izigame.me

A gorgeous game that poetically neglects player’s time. Aka “How to Trick Humans by Brilliant Visuals and Extravagant Prose into Forgetting that They are Doing Nothing of Essence but Savoring Those Elements”. You’re going to like it, too. Cheeky developers.

There’s a simple set-up here – you’re an older sister, Iris, that’s in search of long-lost brother who might be involved in a serious scientific undertaking of a rather questionable character. That’s the only simple thing you’ll get in this game, the rest will be so lyrically/philosophically distorted that clinging to this simplicity of a set-up will be something you’d need to take a stab at what’s actually going on. It’s a dreamlike, surreal journey that leaves you in an almost permanent “what the hell is happening” state. I’m still not sure what happened. And I’m still not sure how I managed to enjoy it.

The puzzle element is part of a trickery. While classic in nature, it is somewhat unusual in implementation. We use Iris’ mind/memory as an inventory bar, and the “items” themselves are pieces of information we can combine with environment and other characters for dialogues. It’s quite clever, as the topics fade out once we find a solution, and new ones pop up when we learn something, circumventing the unavoidable awkwardness of carrying 54 items in our pockets or backpacks, as our trained adventure backs accustomed to do. The novelty of having thoughts about things and places instead of crowbars and keys is refreshing. It all comes together logically as well, and you’ll find plethora of options to combine thoughts with anything you’d like and get a unique response.

But here comes the question – do any of the things you do matter? Is there any purpose to all these ever-stylish combinations? Once a relatively intriguing first segment (that you’ll get to discover in the demo and a following chapter) passes, you’re hitting a full-on, liminal Wild West. Did all this gigantic map exploration in pursuit of solving an odd, but at least coherent task, navigating a band of peculiar inhabitants lead anywhere? Or is it a masterful and ruthless design that leads to you understanding of a total futility of everything you’ve just done? Is it trying to tell you something by analogy? The answer, like the truth, is out there. Subjective is the nature of the game.

What is not subjective, I hope, is the gorgeous picture presented in front of you. Deep hues of yellow and red and green frame the retro-like silhouettes with brilliant artistry. Unusual, captivating angles show you eye-stopping visuals with gusto. Combined with going-out-of-your-way cryptic prose, where nothing is remotely helpful (which Iris is aware of) and everything is so poetic that it comes across as a bit self-indulgent, it hits hard over your senses and makes you momentarily forget that you’re running around in circles, obliging borderline-psychopaths (are they even real?), getting nowhere fast. It also appears as too serious about its own self, and a bit of humor – deadpan, irony, absurdity, you pick – would have helped to make it more palatable. Alas. The tone is somber, melancholic and bleak, and it does give a perception of slight artistic pretentiousness despite trying really hard to “invoke something”. Or maybe because of it. Regardless, have you seen that rave scene? It’s magnificent. Here I go, being tricked again.

Speaking of rave – you’d think the game will pull all the stops into roping music to serve its artistic force, but it opts out for leaving you in silence (besides wholesome sound effects) quite often. Too often, in my opinion. I suppose, it’s meant to leave you contemplate - nothing can distract you from what you see and hear from Iris, it’s way too complex already, but I’d rather would’ve gotten distracted, though. It would take an edge off “all too serious” tone of the game, but I was left to ponder in silence. When it comes to Iris, by the way, it’s perfect. Her always tired, resigned and matter-of-fact voice is marvelous. Despite being the only speaking character in the game, she matches the tone of everything that’s happening to a T. Bravo, well-done.

Phoenix Springs, man. I played it, I marveled at it, I questioned it, I raised my eyebrow at it, I raged at it, and I was still largely satisfied with it. It’s peculiar and captivating, and it’s not for everyone. You know, I’m not a huge fan of abstract expressionism, but I can still divide it into two categories. One is where you stare at a painting of two blue lines on a white canvass, or a black square, a red triangle, paint simply spilling over white… And you think there must be a backstory to it, perhaps, something an artist experienced on some acid trip back in the days alone at home, and you’re left to decipher it not knowing any details. And then there’s a complex picture of shapes and colors and gradients and forms that all flow into each other and make you stop. Sure, you might not understand much of it, because you were on your way to marvel at classics, like Rembrandt, but you stop nonetheless, and you look and look, and you start pondering on something that wasn’t in your mind just a second ago… And now you’re successfully tricked.
Congratulations, Phoenix Springs, that’s exactly how you got me.