Phonopolis

一如既往，蘑菇工作室的游戏就是艺术。

Bello come sembra. Assolutamente imperdibile. Il miglior titolo di Amanita insieme a Machinarium.

Прошел Фонополис за раз с большим удовольствием и даже ролик забабахал: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBN4fY5-fek

An absolute gem. The graphics are as exquisite as the sound design♥♥ It's a much needed fable, too.

Absolutely gorgeous game, a feast for the eyes. It has all the wonder and whimsy of a pop-up book, and I felt like a kid again, pulling every lever, pushing every button, and poking every inhabitant to see what they'd do. The entire world is hand-painted cardboard inspired by Russian avant-garde art, and it shows in every single frame. This game is a triumph of creative expression and IMO worth playing for that reason alone. That said, and as others have already complained, the puzzles fell completely flat for me. I rarely knew what I was doing, most mechanics were poorly telegraphed, and I usually ended up pressing buttons until the puzzle solved itself. The worst offenders were the music boxes that require you to transform sound waves. An exercise in pure frustration, and I kinda wish Amanita Design had added a "skip puzzle" button. The story is where the missed opportunity stings the most. Phonopolis is clearly built as an allegory: a city governed through sound, a leader who drowns out independent thought with a single broadcast frequency, citizens marching in lockstep. All the ingredients of a proper dystopian parable are there, with echoes of Orwell filtered through a constructivist picture book. The problem is the game never digs beneath its own surface. Every theme it raises, propaganda, conformity, the manufacturing of consent, gets delivered with the moral simplicity of a children's comic and then left alone. The story never evolves past the beats it establishes in the opening 30 minutes, and the ending arrives abruptly. The "Absolute Tone" plan felt like the natural climax of the whole allegory, and I would've loved to see it come to fruition and maybe play through the aftermath. There was an interesting story sitting right there, and the game settles for a bedtime-story version of it. I finished the game in under 4 hours, and I reckon I could've done it in under 3 if I hadn't spent so much time messing around with the world and showing my wife the beautiful levels and dioramas. As I said above, I recommend this game purely on the merit of its drop-dead gorgeous art style. It's a technical marvel, and it achieves all of it without trying to be an Unreal Engine technology showcase. Every screenshot you take of Phonopolis is worth framing, and I want to see Amanita Design keep making games. If you're looking for a deep story, deep gameplay, and mind-bending puzzles, this probably isn't the game for you.

First thought: transcending the game.

Cool unique art (watch the handmade paper/cardboard setup video), good unique puzzles also. Great length, No bugs.