Penguin Colony review
PC; Origame DigitalThis odd but absorbing adventure sends you waddling across Antarctica in search of an eldritch entity – uncovering a world far stranger than it first appears
TL;DR
- Players control a penguin exploring Antarctica in search of an eldritch entity.
- The game is a retelling of H.P. Lovecraft's 'At the Mountains of Madness' and features Nazis and cosmic horrors.
- Collectibles in the game are words, not traditional objects.
- Gameplay involves hopping, swimming, and gliding, with the ability to swap between different penguins with unique abilities.
- The environment transitions from basic polar landscapes to strange stone labyrinths, alien obelisks, and abyssal crevasses.
- The game uses low-poly graphics reminiscent of PlayStation 2 era games.
- A narrator relays the story of a scientist whose hubris and racism mirror the Nazi characters.
- The game incorporates jarring cuts to archive footage and Indigenous art, creating an unsettling, discordant whole.
- It critiques Lovecraft's racism and Nazi barbarism, inviting players to see the world in new ways.
- The ending reveals a cosmological map showing discovered and missed elements, emphasizing the game's scale and depth.