Phantom Brigade is an upcoming tactical turn-based strategy game featuring highly customizable squads of mechs. Developed by indie studio Brace Yourself Games, Phantom Brigade blends strategic squad combat with mech customization and roguelike elements for a fresh take on the mech genre.
Overview of Phantom Brigade’s Gameplay
Phantom Brigade puts you in command of your own mech battalion. As the commander, you can recruit and customize iconic classes of mechs, outfitting them with different weapons, abilities, and components to match your preferred tactics.
Once your squad is ready, you take to procedurally generated battlefields across sci-fi inspired environments. Combat demands careful positioning and coordination to take advantage of squad formations and exploit enemy weaknesses. With peril around every corner, you’ll need to analyze the mission, terrain, and foes to lead your mechs to victory.
Lose a mission, and you can restart a new procedural campaign, carrying over your seasoned veteran pilots and scraped mech components to grow stronger over time. This blend of roguelike progression and persistent pilot development is a core part of Phantom Brigade’s tactical loop.
Key Gameplay Elements
- Customizable mech battalions
- Turn-based tactical combat
- Procedurally generated maps
- Roguelike progression
Customizing Your Mech Battalion
Customizing your squad of mechs is incredibly flexible in Phantom Brigade. As PCGamesN said in their Phantom Brigade preview:
“The extent to which you can customize your mechs in Phantom Brigade is pretty absurd – you can change arms, shoulders, weapons, and tweak a bunch of perks…”
You can outfit different mech classes for specialized roles:
| Mech Class | Possible Loadouts |
|---|---|
| Assault | Heavy armor and weapons like railguns or missile pods for frontline firepower |
| Scout | High mobility and sensors for reconnaissance |
| Sniper | Long-range cannons and boosters for positioning advantage |
| Brawler | Close combat upgrades like drills, shotguns or melee weapons |
And if a particular component gets damaged, you can simply swap it out for an intact one before the next mission. This flexibility keeps your squad combat ready.
Emphasis on Synergizing Squad Tactics
On these hostile procedurally generated battlefields, victory goes to commanders who effectively coordinate their squad’s composition, positioning, and abilities.
The right squad lineup can amplify strengths. For example, scout mechs can dairy dangerous locations to enable snipers and artillery mechs to safely unleash devastating barrages. Frontline brawlers can then mop up stragglers.
Careful positioning is also key flanking maneuvers, falling back to choke points, and securing high ground are all pivotal tactics. You’ll need to assess terrain, mission objectives, and enemies to orchestrate a winning strategy.
Core Gameplay and Mechanics In-Depth
Phantom Brigade blends elements of tactical turn-based combat, squad management, and roguelike progression for its unique and compelling gameplay formula. There are three pillars to Phantom Brigade’s gameplay:
Customizing Your Mech Battalion is Extremely Flexible
As the commander, you’ll recruit pilots and assemble a battalion of mechs suited to your playstyle. Phantom Brigade gives you an astounding degree of control when customizing your metal warriors.
You’ll choose from 5 distinct mech chassis, each fulfilling combat roles like:
- Paladin: Heavily armored brawlers capable of withstanding heavy damage.
- Lancer: Balanced all-rounders with a blend of mobility, protection, and firepower.
- Siren: Agile scout mechs with powerful sensors to probe the battlefield.
- Archer: Long-range bombardment specialists delivering devastating fire support.
- Striker: Rapid attack crafts specializing in quick strikes.
After selecting a chassis, you can outfit them with different weapons like railguns, missiles, plasma cannons and more. Further customize capabilities by swapping components like cockpits, generators, sensors, armor plates, and movement systems.
You can even salvage components from downed enemy mechs to augment your own creations. This deep customization means no two commanders will have identical squad loadouts and tactics.
Turn-Based, Tactical Squad Combat
When it’s time for combat, Phantom Brigade’s battles play out in challenging turn-based showdowns.
Missions generate complex procedurally built battle zones with varied terrain and objectives. Analyze battlefield conditions closely to leverage high ground, cover, choke points, and flanking positions.
Master combined arms tactics by assigning mechs combat roles like:
- Vanguards: Heavily armed mechs that engage enemies head-on.
- Skirmishers: Fast relocating mechs that flank and harass opponents.
- Fire Support: Artillery or sniper mechs raining munitions from behind your battle line.
- Scouts: Probing ahead to reveal terrain and dangers.
Coordinate mech abilities between squamates. For example, the Scout’s sensors can “tag” targets to boost the damage they take. Or vanguards might close distance so artillery mechs have clean firing lines. Victory goes to commanders who synergize their squad’s strengths.
Roguelike Progression Persists Between Campaigns
While individual battles pose tactical challenges, the war is won through long-term progression. Phantom Brigade features permanent unlocks between procedural campaigns.
If your entire battalion falls in battle, you can enlist new recruits and retry the campaign – battling across randomized sectors in an interstellar warzone.
Successfully extracted pilots retain their veterans and earned skills to re-enlist for your next campaign, bringing their priceless experience. Salvaged components can also be reused to field more advanced mechs in subsequent runs.
Through multiple campaigns you progressively assemble a more powerful squad to tackle the Specters, an ominous AI threat looming beyond the stars. With each attempt, you stand a greater chance of victory. Much like classic roguelike games, progression continues across multiple richly varied campaigns.
Combined together, these three gameplay pillars in customization, tactical combat, and metagame progression create Phantom Brigade’s unique mechanical identity. This innovating blending of genres is what sets Phantom Brigade apart as an exceptionally compelling mech title for turn-based tactics devotees.
Procedurally Generated Maps and Missions
One of Phantom Brigade’s most exciting features is its use of procedural generation to create fresh turn-based battlefields and objectives for every new campaign.
Each procedurally built map incorporates complex terrain like:
- City ruins
- Industrial zones
- Desert canyons
- Alien hives
- Space stations
Random elements include meaningful tactical considerations like:
- High ground
- Choke points
- Flanking routes
- Turrets
- Civilian buildings
- Environmental hazards
You’ll need to analyze battlefield conditions to smartly position your squad. Seizing a commanding ridge lets artillery mechs rain fire on enemies below. Choke points become treacherous if alien hordes flank around. Carefully shepherding civilians to safe evacuation points might unlock powerups from grateful communities.
Battlefield goals are also procedurally generated, requiring dynamic strategies to achieve victory conditions like:
- Assassinating enemy VIP targets
- Sabotaging facilities
- Extracting allied operatives or resources
- Clearing hive infestations
- Securing tactical locations against waves of foes
Rather than scripted scenarios, Phantom Brigade leverages procedural maps and objectives to create novel challenges every time. With no two battles ever the same, it massively increases replay ability and prevents repetitive mission design.
Procedural maps force creative decision making, as memorized strategies won’t apply. You’ll need to expertly assess hazards and opportunities to guide your squad through the fog of war. Success goes to commanders who adeptly combine arms to match any randomized battlefield’s demands.
This blend of tactical combat and unpredictable variety delivers tremendous replay value for turn-based devotees eager to test their improvisational abilities. If randomly generated maps ever start to feel too familiar, developers Brace Yourself Games can easily expand variability through post-launch content drops.
Ultimately, it allows Phantom Brigade to deliver almost limitless battlefield environments to conquer alongside your customizable mechs! This paired combination should prove powerfully compelling.
The Art Style and Setting Help Bring Phantom Brigade to Life
While innovative gameplay sits at the core of Phantom Brigade’s appeal, its art style and sci-fi setting further immerse players into commanding their mechanized legions.
Retro Pixel Art Visuals Enriched With Modern Lighting
Phantom Brigade features a stylized retro pixel art style, using a limited sprite-based palette to evoke nostalgia for tactical games of the 16-bit era.
But while using simpler base visuals, the game leverages modern lighting techniques like normal maps and shadows. This hybrid approach blends old school appeal with atmospheric depth and details.
The pixel landscapes feel alive with shifting sun rays and crawling shadows that react to emitted muzzle flashes, explosions, and mech floodlights. Damage also visibly scars environments like burned terrain and collapsed buildings emphasizing the combat’s high stakes.
Veteran mechs amass battle honors, with armor accumulating dings, scorch marks, and battle standards from surviving their numerous campaigns. It’s a great example of showing rather than telling stories through each unit’s distinct visual wear.
Key Art Style Elements:
- Pixel art sprites harken back to 16-bit classics
- Dynamic lighting creates modern atmosphere
- Destructible environments show tangible damage
- Mech appearances tell veteran units’ stories
This smart blending of retro and modern aesthetics combines nostalgic familiarity with an atmospheric battlefield to heighten Phantom Brigade’s overall immersion.
Exploring Sci-Fi Settings from Cities to Space Hulks
Phantom Brigade casts players as futuristic mech commanders exploring varied science fiction environs. These include:
| Settings | Environment Details |
|---|---|
| Megacities | Towering skyscrapers, labyrinthine streets, civilians |
| Mars Colonies | Terraformed red desert, sandstorms, mining facilities |
| Space Hulks | Decrepit cosmic wrecks, zero-G, strange artifacts |
| Alien Hives | Bioluminescent fauna, acidic pools, sinister architecture |
This diversity of locations provides unique ambience and tactical considerations. For example, city maps feature destructible buildings and civilian evacuation goals while space hulks contain looping zero-G corridors and drifting debris hazards.
Expanding the universe through DLC campaigns or mod support could incorporate even more sci-fi settings. Imagine battling through Epsilon Eridanus’s sulfurous volcanic craters or the subterranean ice tunnels of Triton!
This blend of sci-fi tropes from cyberpunk cities to drifting derelict spacecraft anchors the tactics in an immersive speculative future. Battling across these vivid locales strengthens the fantasy of commanding a mechanized army on alien worlds or installing mech garrisons to protect human colonies across the stars.
The synergy between Phantom Brigade’s tactical systems and sci-fi setting help elevate and enrich the experience of piloting your customized heavy metal squadrons to hold the line against extraterrestrial threats!
Phantom Brigade’s Development Journey and Future Roadmap
Phantom Brigade has been passionately developed over the past several years by indie studio Brace Yourself Games. Now nearing completion, there’s an exciting roadmap planned for launch and beyond!
From Prototype to Early Access Launch
Originally prototyped in 2017, Phantom Brigade quickly shaped into a unique blend of customizing a mech squad and leading them in tactical turn-based battles across roguelike campaigns.
But rather than launch too early via crowdfunding, the developers focused on first realizing this core vision to an exemplary degree of polish and depth.
This patience paid off with [extremely positive reactions] from preview testers, confirming the depth of Phantom Brigade’s interlocking gameplay systems.
In 2022, with a firm foundation established, Phantom Brigade transitioned onto Steam Early Access allowing players to join development in shaping the final product.
Content Roadmap: Single player Focus to Launch and Beyond
While more content is planned long term, Brace Yourself Games is smartly prioritizing remaining polishing and features for a complete single player campaign at launch including:
- Deeper pilot progression systems
- Evolving enemy factions
- Varied mission objectives
- Final story beats and endings
- Performance optimizations
- Mod support tools
Post-launch DLC could potentially expand the universe with elements like new game+ mode, multiplayer, VR support, or even single player story campaigns taking players to new star systems under imminent threat from the Specters AI hivemind.
But by focusing efforts on delivering a complete single player package first, Brace Yourself aims to stick the landing and avoid overpromising too many disparate features creeping beyond initial scope. This restraint should hopefully culminate in an exemplary single player product ready for Modder community expansion!
For turn-based tactics fans eager for some sci-fi mech battling, Phantom Brigade’s roadmap looks promising both for its imminent launch and future potential!
An Innovative New Mech Game
With its flexible mech customization, demanding combat, and roguelike progression, Phantom Brigade carves out a unique space in the turn-based tactics genre. If you crave sci-fi battles featuring squads of customizable giant robots, Phantom Brigade delivers an innovative take that will put your tactical skills to the test.
You can Wishlist Phantom Brigade now on [Steam] ahead of its early access launch. For more on Phantom Brigade’s development, check the devs’ updates on the [Phantom Brigade website].