You’re in command of the sole surviving ship in the fleet. You’re being pursued by relentless aliens bent on harvesting your species. It’s up to you to survive the onslaught and recruit a ragtag group of allies to take the fight to them. If this sounds like an episode of Battlestar Gallactica, then you’re not far off. XO, a strategy game that has you outsmarting and outrunning the enemy, is heavily inspired by this show. It also takes cues from some more recent games like FTL.
Here’s the basic gist of XO. As mentioned above, you command the last remaining military ship in a desperate attempt to keep your species from going extinct. And considering that you’re only one ship against pretty much the rest of the universe this won’t be easy. Thankfully, you can warp in and out of systems trying to find other survivors and build your own fleet to take on the faceless enemies. These aliens, unlike the Cylons, are going about a mass abduction and harvesting humanity. For what purpose who knows.
In addition to finding the ability to fight back you’ll also encounter other logistical problems, such as finding fuel for your ships or food to feed your crew. That’s right. You’ve got resource management here. But that’s not all. You’ll be host to your own council, a group of politicians and other people who want a say in how the fleet is ran. Good luck with that. Just as you would expect, each councilor has their own agenda and special abilities that they bring to the table. It’s up to you to decide what works and what doesn’t. Just be aware that mutiny is just around the corner if you’re too soft or hard of a commander.
XO looks and sounds like a great game and, considering that in just the last couple of days that the campaign’s been live they’ve managed to get over half of the base funding goal, I’m not the only one that thinks so. Plus, like some other campaigns they’re running an achievement system to unlock extra goodies.
