Hello everyone,
The 2025 Steam Awards have begun! Nominations are open, and we’re hoping you’ll support Xenonauts 2 by nominating it in the Labor of Love category.
If you’ve been keeping up with our development updates, you know that we’ve released 73 updates in the last year, including 2 major updates and 71 smaller patches and hotfixes.
The two major updates have been our Milestone 5 release in March and the much more recent release of Milestone 6, which contained all the remaining gameplay content on our Early Access roadmap.
The full details of what has been included are in the patch notes for Milestone 5:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/538030/announcements/detail/503937232361489171
And Milestone 6:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/538030/announcements/detail/545618256387375368
Across both these updates, the most important improvements were:
Strategic Operations & Supporters
Milestone 5 included two new systems that make the strategic layer of the game much more interesting, adding a new currency called Operation Points that could be spent performing Strategic Operations to gain short-term benefits, or recruiting Supporters from different funding regions that provided longer-term benefits (including powerful Region Bonuses when all supporters in that region were unlocked).
New Missions
Milestone 5 added Operation ENDGAME, which finally allowed players to win the campaign. On top of this, it also added Battleship UFOs, plus two new late-game plot missions set on an alien space station that added a bit more variety to the usual mix of crash sites and terror missions near the end of the game.
Phases
The campaign was also divided into distinct “Phases” in Milestone 5, each of which is accompanied by some artwork and a little narrative that explains the progression of the alien invasion tactics.
Ending Sequence
Milestone 6 added an improved ending sequence that included the final victory cinematic and the campaign stats screens, which makes winning a campaign a much more rewarding experience!
Reworked Air Combat
The Air Combat section of the game received a complete visual rework in Milestone 6, along with a proper tutorial and a number of mechanical and quality-of-life improvements. We also added an entirely new UFO type to the game, the Defender UFO, and reworked the final interceptor to give it some unique abilities that earlier interceptors lack.
New Game Content
We added a lot of new content to the game this year:
- All of the research art and research is now in the game
- An entire new tactical biome has been added - the Soviet Town biome, which is used as an alternate setting for Terror Sites
- Two entirely new alien types were added: the Eternals, and the Symbiotes
- Lots of units received new textures or 3D models, including the MARS / ARES vehicles on the player side and over half the alien units (with the Sebillians, Cyberdrones, Heavy Servitor and Heavy Mentarch all receiving entirely new models)
- We implemented proper destruction of building roofs and a system for units falling (and taking damage) if the ground beneath them was destroyed
- We doubled the amount of music tracks on the strategy and tactical layers
- Lots of improvements to existing tactical environment assets
Ongoing development for Xenonauts 2 has been a labor of love for us, and we’re always excited to see what our players think of each update.
Most importantly, we want to thank you all for your support throughout the last year of Xenonauts 2’s development. It’s been an honor to watch this community grow, and to incorporate your feedback into creating the best game possible.
If you want to show Xenonauts 2 some extra love during the Steam Awards, please click the “Nominate” button that’s part of this post and nominate it for the 2025 Labor of Love award.
Thank you again for supporting Xenonauts 2!
– The Goldhawk Interactive Team