Phoenix Springs Review

Starting as a simple Kickstarter in 2017, Phoenix Springs has developed and grown into a noir-style thriller that asks the player to slow down rather than the fast-paced action many modern gamers are used to. Calligram Studio has been working on the game since the Kickstarter began seven years ago.

A long time in development can sometimes be the rumblings of the dreaded “development hell” all games fear. However, it would appear that, in this case, the extended development time was used to ensure a high level of polish on Phoenix Springs.

Playing as Iris, you receive a call from your brother. Iris has not heard from her brother in years, and whether it was an estrangement or something more sinister has yet to be revealed. Iris is a journalist and uses these skills to learn the whereabouts of her brother as she explores the small town of Phoenix Springs.

As you explore the town, you will discover the stunning landscape, which holds more secrets the more you learn about it. There is not only the mystery of your brother’s death but also the town itself wrapped up in the web of secrets Iris must untangle. 

Phoenix Springs is a classic point-and-click. You explore the vibrant world in a very simple way to allow the story and amazing artist's style to come across. The simplistic art style is the perfect way to tell this story.

Phoenix Springs does not want to throw stimuli at you; it doesn’t wish to provide a fast-based experience. Instead, you are encouraged to slow down, take everything in, and immerse yourself in the experience of the game. For this reason, the point-and-click in Phoenix Springs is the perfect playstyle to have in such a game. 

The puzzles in Phoenix Springs are a lot of fun. They encourage you to think outside the box, not just try the first thing that comes to mind. This is also paired with a fantastic inventory system that exists in the game, rather than the usual inventory of picking up notes and various key items that can be used.

Instead, the inventory in Phoenix Springs is made up of words. With every clue you find, you will gain a word from it. You can then select these words and use them to find the next word to help make up the clue.

This method in inventory, with words floating around to exist as partial clues, is an amazing way to see the way Iris’ mind works. This is her version of a detective's board of red string and push pins or Sherlock’s mind palace.

The look of the inventory is very clean, black and white in a colorful game filled with neons. It is an amazing juxtaposition to the vibrancy of the outside world and clearly shows the darkness Iris is feeling in her search, as well as the sensibility of her clear mind compared to the near chaos of the colors around her in the town of Phoenix Springs.

When the game starts, you are in a location Iris feels very familiar with. In this place, every clue is found through a series of logical puzzles in a sequence that feels very similar.

While playing this section, I almost felt as though some of the puzzles were a little easy, unlike, of course, since I've been solving Silent Hill 2 puzzles lately. However, it seems this was to create a later switch that could happen once Iris is in Phoenix Springs, the town, not the game.

This is because the puzzles seem to follow less logic, making bigger leaps between the clue and the word you may gain from it. This could be annoying to some, although I found it amazing.

It represents Iris losing her grip on reality as the world around her seems to make less sense. Her brother’s mystery is harder for her to follow, so the clues will be harder for her and, by extension, for us to follow. 

It would be impossible to talk about Phoenix Springs without discussing the art direction of the game. Every element is hand-drawn and filled with detail, beauty, and care. When you first open the game, you may find the art style quite dramatic, if anything, a little too striking.

However, the slower pace of Phoenix Springs allows the player to relax into the art style, becoming more accustomed to it. This is done by starting the game with more simplistic scenes, playing with mostly close-ups in fairly poorly lit rooms, and then zooming out into impressive landscapes, which show the true effectiveness of the style.

The character design is also wonderful. You can tell a lot from the characters as soon as you meet them just by what they look like. While the dialogue has every ability to stand up on its own, it is also nice to be given a visual differentiation between the characters from the very moment they come into the story. The distinctive style holds clues as to who everyone is immediately before said dialogue can strut its stuff.

Phoenix Springs is a fully voiced experience that allows the player to experience the intensity of what the characters are going through. Iris is such an amazingly fleshed-out character in just the dialogue and her rich back story, but the voice acting is the final touch that takes the characterization from just impressive to phenomenal.

The soundscapes in the game are another way to create an environment that feels real. Moments are built upon music and environmental noises, which are, again, a fantastic addition to the world. The town of Phoenix Springs, specifically, is allowed to diversify its parts of itself through this impressive sound.

Phoenix Springs offers a stunning experience. The art is wonderful, and the sound is excellent in accompanying the visuals. The hand-drawn scenery is an amazing setting that holds a strange, twisting narrative.

The voice actors are an asset to the game, bringing the world more to life, and the gameplay is a great vessel with which to explore this experience. Some clues are a little less based on logic than others, although whether that is an issue or not is mostly down to personal preference.