Phantom Doctrine

Screw all the nay-sayers - is this game the same engine/gameplay as XCom 2? Kinda. IS it XCom 2? No, so don't treat it that way. Y'all are gonna do to this game what was done to Alpha Protocol and sink spy thrillers for all of us - comparing that one to Mass Effect, or this one to XCom, because you can't be happy with something different, killed it. I bought this for $3 on sale and had never heard of it, and I'm loving it!

The gameplay is pretty decent for an isometric, turn-based game, and NOT exactly XCom 2 probably to avoid legal dispute with Firaxis; it IS that close in the game combat environment, tho. You're a spy, you're meant to sneak around and have patience in the infiltration portions. The story is coherent and adds some cool little tidbits of real-world espionage and history into the mix. You spend a lot of time making decisions instead of in all-out combat with every pop-up event - Welcome to what espionage and recon actually is. This isn't a COD free-for-all, you're meant to stay hidden and get out of a situation without combat if possible.

Nobody does these kinds of games. I really wish more did. Expect a cerebral, story-driven experience. Does it have quirks and bugs like a lot of reviews say? Yep. All games do. Are they prevalent and game-breaking? Not that I've experienced after fixing the CTD issue on startup by disabling internet access. Do the devs explain every little game mechanic prior to gameplay? Nope - that's half the realism with being a spy; being thrown into an unknown situation and figuring it out without being caught and killed. Is it AAA? Have you ever heard of Good Shepard Entertainment?... For an indie, this is phenomenal work.

Great game overall! I'll definitely be looking forward to the announced sequel!

A Game with potential, but many letdowns and missed opportunities.
I had 2 playthroughs, 1 on easy as CIA and one on Medium as Mossad . While i had a good enough time on the first playthrough to start the second, the second "extended" one was quite the dissapointment and i cannot recommend going for a second playthrough for the things you "missed"
The bones of the gameplay are solid but are hampered in many aspects. While the mechanics work pretty fine, for the first 2/3rds of the game your agents wont have enough AP/FP (Action Points and Fire Points) to actually utilise a lot of mechanics to it's potential or intention, and you need a guide for the body engineering to reach those milestones. The stealth works well enough, but become a bit tedious, the game pushes you to play loud (you get 50% xp on stealth kills, so if you focus on stealth all your agents will be underleveled) and that too works reasonably well if you adapt to the setting. "Frontal assaults" usually end up being a well setup ambush to take out half the enemies on a map, then mop the rest up on the next turn, rush to objectives and exfiltrate before reinforcements arrive.
The Enemy AI did not seem to change between difficulties, the enemies just got more hp and damage, often leaving enemies with 3-10 hp left, which is incredibly frustrating if you dont have more than one FP, and didnt really add much to my normal difficulty playthrough either in forms of challenge nor fun. No mission has more than 9-10 enemies, 3-5 of which are usually just absolute trashmobs + reinforcements, which also doesnt really give you the feeling of storming a base of anything. The weapons are balanced in a weird way, where there is always half of the available inventory which is straight up useless or hopelessly outclassed, but which class of weapons this is changes as the game progresses ( Shotguns and pistols are great in the beginning, Shotguns, Snipers and SMG in the midgame, and Assault Rifles in the Lategame, LMGs are always useless)
The story itself is intruiging on the first playthrough until you realize everything is completely scripted through as it has to align with historical events and reach the quite unsatisfying ending. All story is strictly communicated through brief voicelines during the mission and are at times quite easy to miss, not that you are missing a lot as most of the times it is just another breadcrumb. Even in the end the big unbelievable threat you have to stop to save the world lacks any sense of urgency or drama as it is just another mission where you push a button on a terminal. The "extended" playthrough seemed to add exactly one 5-10 minute mission in the very end to clear up the REAL mastermind behind Beholder, and with as little as the story actually changes you figure out halfway through the second playthrough anyways who it is.
The additional faction you unlock after the first playthrough Mossad , has no real unique spin or perspective, nor uniqute mechanics to add to the game. It baits you early with plotpoints about a chemical weapon attack on Isreal but seems to forget about that plot halfway through. It also dangles hunting down infamous nazi Jospeh Mengele in your face, but he ends up just standing around motionless in a big open room in a mission as a side objective with no real buildup and exactly 3 lines of dialog after you kill him, and that is basically all the story missions in a nutshell.
The Information gathering system is interesting the first couple of times, but quickly becomes an unbearable chore. While the files have 8-10 pieces of intel it is fine i guess, but it will later load you with 15-20 pieces of intel, each with red herrings on them, and expect you to do DOZENS of them, and character progression is locked behind them in the form of body engineering recipies. Also you will notice on your 3rd File or so that all the actual pieces of intel are completely identical, with random blacked out parts and names switched, so you wont get any additional lore from them either. And often times you will just spend your time micromanaging 30 agents since you can't actually put actions in a queue
If you enjoy the tactical approach and setting you will have fun with 75% of one playthrough and its worth picking up on sale. Just dont expect anything but a strictly linear story with a handful of story mission and a ton of random filler. Replayabilty is pretty much 0 in my opinion, so dont get baited into the second playthrough iif the first left you slightly dissapointed, that feeling wont go away. All in all it is not enough to give a thumbs down in my opinion, but it could have been so much more!

It brings the cool, restrained style of Cold War espionage to a turn-based tactics game. Its real weapon, though, is not the gun but the intelligence you gather. More than flashy action, its real appeal lies in piecing together clues and making sense of that intelligence, a quiet, methodical thrill that lingers.

I'm going to say recommended, but don't draw too many conclusions. The game is pretty flawed. It's clear they didn't quite get to make what they had in mind, and so basically every aspect of the game is left short. But, the game has some interesting systems. Wish someone made a better version of this idea. Also, the game is nowhere near worth 40€. Get it for maybe 10 and you won't feel ripped off.
Basic flow is like this: Open world map, pass time, get notification of some event, send people, discover enemy activity, start mission, get intel, play a word-matching minigame to solve intel.
The missions are solved non-combat first and foremost. You are meant to stealth your way. You can take out enemies in melee silently. If you trigger combat, you get infinite reinforcements for most missions. The missions are fun for a while, but they quickly get very repetitive. The game really doesn't want you to take your time. Instead, you should simply try to rush through the campaign as quickly as possible to prevent the grind from settling in.
The opposition has their own agents, and the game tries to present the oppositions as some sort of organic organization and that taking out their agents is a good thing for you. I didn't see any difference. In the beginning I tried taking out the enemies, later I couldn't care less anymore, and there was just no change at all. The AI simply sprouts their agents up from nowhere. The game tells you the AI needs time to train their agents; yet, enemy agents still matched my levels always, and never outmatched me either.
Same goes for enemy bases. You take out one, another is almost immediately spawned. Sometimes as mission rewards you get locations for enemy bases that didn't even exist before you got the reward.
You get a facility to interrogate and brainwash enemy agents. You can make them turn to your side if met on missions, make them destroy enemy bases when they get there etc., but there's no point. The bases they destroy are ones on the other side of the world you didn't even know exist and that had no effect on you at all, and as mentioned, a new base is simply created immediately anyway. I kind of feel like the bases in actuality don't even exist.
The practical effect of enemy bases is losing money. Either they directly make you lose money, or they generate "danger" which forces you to eventually relocate your base, which costs money. This can be annoying, as money is not abundant, and a good way of making money is doing those repetitive missions.
As mentioned, you solve secret files in a word-matching minigame. You get documents with parts redacted and codenames for people and places, and need to match codenames to real identities. It's fun. You read the lore and try to figure out what's what, until... You realize none of it matters at all. The outcome of solving something has nothing to do with what will happen after. The documents are mostly generated: pre-written and codenames replaced, so they don't form any coherent whole either.
This is where the game lost it the most, in my opinion. It would've been cool if you had one giant corkboard where you piece together the conspiracy little by little. Instead, the core theme-aligned mechanic is completely pointless.
The best way to finish missions is by stealth, and this is what you'll be doing, until the game decides you've had enough stealth and forces you into combat. One of these, and in fact the most difficult mission in the game, comes quite early in the game.
Luckily, though, losing a mission doesn't really have any consequences. Mostly your people come back to you, or you might have to get them from enemy bases. The downside is supposed to be that they might be enemy spies. Apparently this might mean they turn on you on missions once combat starts, or they might generate danger. I frankly did not see either of these happening a single time. Also, it won't be long before you get that brainwashing facility of yours, and you can brainwash your people to forget about their bad thoughts.
You can get new facilities for you base, but none of them really make any difference. The only ones you want are things that make money and things that can get more HP for you agents. HP is the most important stat, because if your HP matches the enemy's, you can do the melee KO attack which doesn't force you into combat.
All in all, it a fun game for a while, with a lot of systems that seem completely pointless on a practical game-mechanics level, and eventually you start feeling like they are there only for busy-work.

Great TBS, this one slipped right by me, but even in 2026 still worth picking up if you like a good tactical turn based game. The CIA/KGB spy twist makes it a true standout in the genre.

Phantom Doctrine is one of the most underrated strategy games out there. If you’ve ever played XCOM and loved the tense, turn-based battles, this game takes that formula and gives it a cool Cold War spy twist. Instead of fighting aliens, you’re running a secret spy agency, pulling off covert operations, and dealing with conspiracies straight out of a thriller.
The espionage theme is what makes it stand out. Your agents aren’t just soldiers—they’re spies. You can disguise them, infiltrate enemy compounds, and even brainwash captured enemies to turn them into double agents. Missions aren’t only about brute force; you can sneak around, use silenced weapons, and escape without triggering alarms. That variety makes the gameplay feel fresh compared to XCOM’s more combat-focused style.
The weapon variety is another highlight. You’ve got everything from pistols and submachine guns to sniper rifles and experimental gadgets. Because missions can play out in so many ways, picking the right gear for your agents really matters. Going in quiet with suppressed weapons feels completely different from kicking down doors with heavy firepower.
On top of that, you get to choose between three different spy agencies at the start: the CIA, KGB, or Mossad-inspired group. Each one gives you a different flavor and background for your campaign, which adds a ton of replay value. Combined with the branching storylines, it really feels like your spy story every time you play.
Compared to XCOM, Phantom Doctrine is less about alien tech and sci-fi spectacle and more about tension, deception, and strategy. Both games scratch that tactical itch, but Phantom Doctrine shines because of its atmosphere, spy mechanics, and the constant paranoia of not knowing who you can trust.
Verdict: If you love turn-based tactics and want something with espionage, deception, and tons of replay value, Phantom Doctrine is easily one of the best games in the genre. It takes what XCOM does well and adds a layer of Cold War spy drama that makes it unforgettable.
Second part when? I am waiting

Honestly don't understand the mixed reception.
Game's complete and it is what it is. It's different. It's story-focused and driven. It's smooth. It functions well on the hardest difficulty, and I'm doing Iron Man on the first go. Seems rather forgiving outside of combat, not so much inside. Nice visual aesthetics, sound... eh.
It provides a challenge (at least in the first 10 hours) but had been a bit frustrating figuring out some of the mechanics (skipped the tutorial, that was probably a mistake). Fortunately, just Quitting to Main Menu during a movement allows the reset of the turn to undo those misunderstandings. I did have to restart the campaign once.
I'm not a spy-guy so I can't really comment on the story/setting itself.
I think it's a well put together game though that didn't deserve the fate it got - and had an impact on why I put it off for so long. Only picked it up due to being -90%, but it's worth more than that... :(