Czech indie developers Amanita Design – creators of Samorost, Creaks and Machinarium, among other marvels – have released a demo for Phonopolis, their 3D cardboard adventure about a young man called Felix who is trying to save a city brainwashed by massive loudspeakers. Protected by his headphones, Felix is on a mission to stop the authoritarian Leader from issuing the Absolute Tone, which will “strip every citizen of their humanity forever”. Seems like a thing to avoid!

I relate intensely to Felix at the moment, because I’m having trouble with my lugholes and can barely hear anything. Thank to the magic of medicinal drops, I, too, am proof against sonic mind control, but also, I am feeling more than usually susceptible to assassination. A marching band could backstab me right now. It’s not clear from the Steam page whether Felix’s indispensable headphones leave him similarly vulnerable. I guess we’ll have to play the demo to find out.

“With Felix becoming immune to the commands, you’ll be able to take advantage of the loudspeakers and use them to solve puzzles involving other characters,” the developers explain. “Other times, you will interact with the cardboard environment in surprising, often unexpected ways—turn walls, shuffle floors, control various machinery or tear paper curtains. Each puzzle is carefully integrated into the world and presents a different challenge.”

Those cardboard sets – all based on physical, hand-painted sets, with animations capping out at 12 FPS in mimicry of stop-motion film – certainly do look very inviting. But hang on, what’s this? Felix can “take advantage” of the very same loudspeakers that have subjugated his fellow citizens? The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house, Amanita!

Being an Amanita joint, Phonopolis is openly steeped in art history. “The art style is strongly influenced by avant-garde artistic trends of the interwar period such as constructivism, futurism, and suprematism, and their societal impact as a tool of propaganda,” the Steam page goes on.

That’s a lot of isms, more than is generally advisable, but I trust them to stick the landing. There’s also a sentence about the soundtrack, but I can offer no further comment there because, as of writing, you could set fire to a sackful of lions in my vicinity and I’d be none the wiser. Do your worst, *checks TV Tropes*… Jesse Custers of the world! The full version of Phonopolis releases sometime this year.