The embargo is just on reviews. As far as I know, I can talk freely.
And, yes, that’s currently the biggest hurdle. I’ve played enough that I can kind of see what they’re doing and I’m intrigued. It has the potential to bring to the standard tactical X-Commy formula a lot more than the simple “shoot bad guys” gameplay.
I am a bit concerned that the decisions you make when leveling up aren’t very well thought out. It seems like there’s a bunch of relatively inconsequential stuff where there should be cool skills. For instance, if you choose to make a character a Vietnam vet, that could be pretty awesome, right? But you know what you get for that? A slightly wider angle on overwatch. That doesn’t really get me excited, and I’m not sure whether there’s much else in terms of character advancement.
I’m also a bit concerned that too much information is slammed under the hood when you’re in the tactical game. You can’t call up your character sheet. You only get the most basic information. But I want to be able to see everything about my characters at any time. They’re my characters! Well, not really, since they seem to be canned, more like a Fire Emblem than an X-Com. But Phantom Doctrine doesn’t seem interested in letting me look at stats when they’re most important. Uncool.
-Tom