What a strange history Phoenix Point has. At the height of X-COM mania, when Firaxis was riding high on its subversive sequel to its 2012 reboot, the series’ original creator Julian Gollop revealed his own spiritual successor to his massively influential game. Phoenix Point aimed to reimplement much of the granularity that Firaxis’ slicker overhauls took out, adding features like soldier inventories, multiple human factions, manual aiming, and mutating enemies.

Phoenix Point seemed to have the makings of a stone cold classic. Sadly, the result amounted to less than the sum of its parts, bogged down by bugs, repetition, and micromanagement. Then came Terror from the Void, a fan-made mega-mod that radically overhauls the experience, introducing a new story, reworking progression, and adding new mechanics like ability-changing delirium infections and zombified squadmates who would fight against you.

Terror from the Void is beloved by Phoenix Point fans, with many believing it represents Phoenix Point at its best. Even Phoenix Point’s developer Snapshot Games seems to agree, having just released a new patch that brings the base game closer in line to Phoenix Rising’s mod.

Titled the Firebird update, the patch was released to coincide with Phoenix Point’s fifth birthday. Out of the gate, Snapshot tips its helmet to the mod. “We owe a major shoutout to the Terror from the Void mod and all of its contributors,” the studio writes in a Steam post. “In fact, many of the changes in this update were inspired by TFTV.”

Chiefly, the Firebird update reworks Phoenix Point’s pacing and progression. Citing how Phoenix Point’s late game “can start to drag”, Snapshot has reduced research time by 20% and construction for faction ending project buildings by half so the campaign can “reach its more interesting decision points sooner.” It also makes ammo easier to produce, and revamps base defence missions to be less punishing.

Outside of this, one of the most significant changes made by the update is that Pandorans—Phoenix Point’s aquatic enemies—no longer receive evolution points when they lose battles or have bases destroyed. This is one of the major changes Terror from the Void introduces, eliminating the contradiction at the heart of Phoenix Point whereby fighting the Pandorans makes them stronger, leading to difficulty that increases exponentially.

Elsewhere, the update makes the difficulty of soldier rescue missions more predictable, increases the frequency of ambush missions, and introduces loot crates to the latter that you can scavenge to improve your chances of survival. The update is designed to be fully compatible with Terror from the Void, both for new and ongoing campaigns. Snapshot urges players to ensure their mods are updated to the latest version, but otherwise, they should work without any issues.

To celebrate its fifth birthday and the Firebird update’s release, Snapshot is offering Phoenix Point at a 60% discount. That brings the price down from $25 (£19.50) to $10 (£7.79). Between the updates Phoenix Point has received since launch and Terror from the Void’s excellent changes, that’s a bargain price for such an indulgent tactics game. The discount ends on December 18.