During the Tiny Teams Festival of 2023, one of the demos I tried out was for Arctic Awakening. A narrative adventure set in a snowy, mountainous landscape where mysteries quickly unveil themselves. I’ve been waiting a long time to see those mysteries for myself having been teased with them during that demo. So, let’s see what GoldFire Studios have delivered with the full game.

In April 2062, the world is flooding from rising sea water. Kai and Donovan are two old friends from a past war who have teamed up to help people struggling from that. Knowing how it feels to be affected by those floods. During one of their runs to provide supplies to those somewhere in Alaska, something rips the tail of the plane clean off. While Donovan bails from the plane, Kai attempts to bring it down.

Successful in that, though with the plane going nowhere, Kai wants to find Donovan and find some way to get away from the frozen wilderness the two are now stuck in. Well, two humans and a therapy drone assigned to Kai to help him work through the mental effects of that past war. Who, in that very robotic way, has some sass. I do love Alfie. Though I also love the interactions these two friends share.

Talking over the communicator, the two share banter along with more serious moments. At certain points, multiple choices are presented. Much like from the demo, the effects of these choices feel small, though depending on the answer can provide interactions easily missed. Interactions that might reveal a bit more of the history of these two friends. Such choices can also be referenced later on, giving reasons for repeat playthroughs.

There are also choices away from the interactions to make, which can affect things in a larger way. Once finished exploring that facility teased in the demo, there’s a choice to keep going or camp early. While it might not seem like a big deal, it makes a huge difference in finding the way back to the plane wreck during the day. Night feels dark, with Alfie’s light being all that could guide me. And with him being autonomous, that light is always moving. Sometimes not in the best places, either.

As I’m meant to be surviving in this wilderness, there are two meters to be aware of. Food and drink are scattered around this world, whether that be in the supply crates from the plane, or the various abandoned facilities around this mountain. There’s also resting the mind with breathing exercises when sat at cairns found around this world. There’s not a massive penalty for not doing these things, with some reduced vision and movement speed being all that happens.

The feeling of isolation on this mountain is very well done. The snow and trees and harsh verticality, while looking nice, show little signs of life. Those abandoned facilities are still active, presenting an eerie feel to the world. And the interactions during this first episode really sell that. Kai and Donovan getting frustrated at the situation, taking it out on each other. But eventually realising that fighting with each won’t help them. Yes, first episode.

The original plan for Arctic Awakening was to release it in episodes, but GoldFire decided against that. Instead wanting to release the story complete. The original plan is still felt in how the opening and closing cutscenes play out. Along with the credits playing at the end of each one. I’m happy the full story is available to play from the off, as I’d be wishing I could get to the next episode with how each one so far has ended.

Yes, so far. Across this narrative, there have been a few crashes. Booting me back to the Xbox dashboard. Weirdly, across the two playthrough I’ve done, I’ve had one crash at the exact same place. Then, in getting to episode three during that first playthrough, the worst kind of bug happened. The impassable kind. No matter what I did, whether using the restart scene feature, quitting and reloading, exiting the game and loading back in, the cutscene would always bug out upon starting.

It’s why I did the second playthrough. And sure enough, in getting to the same point, the same bug is stopping my progress. I enjoyed hearing different interactions from my taking of different choices, along with paying more attention to the music this second time around. There are some nice instrumentals here, providing mysterious or hopeful tones when needed. Even the voice acting is great. Though, it’s best to have the subtitles on, as some dialogue can easily be missed. Especially in that first cutscene.

Arctic Awakening has a great, strong narrative. Character interactions are enjoyable, whether that be with Kai, Donovan and Alfie, or other encounters later on. The mystery of the mountain really drives me to keep on walking, with the long walks between places also adding to the feeling of isolation. I would be happy to easily recommend it, had I not encountered the impassable bug. As it is, not knowing how widely it affects people, I just can’t until a fix is confirmed.

It shouldn’t be too long before that happens, as a patch has already been released to fix certain movement issues and early game bugs. GoldFire are quick about these things, having patched up a lot of things in the demo in days. So, I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for when more patches happen so I can continue this adventure to reunite Kai and Donovan while discovering the mystery of this mountain.

Images Taken From:
Arctic Awakening | Xbox Series S