A visual novel about extreme survival on the ice. No spoilers.

Game declared for platforms: macOS, Windows, Mac OS.

The plot

Surreal. Five years ago, a ship disappeared in the ice. Let’s go out in search of one just like it, and take a limited supply of everything? The idea is “as reliable as a Swiss watch.”

From the start, some mysteries to be solved are obvious.

Gameplay

Gameplay is a beautifully designed visual novel with resource management.

At the beginning we are interviewed by the captain and there is the creation of the personality of our hero. Whether it will be a sea wolf, or a land rat (proudly named – Landlord), or a military, or a civilian. Depending on these parameters, different members of the crew will treat the hero differently.

To retell the plot, as always in visual novels, makes no sense, in order to avoid spoilers. Therefore, I will focus on the technical features of the game.

The actions in the game consist of several types of activities

Communicating with the team, listening to their requests. Come weekly, the events are strictly scripted according to the story. Varying reactions of our hero, which affects further events. At first the reception of “patients” occurs in the company of the captain (he agrees with everything and does not affect, in fact), then deal with everything alone.

Cycle runs around the ship or other area, doing the maximum possible activities – talking to those who want to talk, collecting important items and resources (about that below).

Participating in the election of the captain. As the story progresses, our hero becomes a candidate for captain. Elections take place, which depend on the relationship with the members of the team. There are several candidates, you can also lose. The election involves the entire team.

A little more detail should be provided on the resources that are in the game. There are several types.

Morale. If it drops to zero – loss and revolt of the team. “Correct” answers in the dialogues will cheer up the fighters, and “wrong” answers will make them sad.

Food. We need food. Very important – to bring in more munchies, you have to pull up more crew members. I fail and lug, it turns out, alone, is not enough. There won’t be enough provisions – people will get sick, die.

Fuel. It’s the same as with food. We have to carry as a team. Fail. If there will be a shortage, it will affect in the most negative way – freezing, death.

Crew members. They do a variety of jobs. No people – no closure of any problem. NPCs are divided into several specializations: scouts, scientists, engineers, “specialists” (cook, carpenter – all in one pile), sailors.

Those with the right skills will obviously do better in the tasks they are used to. But you can, in desperate situations, send in all those who are free at the moment.

Interestingly, the theme of getting to know the crew is implemented. You walk around the ship and “discover” the characters little by little. As long as the unit is not “open” – it is not available to perform tasks.

Dogs. Allow, under the guidance of scouts, to explore the terrain, extract resources, explore the road.

And so, week after week, enduring hardships and overcoming difficulties, it is somehow to win.

Consider the pros and cons of the game, and summarize.

Pros:

• Awesome graphics.
• Excellent music and sound accompaniment.
• Intriguing main story. There’s just something mysterious going on.
• Interesting activities.

Something that can be both a plus and a minus:

± You can really tighten up your knowledge of the English language. You have to translate short sentences, not walls of text, which inspires some enthusiasm.

Cons:

• Very ill-conceived system for gathering critical resources, which can screw up the playthrough if you don’t move in. You have to guess that it is desirable to carry resources by the entire army. The distance to the coca – one door. In general, it is not clear why it was done so.

Conclusions objective

A large, well-designed visual novel with interesting mechanics (exploring the world, choosing the captain). Of the shortcomings, we can call some of the drag of what is happening.

Conclusions subjective

I did not manage to finish it. It’s really kind of slow. Yes, and zafeililil, did not immediately realize that food and coal have to drag the whole squad every cycle. But, must and recognize that the game is well made, the plot intrigues, design (graphics and sound) elegant.