This topic is so crucial to understand for any successor of the original ’94 X-Com so it can become successful, that I’ve decided to put it in a new topic instead of commenting on an existing similar thread. I’ve taken the liberty to do this because I believe it’s THAT important, to bring this idea to the forefront of our attention again, and because of the tremendous amount of research I’ve done on it. I intend this to be the definitive guide on the secret sauce that’s made the original X-Com absolutely epic.
I’m presenting you a collection of fantastic insights on this topic here, based on countless enthusiastic players’ and game developers’ feedback and a ton of research I’ve done. To give these points the needed “oomph”, I’ll first show you quotes and detailed descriptions of players’ experiences about them along with gameplay footage if available, before giving you a full compiled list, so the individual list items won’t be filtered through your analytical mind and instead will be enriched with the wholesome experience they represent. Anything in quotes is feedback from someone other than me. In order of importance I think these are:
“What made the game great is how well it built tension. It was the John Carpenter of video games. The music plodded along to a rhythm like a heart beat, with accents of terror. Nothing, nothing, nothing, and suddenly BAM something happens. The game play did the same thing: walkwalkwalk, walkwalkwalk, walkwalkwalk…nothing. Walkwalkwalk, walkwalkwalk, LASER SHOT! Even the limited tech helped build tension. An alien shoots from a distance. You tense up, and you have to wait as the shot travels from screen, to screen, to screen before you find out if you get hit. Always wondering what’s around the next corner. And the mission-based game play was addictive. What? Time to go to bed? Just let me start the next mission. Just one more mission.”
NOTE: you only have to watch a few seconds of each linked video at the time stamp that’s relevant to the topic being discussed. Otherwise you’ll never finish reading this post 
“Even with a low rez, when an alien materializes out of the fog, that is some creepy shit! Like that is stuff that absolutely is, even at the resolution it’s at, it’s still, playing it now, it freaks me out” - https://youtu.be/JpvQGHCFKpQ?t=295
I personally think this lighting and fog of war system was the top 3 reason why the atmosphere was so horrifying and the game was so addicting and this has to be reproduced as close to the original as possible. This made the original game a survival horror game and the complex simulation came in as the second most important part.
“The sense of dread that those original games captured. The permadeath is a big part of that because your guys are at risk at all times so of course that’s gonna be a dreadful moment. But the fog of war, barely seeing the aliens, and trying to get that sense of – you know, I love survival horror games and – but trying to get that sense of horror and a little bit of fear factor in a turn based tactical game to me was awesome that they pulled that off.” Watch corresponding gameplay footage to know exactly what they mean: https://youtu.be/JpvQGHCFKpQ?t=355
“You have these cabbages and orchards, and like you would have this fog of war and you would just see them. You have the beautiful, like tangerine dream type scary ambient music. And then at the edge of the fog you have those glinting eyes. And you just see that little red box down the corner and you just know… you just know you’ve moved past your limit and now you’re going to get shot.”
“Just the sound of that music affects people”
“That Hidden Movement screen was horrific. You just wished for the alien turn to be over with and hopefully nobody in your team died.”
Another, less scary, but good example footage of the lighting system, with a small grey hiding in a poorly lit area in partial cover, and getting lit up more as your soldiers approach it: https://youtu.be/JpvQGHCFKpQ?t=150 It’s still in the shadows and when they are in truly poorly lit areas, it looks horrifying. And then your little lanterns of hope, your soldiers, are getting picked off one by one, and the whole area goes back into complete darkness and the Unknown – That Unknown is the secret sauce on all levels, including the alien’s agenda and their capabilities!
The “unknown” and the game’s unpredictability – where are the aliens hiding this time and what types are they? Will this shot they’ve just fired and that will be traveling through 3 screens painfully slowly, hit me? – were the secret sauce.
“It’s all about a mystery and it merges well with random map generation, wacky ballistics, smart AI and the complex interface” – meaning the complex interface was mysterious on its own and we had to discover what possibilities it was hiding!
In all sequels this has to be reinvented and it has to be shockingly new and go against what we already “know” about what an alien invasion is “supposed” to be like, while it remains extremely spooky and sinister. To me, the Firaxis Xcom didn’t achieve that. Maybe if it’s a genuinely new, realistic horror experience, along the lines of the best horror movies would work wonderfully well. The Strange Things VR horror demonic/alien invasion of the Earth is the exact thing that I’d love to see in an Xcom successor pushed to the degree that it achieves maximum scariness without becoming way too scary, repulsive or stomach-churning.
Watch it here:
“X-Com, the original game, has a soul. Like that original game has a real soul to it. You have those experiences that just really, really affect you. And they do that with so little tools, it transcends the tech.”
”Just that feeling…like people would be screaming, people would be yelling and people would be calling people over BECAUSE OF THOSE MOMENTS that were just, aahhh… it is amazing what the original game was able to achieve with destructible environments. It created combat that was ALWAYS different. You get these CRAZY experiences where you shoot through the windows of two houses across the map to hit the guy and those are the sorts of things that people are just really, really attached to.”
Back to the previous video, also notice how the personal lights around your dying soldier go out and you lose the illumination around the scene of his murder - https://youtu.be/JpvQGHCFKpQ?t=380
This adds to the fear factor tremendously and it was a hallmark of the original game. In the sequels the darkness, lighting and fog of war are not implemented so perfectly and you don’t have that sense of dread and of Being Hunted vs. being kind of the hunter. https://youtu.be/JpvQGHCFKpQ?t=119
You were the underdog with disposable soldiers. It was an uphill battle, turning the tide against the aliens.
“Imagine a group of hostile aliens that have crash landed near a farm. You see a big transport ship about to land. What do you do? A) Do you spread around the map in small groups that can be picked off like some kind of random MMO mob, or B) Ambush the primates at their landing spot and if that fails, run around the map hiding and picking them off from the SHADOWS? Which one of those best sounds like out of an alien horror film?” “…the one that comes with a motion sensor that makes you feel like Ripley trying to track down an Alien Xenomorph”
“This is why X-Com has atmosphere. It wasn’t enough that the music was foreboding, the fog of war revealed itself slowly and otherwise hid EVERYTHING. It’s both of these and the fact that you were NEVER SAFE. You never knew what could sneak up right behind you during an enemy turn or just kill your entire squad outright from the second floor window of a farm house. You were BEING HUNTED. C-Com instilled a sense of dread through its mechanics that the other (2012) one failed to reach through its many cinematics.”
“When you exit the Skyranger you first throw out a smoke grenade, and prime some smoke and frag grenades. Exit the Skyranger without a smokescreen, lose the first four guys.” – this is some of what actually being the prey forced you to do and it’s missing from the sequels. Sometimes you had to scurry back to the Skyranger upon spotting mutons and ethereals in the first months, or just watch powerlessly as your entire squad was killed. Or when you spotted a chrysallid for the first time from the Skyranger, fired a rocket at it and it was still standing, you said screw that and aborted the mission right away.
What made the game thrilling was that with no predecessor to the original Xcom, we had no idea what kinds of enemies we’d be facing next and what their capabilities and intentions were. As the name suggested, it was UFO: Enemy UNKNOWN. Terror from the deep could still do well, unlike most of the other Xcom games that followed, because it kept the proven horror survival experience and complexity and the enemies and the environment were radically different and completely out of the box, while keeping the old mechanics, atmosphere (music, pitch black areas due to line of sight simulation and scary enemy sounds) and graphics 100% the same. Phoenix Point manages to capture some of these basics in a similar way (destructible environment, TU system, similar, but not pitch black line of sight darkness, can’t comment on the music, the uncertainty and the terrifying sounds between rounds yet). I’d strongly suggest that a very strong focus is to be put on recreating what really the magic was in the original Xcom.
The 320x200 resolution didn’t allow for realistic graphics, and those who have played the game after 2000 could easily think that they looked childish and unrealistic. But to me, to whom these graphics were revolutionary, the intro created a frame for what the enemies should look like in higher definition and what the X-Com universe looks like. (BTW, our soldiers in the video seemed to be wearing superhero costumes, the implications of which were imprinted on the viewer’s unconscious subliminally too.) Like in a tabletop RPG, my imagination filled in the gaps and everything looked hyper-realistic to me. I guess to today’s players, the graphics and physics have to look like those of Crysis or Battlefield 1, where things are objectively realistic, trees snap at the point you’ve shot them and you can deform the ground with a grenade. But in reality, the original game felt very realistic due to our imagination projecting the illusion of reality on the pixels on the screen, and so in a remake a similar kind of realism (and horror, fog of war and lighting) should be achieved, not cartoonish aesthetics to capture what the original was really about beyond our superficial perceptions.
Major, major factors in why the original game sucked people in effortlessly were the following as well.
There was an alien called the Chrysallid in the original that was straight out of the movie Alien. It was a standing humanoid with a shiny, black carapace and it behaved exactly like the Alien of Giger. The Alien had seeped into our collective consciousness by then and seeing its twin appear in the game, however pixellated it was, evoked all the associated terror and primal fears that the movie unleashed on us. The first Alien movie only having been released just about a decade before, it was still producing a fresh, visceral response unconsciously.
Julian Gollop said, the game had to be something based on Earth so that people could relate to it emotionally. So some of the psychologically impactful elements were part of their plans consciously, but the rest of the psychological heavy hitters I guess were put in there unconsciously.
The game’s idea was based on Jerry Anderson’s UFO TV series which was being aired at the time as well as the X-Files from 1993. Julian also took some red pills by reading Bob Lazar’s testimony on working at Area 51 and reverse-engineering alien tech, abductions and cattle mutilations and included parts of those stories in the game. Star Wars, the Marvel universe, Doom, X-Com, Total Recall and countless other movies all could credit most of their success to drawing from and sometimes referencing truths hidden from humanity that only surface through whistleblowers, members of hidden shadow government and secret military projects, the psychopathic dark occultist elite, as well as the secret space project. Carl Jung’s teachings about the collective unconscious tells us that we’ll find movies that show us a hidden truth more fascinating, because on an unconscious level we can sense their truth and relevance.
Riding current events, like those TV shows, was essential for X-Com’s success because the collective psyche of humanity was already fully charged with fears and curiosity around the UFO topic. Not so much today, because Hollywood and countless whistleblowers with the highest military ranks have been pouring out tons of information about what NASA has been hiding from us, and we’ve become desensitized to the ET topic since then. So Phoenix point should draw from current events, like the PC culture and SJWs, for example, and somehow make them part of a sinister extraterrestrial agenda that wants to dominate humankind culturally and weaken and eliminate those critical thinkers and action takers in it who could resist them, for example, to make it more emotionally relatable and impactful to today’s gamers.
Then the enemies weren’t just random animals/human hybrids, like dog/human, rat/human or lion/human, for example. It had to be a snake human hybrid, because we’re genetically hardwired to fear snakes. Similarly, enemies resembling spiders, centipedes and reptiles would be the most fitting in terms of animal-based ones.
The hooded ethereals also added to the sense of the unknown the player felt with their faces hidden.
So a combination of the unknown, genetically hardwired fears and pop culture elements that had a tremendous emotional impact (fear) on us would be the ones to choose from, like the original mostly did, consciously or unconsciously. But these need to be part of a conscious plan this time, based on understanding human psychology, so it won’t fall flat on its face.
Another huge psychological one:
In the original you had many recycled names and faces (maybe 12 faces in total?) and it was very pixellated. In the modern Xcom it’s different and this is what happens:
More defined soldier characters and greater customization ->
-> More attachment to your soldiers ->
-> Trying harder to keep your “babies” alive ->
-> tedious, soul-killing SAVE SCUMMING that ->
-> The war with the aliens feels less savage and your soldiers feel less vulnerable!!!
Save Scumming:
One reason for save scumming is the fear of making mistakes. It’s a fear that’s ingrained in most humans and the original made it obvious that mistakes and the wiping of your entire squad are part and parcel of the experience and they are cheap to correct. Moreover, making these necessary and encouraged “mistakes” were needed so that you could uncover the Mystery of the alien invasion. You were heavily incentivized to keep making sacrifices/not be bothered by them.
Scripted events were my number one reason to save scum. Scripted events must be fully eliminated and an AI and fascinating gameplay mechanics like in the original, as well as a similar map randomization have to be implemented, that provide plenty of excitement and variety instead.
A big part of save scumming I believe comes from the TIME investment spent on customizing soldiers. The faster the customization can be done and the less complex it is, the more this can be eliminated. To some ways to fix this: add fewer soldier faces, little or no customization other than the ability to rename them and plug your ears and sing LALALA when players are asking for new colors, fancy armor, new skins, pink ties and sunglasses, magic weapons, a crafting system, or any other distractions from what made the original legendary psychologically.
Freedom vs. scripted, forced progression:
The original had organic progression. The story evolved by time and research through your own actions. You had the freedom ta make it your own, to build a base on the globe near your home home town IRL. There was no time limit in the original one, and why would have been, when it was a simulation, not an “arcadey” strategy game.
The original had more randomization (on the battlefield, map variety, combat experience etc. too), the modern Xcom has a much more structured story.
“It wasn’t a directed experience; it was an emergent one and it was YOURS. It didn’t push you down a path.”
“The UI of Firaxis’ version is better, but you have more freedom in the original. No class restrictions, no one or two item limit, you can build the bases anywhere on land, you can shoot UFOs down over water. One thing that I didn’t like about Firaxis’ XCOM at all was the Abduction missions forcing you to pick one of three. And the countries you didn’t choose to go to would have the ENTIRE continent rise in panic. That sucked, and really took away from the UFO raids.”
It was a sim game. The implications of this are crucial!
“It’s a complex strategy simulation, not a strategy RPG”
Selling loot, setting up a manufacturing/production line, resource management over multiple fully custom-built bases. This goes beyond the base-building mini game. The element of greed comes in to research and into dealing wit aliens and crash sites. Will I be using reliable explosives vs. profiting from more loot and casualties {that my survival might be hanging on as I’ve been overspending)?
But most importantly, this made you an ENTREPRENEUR. Your Own Boss. No single person, like the mysterious bald man in the 2012 version, was in charge of you. You had your “customers”, the countries, that you had to serve well. You were running your own business and you were in full charge, as what appeared to be the most important and highest ranking military officer on the planet. This was emphasized by your complete freedom and control and an organic, emerging story without scripted events forced down your throat, or you being babysitted. You could even decide where to build your bases and how to name them. You could feel like a true alpha badass, like the Doom Guy. It was so disappointing to me that this bald guy acted like my boss and I was just a lousy “commander”. Has any other freedom-loving player had the same feeling?
A few additional observations from me regarding gameplay:
-Absolutely frightening ET sounds (not the lame groans in Xcom EU) between turns coming from the black areas without a visual hint of where the source of the sound is to keep the player guessing and in a fearful state
-The tension, the anticipation that came with rooting for the slow-moving projectiles of enemy opportunity fire to hit our soldiers, not to hit, or else we’re screwed. We could follow their (and our) projectiles through up to 3 screens sometimes, which extended the tension to long seconds and added greatly to the sense of dread. It also felt like gambling, was addictive, like throwing dice and eagerly anticipating a hopefully preferred outcome as it unfolded in front of our eyes. This drew us into the present moment, glued our eyes to the screen with our breath withheld. You get the idea.
-The powerful enemy plasma weapons that could 1-hit kill our soldiers even while wearing basic armor
-The camera distance, shooting distances and unit sizes were perfect
-Advanced soldiers had a pretty good chance to hit an enemy even at a longer distance with an aimed shot and if it missed, the destruction in the environment even our pistols caused was immensely satisfying
-The sheer fun and OP feeling of leveling the map with detonation packs and other explosives like a badass
-Losing a lot of soldiers not being a big deal because we could immediately recruit new ones at a low cost, making experimentation and making mistakes on the battlefield a fun, instead of a stressful process
-14 maximum initial crew size vs. 4 in Xcom EU, giving the player the freedom to choose whether they wanted to throw everything at the enemy or manage just 1 to 6 people.
-The HP and damage balance between humans and aliens. Sectoids were the only enemies with a lower HP than humans and floaters and snakemen only had slightly more than an unarmored human. Their damage was superior, but their tactics were not too refined. These numbers meant both sides could lose a team member from 1 salvo even from a plasma pistol or an assault rifle, which punished mistakes mercilessly. But because of the large maximum team size we could afford to keep marking lots of mistakes and start with a clean slate in the next mission.
Summary of the secret ingredients, in order of importance with my star ratings (even a 1 star rating implies great significance)
*****The “Unknown” and unpredictability/uncertainty
*****Using unconscious emotional triggers: unknown and uncertainty (again, for emphasis), darkness, a novel unpredictable mystery, uncertainty, unpredictability, snakes, spiders, stuff of our nightmares, scary surfaced information about related things on our planet
****A survival horror feel
****Lighting and fog of war that replicates the original perfectly, providing a creepy, horror atmosphere on the battlescape
****Rewarding/encouraging the making of mistakes to kill save scumming, to help you live with your fears and losses and put you in the zone, fully immersed in the game
****Being hunted and feeling powerless and uncertain
****Never feeling safe, not even in late game
****A Novel mystery (not a familiar pattern the sequels have recycled over and over)
****ALWAYS a different, new, unexpected battlescape experience
***You were an alpha badass in full charge of your “enterprise” (emphasized by complete freedom and an organic, emerging story)
*** Complex strategy simulation
***Fun environmental destruction. For a similar game: More fun and less realistic (if it means more fun) environmental destruction (similar, slightly tweaked version of the original, maybe with slightly reduced ballistic weapon power on objects, except for HE and IN ammo)
***Very limited soldier customization, no scripted events, also to limit save scumming and increase immersion and freedom
**Sensation of being the underdog with disposable soldiers
**An uphill battle, slowly turning the tide against the aliens
**Selling alien stuff for profit and managing your economy
**Making the experience your own
*Drawing from current collective fears and events
*Organically emerging story, not scripted or forced
*Freedom and organic progression based on your actions
*Freedom to make it your own experience (build as you wish and name your bases, etc.)
*Percentages are mostly lies (the percentages were more reliable in the original than in the 2012 one I feel)
*Capture (maybe as a first time player, by finally killing your first sectoid while losing 5 soldiers, running up to its corpse, putting its pistol in your backpack and quickly retreating to your base to research it), then research and use enemy weapons against them
*Building and naming your own bases as you will
*Bases were not randomly generated, so you could actually walk through your base the way it was how you built it and the battlescape followed your base layout during an alien attack
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AI was (definitely for the time) or appeared, sophisticated and difficult to beat.
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Soldiers have morale and stats which heavily influence gameplay
Please leave your comments and let’s discuss how these could be implemented in Phoenix Point!
I’m not sure how to use them properly, could you give me some hints? EDIT 2: I think I’ve got it now 
This is a game, designed for entertainment, let people be entertained in the way they enjoy without all the derogatory descriptions aimed at them. 
Let me try to add something to it.
