Phoenix Springs News

A slippery exploration of memory, time and space (...) This elliptical game dares not to bend over backward to explain itself...

We're extremely proud to be featured in the Arts section of the NYT.
You can read the full feature and interview with designer/writer Jigmé Özer here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/15/arts/phoenix-springs.html


Calligram Studio x

We hope you enjoy getting lost in our world.

Calligram Studio

Playing Phoenix Springs feels like David Lynch spliced together the ripped pages of a pulpy sci-fi comic with the storyboards of a broody noir. Its visuals are stark and foreboding, its dialogue delivered in riddles, and its haunting choral music sounds like it's been recorded in a wind tunnel. It’s a point-and-click that calls back to early 90’s Lucas Arts adventure games, and while it shares the same frustrations, the presentation makes it feel entirely contemporary. What begins as a standard detective game - chatting to strangers, rummaging through junk, finding addresses found on the net - soon spirals into something else entirely. I’ve finished it twice and I’m still not sure I totally understand what it all means.

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Hi there,

Just wanted to express our gratitude to everyone who played the preview. We’ve sensed some anticipation online, but as it stands, the late embargo means we have no idea how it will be received. Either way, it’s been a privilege to be the stewards of this world for the past seven years. It’s yours now.

A bit of housekeeping:

• I am currently pushing a small update (navigation fixes, handful of typos that will haunt me for many nights to come, Kickstarter backers whose names have changed during development).

• A good question from The Verge about the walkthrough/solution. Yes, it will be available in the public version. It links to this page, which is behind a soft paywall (email address). It’s designed to add a tiiiiny bit of friction before the spoilers and to replicate the experience of 90s hint lines. I suspect it might evolve as more guides become available online.

• Steam Achievements: there’s a lot of them! It’s a metagame designed for replayability. You’re unlikely to unlock more than a handful on your first playthrough, but I might go back to the drawing board depending on whether it’s playful or annoying.

• Optimisation: the game runs great on all supported devices. It is, however, on the heavy side (5GB). The hand-drawn animations are mostly to blame. I’m confident we can do better, but I’m scared to break everything right now. This will be for a later update.

Thanks again for your time and patience. We hope you enjoy your travels through our labour of love/experiment.

Jigmé @Calligram Studio

A couple of weeks ago, a select few press outlets got their hands on the first act of Phoenix Springs. We’re extremely grateful to all the journalists who took the time to play and write about our little experiment.

Here is a selection of our favourite quotes:

TheGamer

"…somehow manages the impossible in that it pays homage to the past while simultaneously embracing the future with a sleek, modern style and reimagining of classic point-and-click tropes…"
ScreenRant

"...feels a little like Disco Elysium (...) as it's both our world and our time, but also not of our world and not of our time. There's something intoxicating about that setup..."
GodIsAGeek

"I’m already hooked. It’s a point-and-click adventure that manages to streamline the investigative side to make it accessible, but the challenge is still threaded throughout everything you do."


Reminder that you can submit a key request for the big launch here.

We can't wait to hear what you all make of the whole game.

Calligram Studio