The Arctic Awakening could be something like when Firewatch meets The Thing in a game, in the context of a plane crash in Alaska.

Arctic Awakening is a first-person adventure game about a plane crash, a missing pilot, a missing co-pilot, and a fancy AI-powered drone all trying to survive in the frigid Alaskan wilderness of the year 2062. It sounds terrible, but it’s actually worse: your drone isn’t malfunctioning, it’s been sliced clean in half, and something out there is making bizarre noises at night.

Unlike many “lost in the wilderness” survival games, Arctic Awakening is not open-world, but your choices will affect your relationships with your companions, “and perhaps the story itself”.

Exploration is the real core of the game: finding your missing co-pilot, figuring out what caused your plane to crash, and hopefully getting home safely.

“In Arctic Awakening the environment itself is a character, one not always on your side,” reads the Steam page.

“Dynamic weather means each new area never feels the same, and gorgeously realised vistas combine with an ever-changing world to create an atmosphere of discovery, potential and fear.”

Looking at the trailer and screenshots, one’s first impression might be that it’s quite similar to Firewatch but with a slightly more catastrophic twist. Others might also detect elements of Carpenter’s The Thing in it, presumably because of the Arctic setting and the “something terrible is happening, but we don’t know what” vibe. But the views are truly breathtaking – you can’t wait to explore the countryside and hope that you’ll eventually solve all the mysteries. Firewatch has faltered a little at this point, which has (very slightly!) overshadowed an otherwise masterful game, so we really hope Arctic Awakening holds its own.

Arctic Awakening is expected to be released sometime in 2023.

Source: Steam