XCOM-like tactical espionage thriller Phantom Doctrine was my Gamescom highlight

Hard West

When a tragic turn of events sets one man down a path of supernatural chaos and revenge, he must brutally hunt down all those who wronged him. Fight and survive through 8 unique story-based scenarios, and try your hand at 40 individually designed turn-based combat missions

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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.

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