I often think about what XCOM 3 might look like, and ponder if we'll ever actually see it. At least there have been plenty of other excellent strategy games inspired by the iconic alien-battling series to fill that void, and another I've been eagerly awaiting the full release of is the ambitious Terra Invicta. While developer Pavonis Interactive is most well-known for making the beloved XCOM Long War mod, its new game escalates proceedings out of the realm of individual skirmishes and launches it into the stars in true grand strategy fashion.

Read the full story on PCGamesN: If XCOM kept getting bigger, it'd become this colossal, intergalactic strategy game that's finally out of early access

Saturdays are for putting your hand in a bucket of ice, swallowing a mouthful of honey and lemon, and breathing a sigh of relief. All that practice you put into your welcome handshake and 'Here comes trouble!' paid off. Almost every member of the treehouse has been successfully greeted home.

All bar one. But I'll get him. I'll get him good.

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The second alien fleet appears on the edge of our solar system around two hours into my first game of Terra Invicta, which leaves early access today, but I don’t have time to fret about them because I’m busy jockeying with the Protectorate for the keys to Mozambique. The Protectorate are a secret org who believe human beings are incapable of defeating the game’s extra-terrestrial creatures. As such, they feel we must aspire to become the very finest doormats, appeasing the invader in return for continued existence as a subordinate species.

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Saturdays are for eagerly sitting beside the front door to the Treehouse ready to jump up and greet writers as they return home. Sure, most of the team aren't due back until Monday, but this way I can get really good at saying 'Here comes trouble' in just the right intonation. 'Here comes trouble.' No, that's not it. 'Here comes trouble.' Better, but it still needs work.

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Further down the page there are horrifying phrases like "makes Europa Universalis seem limited" and "you'll see every planet and moon and asteroid, all orbiting in real time", woven through a fascinating account of a game that is sort of XCOM, but you're organising a whole Earth's worth of competing countries and factions to repel solar system invaders who may not even materialise for dozens of hours. But of course Hooded Horse are publishing it. This was one of their first signings, I believe. Those sickos.

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