Gunpoint, Heat Signature dev teases XCOM-like battlemage strategy game

Gunpoint and Heat Signature creator Tom Francis recently revealed the bones of what could be his next game: Tactical Breach Wizards. It's still a work in progress and subject to change, but I dearly hope that title sticks. 

Francis describes Tactical Breach Wizards as "a present-day turn-based strategy game" in which you command a team of wizards in breach-and-clear operations. It was partly born from his desire to see "more indie XCOMs," Francis wrote in an Imgur post, and silly modern wizards seemed a good fit—wizards like an agnostic priest and a pacifistic sniper.  

At least for now, combat plays out in turns. That is to say, you issue multiple commands to different units and they all happen at once. Francis is also playing with the idea of redoing turns as many times as you'd like until you get the outcome you're looking for—"like Frozen Synapse, but without even the uncertainty of the enemy's actions," he says.

"My prototype is too early to say if either of those systems will stick, I’ll happily scrap or change them if not," Francis said. "I might end up making a totally different tactics game with this same theme, or as I say, the whole thing might completely fail to coalesce and I scotch the lot." 

Disclosure: Tom Francis used to work at PC Gamer, and we still publish his articles occasionally, but we don't think you should hold that against him.