Everything I’d read about Phantom Doctrine excited me. Unravelling Cold War conspiracies in a spy-flavoured XCOM was an enthralling elevator pitch, and the details seemed to back up that promise. Yes, you can brainwash enemy agents and yes, your enemy can do the same. Yes, there’s an emphasis on stealth and deception, employed on both a strategic management layer and through tactical turn-based missions that don’t always devolve into firefights. Yes, part of the game involves cracking case files to investigate sinister threats.
Is any of that actually any fun? Nope.