Amanita Design is one of my long-standing favorites. It was the studio's 2009 robot adventure Machinarium that hooked me, but Botanicula, the Samorost games, the madcap Chuchel—they're all brilliantly creative works. So when I saw that a demo for its next game, Phonopolis, had dropped into the Steam Next Fest, I was all over it.
Phonopolis is a point-and-click adventure that tells the tale of Felix, a garbage collector living in a city ruled by an authoritarian 'Leader' who controls the populace with messages blared through omnipresent loudspeakers. Felix one day discovers a headset that enables him to blot out the noise and break free of the Leader's influence; he quickly comes to recognize the threat it presents, and thus sets out—somewhat reluctantly—to thwart the Leader's ambitions before the arrival of the Absolute Tone, which will strip every citizen of their minds, freedom, and humanity forever.
