Amanita Design has, a cynic might say, made its game again. There is no denying that the Czech studio’s output tends to hew to a particular formula, each individual title distinguishing itself via tone and theme more than structure or systems. As (almost) always, there is a diminutive character onscreen and you, the player, are their omnipotent ally, directing them via a pointer, and otherwise prodding and pulling at various pieces of the environment as you trial-and-error your way to solving their current predicament.
[https://cdn.magzter.com/1387349800/1713437535/articles/xgVQjmBa11713441874385/8868843744.jpg]
Amanita Design has, then, made its game again. But it has also not, since Phonopolis is its first properly three-dimensional world. More significantly it’s the first in which its characters communicate in an intelligible language (unlike, say, the furious nonsense of Chuchel). For the most part, it’s one particular voice you’ll hear: the entertaining inner monologue of inquisitive protagonist Felix, who, after a work mishap, discovers a set of noise-cancelling headphones. These allow him to block out the regime’s orders – piped through loudspeakers installed across the land – which have turned most of the populace into mindless drones. With news that the so-called ‘absolute tone’ is set to brainwash the remainder, he becomes an unwitting revolutionary. Oh, yes, it’s the studio’s first political game, too.
All of which helps give Phonopolis a distinctive character, though of course it’s the art that is its most immediately striking element. This world has been built from corrugated fibreboard, cut and painted by hand, carefully scanned and meticulously animated (at 12fps, giving it the look of a stop-motion film, albeit one you can interact with) to make something that resembles no other game. On the page and in static shots such as the ones you can see here, it looks beautiful. In motion, it is simply extraordinary. There is a moment when Felix visibly strains to haul himself up onto a stage before we’ve dragged it close enough for him to clamber up successfully where it really hits home: we’re seeing this bespoke bit of business, a quite brilliant piece of animation, only because we’re doing it wrong.
[https://cdn.magzter.com/1387349800/1713437535/articles/xgVQjmBa11713441874385/3787478831.jpg]
Which gets to the core of why Amanita’s games, with their many similarities and differences, work. Experimenting to find the right solution in each of these shortform vignettes is never a trial because the errors are their own reward. A vehicular jailbreak – and just take a moment to imagine how such a set-piece from this developer might play out &ndash...
[https://cdn.magzter.com/1387349800/1713437535/articles/xgVQjmBa11713441874385/8868843744.jpg]
Amanita Design has, then, made its game again. But it has also not, since Phonopolis is its first properly three-dimensional world. More significantly it’s the first in which its characters communicate in an intelligible language (unlike, say, the furious nonsense of Chuchel). For the most part, it’s one particular voice you’ll hear: the entertaining inner monologue of inquisitive protagonist Felix, who, after a work mishap, discovers a set of noise-cancelling headphones. These allow him to block out the regime’s orders – piped through loudspeakers installed across the land – which have turned most of the populace into mindless drones. With news that the so-called ‘absolute tone’ is set to brainwash the remainder, he becomes an unwitting revolutionary. Oh, yes, it’s the studio’s first political game, too.
All of which helps give Phonopolis a distinctive character, though of course it’s the art that is its most immediately striking element. This world has been built from corrugated fibreboard, cut and painted by hand, carefully scanned and meticulously animated (at 12fps, giving it the look of a stop-motion film, albeit one you can interact with) to make something that resembles no other game. On the page and in static shots such as the ones you can see here, it looks beautiful. In motion, it is simply extraordinary. There is a moment when Felix visibly strains to haul himself up onto a stage before we’ve dragged it close enough for him to clamber up successfully where it really hits home: we’re seeing this bespoke bit of business, a quite brilliant piece of animation, only because we’re doing it wrong.
[https://cdn.magzter.com/1387349800/1713437535/articles/xgVQjmBa11713441874385/3787478831.jpg]
Which gets to the core of why Amanita’s games, with their many similarities and differences, work. Experimenting to find the right solution in each of these shortform vignettes is never a trial because the errors are their own reward. A vehicular jailbreak – and just take a moment to imagine how such a set-piece from this developer might play out &ndash...
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Edge Uk (Digital) - 1 Issue, June 2024