Phoenix Springs Reviews

dreamy, gorgeous, smart

A somewhat abstract, unique point and click game that finds you investigating a mysterious oasis. It was a really great play, would definitely recommend it.

a gorgeous and thoughtful cyberpunk fever dream. really trusts the player and gives them a lot to think about once all is said and done. favourite quote (paraphrased): "she said she had twenty years of experience. i said she'd had one year of experience twenty times. she didn't like that very much."

This is a work of art, the animations and sound design in particular are absolutely stunning, I recommend playing this with your headphones to get the best effect. Mechanically this is a traditional point&click adventure, some puzzles are a bit obtuse, but the devs provided a link in the game to a complete, spoiler-free walkthrough. Don't hesitate to take a peek if you get stuck, so as not to break the flow of the narrative. Treat it like a 4,5hrs experimental sci-fi film.

Phoenix Springs is a surreal, sci-fi point and click adventure about a journalist looking for her younger brother. The reserved and minimalist tone created by the outstanding use of negative spaces in the striking art direction and sound design created one of the unique experiences I've played in the genre. The story brought Lynch's Lost Highway to mind where it leaves you with more questions than answers by the time you reach the end. You can see there's enough clues left about that someone more intelligent than myself could piece together. Definitely needs multiple playthroughs if you want to do that. Or you can just enjoy the trippy ride and maybe get the jist of things. The puzzles were on the easier side. You connect concepts in the character's mind to things on screen. Was generally "logical" enough. There's an in-game guide in the pause screen if you get stuck. My only gripe was that due to the art style not everything clickable was easy to see or just see at all. I had to hover the cursor over everywhere on the screen to see if there was something invisible I could interact with. A cycle or show-interactables key would be greatly appreciated. So yeah, I do recommend this game to those who enjoy more experimental games.