In 2021, after a long period confined underground, humanity emerges to the surface driven by the development of a new technology, the Phoenix Project. Decades of calamities following a nuclear disaster during the Cold War unleashed devastation on the known world, forcing civilization to take refuge underground. Now, the new challenge is to build regenerators capable of producing new habitats where life can flourish once again and, with them, recolonize the earth. A world full of hope awaits on the surface.

Phoenix New Horizon is a Euro-style board game in which players assume control of a team of commandos tasked with the mission of recolonizing Earth. Throughout the game's four rounds, players accumulate victory points by constructing regenerators and buildings, bolstering the planet's population, and achieving diverse objectives that vary between playthroughs.

Players must adeptly allocate their commandos to various actions throughout the game while also specializing them to enable more potent abilities at the expenses of versatility. Fulfilling missions assigned by the governing authorities yields additional actions on a player's turn.