The next step is not to let yourself get lost in the story. Chasing your beat at any cost will do you no good. As a reporter, it’s better to follow the abstractions.
This was my initial sense of the narrative and lead character’s motivations in the new point-and-click adventure game Phoenix Springs by the independent Calligram Studio. However, after careful consideration, I’ve learned a good lesson from playing the game: Real people are behind the words we read. So, the balance in Phoenix Springs between staying put or venturing elsewhere (regardless of how jubilant or fucked the place might be) generates impact. This liminal space is what shapes the meaning of the story. It’s what makes it matter.
In Phoenix Springs, reporter Iris Dormer researches the whereabouts of her brother Leo. Finding him only uncovers more mysteries. Be prepared to find him again and again. The investigation is a ritualistic rebirth. Calligram Studio makes sure that every second of play is enthralling.
The game’s beauty is unobstructed by complex systems and flashy photorealism. Its visual look, courtesy of Eleanor Summers, is a striking and moving graphic novel made by blending computerized 3D and 2D hand-drawn animations. The shape of things is impressionistic, and that’s all we need to be hooked. Colors are picked for their contrasting hues, and the landscapes and vistas offer just enough information to discern what is what. Our minds fill in the gaps.
As a player, I got lost in the story at the university, in the desert, and later in the oasis, just like Iris, the reporter. I loved every minute of it, though I’m not sure Iris did. I could have searched for hints, a feature the game offers for frustrated players looking to progress in the story. I refused to let my hand be held and guided. Instead, I interacted with every object and person, hoping to find clues and answers and hear more dialogue. I made connections between people and places. Players are rewarded for their curiosity and independence with excellent dialogue written by Jigmé Özer (the game’s writer and designer).
Phoenix Springs traces the path of a journalist whose work gets personal. Iris is constantly forced into introspection—self-critical even—a horror for many journalists. Her search might play a role in Leo’s survival or, at the very least, in her understanding of what happened. She looks for her brother out in the world, in memory, and inside her grief. You follow her as she ventures desperately into an address where he lived eons ago, wanting the dilapidated structure to still house even a hint of him.
In the process, career aspirations are subsumed—the professional’s ego slain—by the emotional weight of love for a relative. There are real stakes and no easy answers at the end of this story. Was the whole thing a fool’s errand?
Phoenix Springs has the pacing of an art-house psychological drama. Its gameplay is among the most streamlined and inventive of any point-and-click adventure I’ve played. It sits comfortably between Double Fine’s Grim Fandango Remastered and the second half of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Tropical Malady. Tonally, Phoenix Springs inhabits a dreamscape constantly transitioning between serene nature and techno-dystopian nightmares. Not only do the game’s visual aesthetic and sound design establish the impressionists’ set pieces, they also make the experience thick with an air of coolness, even during the dull bits.
Alex Anderson Crow’s protean voice acting also plays a large part in this. Her role as Iris is one of the standout performances of the year. Her silky voice emanates as if spoken into a microphone by a clandestine resistance fighter looking to reach underground allies. It sounds distant yet present, ever searching.
Phoenix Springs marks the introduction of Calligram Studio as one to watch. The game shines in a year full of very good adventure games. There’s power in the line of code of this game. As a reporter and sleuth, Iris looks for what can’t be found. Dive into this spring of tears with her. It’s worth it.