Los Angeles, CA, USA - Oct 2nd 2025 - Fresh off the Meta Quest launch where it scored a 4.3 / 5 Stars from enthusiastic players, The Phoenix Gene launches on Steam on October 8th with its innovative blend of physical movement, third-person shooting, and strategic realm toggling. PCVR players can take advantage of their gaming rig for even higher frame rates and more impressive visuals.
Free demo available now on Steam. Quest players can also enjoy a Free Trial.
Game features:
- Short tutorial + upgrade your phoenix as you progress
- 8 exciting hand-crafted levels
- 7 Additional Upgrades earned by collecting gold flames
- Slipstream mini-challenges for completionists
- Music composed by Grant Kirkhope
- Dystopian sci-fi story based on an upcoming book series
- VR Book Experience: ‘The Phoenix Gene: Origins of Darkness’
The Steam launch benefits from the recent Meta Quest 1.3 update which added:
- Difficulty Settings: Easy, Medium and Hard
- More room scale options - Relaxed to high physical movement
- bHaptics support - Even more immersive. Feel every hit
- 15 Subtitle languages
- Customisable aim offsets
- Unlockable advanced techniques guide
Platform: VR / Steam - Compatible with Meta Air Link and Virtual Desktop
Reviews:
- “Good, Solid Fun“ - FastLawyer
- ***** “Crazy But Fun” - ScottishGamerVR
- ***** “Original Gameplay” - Majerik
- ***** “Outstanding!!!” - Oz81
- ***** “Blew Me Away” - Fearian
- ***** “I’ve Never Played Anything Like It Before” - DeafyPro
- ***** “Incredibly Fun!” - Yojeyu
- ***** “Great Game” - GMsupr
- ***** “I Love it!” - WillieMcBride
- ***** “Fun and Exciting” - TBCVRgaming
- ***** “What a Great Game” - Magicmerlin007
- ***** “Fun and Wonderful” - Disneypoppy
Developer & Publisher: HEROmation. Known for their Oscar Qualifying film 'The Wrong Rock' and their popular film 'Devils Angels & Dating'.
Store Pages:
- https://store.steampowered.com/app/2246040/The_Phoenix_Gene_VR/
- https://store.steampowered.com/app/3961490/The_Phoenix_Gene_VR_Demo/
Trailer:
Story:
They called it a cure. They didn’t mention the genocide.
Seventeen-year-old Jackie knows the rules: if you test positive for the PX virus, you disappear. So when she fails her Wellness Check, there’s only one option.
Run.
Life Rite’s genetically engineered immortality serum cures diseases, but it also rips the multiverse wide open. When Jackie is hunted down, she travels back in time to stop the serum from annihilating the poor and oppressed.
As Jackie races through a fractured universe, she unravels the mysterious roots of her twisted family tree, but choosing the wrong alliance triggers the catastrophic, deadly Redistribution Program.
Even if she can somehow save humanity...it'll cost her life.
Game Details:
General Game Description: Fly a time-traveling Phoenix through the multiverse on a mission to stop Life Rite’s immortality serum from annihilating the poor and oppressed.
Get your workout by dodging obstacles, reaching for collectibles and power ups, and protecting innocents, blasting fireballs and flames. This action-packed Shooter is infused with strategy, allowing you to toggle red and blue realities, absorbing red or blue bullets to recover energy.
The Phoenix Gene is a narrative adventure for fans of Pistol Whip, Starfox, R-Type, Panzer Dragoon and Ikaruga.
Genre: Narrative Action Adventure On-rails Shooter
Game Modes: Standing Roomscale, Sitting
Features: 4 World Scales (sitting to standing), Easy Medium and Hard Difficulty Settings, Snap Turn, Smooth Turn, Vignette, VR Book Experience, 15 Subtitle Languages
Subtitles Languages: English, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish
Levels: 8
Unique Game Mechanics:
- Grip Buttons allow you to control a Phoenix between your hands like a paper airplane.
- Realm toggling allows you to change what’s in your reality, adding a strategic element to this Shooter.
- Instead of a HUD, which can be annoying in VR, the Phoenix changes appearance to reflect its health, shield status and Smart Bombs.
- Push the joystick up to fly further for harder to reach places.
- Unleash smart bombs, quad fireballs and upgrade abilities with faster health regeneration, and boosted flamethrower.
Additional Content: The VR Book Experience offers advance access to The Phoenix Gene: Origins of Darkness, the first of 6 upcoming books from The Phoenix Gene franchise. Experience the book sample in VR before it’s released.
Fun Facts:
- The Phoenix Gene is self-funded and hand-crafted by husband and wife indie developers, Michael Cawood and Julie Pifher Cawood, who have a track record with award-winning films, TV, and book publishing.
- Four team members worked together on video games at Rare (Nintendo and Microsoft).
- HEROmation’s last animated film, The Wrong Rock, was Oscar-qualified and won numerous awards.
Team Credits:
Director Michael Cawood’s games: Starfox Adventures (Gamecube), Kameo (XBox 360), Call of Duty, Megaman and Skylanders Giants, and the Feature Films: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Pete’s Dragon, Happy Feet, The Lego Ninjago Movie, Furious 7, and Star Trek Beyond. Michael also directed the Oscar Qualified film: The Wrong Rock.
Writer/Producer Julie Pifher Cawood: Created TLC’s My Giant Life (3 seasons) and A&E’s Born Behind Bars (1 season) and sold pilots, series and films to Syfy, CW, Hulu, Universal, Starz, Lifetime, Discovery+ and more. Author of 6 books.
Composer Grant Kirkhope: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Ghostbusters, Yooka-Laylee, Civilization, Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, Castle of Illusion, Viva Pinata, Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, Perfect Dark, GoldenEye 007 and HEROmation’s Oscar-qualified film, The Wrong Rock.
Game Price: $24.99 / $21.24 (15% off for the first two weeks)
Press Kit:
Links:
- Website: https://thephoenixgene.com/
- Discord: https://discord.gg/yyKacWjwXH
- Website: https://heromation.com/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/heromation
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heromation
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/heromationstudio
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heromation
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heromationstudio
Contact: For any questions, please contact michaelcawood@heromation.com