Get the latest tech news
Phoenix Springs review - fascinating, frustrating neo-noir surrealism
Phoenix Springs doesn't so much start as awaken, adrift in a shimmering void of static to an only slightly discordant c…
Even before you've stepped out into the rain-battered city in search of Iris' estranged younger brother Leo - even before you've seen the ransacked university full of whacked-out ravers chasing a sleep-deprivation high, or the eight-foot concrete walls surrounding houses on filthy streets, or the blankly uncomprehending homeless orphans in thrall of their biotech toys - it's clear something, somewhere has gone terribly awry. At first, only Leo's name sits at the centre of the minimalist UI representing her thoughts, but clues can be combined with other elements in the world, queried directly by Iris, or brought into conversations - opening up new avenues for investigation, even if they might ultimately prove to be red herrings and dead ends. Gone is the oppressive, if comfortingly familiar shape of the city, replaced by a world of indeterminate time and technology, of ancient ruins and carefully tended orchids, where geography and symbolism become indistinguishable, and where its inhabitants aren’t so much people as distant reflections of themselves - forever spouting airy, enigmatic dialogue that rapidly becomes exhausting in its evasiveness.
Or read this on Eurogamer