Turn-Based Tactics Phantom Doctrine - "tactical Cold War conspiracy thriller" by Hard West devs

[anus_pounder]

Hard West was p fun. Watched.

 

[Falksi]

Fucking thrived on Hard West, such a lush vibe & nice gameplay too for the most part.

This looks great. Hope it lives up to what I'm seeing in this thread

 

[Infinitron]

 

[ArchAngel]

I wonder if this game turns out the best out of all these post Xcom like Xcom games.

 

[Infinitron]

I wonder if this game turns out the best out of all these post Xcom like Xcom games.

Interesting thing to say. It's probably just as NuXCOMy as the others in terms of mechanics and presentation, isn't it?

But it gets a lot of slack for having a unique concept instead of just being a "spiritual successor" that gets nitpicked to death with comparisons.

 

[ArchAngel]

I wonder if this game turns out the best out of all these post Xcom like Xcom games.

Interesting thing to say. It's probably just as NuXCOMy as the others in terms of mechanics and presentation, isn't it?

But it gets a lot of slack for having a unique concept instead of just being a "spiritual successor" that gets nitpicked to death with comparisons.

Sometimes that is enough. X-com had a bit of base building (but very simple) and a bit of research and manufacturing (still fairly simple compared to many 4x games) and combat missions were all straightforward with eliminate all enemies as only mission objective (except alien base missions that you only needed to do once if you knew what you were doing).

This game is doing new stuff and adding cool and different missions objectives as well as adding stuff to do in your base that X-Com or Xcom never had, so it can be excused if its combat is not as old school as X-com.

 

[LESS T_T]

Hard-boiled, from the composer of Hard West and The Witcher 2/3:

 

[Kacper Szymczak]

the b-roll is old, but this time with a bit of my stuttering

 

[Infinitron]

https://blogcritics.org/pax-east-video-game-preview-phantom-doctrine/

PAX East Video Game Preview: ‘Phantom Doctrine’

I was sure I was being followed, there was no doubt I saw that man before as I navigated the halls of PAX East. I took a couple of quick turns and sure enough his face appeared behind me in the crowd. He was not terribly distinctive and in any other moment could have been just any other fan at the Expo, but I knew he had made me. My time in this city might be over, but I had one last mission to accomplish.



Sneaking through the crowded stalls of the Indie Mega Booth, I managed to lose my tail, just in time as the Good Shepherd booth was straight ahead and my contact was there to help me figure out what was going on. Why were people following me? Could they know I had a top secret meeting planned with CreativeForge to dig into their technology and blueprints? Or did they want to capture an recruit me? Either way I needed answers and this was where I would find them.

Sneaking through the chain fences enclosing the booth, I met my contact and sat with him in his secluded office to find out just what Phantom Doctrine is. I am not sure what I was expecting, but what the mad geniuses at CreativeForge were able to show me let me know that Phantom Doctrine is something special and needs to be explored much more deeply.

Something about the game Phantom Doctrine really inspired me to imagine myself as a secret agent, one who has to look over his shoulder and plan every step and encounter. The game is set in 1983 during the Cold War, and is an alternate history thriller in which players lead a secret organization dedicated to fighting a global conspiracy. Throughout secret missions, classified files investigations and enemy agent interrogations, layers and layers of a sinister plot are revealed in an attempt to save the world from a somber future.



In speaking to the developer and while trying the game myself I was stunned by the options and complexity offered in Phantom Doctrine. I was leading a newly formed agency of outcasts and defectors while trying to stop enemy actions and movements. This involved responding to threats as they appear on the world map (some of which are false positives), sending out investigation teams to learn more about the enemy, and deciphering clues via classified files. All of this happens in a series of slick views and menus that really made me feel like the head of an agency.

In one really cool sequence I was trying to decipher the identity of an enemy agent based on files I had unlocked. This sequence brought up an evidence board, and I was able to tie together clues and known facts on the board which identified a couple of key agents. I was then able to track these tagged agents and, while they clued into the tail fairly quickly and triggered a new identity process, I still had 12 hours to keep tabs on them before they disappeared again. This intelligence could lead to their capture or help me have advantages in future missions; either way any information is valuable.



I was then brought to a sequence where a captured prisoner was being interrogated, which had many options available. I could simply interrogate and get as much information as possible or I could brainwash the agent and release her. Depending on my skill I could take full control and have a double agent, or have a trigger word be available to be used once to turn the tides in a mission. In this case I was able to brainwash and add a trigger word which would allow me to use the agent for one mission if she was at the mission site.

Next I was selecting an actual deployment mission; because of some of the prep work we undertook earlier in my demo, I was able to recon the site. This let me set a couple of external assets (one as a sniper, the other with a grenade launcher) as well as place two agents in disguise within the complex. I went to another screen to equip my remaining agents, looked at the recon data and then started the mission. In this case I was tasked to capture an information broker who might be betraying my organization.



Once the mission started it was setup much like X-Com; my agents deployed where I wanted them with options to position the disguised agents inside. With the help of my guide I slowly took out exterior guards and key patrols inside quietly before starting the gunfight in earnest. There are many options in game from stealth entries and take-downs to wholesale assaults on entry ways which dynamically changes the responses of the AI enemies. I was told as well that if I turn off cameras or take out patrols new patrols may be sent and cameras turned back on so attention is always needed.

In the end I was able to complete my mission, but not without losses and, like other games of this type, there are consequences to my actions. The dead agents are gone; ones left behind and not extracted may be captured and brainwashed; the spy world in Phantom Doctrine keeps flowing. The game was deep, complex, and instantly addicting.



The developer told me that the main story scenarios are hand crafted and have a compelling deep narrative focus, but there are dozens of side missions that are more procedurally crafted. I was also told that whenever action takes place in a foreign city all spoken dialogue is in the language from the region adding an immersiveness rarely seen in games. The team also spend months researching cold war facts to extract some of the most fantastic spy drama from real world events. Much of the game is manipulated facts to portray an original story.

In the end literally everything about Phantom Doctrine impressed me. The game looks amazing, has some of the best user Interfaces and sub screens I have seen in a game of this genre, and the sheer scope of the game is impressive as hell. The final product promises to be a spy simulator that is both engaging and addicting as we build a spy organization to counter threats from all over the world. Phantom Doctrine will be out later this year for PC and I cannot wait to dig into this game and create my own cold war spy empire to counter the evil of the world.

 

[xmd1997]

New gameplay video! Game looks really promising. Though the ending kinda confuses me, they had 2 more turns till their evac was compromised but the mission still failed?



Also it's pretty obvious that the player brought waaay too much firepower and agent's for a mission with minimal resistance which is probably what cost him the mission, that juggernaut agent was slow as hell and didn't even get to do anything.

 

[Jinn]

Goddamn, this is quickly becoming one of my most anticipated games. Love the look of the gameplay, the atmosphere is excellent, and I love the soundtrack in that video. This is going to be very good.

 

[xmd1997]

That simultaneous breach was pretty slick. Must've picked it up from X2's concealed ambush.

Yea it looks cool as hell but at the same time, it looks like it'll be pretty OP. I'm guessing it's something that you can only do in infiltration mode where they're not expecting you.

 

[veevoir]

Also it's pretty obvious that the player brought waaay too much firepower and agent's for a mission with minimal resistance which is probably what cost him the mission, that juggernaut agent was slow as hell and didn't even get to do anything.

Same here, no idea why this mission failed. Some glitch?

 

[Kacper Szymczak]

Ahh, right you are!

Though the ending kinda confuses me, they had 2 more turns till their evac was compromised but the mission still failed?

The target vip bled out, which was a bug. We'd cut it straight to victory screen, but the music cut sounded really bad.

Also it's pretty obvious that the player brought waaay too much firepower and agent's for a mission with minimal resistance which is probably what cost him the mission, that juggernaut agent was slow as hell and didn't even get to do anything.

Yep, it's from a PAX build where any random person should drop in, so it was prepped that way - including some lategame guns and armor.

Goddamn, this is quickly becoming one of my most anticipated games. Love the look of the gameplay, the atmosphere is excellent, and I love the soundtrack in that video. This is going to be very good.

<3

That simultaneous breach was pretty slick. Must've picked it up from X2's concealed ambush.

Nah. I was wondering how to make the game more appealing to the mainstream market without breaking it to pieces, and this led to the breach mechanic (sim. move and attack), enemy air supports, supporting snipers and a couple more things to break the pace up a bit.

In terms of balance - the downside of breach is if you don't do it carefully, you can be easily spotted. When you have less shots than targets and someone survives, you're left in the open after breach is performed, so it kinda sucks.
I've seen the whole range of usage, ranging from using it all the time, through once a level, all the way to never at all; so it should be pretty fine. We have some very witty param setup for this one so I can keep tweaking it indefinitely should that be needed.

 

[LESS T_T]

Also party:

GOOD SHEPHERD ENTERTAINMENT AND FRIENDS ANNOUNCE INDIE HEAVEN, AN INDIE GAME CELEBRATION PART OF INDIE3, JUNE 12-14 IN LOS ANGELES

LOS ANGELES – May 14, 2018 – Good Shepherd Entertainment and its many gaming partners have announced the latest addition to IndiE3 – Indie Heaven – three full days of meeting, greeting and eating alongside a fantastic gathering of independent games and gamemakers from June 12-14 at Don Chente DTLA (1248 S. Figueroa St.). The space is directly across the street from the Los Angeles Convention Center - right above Hooters - and adjacent to the legendary Devolver Lot.

WHAT: Three full days of press demos, industry meetings and more with major games, developers and media partners, including:

• Phantom Doctrine (Good Shepherd Entertainment)
• Black Future ‘88 (Good Shepherd Entertainment)
• Semblance (Good Shepherd Entertainment)
• World War Z (Saber Interactive)
• Rune (Human Head Studios)
• Bendy and the Ink Machine (The Meatly Games + Rooster Teeth Games)
• SoundSelf (Transcendant Realities)
• Transcendent VR
• Deep VR (Owen Harris)
• Breath of Life (Auralab)
• Microdose VR
• DreamHack
• Physical good surprises from Special Reserve Games
• A live-streaming stage hosted by Shacknews.

WHEN:
June 12 - 14, 2018 (Tues. - Thurs.)

Club: 10 AM - 6 PM daily (By appointment only)

Rooftop Lounge: 11 AM - 7 PM daily (Open to all E3 attendees 21+, capacity permitting)

WHERE:

Don Chente DTLA

1248 S. Figueroa St. (Next to the Devolver Lot and directly across from the LACC, above Hooters)

Guests are invited to play and chat with the developers of some of indie gaming’s most anticipated upcoming releases (by appointment only) in a cavernous restaurant and nightclub with food and drinks. There will also be a breezy rooftop lounge overlooking the convention where guests can hang out and experience both Microdose VR and SoundSelf in incredible 360dome.pro fidelity (open to all E3 attendees 21 and over, capacity permitting). In addition, Shacknews will host a live-streaming stage on-site throughout the event.

Mike Wilson, President of the FREESA, the very important association that organizes IndiE3 as a world-class production each year, said, "Yep. This is going to be the best thing ever."

For more information on Indie Heaven, follow @GoodShepherdEnt on Twitter.

 

[ArchAngel]

Battletech is not nearly good enough and Phoenix Point is delayed, we count on you Phantom Doctrine to bring us

 

[Kacper Szymczak]

Battletech is not nearly good enough and Phoenix Point is delayed, we count on you Phantom Doctrine to bring us

no pressure!

 

[ArchAngel]

Battletech is not nearly good enough and Phoenix Point is delayed, we count on you Phantom Doctrine to bring us

no pressure!

If you fail you will have ruined 2018 for all of us

 

[veevoir]

Wait, release date is sometime soon?

 

[norolim]

This game is apparently being made by a dumb idiot.

EDIT:

:

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

That's interesting take on overwatch.

 

[xmd1997]

They just confirmed mod support. This basically solidifies my decision to definitely get this game.

 

[Alienman]

Someone please summarize the cool/new stuff.

 

[veevoir]

I like the idea of referencing to real cold war events, I assume that flight 007 thingy is a plot hook somewhere in the beginning of the game.

Also good to hear that Luck from Hard West makes appearance, even if under different name. And you can gas people to death - instant buy. Haven't killed people this way since JA2 bunkers.

EDIT: Music seems also a big plus, the spy-thriller/noir compositions.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

I didn't really have this on my radar - wasn't expecting much here. Looking at the stream? Damn this looks pretty good. Combat doesn't look... great? But as a part of the whole, it looks like a great experience.