gumi Inc’s Phantom of the Kill isn’t your typical mobile game, with graphics that are above the smart phone and tablet average and character designs that jump out so much even the most cynical of my artist friends remark ‘I’m really digging these characters.’ In this strategy RPG, which has already debuted in Japan and is working towards a Western release, you play as ‘Battle Princesses;” legendary weapons from real world mythologies that take human form and duke it out on grid based battlefields.
As my gracious host shows me the game on New York Comic-Con’s showroom floor it’s hard not to draw some instant parallels to titles like Shining Force, Tactics Ogre and perhaps most markedly, Fire Emblem. You have to move your units across a grid, you control pre-defined story characters (you can’t roll your own, just roll for stats you may like, though you do get options to customize and upgrade) who can travel across the maps either on foot or with the help of grounded or flying mounts. There’s even a triangulate system of attack with a Rock, Paper, Scissors type priority that determines which weapon type fares best against the other.
While it’s usually cause to sweat over a game repeating the steps of another well known title Phantom of the Kill has innovations going for it that makes it feel unique and exciting. First it’s one of the few games of its kind for tablets and smart phones. For those constantly complaining that Nintendo won’t release their games on the iPhone, Phantom’s Fire Emblem-esque gameplay is shaping up to be a pretty strong place to go for your fix.
Second, Phantom of the Kill breaks itself from the mold of other Strategy RPGs enough that you’re in for an entirely new kind of gameplay challenge. In addition to the bread and butter of combat, that would be the weapons priority system involving swords, axes and lances, there are three additional class types, healers, gun mages and archers that you can use to roll across the battlefield. These unique Phantom of the Kill classes aid in breaking up the flow of battle a bit giving you a chance to get a jump on your opponent. Or vice versa. It’s a small but important step in setting this game apart from its relatives and crafting a presence all its own.
After being shown the game a bit I was allowed to play. The game was very responsive to my touch commands and I was told what little lag and loading I was experiencing, and I have to admit it wasn’t much, would be fixed come the Western release. After watching one of my units take a hefty amount of damage I was kindly moved aside, and sheepishly watched as my healer was moved up the field and used to patch my soldier. Healers have to do damage to themselves in order to heal their allies, same as Gun Mages have to suffer self inflicted damage to attack and buff. It’s small touches like this that add dimension to the strategy and planning required in playing this game. It’s not as simple as telling myself “Well I need to go here and heal next turn.” It had me asking who, exactly, was the most important member of my army and who deserved a bit more attention and care than my other units.
You’ll be able to level up your units by combining them with other, weaker units. It’s a bit reminiscent of Persona’s crafting system or Disgaea’s ability to merge monsters on the field, only in this game your mixing and matching machinations have a direct impact on the types of soldiers you’ll bring into battle. You can also roll for stronger or slightly transformed versions of your characters, perhaps a mounted Mljonir to fly over rocky terrain. Or try your hand at getting newer, stronger, rarer units to add to your army. I didn’t really get to play much with the custom options but it seems promising. While I often personally prefer rolling my own units from scratch in these titles there are enough chances for custom tailoring in Phantom of the Kill that I can create an army that carries my ‘mark.’ Like most of the other systems in this game it also sounds as if Phantom of the Kill will operate on a deeper level than being pre-assigned a character and shooed off into the world.
Once my time with the demo concluded I got to chat with the game’s executive producer Jun Imaizumi. While he worked on the game with a keen knowledge geared towards industry presence and public marketability, it was clear this game was his baby. He started out as one man living with the idea of these Battle Princesses, hired an illustrator to bring his ladies to life, and the game began to take shape from there. Now he has a team of roughly 50 people working on the Japanese version, with more added for localization and tweaks to the Western version. It’s not your typical ‘3 guys in a garage working on an app.’ It sounds as though Mr. Imaizumi and the team are dedicated to constantly updating the game with patches and DLC, a type of support that’s important to the increasing presence of downloadable titles.
What really got me to perk up however was Mr. Imaizumi’s vision for the game. He’s aware of the ‘Moe’ market that permeates Japan’s anime culture, this trend towards cutesy, blob like characters who go on romantic high school adventures. However he grew up entertained by such titles as Ghost in the Shell, Akira and Evangelion. The entire team was tight lipped as to the story of Phantom of the Kill, I know the game is roughly split between a medieval fantasy world and a post apocalyptic mechanical world and they tease me that the two will intersect in ‘some way.’ I’m also told to coincide with the Western release, Phantom of the Kill for the first time will be seeing male units that play a major role in the narrative. While I wasn’t able to glean much about the tale we’re in for, Mr. Imaizumi’s favor towards this older brand of anime is readily apparent in the game’s character designs.
Yes there are a few ‘kawaii’ girls I would immediately describe as ‘moe’, but more often than not the characters recalled the tough chick designs of Ghost in the Shell’s Major Makoto or Evangelion’s Asuka Langley whatever-her-last-name-is-now. In fact the legend Mamoru Oshii, director of Ghost in the Shell, is serving as editorial supervisor for the game’s opening cinematic. The fact the characters derive influences from the Chinese, Japanese, Nordic and Indian weapons they are based on is reflected well in their designs. Tyrfing, the magic sword of Norse myth for example, manifests as a woman wearing the same silver and gold gilded armor as the blade she’s wielding. Another Norse weapon, Lævateinn (pictured above) looks as though her blade is an extension of her person and she an extension of the blade. It’s these small attentions to detail that make me more excited for it than I was say, Operation: Abyss, which similarly had characters based on historic figures that really looked nothing like said figures. Phantom of the Kill brings some stylistic awareness that has been lacking in the RPG genre for awhile and, at least for me, places it ahead in the race.
Phantom of the Kill has me excited. This is the first time I can say this about any iOS title that’s existed in, well, forever. I’m told the game is going to be free to play, though there is a real money exchange program planned. For the time being it mostly sounds like financial exchanges will be relegated to purchasing new, randomized characters. That said what I saw in terms of the game and their efforts in designing the characters this is a title I can honestly look forward to playing. It’s clear this is more than a half-hearted effort, as we sometimes get from indie teams looking to make a quick buck on the Apple Store or lazy ports of titles with a strong console and handheld presence. See: Square Enix. Phantom of the Kill has a dedicated team, an executive producer who has been living with this story for some time, and a play style that’s familiar yet just different enough it doesn’t feel as though it’s re-treading acrid ground. This looks like something I can really dig into on my iPhone, and I can’t wait to see what they have planned for Phantom of the Kill in the future.
