The Indie Informer

The undeniably intriguing Phonopolis comes from Amanita Design, a developer with a long history of beautifully offbeat games. While the studio’s visual offerings are always impressive, its upcoming title might be the most arresting of them all. And that’s not even because most of the game’s baddies are looking to arrest you.

Though I saw a preview presentation for the game at SFMOMA: Day of the Devs, I didn’t get the chance to go hands-on until the IGF Pavilion’s press hour. Which means Phonopolis holds the honor of being the first game I played on GDC’s expo floor.

The main character lives in a world dictated by a series of loudspeakers – literally and figuratively. Orders pipe out of physical megaphones above my head, and my character simply doesn’t have the ability to disobey. If the speaker wants me to grind up trash, a jolt goes through my body, and I walk, zombie-like- to the trash compactor to do its bidding. The gameplay is straightforward and mostly requires me to click around the world with my mouse, though I’d hesitate to call it a point-and-click.

The aesthetic is bleak, minimalist, textured, and fascinating. This fact wasn’t lost on other indie devs sharing the pavilion space with Phonopolis, as I very distinctly heard the Darkest Dungeon team praising the game’s attention-grabbing look while I played. The title would go on to win IGF’s Excellence in Visual Art award later that night.

The compelling story of an inconsequential worker accidentally finding a way to break away from his oppressive place in society is equally exciting. However, exploring this further will require some patience. The developers let me know they were aiming to release sometime around the end of next year, but the vague wording doesn’t fill me with confidence that I’ll get my hands on this game soon. I have no problem waiting to see more.