Walking sims can be a contentious topic for some people. Often derided for having little in the way of “gameplay”, I find that what they lack in interactivity they more than make up with their ability to immerse you in engaging yet succinct stories. Arctic Awakening makes a good attempt at doing this but ultimately falls a little short of the genre greats.
You step into the shoes of Kai, a former military man, who is now doing supply runs in a small aircraft following an undisclosed catastrophe. The game does a great job of building a believable world without spoon-feeding you exposition. Dialogue helps you build up an organic understanding of the world these characters exist in and it never feels forced or contrived.
On the latest supply run with his pal Donovan, Kai’s plane is brought down by some mysterious weather conditions, which strand you both in separate parts of the mountainous terrain. Kai isn’t alone though, he’s got his court-appointed therapy bot, Alfie, whose chipper attitude is a welcome break from the doom, gloom and mystery of Kai’s situation.
What follows plays like a mixture of Firewatch and The Long Dark as Kai and Alfie try to find Donovan, only to get sucked into an ever-growing web of mysteries involving drones, scientists, weather manipulation and more. It’s a genuinely interesting story, made even better by the shifting dynamic in Kai and Alfie’s relationship. Initially reluctant to spend time with the drone, Arctic Awakening quickly becomes tale of friendship as much as mystery and you’ll influence this through dialogue choices that help you build (or shy away from) a relationship with Alfie.
As I mentioned, it’s a walking simulator so you should know what to expect in terms of mechanics. You’ll be trekking across the Alaskan wilderness following either your compass or Alfie as you make your way to the next spot on the map that’ll progress the story. There’s occasionally some light terrain traversal, such as climbing or jumping across gaps (which is all handled automatically, making for a very smooth and pleasant experience), as well as basic puzzles. You’ve got a hunger meter to keep topped up so it’s recommended you scavenge food wherever possible, but it appears the mountain was well-populated at one point so you’re never too far from another snack. Similarly, cairns are dotted all over the place too, which is handy as sitting by them and playing a small mini game will allow Kai to perform some breathing exercises that de-stress him and refill his mind meter. Again, you’re not explicitly told the reasons why Alfie is assigned to Kai or why he recommends breathing exercises, instead you piece this information together through conversations throughout the game and it helps you build a bond with the characters that mirrors their relationship.
I also mentioned earlier that walking sims are great for telling engaging, succinct stories. When I think of the greats in the genre, I think of games that are 2-5 hours long at most. They keep you hooked, telling a story more effectively in the few hours you’re with them than much larger games do over the course of 40+ hours. Story is key to these games, so when you’re mainly walking for the majority of the runtime you don’t want the gameplay to overstay its welcome and detract from the story. Arctic Awakening doesn’t believe in brevity though, instead it’s an 8-10 hour experience split across 5 separate episodes. Why? I have no idea, the game doesn’t benefit at all from being split like this, and if anything it makes it feel like it’s taking even longer as whole episodes are dedicated to parts of the story that, while important at the time, feel like a distant memory by the time you’re in episode 5. There were multiple moments where I was left thinking “ok, this is too much walking”, especially when dialogue had finished and you’re left walking with Alfie in silence.
Unfortunately the game is also incredibly buggy. I had some serious, progression-halting issues during the review period that slowed the game down further and had me restarting scenes multiple times. These were thankfully fixed in a pre-release patch but even after that I had situations where Kai got stuck, dialogue didn’t trigger, or, in one particularly infuriating moment, the game started chugging during the final episode to the point it became hard to play. Upon closing and restarting it, I found it hadn’t been saved and I lost nearly an hour of progress. It’s a real shame as there’s some great narrative to be found in Arctic Awakening, but between the overly long runtime and myriad technical issues, it loses a lot of the impact it should have.
One area it remains impactful though is the audio. Kai, Alfie and Donovan (as well as the supporting cast) are all wonderfully voiced, with Alfie being a particular stand out. The delivery of their lines helps feed the mystery that fuels the game and I grew to really like the characters because of it. The music is also top notch too, it’s dangerous and lonely and matches the visual tone of the Alaskan wilderness well. One particular scene involving a homemade ukulele is beautiful, and probably my favourite moment in the game. Visually it’s also quite the looker too, with the mountainous terrain and snowy vistas appearing lovely or foreboding depending on the time of the narrative.
Arctic Awakening is definitely worth checking out if you’re a fan of the genre and there’s a genuinely good mystery in there. It’s just a shame that it’s hampered by some egregious technical issues and a run-time that means the game’s in danger of overstaying its welcome.