Disgaea studio is bringing Phantom Brave to Steam

Nippon Ichi's tactical-RPG Disgaea wasn't exactly a bases-loaded home run when it transitioned to the PC earlier this year. But try, try again, as the saying doesn't always go, and so the studio and publisher NIS America will do just that in July with the Steam release of Phantom Brave, which originally came out in 2004 for the PlayStation 2. 

Phantom Brave is about a young girl named Marona who lives on an isolated island with a Phantom named Ash, whose death in some pre-game battle has done nothing to dimish his dedication to the cause. She makes a living as a “Chroma,” who solves problems sent to her by “Bottlemail,” but because of her abilities to communicate with Phantoms, people also call her “Possessed” and sometimes dick her around when it comes time to pay up. 

“Still, Marona stays optimistic and follows what her parents told her long ago: 'Help people, and someday everyone will start to like you',” the Steam description explains. “Her goal is to save enough money to buy Phantom Isle, which she's currently renting. Like a subtle wave in the sea, the adventures of Marona and Ash are about to begin.” 

The PS2 edition of Phantom Brave holds a pretty good Metacritic aggregate, which—inherent shortcomings of review scores notwithstanding—suggests that it's a pretty decent game. The PC version will support Steam achievements and trading cards, Steam Cloud saves, and “partial” controller support, whatever that might mean. System requirements have been posted as well, although odds are that you can safely ignore them. 

Minimum: 

OS: Windows 7/8/10
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 @2.5 GHz
RAM: 2 GB
Video: Radeon HD5450 

Recommended:   

OS: Windows 7/8/10
CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K
RAM: 4GB
Video: GeForce GT640 or Radeon HD6450 

A solid release date hasn't been announced, but Steam says Phantom Brave will arrive in July.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.