ION is a young exploration unit on a mission. On this mission, his ship crash lands on an alien planet. In order to get home, he needs to contact his home planet. And to do that, he needs to start scavenging for materials to make a radio. Luckily, with his ship's A.I. able to communicate with him, ION at least has some help.
On his journey, ION meets ANI, a small, also stranded service unit. Soon, ION realizes he will need her in order to get off the planet as well. So, the two of you set out on you mission to survive, and ultimately get off, this planet.
The game was released on Steam for PC on February 7th, 2017.
Phoning Home contains examples of:
- Bioluminescence Is Cool: Some giant mushrooms have a substance that glows bright orange oozing out of them. Said mushrooms can be harvested for photonics.
- Cute Machines: And how. ION looks like WALL•E, and ANI is a little robot ball with a big-eyed head.
- Falling Damage: Fall from too high up, and ION will take damage.
- Fungus Humongous: Mytox, which are mushrooms as big as ION. Two are needed as ingredients to make fuel.
- Item Crafting: You can use materials to make objects you can use.
- Pipe Pain: The first weapon ION can collect in the game is a pipe from the wreckage of its ship.
- Robot Girl: ANI identifies as female.
- Rock Monster: This is an enemy that you face in the game. And it is BIG.
- Teleportation: One of the things you can make is a teleporter. It opens up a rift through which you can move, taking you somewhere else on the planet.
- This Is Not a Drill: During the plummet to the planet's surface, the ship's A.I. says "This is not a simulation".
- Tin-Can Robot: ION has a cylindrical torso.
- Voice with an Internet Connection: The ship's A.I. is able to communicate with ION, likely through some wireless audio connection.
- The Voiceless: ION never speaks in the game. All conversations with him are one-sided.
- Wizard Needs Food Badly: Well, fuel anyway, since ION is a robot. Fuel to keep ION going is made from Mytox and seeds.
