Brace Yourself Games

I’m still not entirely sure if I’m playing Phantom Brigade right. According to its internal clock, battles usually take less than a minute. That time is divided into five-second chunks during which you’re shown what the enemy will do, and must use that to coordinate your own mechs, placing their orders on a visible timeline. You finish your turn by hitting a button that makes everyone go at once for a few explosive moments. In practice, behind those few seconds are an eternity of theorising, testing, and tweaking. There’s probably a metaphor in there somewhere about writing, video editing, or…