Phoenix Springs doesn’t so much start as awaken, adrift in a shimmering void of static to an only slightly discordant choral swell. And that’s just the title screen. Developer and art collective Calligram Studio’s debut project is an astonishingly assured piece of work, presenting a constantly, hypnotically churning world of loosely sketched lines, pitch-black shadows, and stark primary hues that’s part queasy expressionist nightmare, part perpetually receding dream. It’s a game of striking jump cuts and slick transitions, of rich diegetic soundscapes underscored by threatening synthetic thrums. Even its protagonist’s ever-present narration crackles and whispers as if broadcast through a transistor radio picking up a signal from another realm.
Phoenix Springs reviewDeveloper: Calligram StudioPublisher: Calligram StudioPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out now on PC (Steam)
Phoenix Springs is thick with atmosphere; haunting, disorientating, and at times intense to the point of suffocating. It’s also a game with a keen sense of identity, and it paints its vision of a fascinating future dystopia with exquisite economy. “Government issued, I can search my personal files plus a few public databases,” protagonist Iris Dormer barks of her computer early on, the unspoken implications left to linger. “Actually, a video feed,” she matter-of-factly observes of a wall mirror. “Harvesting data, I’m sure.”
Even before you’ve stepped out into the rain-battered city in search of Iris’ estranged younger brother Leo – even before you’ve seen the ransacked university full of whacked-out ravers chasing a sleep-deprivation high, or the eight-foot concrete walls surrounding houses on filthy streets, or the blankly uncomprehending homeless orphans in thrall of their biotech toys – it’s clear something, somewhere has gone terribly awry. But Calligram Studio stops at the broad strokes, trusting its audience to fill in the blanks with their own bleakly pessimistic detail.
In fact, Phoenix Springs’ idiosyncratic presentation is so singular, it comes as something of a surprise to discover that, mechanically, it’s a fairly traditional point-and-click adventure at heart. Albeit one where tech reporter Iris’ inventory steadily fills not with tangible objects but ideas and investigatory leads. At first, only Leo’s name sits at the centre of the minimalist UI representing her thoughts, but clues can be combined with other elements in the world, queried directly by Iris, or brought into conversations – opening up new avenues for investigation, even if they might ultimately prove to be red herrings and dead ends.