Phantom Brigade – PAX East 2020 Preview
How does a studio follow up their huge hit for Nintendo, Cadence of Hyrule? By releasing Phantom Brigade, a game that takes turn-based and real time tactical RP’s and blends them together into one fun package. The big selling point here is your ability to fast forward time and see into the future. You are in control a squad of mech pilots, generally outnumbered, against an enemy army hell bent on destroying you. You’ll plan out the path that each mech will take five seconds at a time. This means that you can see up to five seconds into the future, see what your enemy is planning, and make changes accordingly.
The game has a bit of a learning curve and you’ll need a minute or two to figure out what exactly is going on. By the end of our brief demo it was all starting to come together.
You’ll first need to decide which mech you want to control, then you’ll look ahead and see where the enemy is planning on going next, then you’ll set a plan in motion for each mech. You’ll have plenty of choices including attack, run, defend, and more. Players decide what and when you deploy everything. One you have laid out a plan for the entire squad, you watch it all unfold as planned.
Phantom Brigade is absolutely gorgeous, and the destructible environments are a site to behold. I was enjoying my time with it but, when I started ripping bullets through the buildings, the fun was ramped up to eleven.
Brace Yourself Games is looking for a summer early access release this year, so it won’t be long until we have the chance to dive in for a deeper look at this intriguing title.
