One of those there ‘E3 trailers’ introduces the XCOM-ish tactical action and Cold War setting of Phantom Doctrine, the espionage ’em up which pleased our dearly-departed Adam (RPS In Peace) when he played a preview version last year. Take turn-based tactical infiltration, wrap it in a big conspiracy unravelled with the help of that ol’ trusty corkboard covered cards, pins, and string, and developers CreativeForge Games have something interesting going on. Here, watch the trailer. Read the rest of this entry »
Phantom Doctrine is a game of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’. I would have completed my mission without being spotted if one of my agents hadn’t been compromised but the fact that she turned on me and I managed to neutralise her at least means the enemy has played their hand and she can’t do any further damage. Now, even though our cover is blown, if we can make it to the extraction point this will still be a success.
But I’m really tempted to leave one member of my team behind if he keeps attracting the attention of guards and…oh, now there’s a helicopter and we’re apparently troublesome enough that missile strikes are an option. I am a bad spy.
At first glance, Phantom Doctrine [Steam page] looks an awful lot like a Cold War flavoured XCOM. That’s quite an exciting prospect and the closer I looked, the more exciting it became. There are agents instead of aliens, and some novel infiltration and reconnaissance systems, but everything from the UI to the cover system is immediately familiar. The tactical missions are hiding unexpected twists though, and zooming out to the campaign map shows that the setting informs every aspect of the game.
It’s early days, and there’s a lot of work to be done, but Phantom Doctrine might well be one of 2018’s strategy highlights.
Much has been made of how Hard West [official site] is XCOM-with-cowboys, but if anything it’s more like Jagged Alliance. With cowboys. Demon cowboys, yes, but really they’re just cowboys with horns and a flame effect. Point is, this isn’t a game about gradually building up a super-squad and a grandiose base in order to take down an almighty, otherworldly threat, but about a small gang of gun-wielders carving or limping their way through more disassociated skirmishes.
Hard West [official site] looks interesting, taking XCOM-ish turn-based tacticalising into the supernatural Weird West. I dig XCOM and I dig the Weird West so yes, thank you. It had been lined up to begin rootin’ and tootin’ next Wednesday, but developers CreativeForge Games have decided to push it back a fortnight. They could’ve launched next week, they say, but think a little extra polish will do their cowboys and demons a world of good. To help pass the extra time, a new eight-minute gameplay trailer is out:
