Humanity's first contact with extraterrestrials is mediated via bullets and plasma.

I never played the original game - I discovered I was a fan of isometric squad-based tactical shooters when I saw a preview for this and said 'fuck /yes/, sign me up to defend the world from alien invasion'. Which is exactly what you do.

The interface is practically seamless - there's a few issues with multilevel terrain at the moment (a week after release) but nothing insurmountable - and most missions alternate between tense, paranoid advances from cover to cover and nerve-wracking gunfights. Except for terror missions, where the aliens don't consider it unsporting to go after civilians before you've even discovered them. Fuck terror missions.

Combat is nasty, brutal, and even with the very best equipment torn from the enemy's cold, dead hands and repurposed for your troops it can be very fatal very quickly.

If only it wasn't so much fun...

Thsi is a seriously brain-busting game, but I still found it easier to grasp than their previous effort, the Codex of Alchemical Engineering. It has a lot of subtleties and all kinds of different solutions you can apply to the puzzles, all they require is sufficient application of fake chemical engineering.

Atomic manipulation! Giant eldritch monsters! Moustachium! /SCIENCE!!/

Get it.