Terra Invicta

The player controls a faction in a geopolitical simulation on Earth as they attempt to win the game through achieving their faction's unique victory requirements. The first part is a geopolitical simulation on Earth, where the factions fight for influence in Earth's nations through methods ranging from espionage and military actions to research and development and industrialization. The other section of the game is a simulation of humanity's expansion into the Solar System in light of the encroaching alien threat, including the widespread militarization and industrialization of space as each faction vies for resources and control. Transferring resources from Earth to space takes extra resources because of gravity, incentivizing the player to build space infrastructure outside of Earth's atmosphere. After developing the Long War mod for XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the volunteers who had worked on the mod were contacted by Firaxis Games and paid to help with development for day-one mods and a Long War 2 mod for XCOM 2, the latter of which they received compensation for from Firaxis. After gaining experience working on both mods, the volunteers came together and formed a company called Long War Studios, which they eventually rebranded as Pavonis Interactive, and announced the development of Terra Invicta, their own grand strategy game. IGN's Jon Bolding remarked that the gameplay was interesting and fun to play, but criticized the game's obtuse mechanics.PC Gamer's Leana Hafer noted that "the barrier to entry is high" but felt that she was "captivated by how it all comes together and delivers on its sky high promises while telling a compelling story with so many twists and turns."Vice's Renata Price noted in her initial thoughts on the game from playing just the very beginning of it that "it is possibly the densest game I’ve ever played, and I think I'm in love with it."