Julian Gollop's next game does not look like a Julian Gollop game. The man forever fated to be referred to as 'XCOM creator Julian Gollop' in headlines is making a game with no RNG, no turns, and no apocalyptic bleakness. Chip ‘n Clawz vs The Brainioids is as perky as its name suggests, and its blend of Fortnite's artstyle with a better-executed take on the action-strategy gameplay of Brutal Legend makes it a hard-left turn in Snapshot Games' catalogue, which up to now has consisted of the dark fantasy Chaos Reborn, and XCOM-by-another-name Phoenix Point.

None of which is news to Gollop, of course. He knows this is outré for him and his studio, and he expects that long-time fans might find it a little hard to get into Chip 'n Clawz. When I ask him what he thinks will resonate with his most hardcore followers, he pauses. "Maybe only the humour?" he says with a chuckle. "Obviously it ain't turn-based, that's for sure, so I think that people who stick with turn-based games will struggle a little bit."

Which, as a fan of both original and nu-XCOM, filled me with no small amount of trepidation, but having spent some time with Chip 'n Clawz in both singleplayer and co-op mode, there is something here. I don't love the tone, or the aesthetic, and I suspect long-time Gollop-heads will bounce right off, but the game does have a fun kind of frenetic, D-Day feel to it as you marshal your own motley forces and stomp about the frontline. There's an audience for Chip 'n Clawz, it just might not be people like me.