Phantom Brigade

This game has a unique, or at least extremely rare, core loop that combines real time and turn based in a very entertaining way. The initial complexity pays off with letting you meticulously choreograph nimble but realistic giant robots in ballets of violence that are rendered well enough that you actually use the replay option to enjoy how ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sweet that last round was. Build options are satisfyingly rich, and the RNG for salvage and missions can give rise to the kind of emergent gameplay that made OG XCOM so much fun to replay. You can stumble into the right weapon or component and have a whole campaign accrete around it, complete with building a whole squad to support the BFG you lucked out on early game. For 1.0 players: I enjoyed playing it from EA, but if you were on the fence about it at launch, the 2.0 update adds a whole lot of content that isn't always apparent from the start. There's a lot more enemy types and mech components, and you start running into new objectives and biomes a little ways in.

A hidden gem for sure. I don't know how this game passed me by, but thank goodness for old(ish) YouTube videos, because this is one of the best and most unique tactics games out there. And the campaign length is great IMO, 30 hours in and still being challenged with new stuff.

An amazing game with a unique style of gameplay. Beautiful graphics and the continued support and improvements make this a game to pick up. Strong recommendation for fans of games like XCOM and other tactical combat games, the mech flavor is the cherry on top.

2.0 has been a breath of life for me, this game always had great potential. I really like the changes great job devs!

I really don't want to, but i think im going to need to give this a harsher review than i would otherwise like, because there are some things that simply need to be said. The actual gameplay loop in missions? Its amazing, a lot of fun. The overall theme and mechanics? Also very good. I see myself playing this to completion, but i know that all that time, there are going to be a lot of nagging things at the back of my head. Let me elaborate. So first and foremost, it does seem like some of my issues would have been solved if i had played the game earlier, but it seems in V2.0 of the game, a lot of things were redesigned that simply didn't need to be, or were otherwise redesigned in a VERY wrong direction, from what little i've been able to piece together. In past versions, you worked to liberate the whole country, in one single overworld map. Now you don't. Now you liberate province by province, FTL style. It is very much on rails. This isn't bad per se, but it does make me yearn for some of what was there before - The provinces get stale very quickly due to the time crunch. You go in to a province, do some missions on a VERY harsh time crunch to the point that it feels that you're being rushed, and then in between EACH singluar mission, you have the option of doing 3 contract missions for set rewards. The time crunch is what makes it exhausting to play, the contract missions is what makes it frustrating to play. This is honestly one of my biggest problems, and is the reason why playing this game is starting to become more and more of a chore for me. As everything is in a province, you're not connected to the country in a way that you presumably were before the 2.0 update. Its just some generic green terrain and then more generic green terrain. You do technically have a way of viewing the whole country at once, but its just a flat 2D image from a top down perspective, not even a 3D map that you can look around and see the topographical features. One of the earliest provinces you do is described as a pass of some sort, but ♥♥♥♥ if i don't see it! I mentioned a time crunch. I was not kidding. In between and around mission sites are random POIs you can go to if you want...but due to said time crunch you can only ever go to maybe one, maaaaybe two per province to the point that they might as well not exist. In one province, i didnt even have any time to go to any of them. And then when you're finally NOT on a time crunch, they all disappear! So you cant even save them until after you're done all the time sensitive missions - You HAVE to ignore them, pretty much. What is the point of this? ♥♥♥♥ if i know. Now, the actual missions where you take your own squad in? They're great. There is a lot of customisation you can do to your mechs, so much so that i'd argue that there might actually be TOO MUCH. Many items have identical names, but different stats, and it makes customisation a bit of a pain sometimes. Still, i appreciate the option. Different stats for weapons is a gigantic pain though - One time, an gun might do NO damage to pilots, but then another one of the same name does 3 million pilot damage, able to one-shot enemy, or your own pilots. It makes preparing for an incoming enemy a gigantic chore. Thats a small issue compared to my issue with the missions however. Again, the ones where you use your own squad are great. Here is the problem though, and honestly, my BIGGEST problem - After each mission you take your own squad in to, each time you make camp, using up some of that very, very valuable time to repair and rest, or each time you travel to a new province after liberating one, you get the option to do 3 optional missions where you take control of resistance forces to order them around, with no risk to your own pilots or mechs. You dont get salvage, but you do get set rewards. Due to said time crunch, i feel like doing all these missions are NECESSARY to even stay affloat. However, because you're doing THREE of these missions for every ONE that your own squads go on, that is what most of your time will likely be spent doing. This is, a very, very big problem for many reasons. Firstly, it gives the impression that the faction we're a part of isn't a resistance force, its a damn invading army. They have so many seemingly disposable forces, as you dont get punished for losing any of the mechs in those missions, so long as you complete said mission. It also makes me scratch my head why we went through the effort of getting a mobile base, if 90% of the fighting is done without it. Secondly, and this is the real kicker - MOST OF THESE MISSIONS MECHS HAVE TERRIBLE LOADOUTS. Mission to blow up some buildings? Here, have three mechs with swords, that cant do building damage. A contract to kill 10+ enemies? Here, have TWO mechs and nothing else. A mech with a shotgun? Lets make it move at a snails pace. A mission underground? Lets give you nothing but missile weapons that will hit nothing but the ceiling rather than the enemy. And dont get my started on the liberation missions - You're supposed to avoid destroying any houses and you get your own reinforcements coming in. Great, right? Thing is, they ALWAYS have indirect fire missile launchers. The dialogue even mentions that it can shoot over buildings. Great! ....No. Not really. Missile launchers are some of the highest building damage weapons in the game, and due to different weapons even of the same name, having different arcs of fire, it becomes a gigantic chore to avoid destroying buildings. I would much rather have a sniper mech or something. Of the 23 hours or so that i've played of this game so far, i'd say easily 15 hours of that has been these contract missions. Why are there so many? Why do i spend most of my time doing these missions? Why are they so unfun? Here is my suggestion to the devs on some design changes that might solve these issues. 1. Use the old map for the world map, or otherwise make a 3D map of the world map so that players can see the whole country if they want, see where the terrain starts and ends, and see where provinces are in relation to eachother, their size etc. Right now, provinces feel like a non-space in the void, with that fog of war around it. I did actually briefly look up the old map and it looks SO MUCH BETTER than the current world map. I would honestly be happy with that. 3D map be damned. You can even just make it function like the CURRENT world map, but at least you can actually SEE where the provinces are, how big they are, what shape they are etc. 2. Make POIs spawn much closer to missions in provinces, so you can actually realistically do them. Alternatively, significantly increase the mobile bases's, speed, reduce the penalties for using overdrive, or increase the time it takes for the enemy to "regroup" from 24 to 36 hours. In addition, when you click on a mission, display how long it would take to drive there. 3. Make it so you can only do contract missions DURING camp/rest time. One single mission. Increase the rewards SUBTANTIALLY to compensate. This will give the impression that the resistance is distracting the enemy to give you time, using up what little resources they have to keep the heat off of you while you rest and refit. 4. Give the resistance forces in contract missions mechs and tanks that are suitable for the task, and enough of them. Some contract missions feel too easy, where as most feel downright impossible considering what mechs and loadouts you are given. 5. Rebalance a lot of weapons so that they have predictable capabilities. I dont want to see one vulcan cannon that does zero pilot damage, and another that can oneshot a pilot instantly, like we currently do. One of the mechs i got in a contract mission had a vulcan cannon that killed 8 pilots in a single attack as it was shooting down a chokepoint. The next mission, i tried it again only to realise that that vulcan did ZERO pilot damage. It makes no sense.

The game is fun. Like a better version of Battletech with much worse writing, world, and lore. Unfortunately the game is riddled with bugs in nearly every part of the game, and the prediction system is extremely unreliable. It is very hard to play the game without getting mad because it lied to you at some point. There are also several mechanics that are very hard to understand how it actually works, like collision and defensive systems. Enemies will show to collide with you but during their action they will just run near you and nothing happens. Super annoying and the rules are very inconsistent and hard to understand. The UI and managing items are also really bad, but it is partially because of the Diablo-esque item system where there's too much randomization to manage the equipment of 4+ mechs without getting tired.

Just beat it. an incredible game hidden behind insurmountable flaws. As much as my heart wants to give it the 10/10, the bugs, balance, and pacing make it an 8. probably would be as low as a 6 for people who dont like tactic games. if you do though, *please* pick it up

Could be a good mech game. Unfortunately 90% of my mistakes come from the ambiguity of the UI. You see one thing will happen, then something else does and knocks out your mech. These can completely ruin a winning battle and you feel you don't have agency. Missiles are a special case of dumb. They go all around, many times they go unexpectedly and sometimes they just do friendly fire. Feels unfair and extremely annoying. Makes you ragequit.

My main gripe is the sad lack of a narrative campaign, because it would have elevated this small but very well developped game into new heights. Emergent narrative works but can only go so far. A colorful antagonist and some plot twists would have really helped Phantom Brigade to be a bit less repetitive near its end. Fortunately, even now, I am still amazed by the 5 second future sight mechanic at the core of the game. It is a work of art.

It's a really unique take on the XCOM genre. I love the extended support from the devs even years after it's release.