aquire more exotic ones by allying with or stealing from other factions. Also, a Phoenix Operative in a story is described using a P90 in 2046.
- Meaningful Name: Like the phoenix it's named after, the Project has died out only to revive in another form many times. It's also about helping humanity rebuild after horrible disasters.
- Multinational Team: They have hired people from different nationalities. Which fits with the idea that Phoenix Project being created as humanity's defense from world peril.
The Factions
Disciples of Anu
A religious order believing the virus was sent by the Dead God as divine punishment, the Disciples of Anu are interested in controlling the virus, seeing it as a potential tool.
- The Anti-Nihilist: The Disciples do not believe humanity matters in the overall scheme of the universe, but this is irrelevant; human existence matters to humans and the Earth.
- Big Bad / Big Good: The Exalted is a Humanoid Abomination and Time Abyss herald of Anu who leads the Disciples and has inspired several different cults throughout history. Surprisingly, she's also a Pro-Human Transhuman.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Despite being described as a neutral and mostly friendly faction, their practices include using the black mist infesting Earth to transform themselves into the same monsters the Phoenix Project is trying to fend off. Plus, while they claim the procedures safely make sure the subjects retain their human soul and conscience, it often does not end up this way. For better or worse, they're not entirely deluded; the Harbinger short story is told from the point of view of an infectee for whom the pandoravirus acted as a Cure for Cancer rather than a monster-maker.
- Cool Airship: Unlike the other factions, the Disciples prefer the Tiamat, an semi-organic dirigible that has the highest capacity and range of all transport at the cost of being the slowest.
- Cult: Disciples of Anu, transhumanist worshippers of the Dead God.
- Gaia's Vengeance: The Disciples of Anu claim that the Pandoravirus is both a way to purify the Earth from toxic pollution and a way for humanity to transform into new lifeforms capable of living in the new ecosystem.
- Horse of a Different Color: Some Disciples of Anu ride mutant mounts into battle.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: The faction's name originates from the Mesopotamian sky deity and father of the 50 "great gods," Anu. But it also has a second meaning as another name for the Irish earth goddess, Danu, which aligns with their eco-friendly attitudes. A fascinating example of a name that has two layers of mythological significance.
- Pet the Dog: The Disciples of Anu get one in "Cult People."
- Pro-Human Transhuman: Their philosophy in a nutshell; they believe the human spirit is inherently good, but human bodies and their instincts limit the capacity for empathy and judgement; the Pandoravirus, if properly tamed, can give humanity the same insight and capacity for harmony with the environment the Hive Mind has while retaining individual intelligence and personality.
- Sacred Scripture: The Disciple of Anu have one, a somewhat edited Book of Revelation, combined with Mesopotamian Mythology.
- Straw Nihilist: Defied. The Exalted finds this viewpoint laughable, and actually reshapes the leaders of the old Apocalypse Cult she inspired into the Synod of Yearning because she's sick of their self-destructive infighting and refusal to stand up for humanity.
The Blind Legate
A high-ranking member of the Disciples' hierarchy who serves as the cult's ambassador and one of their spiritual leaders. His blindness is supposedly meant to let him better perceive the souls of those he encounters, and whether they are worthy of interfacing deeper with the Disciples.- "Ass" in Ambassador: He can be pretty hostile toward those he perceives as "unworthy" of the Exalted, and Nergal explicitly tell the Phoenix Project to come to him if the Legate gives them trouble.
- Disability Superpower: He's said to have this, and given the kind of power wielded by other high-ranking Disciples there may be more to it than just religious belief.
- Threshold Guardian: While the Keeper is the one who holds the title, earning the Legate's approval is necessary to ascend the Hierarchy.
The Exalted
Voiced By: Devora Wilde
The mysterious leader of the Disciples of Anu, who nearly consider her a deity in her own right. She teaches that while human souls are divine and perfect, our insufficient biology holds us back.She's in fact a primordial human and one of the first mutates of the Pandoravirus, she wields unspeakable power and is key to securing the Earth from the Yuggothian Entity should the Phoenix Project choose to aid the Disciples.
- 11th-Hour Ranger: She joins the Phoenix Project's final assault on the Yuggothian Entity as a playable character should the Disciples' victory be chosen, and is one of the strongest fighters in the game being basically a super-powered Disciples Priest class.
- A God I Am Not: While she accepts her role as the leader of the Disciples, she very explicitly denies her superiority over them and any notion of her own special divinity.
- Did You Just Hijack Cthulhu: Her endgame is to use her power to take direct control of the Pandora Virus on Earth by interfacing with and severing the link of the Yuggothian Entity to the virus.
- Pro-Human Transhuman: She believes totally in the inherent goodness and purity of humanity, even in its corruptible, un-mutated form, and thus opposes the Yuggothian Entity in its attempt to enslave/exterminate mankind.
- Walking Spoiler: To talk at all about her is to spoil a massive chunk of the end game.
The Keeper of the Threshold
While relatively low in the Hierarchy, the Keeper serves a key role: to be the first line any prospective member or ally of the Disciples must cross.- Threshold Guardian: Their role in a nutsehll, being the first person anyone seeking to join with the Disciples must face.
The Synod Of Yearning:
While The Exalted might be the true leader of the Disciples, it is the Synod who actually runs the cult day-to-day. Formed from the fusing of several older cult leaders by the Exalted, the Synod is the second-highest spiritual leader of the Disciples and wields tremendous power within the Hierarchy.- Apocalypse Cult: They used to be the leaders of these as the predecessors to the Disciples, but The Exalted grew tired of their infighting and misanthropy and merged them into the Synod.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: While they hold an extremely high position in the Hierarchy, not many have anything good to say about the Synod and their extremism, with Nergal and The Exalted herself having a particular disdain for them.
- The Fundamentalist: While fanaticism isn't uncommon among the Disciples, the Synod stands out through their singular dogmatism and hatred of anything that even lightly opposes the cult's teachings.
- Fusion Dance: Originally a group of independent cult leaders, The Exalted used her power to fuse them into a singular entity as part of her consolidation of the disparate cults into the Disciples.
- Mind Hive: The Synod still has the old egos of their prior lives, but now is a single entity through The Exalted's actions.
- Snake Talk: The Synod has a tendency to draw out their words into a hissing, slurring croon.
- Verbal Tic: yeeeessss.
- Voice of the Legion: They speak with all the voices of their prior selves, giving a deeply unsettling effect.
Taxiarch Nergal
Voiced By: Derek Hagen
Once a military officer in the decades leading up to the Pandora Virus outbreak, Nergal is the de-facto commander-in-chief and field commander of the Disciples' militant wing. While he is utterly devoted to The Exalted and her teachings, he's also a pragmatist who can and will buck the Hierarchy if he thinks it's for the greater good.
- The Atoner: As per his writeup on the website he sees his role in the Disciples as a way of making up for the evil he caused when he was in the military.
- Four-Star Badass: Was one in his old life, and his role in the Hierarchy gives him near unilateral control of the Disciples' militants. He's apparently effective enough that The Exalted personally ensures he's given all the leeway he wants.
- God Before Dogma: His devotion to The Exalted and her teachings are beyond doubt, but he also recognizes that blind dogmatism like the Synod's is ultimately against what the Disciples stand for.
- Happily Failed Suicide: In the depths of his despair as the Pandora Virus ravaged the world, he hurled himself into the sea. It was then The Exalted reached out to him and gave him a new life as Nergal. Or so the story goes.
- Military Maverick: While his role of Taxiarch sits fairly low on the Hierarchy, he has and continues to bend the rules if he thinks it's for the best.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He hates the Synod, seeing their dogmatism as destructive and contrary to The Exalted's teachings. But, he also recognizes their authority and sees them as a necessary evil, for now.
- That Man Is Dead: Whoever he was before the Disciples, he is only Nergal now.
New Jericho
New Jericho was founded by Tobias West, CEO of security company Vanadium Incorporated. Having been involved in the first encounter with the virus, Tobias created the New Jericho as a militaristic faction hellbent on exterminating the virus to save humanity.
- Anti-Armor: "Piercing" weapons are a mid-game New Jericho development which focus on punching straight through enemy armor.
- Dehumanization: Aside from their extreme militarism, the other major flaw with New Jericho is their Lack of Empathy towards infected humans (aside from cases where the human can be saved by amputating an infected limb). In their eyes, people who have been infected with the Pandoravirus are no longer human. Any infectees they don't kill are simply treated as lab rats (referred to by subject numbers, rather than their names) to study the effects of the virus. Granted, the virus is a legitimate threat and human infiltrators are a very real issue caused by the virus, but there is something to be said about how they have absolutely zero interest in helping people who are no longer genetically pure. (Particularly considering humans do retain their self-awareness in early stages of infection, suggesting treatment IS possible.)
- The first DLC emphasizes this, as The Pure are the result of New Jericho experimentation in converting humans to Cyborgs as a means to negate the Pandoravirus - but West pulled the plug after seeing the results.
- Do Not Go Gentle: The excerpt of a speech by New Jericho's leader outright says that they will not go quietly into the night, but will fight and strive for the new dawn, or take their foes with them to Hell.
- Future Copter: Their Thunderbird is a quad-rotor VTOL that offers greater range and carrying capacity over Phoenix Project's Manticore, but is slower and more expensive.
- Gatling Good: New Jericho heavies prefer the "Deceptor" a rotary coilgun which can shred through nearly anything the Pandoravirus can field.
- Guilt-Free Extermination War: New Jericho believes that if they amass enough power, they can save humanity by outright eradicating the monsters created by the pandoravirus.
- Hope Bringer: One of the reasons for New Jericho's continued popularity is that recordings of Tobias West's speeches serve as a source of hope for scattered settlements.
- Magnetic Weapons: New Jericho's weapons of choice.
- Mini-Mecha: New Jericho might have a chicken walker
. - Private Military Contractors: They were a security company called Vanadium before they became a survivor faction.
Abongameli Smith
Dr. Abongameli Smith is a Nigerian-born prodigy biochemist recruited by Tobias West at the beginning of the Pandoravirus outbreak in order to study what exactly was happening to the world. After the fall of the world's nations and the restructuring of Vanadium into New Jericho, Smith continued his work in trying to solve the mystery of the Pandoravirus and, more importantly, finding a way to eradicate it for good.- Black and Nerdy: A Nigerian biochemist who earned his doctorate at Harvard at all of 20 years old.
- Mad Scientist: Averted with gusto. Despite his reputation as the man for Pandoravirus studies and his penchant for vivisection of Pandorans he's a soft-spoken and rational man who sees every distateful thing he does as an ugly necessity.
- Reluctant Mad Scientist: A minority opinion in New Jericho for sure, but Smith mourns that so much of his research must go to weapons development and appreciates it when the player opts for less-militant ideals.
- Teen Genius: To have earned his Ph.D. from Harvard at 20, he must have been one.
Col. Jack Harlson
A formerly-invalidated American veteran turned West's right hand after the latter recruited him into Vanadium and provided him state-of-the-art prosthetics to compensate for his war wounds. After the apocalypse Harlson was key in turning Vanadium's corporate structure into something resembling a functioning state. He takes a hardline against Pandorans due to his personal experiences in Fort Freiheit, and considers Synedrion and the Disciples as no better than enemy collaborators.- General Ripper: He's by far the most militant voice in New Jericho, which is saying something.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Richter, the two having a long history of butting heads while striving toward the same goal.
Capt. J.P. Richter
An assault trooper who always had a penchant for getting himself in trouble, Richter managed to work his way through the ranks to become a captain of New Jericho and one of its foremost military officers.- Determined Defeatist: In his report on the website Richter says he doesn't really buy into New Jericho's line that they can save the world, but he plans to go down fighting.
- Nice Guy: Relatively speaking, but for a New Jericho officer he's a very approachable, jocular fellow more concerned with saving humanity than ideological squabbles.
- Sole Survivor: Of the four troops left behind to ensure the evacuation of Fort Freiheit.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Harlson, the colonel seeing Richter as too hot-headed and prone to playing fast and loose with protocol while Richter thinks Harlson is stuck in the Old World.
Sophia Villanova
A former Phoenix Operative turned scientist for New Jericho, Villanova effectively runs the New Jericho R&D wing and is notable for her sheer devotion to West.- Science Hero: Along with Abongameli Smith, Villanova is the most technically-minded of the New Jericho power players and is integral in getting the military orbital installations back up and running.
- Undying Loyalty: Probably the most die-hard supporter of Tobias West in New Jericho, which given the whole thing hinges upon the latter's cult of personality, that's saying a lot.
Tobias West
The man responsible for New Jericho, and its undisputed leader. Formerly a reclusive billionaire and CEO of Vanadium Inc., West saw the writing on the wall and turned his company and fortune into the militant state of New Jericho. West believes in the supremacy of human will above all else and sees the Pandoravirus and its effect on the world as an abomination to be exterminated.- Big Bad / Big Good: Whatever one's views on West and New Jericho might be, it's undeniable he alone is responsible for the faction's success.
- Cool Old Guy: Again, whatever one might think of him and his views, West's charisma is undeniable.
- Cult of Personality: While he doesn't (actively) encourage it, it's undeniable that the people of New Jericho deify West, and the faction as a whole hinges on his personal myth.
- Everyone Has Standards: Before the apocalypse, he ruthlessly purged parts of Vanadium that were committing atrocities while on assignment. He also called an immediate halt to Project Purity when he saw how far things had gone.
- Fiction 500: Before the apocalypse he was a billionaire and single-handedly bankrolled all private efforts against the Pandoravirus both before and after the restructuring of Vanadium into New Jericho.
- Übermensch: He's a man driven solely by his will, and sees the human will as supreme in the world. However, he actually seems to understand Nietzschean ethics and the broader implications of his views and actions.
Synedrion
Synedrion was founded out of a confederation of Anarchist, Communalist, and Marxist movements from the time of WWIII and the start of the Pandoravirus pandemic. The most scientifically-minded faction, Synedrion is mainly concerned with learning from the past mistakes of humanity, and rebuilding it as a utopia.
- Anarchy Is Chaos: Averted, Synedrion is explicitly mentioned in their lore as being based on Anarcho-Syndicalism and holds the anarchistic ideals of decentralized direct democracy and horizontal cooperation without hierarchies. This lets them be just as organized as New Jericho or the Disciples of Anu despite having no true "chain of command".
- Attack Drone: Synedrion specializes in aerial drones with various functions. That being said, not all of them are combat-focused.
- Chummy Commies / Dirty Communists: Their lore explicitly cites their rejection of private property and their founders as per the write-ups on the Phoenix Point website were anti-capitalist radicals of various stripes. While they're definitely the most diplomatic and openly friendly faction, they're still perfectly capable of wars of aggression and will wipe out Disciple or New Jericho outposts if they're in conflict.
- Energy Weapon: Their specialization due to focusing on environmental-friendly technology.
- Expy: Of ADVENT Administration, aesthetics wise. Ideology-wise, they're total opposites, with Synedrion being an anarcho-liberal movement and while Synedrion dabbles in genetic experiments involving the aliens, they do so for the betterment of mankind, like genetically-engineering extinct species such as sheep.
- Future Copter: The Helios is an extremely advanced VTOL utilizing Synedrion's fusion technology and is the fastest transport in the game with the second-best range, at the cost of having the smallest carrying capacity.
- Nature Lover: Ecology is one of their guiding principles, hoping to undo the environmental destruction of the Old World and Pandoravirus.
- The Paralyzer: Their Paralysis weaponry can non-lethally incapacitate enemies from a distance.
- Science Hero: They are the most scientifically minded of all three factions, where they prefer to study the Pandora Virus as means to coexistence rather than New Jericho's militancy and Disciples of Anu's assimilation.
- Take a Third Option: As a contrast between New Jericho's extermination policy and Disciples of Anu's assimilation policy on Pandora Virus, Synedrion's philosophy is based on compromising both of these ideologies by trying to have humanity coexist with the new environment changed by the virus. Because they don't directly oppose the other two factions' ideologies, they are the only faction guaranteed to survive in all three endings.
- Technical Pacifist: Synedrion is generally opposed to using lethal force and is hopeful to find a peaceful solution to a conflict, this is reflected in-game by their paralysis weaponry.
- Vast Bureaucracy: Their major weakness is their democratic and decentralized governance that can lead to them taking a long time to react on troubles affecting their faction.
- We ARE Struggling Together: Synedrion suffers from the most apparent internal strife of all the factions, with several deep ideological rifts manifesting in the game proper as player-decided forks.
Athena
Athena began her life as a hairdresser and labor organizer in the Exarcheia commune in Athens, but as WWIII rolled around and the Pandoravirus reared its head, she took to direct action against both the State and the virus. Now one of the foremost personalities of Synedrion, she strives to keep the faction together in the face of the apocalypse and its own internal divisions.- Bomb-Throwing Anarchists: In her youth she was an infamous militant who fought the State and the virus with the same fervor. Age mellowed her considerably though, now focusing on keeping Synedrion together through their internal rifts.
- Cool Old Lady: She's inarguably one of the sweetest people in the game, and she's a former anarchist militant who's still got a bit of fire.
- Team Mom: She strives hard to mediate the tensions between Nikolai and Zhara, and it's basically her alone that has kept Synedrion together as a united faction.
Barnabas
A sentient AI, Barnabas enjoys full citizen rights in Synedrion and serves as one of their research heads.- Androids Are People, Too: As per Synedrion's ideology, Barnabas is just as much a person as everyone else. He demonstrates his gratitude by applying his extremely powerful mind to scientific research and making videogames.
- Artificial Intelligence: Is a classic "hard" AI, being both sentient and having an ego.
- Literalist Snarking: Barnabas seems to have a sarcastic streak, but keeps it wrapped under a layer of technical precision and formality.
- Spock Speak: He speaks in a very stilted, formal fashion.
Nikolai
A Russian geneticist and Marxist radical, Nikolai started as key member of the Firebird Initiative which in turn was a founding component of Synedrion. He is completely devoted to reclaiming the Earth for the sake of humanity, something that puts him at odds with Zhara.- Eye Scream: Had his eye destroyed in a bombing by ecological/primitivist terrorists who opposed his research into the Pandoravirus. This left a strong chip on his shoulder regarding anything involving radical ecology or attempting to live with the virus.
- Mother Nature, Father Science: Has this dynamic with Zhara, with him seeing her radical ecology as utopian hogwash and preferring a hard, rationalist approach toward eradicating the virus and healing the Earth.
- Nature Lover: That said, he's still an ecologist at heart. Albeit one who would rather re-terraform the Earth into its pre-Pandoran state through genetically-engineered flora.
- Opposites Attract: He's an intense, somewhat surly Marxist (or Marxist-Leninist) while his husband Stas is a laid-back, chipper anarchist.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He agrees with Zhara the Old World was fatally flawed and a radical solution is needed, and that's about it.
Stas
Stanislav, Stas to his friends, is a Russian geneticist and one of the founders of Synedrion alongside his husband, Nikolai. Like Athena, Stas finds himself stuck in the middle of the growing rift between Zhara and Nikolai. A devoted anarchist, Stas works as one of Synedrion's heads of research trying to find new, anti-authoritarian ways to live in a post-Pandoran world.- Bomb-Throwing Anarchists: Like Athena, Stas took up arms against the State and virus in the years leading up to Synedrion's founding, and he has the scars to prove it.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Along with Athena he's probably the nicest, most-approachable person the player meets. He has also killed people and has no qualms on taking up arms against Synedrion's enemies.
- Opposites Attract: He's a bubbly, excitable anarchist while his husband is a sullen Marxist.
- Team Mom: While it's more pronounced with Athena, Stas also tries hard to mediate the dispute between Zhara and Nikolai, sympathizing with them both.
Zhara:
Born to Kurdish and Ethiopian parents in Rojava, Zhara is a natural-born radical with a particular focus on anti-authoritarianism and radical ecology. She believes that humanity must learn to coexist with the Pandoravirus rather than try to reshape the world in their image, something that puts her deeply at odds with Nikolai.- The Baby of the Bunch: She's visibly the youngest of Synedrion's major players, something Nikolai uses to dismiss her views as childish utopianism.
- Mother Nature, Father Science: Has this dynamic with Nikolai, seeing his terraformist views as no better than the same crude domination of the world that destroyed the environment and set the Pandoravirus free.
- Nature Lover: She's deeply inspired by Murray Bookchin's Radical Ecology and Communalism, and believes humanity must coexist with nature rather than control it, even in a post-Pandoran world.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: She agrees with Nikolai that capitalism was the root of humanity's downfall, and that a radical solution is needed to ensure its survival, that doesn't mean she likes or agrees with him any other way.
The Classes:
Assault
First of the three default classes available to Phoenix Point. They act as frontline soldiers in missions.
- Boring, but Practical: Specializes in Assault Rifles and Shotguns, Wear decent but movement-permitting armor, and with an emphasis on mobility in their class training. Unsurprisingly, every faction uses them heavily. Making every class you use half-Assault just to get them the Dash ability is a common and useful strategy.
- Kill Streak: The top-level Rapid Clearance ability is set up for this, refunding two action points (the cost of most attacks) for every kill. It can quickly enter Game-Breaker territory with a properly-specced character and team.
- Sprint Shoes: Their Dash ability lets them move two action point's worth of movement for just one and some willpower, letting them cover a ton of distance and still being able to attack.
Berserker
Basic Disciples troops, the Berserkers are trained to fight at close range, using melee weapons and pistols.
- Anti-Armor: Their Armor Break ability adds an extra thirty shred damage to their attacks, an invaluable skill when enemy armor skyrockets in the mid-game.
- BFS: Another melee weapon available to the Berserkers is a massive, paddle-like blade.
- Hand Cannon: Make up for their lack of a ranged primary by carrying powerful, but short-ranged pistols in their stock config.
- Made of Iron: Their Ignore Pain passive ability lets them keep full functionality of their limbs even if they took enough damage to otherwise cripple them.
Heavy
Second of three default classes in Phoenix Point. Their main strength is providing heavy weapons support ranging from machine gun to rocket launcher.
- Powered Armor: The New Jericho Heavy infantry has it, giving it immense protection against anything that isn't armor-piercing, along with jump jets. Phoenix Heavies as well, though their's is slightly less armored and more mobile.
- Backpack Cannon: Can Be equipped with a Missile Pod provided you've gotten and built the tech for it from New Jericho.
- Chainsaw-Grip BFG: The class IS called the Heavy after all. Flavors include the New Jericho's Gatling Good LMG, and the Phoenix Project's literal miniature Howitzer.
- Jump Jet Pack: The class comes equipped with a jet pack that allows it to jump across the map to advantageous postions.
- Make Me Wanna Shout: Their "Battle Cry" ability halves the Action Points of all enemies in range.
- More Dakka: "Rage Burst" ability allows the Heavy to empty the magazine at the enemies in one turn.
Infiltrator
A support unit developed by Synedrion, focusing on stealth and scouting for their allies, as well as dealing heavy damage when hidden.
- Action Bomb: Their spider drones can detonate themselves near enemies, doing substantial damage.
- Automatic Crossbows: The unique Infiltator weapons are high-tech crossbows which are silent and can be fired quickly doing decent damage, at the cost of being class-restricted and having limited ammo.
- Back Stab: An early ability gives them a shock bonus to attacks from behind enemies.
- Critical Hit Class: The Infiltrator class excels at doing tremendous damage to single targets, with their top-level ability doubling their damage as long as they remain hidden.
- Drone Deployer: The class has Spider Drones which they can deploy to scout for them.
- Invisibility Cloak: Gains the ability to make themselves invisible, letting them reposition around enemies or scout with impunity.
Mutog
- Canine Companion: They're Disciples of Anu canids augmented by the Pandoravirus.
- Pet Monster: Mutogs are nearly as big as their handlers, and are as much Starfish Aliens as any other Pandorans.
Mutoid
A whole new type of soldiers introduced in the Corrupted Horizons DLC. Artificial humans created by splicing human and pandoran genetic data, they are not a unique class of their own but they are able to obtain skills from other humans classes - as well as abilities from pandoran monsters.
- Amazing Technicolour Population: Their skin is by default of a grey colour but they can be customised to be red, yellow or sky-blue.
- Artificial Human: They are artificially grown using strands of spliced DNA.
- Flower Mouth: Their lower jaws can split in two and with halves moving to the sides.
- Half-Human Hybrid: They are created out of strands of human DNA crossed with Pandoran genes.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Mutoids play by slightly different rules than your human squaddies.
- They do not require SP to level their stats or learn new abilities, and instead use Mutagens to do so. They still need to earn XP to gain access to higher tiers of abilities but if you have enough Mutagens you can potentially raise all their raw stats to the cap from the get go. They can also pick abilities from three or more trooper specialties.
- On the other hand, they cannot heal normally. Medkits do not affect them, neither restoring their health nor even removing bleeding, so outside of some of their own abilities it is impossible to heal a mutoid on the battlefield. They also do not heal on their own off the field, and require Mutagens to have their health restored. Additionally they cannot learn a second weapon proficiency nor they get random bonus perks like your human squaddies do, and the ultimate ability of each soldier specialty is unavailable to mutoids. Lastly, they cannot wear helmets or get augmented.
- Mega Manning: Mutoids allow for this - they can learn abilities of hostile pandorans. You need to perform an autopsy on that type of pandoran first before you can give a mutoid its abilities.
- Mix-and-Match Man: Their schtick. They have access to abilities from all specialties you have unlocked as well as from pandoran monsters you have performed autopsy on. This can potentially create some very cheesy combinations as well as open to you some tactical possibilities that would be impossible otherwise.
- Really Was Born Yesterday: Mutoids are created and grown per your orders throughout the course of the campaign, seemingly as adults, skipping childhood stages. This means that your squaddie mutoids will literally be days old as you put them on the field for the first time.
- What Measure Is A Nonhuman: Briefly touched upon in their introductory cinematic. Mutoids seem to be fully equal to humans in their mental capacities, so the narration wonders the ethics of creating and training them from birth purely to be soldiers.
Priest
Support units developed by the Disciples of Anu, often bearing mutations that increase troop morale or otherwise help them maintain courage.
- Mind Control: the Priests are able to take over enemies, much like the Sirens.
- Psi Blast: The top-level ability of Priests, "Mind Crush" does massive damage in a 10-tile Area of Effect.
- Status Buff: The Priest can to bolster the will and abilities of their allies.
- Status Infliction Attack: The Priest can sap the will and abilities of their enemies.
- The Virus: The Priest has unique access to "viral" weapons, which uniquely attack the willpower of hit enemies, making them more susceptible to the Priest's other powers.
Sniper
Third of three default classes that can be recruited in-game. They used their sniper rifles to take out enemies at long range.
- Badass Longcoat: Part of the Sniper classes' getup, potentially a Gasmask Longcoat as well.
- Cold Sniper: It's main use being for recon, providing cover, and eliminating key targets from afar. Sniper rifles in general do very high damage, with the addition of having tremendous range and armour piercing abilities. The downsides being their single shot (every bullet is factored in Phoenix Point) and they cost three action points when most long-arms take two. This can be mitigated by class skills and the inherent accuracy of Sniper Rifles, however, making them an excellent choice to use Phoenix Point's Free-Aiming system to cripple ability-granting body parts on Pandorans or other enemies, as well as the obvious utility.
- Damage-Increasing Debuff: Their Mark For Death ability increases the damage dealt to a target by 50% until the end of turn.
- The Gunslinger: Also trained in use of, and quite effective with, handguns.
Technician
Heavy support units developed by New Jericho, utilizing neuro-link cybernetic technology to deploy and control turrets and their unique technician rigs.
- Combat Tentacles: They have a set on their back, which they can use to either shock enemies with, or repair vehicles and stationary turrets.
- The Turret Master: They can deploy automated turrets which are limited in killing power, but still quite handy in a tough scrap, and after it's set up by the Technician, any other class can pick it up, and use it at their leisure. It, however, needs to be manually reloaded and is very vulnerable to damage.
- The Medic: Their Fast Use ability reduces the cost of using Medkits and the Field Medic ability heals body parts giving them the lion's share of healing duties.
The Aliens:
Pandoravirus
An unusual virus discovered in 2022 in melting permafrost, it would then spread and decimate the population by the time of the game's start.
- Animalistic Abomination: Most of the regular foes are nightmarish sea creatures fused together with humans and alien technology.
- Adaptive Ability: The more successful enemy mutations are ones you are more likely to see in the future. There's a wide enough variation that each particular player's playstyle and general strategy will find itself being countered over time, but on the other hand, varying up your tactics will allow you to counter the enemy's adaptations.
- Body Horror: The Pandoravirus-infected creatures look like horrifying bloody-hackjob fusions of human beings and sea life.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Some Pandoravirus creatures can kidnap and infect soldiers, sending them back as infiltrators to sabotage the player.
- Eldritch Abomination: Given its inspiration, it's not much of a surprise the game will feature these heavily as boss enemies.
- Festering Fungus: It's heavily implied in the fiction that the Pandoravirus is actually closer to a sentient fungus with fruiting bodies.
- Fog of Doom: The microbial mist, which forms over the ocean and carries the pandoravirus. Depending on wind conditions the mist can encroach upon land, causing a spike in alien activity within that region.
- Giant Enemy Crab: A common design basis for the pandoravirus mutants, who all resemble undersea life. In particular, the Crabmen and Queens.
- Hostile Terraforming: "The Second Step" reveals that its not just the wildlife that is being mutated, but the landscape aswell.
- It Can Think: The Interrogation demonstrates that the Pandoravirus has enough intelligence to use infected human infiltrators. The Crabmen have also been noted to have their own language.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: The mutants take on traits of both the creatures and technology of regions they invade. For example, an incursion in Africa could lead to the Phoenix Project fighting something that looks like a Sphinx, due to the presence of lion, bird of prey and human DNA in that region.
- More than Mind Control: The fully converted mutants retain elements of their human personalities, but subservient to the Hive Mind and its ability to induce ecstasy when pleased.
- Older Than They Think: In-universe example, preserved accounts of human encounters with the Pandoravirus date back as far as the Library Of Alexandria.
- Puppeteer Parasite: The Pandoravirus intelligence can send infected humans with covert mutations to infiltrate and sabotage havens.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Or rather Sealed Evil in Permafrost,released in '22 due to global warming, though examples of it's creations appearing before this event are documented.
- Starfish Aliens: While many enemies were once human, the pandoravirus mutates its victims so severely that they can barely be recognized as such.
- The Virus: The extraterrestrial pandoravirus, which was discovered by scientists inside the melting polar ice caps. When it got out, it transformed the world's oceans into a hellscape, and has since been encroaching on land through mutant monsters and a black, microbe-laden mist that blows in on coastal winds.
- Was Once a Man: The majority of pandoravirus mutants were once human, before the Body Horror set in. Some of them retain traces of their former human physiology despite toeing the line of being Starfish Aliens.
- Wound That Will Not Heal: Pandoravirus survivors are plagued with scars that don't heal right.
Acheron
Introduced into the game via the Corrupted Horizons DLC, Acheron is a powerful support unit. Lacking direct damage abilities it nevertheless assists other pandoran units via a great variety of support abilities. Their attacks also inflict Corruption on anyone they hit - a unique status that reduces your troopers maximum Willpower that persists even after the end of the mission.
- A.I. Breaker: It's unclear whether it was by design or by accident, but Acherons' unusual build makes them very bad targets for AI-controlled units. AI-controlled troopers always aim at the default targeting location located at the center of the enemy's model, never adjusting their aim like a player can do with Free Aim. Acherons' body build exploits this principle, as it means that instead of firing at their huge bulbous abdomens the only things that NPC troopers try to target are their thin emaciated bodies - so expect most NPC shots at Acherons to go wide.
- Boss in Mook Clothing: Acherons are the second-most dangerous pandoran units after Scyllas, though for very different reasons - what they lack in direct damage they make up for with their abilities to augment other pandorans, cripple your troppers, and drown them in reinforcements. Unlike Scyllas, there can be more than one Acheron on any given mission.
- Combat Medic: Acherons can launch healing projectiles at other pandorans, restoring their health and stopping bleeding.
- In a Single Bound: Their legs let them make huge leaps, jumping over obstacles and scaling building rooftops.
- Maximum HP Reduction: WP reduction in their case. All attacks by Acherons inflict Corruption, which permanently lowers the Willpower of the affected soldier though they get a small direct damage bonus in return, which really does not balance it out. Thankfully, you can still treat Corruption - after you perform a necessary research and pay enough mutagens for each afflicted soldier.
- Mook Maker: Some Acherons have the ability to create new pandoran units (arthrons and tritons) out of dead bodies lying around on the battlefield, be they pandoran or human. All Acherons can also call for reinforcements, summoning additional units from beyond the map borders, even on missions where pandorans normally don't receive backup.
- Squishy Wizard: Averted. Acherons are "wizards" in that each employs multiple support abilities, but they are as tough as Chirons.
- Status Effects: Some of their abilities include things like lowering the accuracy of your units or temporarily disabling their limbs. There's also the Corruption.
Arthron
Basic Pandoravirus unit, Arthrons are armored crabmen armed with massive pincers, machine guns, launchers and/or deployable shields.
- Arm Cannon: Later variants of Arthrons come with ranged weapons: machine guns and/or grenade launchers.
- Demonic Spiders: You will likely come to see Crabmen with the Grenade Launcher mutation this way, especially if they show up in numbers.
- Deployable Cover: Crabmen with the shield mutation can stick their shield into ground to act as cover.
- Dumb Muscle: The Vivisection research file says that they only have a vocabulary of 450 words of a simple syntax and once removed from other units, only has basic instincts and problem solving.
- Elite Mooks: Later in the game, Arthrons with upgraded Carapace and Pincer mutations that can take - and deal - a lot of damage.
- Giant Enemy Crab: A human-sized, humanoid crab monster... with guns.
- More Dakka: Arthrons with the machine gun mutation.
- Shield-Bearing Mook: The shield mutation gives them a chunk of shell to carry around as shields.
- Super Spit: the Spitter Head mutation that starts showing on the first shield-carrying Arthrons lets them spit acid.
- Throw Down the Bomblet: With the grenade launcher mutation.
Chiron
The living artillery of Pandorans, Chirons are massive and ponderous organisms that can launch their projectiles across the whole map.
- Proj Egg Tile: Chirons couple this with Weaponized Offspring by launching worms at your troops.
- Magikarp Power: All Pandoran organisms receive more dangerous and deadly variations as the campaign progress, but Chirons go through the most dramatic increase in their threat levels. Early variations of Chirons that only launch worms at you amount to nothing but distraction, and can essentially be ignored. Late-game Chirons that spew goo or direct damage projectiles can cripple your whole team.
- Siege Engines: The Pandorans' dedicated long-range artillery unit.
Corruption Node
Introduced in the Corrupted Horizons DLC, these organisms serve as the control centers for Havens overtaken by Corruption. They serve as a targets on missions to recapture such Havens, and a Corruption Node must be destroyed before a Haven can be reconquered from Pandorans.
- Damage-Sponge Boss: Its health is pretty chunky and it does not have any limbs or body locations you can destroy to make things go quicker, like with a Hatchery.
- Enemy Summoner: The building it nests in is always filled with worms' and mindfraggers' eggs, and as soon as you get too close it emits a signal that causes all the eggs to burst simultaneously. Try to take out as many as you can in advance.
- Herd-Hitting Attack: It can defend itself by slamming its body into the ground which inflicts very hefty damage on everything within a certain radius around it. The radius is not that big but since it always spawns inside buildings normally you cannot really attack it from a safe distance. If there's no good firing position you can use Hit-and-Run Tactics against it - taking quick pot shots and moving away before it can retaliate - or bring some artillery and make holes in the walls that you can attack through safely.
- Instant-Win Condition: Destroying the Node instantly wins you the mission, regardless of any other pandoran units still remaining.
- Stationary Boss: These things grow within one of Havens buildings, and cannot move.
Worms
Fireworms, Acidworms, and Poisonworms.
- Action Bomb: Their only attack is to crawl up to you and explode.
- Goddamned Bats: While they're very easy to kill, they're small, hard to hit and can distract you from dealing with more powerful enemies.
- Underground Monkey: The three worm types are identical except for their color and damage type.
- Violation of Common Sense: One of the easiest ways to kill them is with a melee bash. That's right, the best way to deal with the exploding enemy is to run up next to it.
Mindfragger
- Expy: A pretty clear expy of the X-COM Apocalypse "Brainsuckers," a creature that jumps on your head to take control of your units. At least this version can be shot off your teammate's heads.
- Face Hugger: They envelop their victims faces with their mouths. They can be removed by a Technician or with a melee bash. You can also try shooting them off, but that's obviously risky.
- Goddamned Bats: Definitely fit the trope if you're already in the middle of a firefight, especially when attacking a nest.
- Puppeteer Parasite: They latch themselves onto soldiers and turn them against their fellows.
Myrmidon
Introduced in the Festering Skies DLC, Myrmidons are small, but quick and mobile critters resembling oversized termites or grasshoppers. Later variations are able to inflict Poison and Acid on their enemies.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: They look like termites or flying ants the size of an average dog - they're big for an insectoid but as far as battlefield targets go they're actually rather small.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: They burst and blow up when they are killed. Non-issue with regular myrmidons, something of a problem with toxic myrmidons, big problem with acid myrmidons.
- Fragile Speedster: Myrmidons are pretty squishy but very fast and their ability to fly makes them very mobile. They can only attack in melee but with their speed it's very easy for them to get there.
- Glass Cannon: The late-game myrmidons are this in addition to the above. They are still squishy, but their attacks get a lot of sting to them, especially with additional damage over time like Poison and especially Acid.
Scylla
- Boss in Mook Clothing: The most dangerous Pandorans by a large margin - heavily armored and with a huge health pool. It serves as the boss of a Pandoran Citadel mission.
- Breaching the Wall: Scyllas can destroy buildings and structures on the map as they move around. It's not even a dedicated ability, they trample everything they walk into as a part of their basic movement.
- Decapitated Army: Killing one will cause a large drop in willpower for every enemy on the field, potentially causing them to panic.
- Large and in Charge: Each Scylla is the size of a multi-story house, and according to their autopsies Scyllas actually serve as equivalents to mobile command posts to pandorans, directing and leading other pandoran organisms in the region.
- Lightning Bruiser: They are very tough, deceptively fast, and their damage output is as big as their bodies.
- Mook Maker: Some Scylla variations can spawn Mindfraggers.
Sentinel
Found only in certain types of missions, these are stationary towers with an Area of Effect ability.
Hatching Sentinel
- Enemy Summoner: When activated, hatches any nearby eggs, unless you kill it before it can raise the alarm.
Mist Sentinel
- Geo Effects: Unlike the other sentinels, these don't activate when you come close. Instead, they pump out a constant stream of mist that will slowly cover the area.
Terror Sentinel
- Body Horror: Resembles three humans fused together from the legs down. The bodies writhe around when it activates.
- Brown Note: Has a "psychic scream" that drains willpower from enemies over a very wide range.
- Long-Range Fighter: The scream basically covers an entire screen, forcing you to attack from even longer range to stay safe. Fortunately, it appears only on lairs, which have long enough sight lines for this to be possible.
Siren
Snake-like units able to Mind Control your troops at a distance.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: Has two bladed arms which deal heavy damage and cause bleeding, making them very dangerous even after you take out their head.
- Brown Note: Some variants have a Psychic Scream ability that drains willpower and can cause panic.
- Demonic Spiders: Their mind control ability can quickly get out of hand if you don't destroy their head as soon as you see them. Also, they have heavy armor all over their body, making them hard to kill without explosives or high-damage weapons.
- Dual Wielding: Has two bladed arms, and can use both in a single attack for double damage.
- Expy: A two-fold expy of the Sectoids (their mind-control ability) and Vipers (their snake-like appearance and feminine Non-Mammalian Mammaries) from XCOM 2.
- Non-Mammalian Mammaries: Despite their snake-like appearance, they retain mammal-like breasts, likely a leftover from their original human physique.
- Squishy Wizard: Averted. Sirens are the mind control units, but their raw health is higher than that of Arthrons, and even if you disable their heads, removing their Mind Control abilities, they still remain very dangerous melee combatants.
Triton
The Fragile Speedster of the bunch, Tritons tend to wield sneaky tricks like reflexive invisibility after being hit or concealment-granting fog launchers.
- Cold Sniper: Some variants are equipped with sniper rifles.
- Combat Tentacles: a mutation available for Tritons is a cluster of paralyzing or bloodsucking tentacles.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: has two pairs of arms, one to hold a gun with, the other used for melee combat.
- Ninja Log: the "Pain Chameleon" mutation allows the Triton to disappear and move away when wounded.
- Smoke Out: one of the mutations allows the Triton to spread a thick cloud of mist around them, providing concealment for nearby units.
