Phantom Brigade

This review may be updated in time, but currently, I don't really recommend this game.

From the perspective of running speed and stability, I have had absolutely no issues. The game functions and performs quite well, and aside from a few choices of keybinds being slightly awkward (I'm not a large fan of Esc not being the go-to 'back/undo' button) there isn't much to complain about in the way of functionality. Beyond how smoothly it runs, however, there isn't entirely a lot that the game has going for it.

Though the degree of customization with your mechs is nice, you barely get to see much of it in battle, and in general, since all of the models are designed to mesh with one another, the end result is that most of the designs don't actually feel all that visually distinctive or recognizable. This is fine, since the hitbox is so large on most of your units that they'll get killed either by friendly or hostile fire long before you actually get the chance to zoom in and admire how they look. In a similar vein, the pilots in the game - crew members you require to actually operate your mechs - are rather bland beyond some basic backstory text, and show no individual development or have any meaningful skills unique to them. This means that you barely feel bad - or anything at all - when one of them goes down in combat. More than anything, you just get upset at how irritating whatever mechanic that killed them is, and forget all about the fact that it was supposed to be a heartfelt character death in the first place.

A lot of the gameplay mechanics are unintuitive. Shields are hard to understand because the game doesn't teach you anything about them. The heat build up mechanic is confusing and will outright lie to you at certain points, leading to your units taking damage you didn't want them to. Sometimes, you're required to destroy a certain building to accomplish a given objective. As these buildings do not count as hostile units, you need to target the environment to destroy it. This can lead to an incomplete destruction of the target, despite it looking and seeming quite damaged, and the continued functionality of that building. Especially irritating when it is linked to enemy turrets or reinforcements that become operational moments afterward.

Certain weaponry and components are entirely overpowered, and render all other equipment and in general any form of tactics entirely pointless. Heavy beam weaponry and missiles in particular turn the game into a point and click adventure - a single unit equipped with this gear can rather mindlessly confront dozens of enemy units from afar. On the other hand, certain gear is incredibly underpowered or confusing to wield - and you only realize this after trying to use it for the first time and losing a valuable unit as a result. Often, balancing hardly depends on the difficulty, but rather on if one of your poor units ends up being accidentally caught up in an overpowered weapon's field of fire, whether that be from an allied or enemy unit's hands.

There isn't much to offer in the way of gameplay expansion. Once you've experienced combat in the first few areas and captured your first territory, you've basically seen it all. Aside from minor upgrades here and there to your equipment (most of which are meager in nature), there isn't much to enjoy if you aren't heads over tails for the gameplay loop as it's immediately introduced to you in the tutorial.

I love the idea of Phantom Brigade, so here's to hoping that I'm convinced otherwise of what I've stated here by future experience - or by any changes made by the developers going forward.

Very enjoyable, satisfying to watch your turns back and revel in the action.

Dynamic and spectacular battles, especially in urban environments when the buildings catch stray fire.

Interesting and varied missions that encourage mech loadout experimentation.

Friendly fire adds satisfying tactical depth.

The soundtrack by Riley Koenig was good enough for me to find it streaming on Spotify.

Some familiar mechanics for players of BattleTech or other mech games e.g. managing heat buildup and dissipation, attacking from certain angles to optimize location-based damage, dashing with thrusters.

Spoiler: the first boss battle was also an unexpected and cool surprise. Kudos to the designers for making the boss fight mechanics work seamlessly in the same system as the rest of the game.

I like this game, however for the current price it is not worth it. I am not recommending the game currently as after the latest update the game crashes my gaming laptop and the Steam client when I try to run it. It works fine on my desktop computer, and it worked fine on the gaming laptop before the latest patch, however I only want to play this on my laptop and if it doesn't work on it (when it had no problem running the game previously), then I give bad review. Also if you go check out the discussions page you will see many people are saying after the latest patch that the game isn't running well, and you will see a member of the Dev team blaming the players and their systems (when the game worked fine last patch lol but he blames us). Unprofessional behavior by the Dev.

Can be jank but its a lot of fun

Very enjoyable by itself as a game, but it also depends how fast your game play style is. Otherwise, you will find it boring for how repetitious it can be. Depends more on the player. I would personally prefer more movement shooting than duck and cover. The gameplay seems to be heavy for light armor across most unit types (light, medium, and somewhat even heavy) and they need be still for accurate hitting. That would be for most occasions. I like your typical walking mech that can take several hits before incurring actual damage and some other aspects. Though the games stat readings on setup is pretty awesome, but I wish they improve the comparison charts for attaching modules. Good game overall.

Wish I could say it was great; I think the base system developed is really wonderful. But the elements just seem to lack any sort of depth to them, and adding that to the fact that completing a campaign seems very long; it ends up feeling mostly repetitive with an upgrade loop to stay relevant. Certain mech builds dont really shine, at least compared to bulk missiles and a giant laser.

I'd give it a passing score but there's like 6 total mods in existence still and they dont do anything to rectify the issues.
I would genuinely love if the diversity of events and items, customization, and balance got improved; could easily see that becoming one of my favorites.

Cool designs that you can never actually get a good look at in normal gameplay. Everything else is sooo nearly good, and yet sooo jank. I think an order to continually attack a target at low heat would save sooo much hassle, continually dragging the same attack to the same target is such a boring loop, and that's all you're doing most turns.

Timeline shows it's a safe shot with no heat warning? Sorry, close enough, overheating and now you're on fire.

Timeline shows bullets hitting terrain/building? Nah, sorry, actual bullet threads the needle and hits you no problem.

Timeline shows the opposite, a nice clear shot from cover? Nahhh man, your pilot just fired that rocket directly at the wall in front of them, killing them instantly.

Artificial difficulty in the form of regular, repeated, boss fights, which don't even test your build/skills as they just consist of hiding the ONE unit being targeted, while your other mechs just repeatedly target the core until the numbers go down. Lame as FUCK! And you get to do this everyyyyy time you start to get into the swing of fighting other mechs. Behemoths could be such a fun and sudden challenge if there was a chance for them to wander into another mission, as the set boss fight every single fucking area is just boring as all hell.

Any fight that could be interesting is such a slog to control it's just not worth it, just build heavy armour so you don't have to worry about buggy damage and do the same exact actions again and again, hoping the timeline doesn't burn you more than it says it will. Yawnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

I have mixed feelings about this game.

One the one hand, the time mechanic and projection into the future is fun to play around with. On the other hand, I've been playing this since it was a beta on Epic games, and frankly, while some aspects of the game have improved by leaps and bounds, I think it was more fun back in beta.

Assault rifles, machine guns, and melee weapons and shields were just plain FUN. I had a blast in those first few months.

Since then, they've added weapons that pierce cover. Weapons that spray a continuous stream of fire. And OH MY GOD they've added missiles. Missiles, missiles, missiles. And that last bit hurt the game.

I remember how much enthusiasm I had for missiles when they first showed up (and were a little bit useless unless you were in certain niche situations), but they added more and varying types of missiles, and now... that's mostly what the game is about.

And here's the thing: Missile spam isn't fun. It's not fun when I have missiles, and it's not fun when the enemy has missiles, and when both sides have ONLY missiles, well, that's not fun either.

One of the best moments I've had in this game was when two of my mechs were crossing one another's paths, and an enemy sniper shot at mech 1 as they began to cross one another. Mech 2 lifted his shield and blocked the shot meant for his buddy. This was planned out by me, and it was a great moment in what was looking to shape up like a great game. There was a sense of choreography and precision that mattered, and it was FUN. Getting the enemy to shoot his own ally was FUN. Sometimes, it was straight up hilarious.

I keep trying to get back into this game, but there are just too many goddamned missiles now, flying everywhere. There's no need for the epic dances of before because now you're just trying to move fast and avoid the missile spam.

Oh, and pilots have never really mattered. They promised to one day give pilots stats and RPG elements, but they broke that promise and never delivered. Now they're promising to do it again, but I've heard that before.

Did I mention all the missiles?

Aside from most other turn based strategies I've tried, this game felt refreshing and unique in its own way. It does not feel too intense and suits a normal, casual player like me just fine, while still also providing room to sweat and pull off some really tight, calculated plays.

I can see what the early reviews meant about the game needing more to its world map or felt like it was missing stuff that should have been in a game like this. That being said the devs are working hard on it and I'm looking forward to what is to come.

The game plays smoothly and does have a decent learning curve with all the controls and UI, but also great freedom that with how you use your actions and abilities. But once you start to get the hang of it you'll really appreciate the game for what it is. The quality of the graphics and art style look and feel very refined and makes me feel like I got a huge steal for the discount I got it on. Games like these tend to scratch an itch for me, Phantom Brigade has given me a rash that only it will be able to satisfy as time goes on. Looking forward to more and hopefully the Playtest when it rolls around.

And yes, a mission replay or save feature would be incredible just to see how the whole battle unfolds. Though that does sound like a huge back-end extension, not to mention a great deal of optimization for replay storage.

Better than Battletech, set the new standard in this direction, love it, and that the devs are really loving and are pushing it even more. Innovative and cutting edge for an indie studio.

This one is certainly a hidden gem. Worth getting if your into turned based and mechs.

Excellent stuff. I cannot wait for the sequel. :D

Weirdly, I recommend this game to you if you've ever used video/audio editing software. Dragging things along a timeline and scrubbing back and forth. The skills translate, and you will feel like you can kick ass with your post-production skills.

If you like underdog RTS this is the place for you. Everything will click, you see everything, know everything. Despite being outnumbered your small squad dances between every shot. The little events that happen when you travel really flesh out the story. Do you disturb the grave of an old battle to recover parts or let the dead rest. How do you handle rumours of instability and the only thing that is keeping you going. You can use a built up area as cover but you risk destroy everything.

cool and refreshing gameplay compaired to other turn based stratagy games

This is a very fun game to play I mainly bought it for the fact it has mechs in it but was impressed how fun it was to play I would recommend this to anyone who likes strategy or mechs

Not enjoyed a game this much for a while. Crazy good battle system & tons of content.

Would be nice if an option for a replay of the entire battle at the end was available, but otherwise love it so far! Mech battles and being able to see into the future are surprisingly addictive even though there are no redoes.

- "turnbased" gameplay is just RTS with extra steps
- fog, blur, bloom
- poor dialogues and story
- UI is annoying

I didn't like the first hour, I thought it was too challenging to figure it out. If this happens to you, push through for another 30 minutes and you may fall in love like I have! It scratches the puzzle-solving itch, and if you love mechs, this should be an easy win.

great game

Not perfect, but for a turn-based mech game it's very highly up there. The modding support is amazing too.

The nature of the foresight/predicted actions means you can very easily dodge, which makes Light mechs way more powerful than in other games. Still, the developers are still working on the game, so I think this will get solved.

There are Mecks need i say more.

fine you force my hand i shall speak more if that is what you demand. it has a good vibe fun combat and the story is the perfect mix of you need to save the world and also look we wont to play with big war machine's with a good sprinkling of flavor and world building it is well worth picking up and in the days of micro transactions this and battle pass that it is refreshing i can just paint my massive death machine pink without getting FOMO that its not the best pink. in short bye it now thank me later

This is a really good combat engine that has a fairly mediocre strategic layer stapled onto it. The plot is weak, the non-combat stuff is bland, but my god is the combat amazing. Go in with that expectation and you'll do fine.

Awesome gameplay mechanics. A bit barebones when it comes to other things but I believe the devs can still put out some much needed updates and more parts.

I really enjoyed this slow, but stressful gameplay.

Yes. Get it, play it, love it!

I really didn't get the hype of this game.

Battles feel clumsy, unfinished, unpolished.

Not for me, I guess.

I've been addicted to this from the start. Incredible builds, engaging game play, and mission variety will keep you coming back to take back the homeland!

great strategy game sucks how you can only send four at a time without mods though

A game mostly carried by it's excellent real-time combat mechanic around future prediction and time manipulation. The overworld wrapper is serviceable but needs more depth - thankfully the devs have been continuing to update the game with meaningful changes since it's release. Give it a shot if you enjoy mechs and/or real-time tactical combat.

Gameplay loop feels real good, but I'd really want to see the full battle in real time at the end

I....
This is a bit of a tough one because the actual combat. the moment to moment turn based tactical orders and shoot em up goodness is, bar none, the best giant robot tactical combat I've ever played.

It's not even close.

the movement commands, the shooting instructions, the range considerations etc. Just the fundamental Idea?

Fantastic.

To be clear it feels unclear in how combat is going and a bit wishy washy in the combat, some weapons don't feel impactful enough, the art style doesn't really convey the knock em down drag em out giant robot goodness as much as I'd like and it's pretty flawed.

But even with my many and varied gripes it is still the best at that particular aspect of the game than anything I've ever played.

the part where the game is really let down is everything else.

The plot is essentially nonexistant, the mech types don't feel fundamentally unique, the customization options feel basic and the pilots are generic without fun, unique characteristics which make them feel unique.

I feel that if you took this combat system and duct taped it onto some kind of JRPG framework similar to Fire Emblem, or the devs begged/borrowed/Similar yet legally distinct copied the Battletech IP, made it a yet another 'I can't believe it's not XCom' and did that to create a world that these Giant Stompy boys existed in which wasn't generic green american hinterlands it could be a fantastic game or a fantastic sequel.

but as it is it's just fantastically implemented Giant Robot Command and dreams of what could be.

still worth playing tho.

It's both a better and a worse version of Battletech. The UI of battletech was somehow better, but the overall gameplay of Phantom Brigade is more enjoyable. They're both in the same camp so if you like one you'll like both. I enjoy both, but they're different versions of the same game

A unique game in the genre of "mecha strategy", it smacks like a tbs mix of the original Mech Commander games with a bit of a puzzle orient due to the previews you get of enemy actions.

Definitely on the side of mechanics focused than having any notion of complex fluff, but there's a lot of innovation and novelty present that'll at least strike a cord with most turn based fans! Always wishing for more content from this team.

Fun turn based strategy game.
Would recommend to anyone who enjoys playing xcom games

Love it to bits. wish we got more content a little more regularly but i'll take what i can get.

I love mechs and I love turned based tactics, so I really wanted to like this game. It did make a pretty good first impression, but it started to show cracks pretty quickly and as of 20 hours in doesn't show much sign of improving. I actually think it should have aimed to be a shorter more refined game instead of a huge sprawling campaign that feels a bit unfinished and empty.

It’s a very reluctant "not recommended." I think if you're interested in this game, it'll be best to wait for their next big update and try it again. I'm certainly going to give it another go then and I'll revise my review if things change.

The good stuff:
* Great concept.

* Slick presentation. The mechs do look cool as hell skating around doing drivebys with laser smgs.

* Interface feels easy to understand without being dumbed down. It’s not as fiddly as some of the other games with similar system.

The problems:
* The way the enemy are implemented feels like the root of the issue. They play using the same rules as you, but without your precognition those rules make no sense. “Attack this guy three seconds into the turn” but they don’t know where you will be at that time. They could have had deterministic but reactive actions like “attack closest visible enemy in this 90 degree cone.”

* Even aside from that issue, the enemy AI is really dumb. It seems almost random what they try to do. They'll target mechs they have no chance of hurting instead of attacking one that is guaranteed to not be able to make it to cover in time.

* Because of the above, tactics end up being very simple. It all comes down to "don't get shot" which is easy because you can see the future. I don't feel like I'm outsmarting an enemy or solving a puzzle, I'm just trying not to make basic errors and if I do that I win.

* Turns take ages to set up, which compounds with the above issue. It's time consuming as well as being unchallenging.

* There's a lot of options for loadouts, but the majority feel underpowered due to being poorly thought out. Short range and melee weapons force you to put yourself in a bad position or waste turns sat in cover, but don’t do enough extra damage to justify that tradeoff. Long range weapons are finnecky and prone to line of sight issues. Splash damage weapons do pitiful damage. Heavy mechs aren’t tanky enough to just sponge enemy fire, so you need to use cover with them anyway, so you might as well run mediums and lights. Overall it seemed like having four medium/light mechs with AR/BR/MGs and rolling around in a death ball was the way to go.

* Deliberately bland narrative. Your unnamed country has been conquered by an unnamed enemy country and they are oppressing people in unspecified ways. Your pilots are just a name and a portrait. There are no actual characters. The game toys with reflecting on the horrors of war but also wants to be entirely bloodless and safe so it's a bit confused. I don't think every game needs a strong narrative if that's not the focus, but this felt a bit like they actively tried to make you not care.

More competent as a cool mech building game than a strategy game. I would have preferred a more linear campaign than a shallow map management style campaign.

I played about 20 hours of this game 6 months ago, and about 30 hours of the game this month, and I have to say the improvements made to the game feel phenomenal, and I can't wait to see what the next update brings to the game. I only wish there were more mod support.

A quality turn-based mech combat game with excellent value for the price.

I recommend this game on 2 premises, number 1, if you are someone who is a *hardcore* turn based fan who loves games that play with the XCOM formula, and number 2, their promised update to try and add more individuality to pilots.

This is a really fun game at it's core. The gameplay loop is the type of thing you can get just as obsessed with as XCOM or your favorite shooter once you really get the hang of things, for a time, and the creativity they have with the mechs and their weapons is great. It is super fun just watching the battle itself play out, let alone being the one to actually plan it.

That said, for as incredible as this game's core is, it *really* does need more content, especially at a 30 dollar price tag. That's pricier than XCOM 2 right now, but it lacks the same satisfying sense of progression and personality XCOM has.

Pilots (for the moment, their next update is supposed to be a big overhaul to make them more lively), are the definition of blank slates. Your mechs are the real stars of the show, but not in the good way of "they outshine everything else." They *are* this game's shine a lot of the time. If a pilot dies, outside of morale it really doesn't affect anything besides being annoying. There isn't a skill tree full of useful skills you tragically lost from your veteran elite pilot, or a sense of emptiness from having a really funny and/or entertaining one with good voice lines biting the dust. They are, ironically, significantly more replacable than the literal machines they wield, and it makes it hard to get super invested into them the same way you can get invested into an XCOM character.

I get it if they don't want to add a full blown skill tree full of insane new balance patches they now have to worry about to make sure you can't completely trivialize the game down to it's very core, but I hope this update adds significantly more than just a couple random scenarios and a few negative traits. Give me a reason to be personally attached to my pilots, even if it's dumb stuff like "Hey, they've been piloting this specific mech for X amount of missions and they'll get pissy if you give it to someone else, especially if they're going on a mission with them." Or maybe they have some funny superstitions they randomly develop, even if it might not drastically, or even at all affect regular gameplay.

The other problem is difficulty, as much of a blast as this game is, it also has the XCOM, (though, admittedly, also just strategy game problem in general) quirk of being an absolute steamroller once you figure the gameplay out.

I think a cool idea for the higher difficulties would be to lean into the idea that you are using prototype prediction technology. How about mechs, or at least, *some* mechs show 2 or sometimes 3 or more pathways you have to guess with your tech giving you a percentage chance of what route they are likely to take, forcing the player to look at the context of the battlefield itself to figure out what they're actually gonna be doing.

It could also make melee mechs significantly more useful by making it where the closer you are to those mechs, the more accurate the prototype is, making it easier on you, once again really emphasizing the importance of positioning and careful strategy in a way that the game hasn't really forced the player to bother with yet.

As a final point, *please* add either more maps, or, if this is reasonably possible, some form of random generation. It gets really dull playing the same couple maps every single time. While updates have definitely helped alleviate this issue, it is still an issue.

I know this is mostly negative, but I say these things because this is the type of game I hold in the same (at least potentially) regard as stuff like Trepang2 or Halo, or XCOM, as in it has a nearly flawless gameplay loop when it is at it's best. If you have fun with XCOM, you will have an absolute blast for at least 10-15 hours. It's borderline worth it for the experimentation alone.

*Buuut* if you're looking for something you can sink hundreds of hours into, this game 100% has the potential to reach that margin, but not yet. Close only counts for horseshoes and hand grenades, and as close as this game is to true greatness, it's too repetitive right now to truly put it in that same league of greatness. I hope it does reach it though.

"Pilots will gain fatigue from combat, receive injuries and even acquire unique negative traits if you mistreat them." No.

The first few hours are really fun but it gets very repetitive fast.

This is an excellent game that I played in EA on EGS and then bought again here. I think its biggest accomplishment is how it handles giving power to the player. You are almost always outnumbered, and sometimes outgunned. But you have the tactical advantaged. So even though every fight is winnable and you are likely to come out way on top, it doesn't always feel like it, and you have to use your brain. It doesn't FEEL like you're stronger. You FEEL like the underdogs. But in the end, you have all the information you need to win. Makes the game feel almost like a puzzle game at times.

Though it plays completely differently in mechanics, it often makes me feel similarly to how Into The Breach makes me feel. A puzzle where I'm given all the information, I just have to figure out what to do with it.

Gameplay is bad at best and boring at worst. Woke customizations with pilots (no real customization), and the forum masters are woke too. Delete this garbage. Pronoun selection bs same as starfield. This woke nonsense is everywhere nowdays. The game is somewhat ok, the game loop is boring after 10 hours...

For the price, there isn't a better Mech game avaiable

Amazing game, looking forward to the next update. Once its in I will be posting weekly videos on my youtube channel as I play through the campaign. The one thing I really want though, is a replay button for the entire match so I can watch the entire battle in all its glory :)

I love this game and think it has great potential, but as it stands I can't in good conscience reccomend it. This game is basically still in early access and missing a ton of content to make it feel finished. If you like early access and think this game sounds intresting by all means get it, but be aware of what you're paying for. regardless I would not pay full price for this game.

Its a good game with a bunch of replayability and a good combat system that is way too much fun. Although do note this game is memory intensive so you might crash here and there but it never happens during a match, only when loading into new screens so you'll probably be fine save-wise and during combat.

Very interesting take on X-Com-like tactical gameplay, which is ALSO a Mech game, been there since before Steam release, and game's been going LEAGUES from where it started, and is still having updates to come -- the planned Pilot and Overworld Overhaul in next Major Update really going to shake things up in a fun way!