- Publisher: Calligram Studio
- Release Date: Oct 7, 2024
- Critic score
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- Unscored
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Oct 7, 2024Phoenix Springs is playable art, and I could see it fitting beautifully into a museum exhibit, especially because you could really start the game at any given point and still find it fulfilling. But unlike many other art-forward games, this one has a compelling narrative that kept me coming back each day until I reached an ending — just one version of the ending, of which I’m certain there are many. It excels at iterating on the point-and-click mystery genre, and it’s designed for ultimate replayability.
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Oct 7, 2024This isn’t a game to mindlessly consume and it’s not going to give you a boost of tasty brain endorphins. Phoenix Springs is a game that demands you slow down, and whose purposefulness will entice some players but put others off. In this way, it feels like an island, entirely its own thing. I don’t completely understand the story - or at least I think I don't - but that’s the point. There are some frustrations with its puzzles, but Phoenix Springs has an incredible point of view and it sticks with it wholeheartedly, and that’s something I can respect the hell out of.
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Oct 7, 2024Yet even as the game mutates into an odder metaphysical shape than its detective premise seemed to initially suggest, it does not sag or lose any potency. On the contrary, the game becomes more powerful as it becomes clear just how far Iris is willing to go in order to follow her little brother and restore their connection. Throughout it all, Leo Dormer remains at the center of her mind map; he remains the one constant in Iris’ thoughts.