Mechs Had Their Cinderella Moment Award – Phantom Brigade
The biggest glow-up of 2025 has to go to Phantom Brigade, a mech game that launched in 2023 to what can only be described as the lukewarmest and mildest reception ever. Despite its promising look-ahead-into-time-and-make-your-move-accordingly mechanic, the rest of the game was so “meh” that most players just looked at it, shrugged their shoulders, and collectively said “uh, okay, this is neat, I guess”, and moved on. Fortunately, the team at Brace Yourself Games reworked the whole thing and launched Phantom Brigade 2.0 in November to a massive uproar from players, all praising the improvements made to the campaign, squad management, pilots, class system, and new combat missions. Add to that the low price point the game’s currently at of 15 dollars, and Phantom Brigade isn’t only the game that had its Cinderella Moment Award of 2025, but also one of the best strategy game deals of the Steam Winter Sale 2025.
Architectural Design by Panic Award – Age of Darkness: Final Stand
Age of Darkness: Final Stand might be the definition of a mid-tier game: a solid 6 or 7 out of 10 where you get your money’s worth in time spent enjoying the campaign, but with very few reasons to dive into the deeper intricacies of its systems. It’s a one-and-done kind of experience, and despite being average in most aspects, Age of Darkness: Final Stand excels at putting you into moments of extreme panic. The game suddenly thrusts you into a night where you’re no longer just facing lowly, glowy minions, but a massive elite monster leading them—and its stupidly large health bar means you’ll start placing every uncoordinated obstacle you can in its path: wooden palisades, spearmen behind them, three more rows of palisades behind the spearmen with archers, and then five more rows of palisades intertwined with towers full of archers who have no way out, but whose lives are a sacrifice you’re more than willing to make to save your own.
The “My Men Deserve a Better Officer” Award – Burden of Command
No other wargame makes you feel the way Burden of Command does, and part of the reason is that it doesn’t care how the game makes you feel (insert The Rock screaming that line here). This also makes Burden of Command unique in a way few other games are, because it goes to excruciating lengths to ensure you get to know your men, remember their names, and care about them, so when one of them dies after countless battles and tribulations, it always feels like they deserved better. And they probably did.
You probably wanted to skip the long tutorial sections, paid no attention in boot camp, and then, once the bullets started flying, acted more like a Sobel and less like a Winters. With that in mind, maybe you should memorize these 10 tips to help you play, and truly enjoy Burden of Command.
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