Xenonauts pre-orders re-open at $20

Goldhawk has re-opened pre-orders for its "indie spiritual successor to X-Com," Xenonauts, at a new lower price of $20, after Paypal froze its account last month.

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Goldhawk has re-opened pre-orders for Xenonauts, its "indie spiritual successor to X-Com," at a new lower price of $20, after Paypal froze its account last month. As is oh so popular nowadays, pre-ordering gets you instant access to development builds.

Pre-orders have now switched to digital distributor Desura [via PC Gamer]. When the game launches, you'll be able to collect a Steam or Desura key for it, but until then, you can play a development build.

Paypal froze Goldhawk's account, and the $4,300 in it, last month, leaving the indie developer strapped for crash.

This is certainly not the first time Paypal has caused problems for an indie developer. Project Zomboid had its account frozen for the same reason as Xenonauts--selling a product which doesn't quite exist yet--while the sheer volume of Minecraft pre-orders sent the online payment processor into lockdown.

While X-Com property owner 2K Games has turned the classic turn-based tactical series as first-person shooter XCOM, Xenonauts is sticking far closer to the source. Goldhawk says that though "core mechanics remain similar," it's not actually a remake as "much has changed or been updated." Presumably this protestation is to help cover its back legally, too.

If you pre-ordered Xenonauts at the old price of $30, you can either get a $10 refund or be upgraded to the new Premium Edition, which offers a custom forum badge and title plus "other possible unannounced goodies."

From The Chatty
  • reply
    November 7, 2011 4:15 PM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, Xenonauts pre-orders re-open at $20.

    Goldhawk has re-opened pre-orders for its "indie spiritual successor to X-Com," Xenonauts, at a new lower price of $20, after Paypal froze its account last month.

    • reply
      November 7, 2011 4:36 PM

      So Desura let's developers do the "pre-order our game and play an early build" thing without Paypal screwing them over? Because that's probably pretty handy.

      Has anyone played the development build yet? Is it any good?

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      November 7, 2011 5:22 PM

      I liked the original game a lot. Later ufo/xcom games suck. I was dumb and bought ufo extraterrestrials gold when it was cheap. Horrible trash. I hope this one is better.

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        November 7, 2011 10:54 PM

        I ended up doing the same, I had purchased it long ago and forgot about the game. I found the gold deal on GOG or something and booted it up and remembered right away why I forgot all about it. It was trash.

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      November 7, 2011 5:23 PM

      I've been craving a TBT game lately. Anybody tried this?

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        November 7, 2011 10:07 PM

        I have. It's heading in the right direction, that's for sure. Alpha is a bit limited atm but future versions are looking promising.

        If you're wanting to play something (and free) that's complete for now, try this: http://www.desura.com/games/ufo-alien-invasion

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      November 8, 2011 2:23 AM

      I like the feeling of "being a good guy" when I pay for such things. Plus I'm a sucker for X-COM / UFO tactical games, so I really hope this guy can pull this off.
      Extraterrestrials were very disappointing, but I did like the After series.

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      November 8, 2011 2:30 AM

      lots have tried making a "spiritual successor" to xcom, but none have been very good. im more pumped for the jagged Alliance 2 remake

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