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Review
Note: I've decided to make my rating not count towards the game's average because while the rating reflects how I feel about the game, I did not exactly play it in the spirit the author intended: That is, I took the easy way out with almost every puzzle.
We play as Galaxy Jones, a heroine clad in a high-tech suit. She’s on a mission to save Mars from being destroyed by its own moon, Phobos.
Gameplay
Background: There are two factions present in the story. Humans and the Sirius Syndicate, a collective of alien cyborgs who have a touchy history with humanity. The Syndicate has decided to weaponize Phobos by sending it on a collision course to the red planet.
The game takes place on a (mostly) evacuated Sirian base located in Phobos’ Stickney Crater. Gameplay is centered on bypassing colour-coded doors through hacking. To do this, the player solves math-oriented puzzles. I can’t say this was my cup of tea. Math is not my strong point. My hat is off to those who excel at math, but me? It went over my head.
Thankfully, you can always smash through most of these doors with your powered Smart Suit! The catch is that you don’t get any points for doing so. (For what it’s worth, the (Spoiler - click to show)purple door can’t be smashed, but I ended up enjoying the puzzle to bypass it. It’s a translation puzzle where you match numbers with symbols to input the door’s code.)
I’m glad that the game provides a way for anyone to finish the game so they can see the story to its conclusion. My high score?
(Spoiler - click to show)A sad 5 points out of 11.
This earns Galaxy the rank of Cyborg Hunter.
But if these 5 points mean I'm a Cyborg Hunter, maybe that's not too bad.
There are also materials written in an alien language that can be partially translated, and our translations steadily improve the more we translate. We even start to understand the intercom messages, revealing that the facility is counting down to when Phobos gets fired at Mars. This adds urgency without rushing the player since the game is extremely generous with this time limit.
I will say, Phobos: A Galaxy Jones Story is rather sparse in content. I understand that the focus is on the door puzzles. But the rooms seem so… empty. Their descriptions are brief and miss the opportunity to create atmosphere and/or worldbuilding which could be done without taking focus away from the puzzles.
Story
At first it seems like Phobos: A Galaxy Jones Story is going to be a stark binary of humans (good guys) vs. irredeemable cyborg alien race (bad guys), which is common in science fiction. The game goes in a different direction.
A more accurate way of putting it would be, (Spoiler - click to show)“humans are jerks, and the aliens are tired of their crap,” prompting said aliens to lash out by slamming Phobos into Mars… killing innocent people. Both sides have a hand in the mess that Galaxy Jones is trying to resolve.
There’s not much meat on the bone in terms of backstory. What I gathered was that (Spoiler - click to show)the aliens lived on a temperate planet until their star, Sirius, destroyed its solar system with a solar flare. Humanity came along and offered sanctuary and assistance, only to take advantage of aliens’ desperation by strictly controlling their way of life.
The Sirians have had enough…
…and yet, (Spoiler - click to show)they aren’t the unwavering anti-human faction they seem to be when we first step foot into their base.
Characters
For such a cool character, Galaxy Jones gets little attention in this game, which is in line with the game’s puzzle-oriented nature. I should note that Phobos: A Galaxy Jones Story is an offshoot of Galaxy Jones, a Spring Thing 2023 entry. While I haven’t played that game to completion, it seems to have more coverage on our protagonist.
There is one notable NPC: (Spoiler - click to show)a guard who is also the last Sirian left on the base.
(Spoiler - click to show)The guard is in the control room, tying up some loose ends. It’s clear that they’re upset with the violent task at hand. Finding and reading their diary reveals that they would love nothing more than for both races to coexist. While they’ve sworn an oath to the Syndicate, they will gladly break it after some light convincing.
They have a really trusting, well-meaning demeanor. I like how the game establishes their personality through the intercom system. The announcements are initially untranslated. But surely it must be practical, technical information, right?
A voice comes over the PA: "Boooooooored. BORED! BORED! ŁłłŁłłŁłłŁłł bored!"
It was endearing to learn that the guard was simply fooling around because they thought the base was empty. We realize that we have things in common. Plus, they are more than happy to team up with us. I was genuinely sad when they die after we help them activate the base’s self-destruct protocol.
Final thoughts
I love science fiction, and while Phobos: A Galaxy Jones Story fits that genre, I realize I’m not its target audience. It’s math-focused puzzles are the main event, and I confess that I caved with them. Because of this, I’m not able to give this game an entirely fair assessment.
That said, the game feels a bit too barebones, regardless of puzzles. I’m not asking for more characters or plot twists or inventory items. But a little more content in the room descriptions would go a long way. And yet, the game still has its heartwarming moments.
If you like math-based puzzles, play this game. And if the premise interests you, play it because you can always smash down (most) doors like I did. Otherwise, it may not be the game for you.
