Phoenix Point, the upcoming X-COM-alike being developed by original X-COM creator Julian Gollop (technically Snapshot Games, the studio he co-founded in 2013), will be out on September 3, the developer announced today. And with the new date now carved in stone, it also released a new cinematic video illustrating the changing nature of the war against the alien invaders.

It's a little weird, and I half-expected that it was building to a punchline of some sort. But it's symbolic, you see: Enemy forces will mutate over the course of the game, giving them new appearances and abilities that you'll have to deal with in the field. Your own soldiers will also be customizable to various extents, through base classes and specialization options, and also by belonging to one of the game's three major human factions.

"Led by a massive Alien Queen, the game’s enemies transform and evolve according to the choices players make over time," Snapshot explained. "Given the power to mutate their own troops to gain an advantage, Earth’s last desperate defenders will have to decide how much humanity they’re willing to sacrifice to save mankind from this ever-changing extraterrestrial threat."

Interestingly, Phoenix Point was announced as an Epic Games Store exclusive in March, but Snapshot said today that it will also be available on the Microsoft Store, and will be included with the Xbox Game Pass, which went into open beta this week. The system requirements have also been posted on the EGS:

Minimum:

OS: Windows 7 SP1+ (64-bit), 8, and 10

CPU: Intel Core i3 / AMD Phenom II X3

RAM: 8GB

GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 / AMD Radeon R9 270

DirectX: DX11

Recommended:

OS: Windows 7 SP1+ (64-bit), 8, and 10

CPU: Intel Core i5 3GHz / AMD FX series 3.2GHz

RAM: 16GB

GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 / AMD Radeon R9 390X

DirectX: DX11

Gollop shared some thoughts with us about his vision for Phoenix Point earlier this year. It sounds very promising.