Phantom Doctrine

The game is divided between global strategy management elements, intelligence analysis, and tactical missions. There is also an Extended Campaign mode unlocked after beating the game once, with a more complex story and additional missions.

Here the player manages resources, can build and upgrade facilities, hire new agents or assign agents to perform different tasks. Agents can craft items, forge money, undergo training, heal in the infirmary, or analyze obtained intel. Later facilities give options such as monitoring enemy radio communications and brainwashing captured enemy agents.

Set in 1983, Phantom Doctrine takes place in an alternative Cold War where brainwashing is a real danger and secret organizations control the world. The player-character is a former agent of the CIA, KGB or Mossad who learns of a global conspiracy called "The Beholder Initiative".

Beholder is working on "Project Iceberg", a plot to achieve world domination. Project Iceberg will use computers to decrypt and alter government communications in real time, making societal manipulation effortless. The player-character forms a team called "The Cabal" in order to fight Beholder. The Cabal recruits members, pursues leads and foils various Beholder projects, while being hunted by Beholder in turn.

Mike Epstein from IGN enjoyed feeling "like a genuine spymaster". He considered "weighing the risks and rewards" of the player's actions exciting, however he finds investigating intelligence provided by informants "somewhat less exciting". He both appreciates information-gathering in the game and finds it the game's weakest component. He believes good preparation for the mission gives satisfaction. The IGN reviewer agrees that the game creates "a paranoid, desperate experience which feels pitch-perfect for a spy game."

GameSpot reviewer also praises the feeling of paranoia in the game: "Tension and suspicion are ingrained throughout Phantom Doctrine to great effect. Its isometric turn-based combat system is rewardingly complex, steeped with the feeling of paranoia, where every variable decision and tactic needs to be carefully considered".