I lean up against the door, using my scanner to determine who or what might be waiting for me on the other side. I pull out my plan of the building - this is definitely where the hostage is being kept, but I can't tell how many goons might be guarding them. I open the door ajar - just enough to let a silver of light into the room, but not enough to attract any attention - and lob in a flashbang, hoping it'll buy me enough time to save the hostage.
All of this happens from a top-down perspective, because Phantom Squad opts to let you experience its co-op tactical shooter gameplay in a manner reminiscent of Hotline Miami. Melee enemies rush towards you, making them relatively easy to pick off in your special ops gear, but those armed with guns will carefully seek you out, so it's up to you to find a shot before they can spot you.
Doing so is a manner of using sightlines to your advantage. Phantom Squad is very keen to let you play with shadows, sneaking around enemies' lines of sight, or simply hiding behind a door and picking them off with a silenced weapon as they run past you. The AI might not be the sharpest I've ever experienced, but it's relatively rare that it'll lose the run of itself, and it's good at delivering on its own objective if it can - I lost a hostage several times after a wayward kill attracted the attention of a guard, or even just by being spotted through a window.
All that means that you'll want to take advantage of Phantom Squad's planning screen. At any time, you can zoom out to get a blueprint-level look at your surroundings, marked with important details including the rough locations of hostages or valuable objects that you need to try and protect. What makes this quick glance at the map more interesting, however, is the fact that you can draw on it, issuing instructions and details in real-time that can be shared with your team.
That's because Phantom Squad is really designed as a co-op experience. You can absolutely play it yourself (you're even given a couple of bonus self-revives in case you get knocked down without anyone around to help you out), but the magic is clearly in getting a crack team around you. The multiplayer aspect stems from your loadout, where different players can pick different gear and weapons, through planning, where it's your job to determine your approach, and into the game itself. Of course, all that pre-mission work is important, but even the best-laid plans are likely to fall apart in the arena of online co-op. A single missed shot can bring the entire thing crashing down around you, and it's then up to you to adapt on the fly.
That's true from the very start of the very first mission. Literally titled 'Die Hard', you're dropped on the top of a skyscraper and tasked with fighting your way down, making sure to keep as many hostages as possible alive. That means no stray steps or stray bullets, because your enemies have an itchy trigger finger, and four players are definitely worse than one when it comes to giving them an excuse to use it. And when one misstep can be the difference between a flawless mission and a spectacular failure, you can be fairly sure that a few lines scrawled on a shared map aren't likely to help your squadmates keep their heads. Phantom Squad is just as much a co-op heist game as it is a leadership challenge, so you'd better hope that one of you is up to the task.
I carved through my first dangerously addictive Steam Next Fest demo with the power of 'shotgun magic' in this mystical twist on Hotline Miami.
