Weird and artsy
Amanita Design, the creators of Machinarium, Samorost, and CHUCHEL, is getting ready to drop their next title. It’s Phonopolis, for which they just announced the release date, which is May 20th, 2026. It’s coming to Steam for PC.
The story is loosely inspired by Karel Čapek and George Orwell. So, there are layers of social manipulation, control, and individuality. But the game still keeps things playful and light-hearted overall, which is part of Amanita’s presentation.
Gameplay-wise, it’s a point-and-click adventure with puzzles and exploration. It drops you into a dystopian city called Phonopolis, where everything is controlled by loudspeakers blasting commands all the time.
People just follow along like it’s normal, working together under an authoritarian Leader who’s trying to build his idea of a perfect society. Also, there’s a big looming threat called the Absolute Tone. It’s the ultimate sound that can just wipe out everyone’s humanity completely.
You play as Felix, a random young garbage collector. He finds a pair of headphones that block out the amplions, which are the devices sending all the subliminal commands. And that’s when it clicks for him that the whole perfect society thing is actually heading straight into disaster.
Oh, and the entire city of Phonopolis is made of cardboard. They’re actual hand-crafted, hand-painted paper models that were digitised into a 3D space. Every building, every character, even stuff like smoke and fire, is done that way.
Phonopolis has an old-school stop-motion animation, running at a traditional 12 FPS. You’ll be turning walls, shuffling floors, controlling machines, and tearing paper curtains. Take a look at it below.
Also, read our news on Echoes of the Unread, a Cute Metroidvania Made for NES.
