History VideoGame / PhantomDoctrine

* FinalDeath:
** Subverted with Cabal agents. Provided they don't bleed out before the mission ends, they are considered "captured" and return after a period of absence or rescue from a Beholder cell. They only have 1 HP so require extensive healing in the infirmary and - unless their loyalty has been earned - have possibly been programmed as Beholder sleeper agents and [[FaceHeelTurn will turn on the player in combat]].
** Played straight with agents that aren't evacuated or stabilised before they bleed out.
** As a FinalDeathMode, the game includes an ironman option.

** There are no silenced weapons available, so the only option for stealth is to use takedowns. This means getting up close and potentially being spotted by a patrolling guard, camera or civilian.

** A subplot revolves around a mole in the Cabal named [[spoiler: Undertow]] and the subsequent hunt for them. This includes ChooseYourOwnAdventure scenarios for a number of agents.

* {{Gamebook}}: Similar to ''VideoGame/HardWest'', the player is sometimes presented with a situation and given several options to choose from. These typically involve Cabal agents and personal agendas. Consequences can be positive or negative, and are not immediately clear. Choose right, and the agent will become loyal and immune to enemy influence. Play it wrong and they will leave the Cabal and become a Beholder agent. The results of given choices appear to remain the same with no randomisation. Since there are limited scenarios, this is an easy way to gain loyal agents.

* ChooseYourOwnAdventure: Similar to ''VideoGame/HardWest'', the player is sometimes presented with a situation and given several options to choose from. These typically involve Cabal agents and personal agendas. Consequences can be positive or negative, and are not immediately clear. Choose right, and the agent will become loyal and immune to enemy influence. Play it wrong and they will leave the Cabal and become a Beholder agent. The results of given choices appear to remain the same with no randomisation. Since there are limited scenarios, this is an easy way to gain loyal agents.

* DifficultySpike: The first chapter covers a particular region of the world with cities relatively close together. As the game progresses, the map expands and incidents can occur on multiple continents, making it more difficult to respond in time. Enemy units get tougher and have more dangerous abilities. The Cabal do get upgrades of their own, but the game becomes noticeably harder in later chapters.

** The EIW rifle is the British EM-2. It passed military trials, but was not adopted because it was incompatible with the 7.62mm NATO round.

Galaktus Games launched a Website/{{Kickstarter}} in [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/galaktusgames/phantom-doctrine-espionage-board-game 2020 for]] ''Phantom Doctrine - Espionage Board Game''.

** ID photographs, fake citizenships, and agents' appearance customization are purely cosmetic and haven't any effect on the agent's heat. Things that would be highly suspicious in real life (ethnicity which would be very rare or nonexistent in their country[[note]]e.g. a black person pretending to be Japanese or Soviet[[/note]], face which doesn't look like the ID photograph at all, ID photograph and ingame model having ''a different ethnicity'', etc.) are completely ignored by the AI. Likewise, some weird customization options (non black men with an Afro haircut, eyepatches, pink sunglasses, bald women, jeans and a suit jacket worn together, female agents wearing a hijab in missions set in a place with no Muslim population, etc.) have no effect ingame, while doing so in real life would make the agents more noticeable.

An espionage thriller set in the 1980s during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, players take control of [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction a rogue cell codenamed Cabal]] and must unravel an [[GovernmentConspiracy international conspiracy]] involving world governments and leaders.

* BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood: The "Brainwashing" option in the MK Ultra facility (likely your first) is more technically brain-''cleansing'', as it removes all hidden control phrases from an agent, at the risk of destroying some of their perks. Later on, when you do get the control phrase technology from Beholder, the first target the main character decides to use it on is Tai Pan, just so he'll be more likely to tell you the truth and less likely to stab you in the back (again).

** There are no silenced weapons available, so the only option for stealth is to use takedowns. This means getting up close and potenitally being spotted by a patrolling guard, camera or civilian.

*** Guards have zero awareness in infilitration mode, but agents begin at full awareness. This makes them more likely to dodge incoming shots or take reduced damage.

* EnemyCivilWar: The opening cutscene starts with Valhalla and his right-hand woman [[spoiler:Cardinal]] usurping the control of Beholder Initiative by killing its previous CEO. Later dossiers in the extended campaign also revealed that [[spoiler:Beholder Initiative under Valhalla's leadership is a RenegadeSplinterFaction of [[BiggerBad the Komplex]], who's using the Cabal as pawns to eliminiate Valhalla for them while they watched from the shadows. And then there's [[WildCard Tai-Pan]] who's been orchestrating everything that leads to Valhalla's downfall so he can usurp his position.]]

** Played straight with agents that aren't evacuated or stabilised before theyd bleed out.

** ID photographs, fake citizenships, and agents' appearance customization are purely cosmetic and haven't any effect on the agent's heat. Things that would be highly suspicious in real life (ethnicity which would be very rare or inexistent in their country[[note]]e.g. a black person pretending to be Japanese or Soviet[[/note]], face which doesn't look like the ID photograph at all, ID photograph and ingame model having ''a different ethnicity'', etc.) are completely ignored by the AI. Likewise, some weird customization options (non black men with an Afro haircut, eyepatches, pink sunglasses, bald women, jeans pants and a suit jacket worn together, female agents wearing a hijab in missions set in a place with no muslim population, etc.) have no effect ingame, while doing so in real life would make the agents more noticeable.

* OptionalStealth: Most missions start in infilitration mode. During this phase enemy forces and civilians will not react to Cabal agents unless they enter restricted areas, perform suspicious actions or wear conspicuous clothes. If discovered, an alarm is activated, and the enemy will continually send in reinforcements. It's therefore ''highly advantageous'' to remain in stealth as long as possible, and a good idea to spend time scouting an area first.

* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish: The StringTheory minigame has you match codenames with real people, organizations or locations found in secret documents throughout the game. These codenames are randomly picked by the game from a finite and somewhat short list. While piecing together completely different cases, you'll find that the various organizations the files belong to keep reusing codenames like "Monoxides" or "Odd tesseracts", while refering to completely different entities.

* TargetSpotter: A mission support option - the only one initally available - is to assign an agent as a spotter, thus providing the ability to remove the fog of war around a specified area provided the spotter has line of sight.

** Knocking civilians out doesn't grant XP. Eliminating too much civilians result in alerting the enemy agents onsite. Dead civilians result in an increase of danger.

* WhyAmITicking: With the [[spoiler:MKULTRA]] facility it's possible to implant bombs within enemy agents, turning them into unwitting suicide bombers when they return to their home cell.
* WigDressAccent: If tactical recon is completed prior to a mission, agents can wear disguises. This has drawbacks: weapons are restricted to pistols, revolvers and sub machine guns, and no support items can be equipped. However the agent can enter restricted areas without immediately raising the alarm if spotted. Equipping a disguise changes the outfit to something less conspicious [[JanitorImpersonationInfiltration like a construction worker]].

* MissionControlsOffItsMeds: [[spoiler:In the mission where you go to the warehouse in Glasgow that supposedly contained the MacGuffin you wanted, it turns out to be an ambush set by your handler (Fender/Cyclone/Deliliah) who's a Beholder Initiative sleeper agent, who then cuts transmission with you, injuring Omikron and other agents at the base before making their escape]].

* MissionControlsOffTheMeds: [[spoiler:In the mission where you go to the warehouse in Glasgow that supposedly contained the MacGuffin you wanted, it turns out to be an ambush set by your handler (Fender/Cyclone/Deliliah) who's a Beholder Initiative sleeper agent, who then cuts transmission with you, injuring Omikron and other agents at the base before making their escape]].

* AlwaysNight: All missions in the game take place during a rainy night no matter what location or time zone the mission takes place. The only exceptions are the [[spoiler:final missions in both normal and extended campaigns. The assault on Project Iceberg base took place indoors but it is implied that the mission takes place concurrent with the US invasion of Grenada which is most likely taking place during daytime, while the assault on Tai-Pan's restaurant is explicitly shown to be taking place during the day (although the evac vehicle cutscenes are still shown in a rainy night atmosphere for some reason).]]

** While the game advices to kill (or capture ''then'' kill) enemy agents each time you encounter them, buildind the [[spoiler: the MK-ULTRA facility]] allows to release agents after interrogation; of course, they go back to their employer. Since Beholder Initiative progressively replaces their losses with unidentified agents, releasing live agents means you're able to keep track of agents' locations and identities longer. [[ButtMonkey There's also the amusing possibility of capturing, interrogating, and releasing the same guy, again and again.]]

* ArtificialStupidity: Closed doors block AI line of sight, even when someone goes normally through them (while the game plays an animation of the door being opened then immediately closed). If one of your agents enters a restricted area (or leaves one), mooks located outside of said restricted area won't react, even if the door itself is in their visual field, as long as the agents remained unseen while inside the restricted area.

* TheMenInBlack: The Cabal can deliberately invoke this image after the forgery is unlocked. Most customization averts this, which is TruthInTelevision. If you can see a CIA agent or Secret Service official in a sharp black suit, there's almost certainly four or five of his coworkers dressed more like you than him.

** In some missions this is guaranteed to occur, as completing a certain objective triggers an alert by "Force Majeure". Even if all enemies have been taken out stealthily before that, reinforcements will be called in.