Phoenotopia Hacked

Quang H. Tran's Phoenotopia is the kind of game that comes along once in a very long while. While occasionally simple, it's still a better adventure game than most of the full price offerings you can pick up at your local retailer, in terms of art, story, gameplay and heart. The game is set on a post-Earth colony, an idyllic world full of gorgeous retro landscapes straight out of the best of the SNES generation. You play as Gale, a pink-haired everywoman whose simple life as a farm girl is interrupted one day when strange alien ships come and abduct everyone in your village, leaving just you and a couple dozen children left to fend for yourselves. It's your duty to head out into the world and find out what happened to your friends and family, braving myriad enemies and interacting with dozens of colorful characters along the way. In case you have noticed, the writing is far above standard for a game like this. The abduction establishes some real emotional stakes early on, and the wealth of characters you discover in your travels manage to be funny and interesting without being verbose. What's more, the brief nods at a deeper backstory regarding the fate of the old Earth offer some tantalizing hints at a vast and rich universe. Seriously, can you say franchise?