After playing South of the Polar Circle, I experienced the complexity of love and human nature

Peter is a scholar at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. This identity may seem glamorous, but it cannot save his current situation - he and his companion Floyd were trapped in a blizzard, and their plane made an emergency landing in a snowdrift.

What's even more devastating is that they are located in the Antarctic region, surrounded by no human habitation.

Freud wanted to do something, but his leg was injured. Under Freud's persuasion, hysterical Peter opened the hatch and the scholar planned to seek help at a nearby British outpost.

The story of "South of the Polar Circle" has thus begun.

Love and Test

As the official statement goes, South of the Polar Circle is a captivating narrative game that you can play as an interactive movie.

Although narrative games are niche themes, the quality of the script for "Beyond the Polar Circle" is good, so the gameplay process is not boring.

Peter and Freud are trapped in Antarctica and need to go to the outpost for help. This is the main plot, but it's not the full story yet. When Peter walks helplessly in the snow, players will begin to understand everything he has experienced.

Blizzard filled Peter's surroundings and also obscured the player's view, leaving only a constantly flashing red light. Then the camera turned and Peter walked on the small road next to the station, with the traffic lights above him operating. At this point, the game has completed a wonderful transition.

The transition here is quite stunning

On the train to Cambridge, Peter met a girl named Clara. Like Peter, Clara is also a lecturer in Cambridge and she is also troubled by the topic selection of her thesis.

Peter and Clara met and became acquainted. They first helped each other, then admired each other. The two climbed the mountain together to collect necessary data for the new paper. After confirming the results, the two individuals jointly signed the initial draft of the paper. Everything looked beautiful until that incident occurred

To avoid spoilers, I have to stop. If you are interested in the plot I have described, please play this game yourself. The content of "South of the Polar Circle" is slowly presented in multiple time periods of narration, with Peter as the protagonist.

This narrative technique requires a high level of proficiency from the screenwriter. Using a "multi line approach" to tell the story, the creator needs to carefully consider the timing of each clue insertion, ensuring a natural transition and maintaining the correlation between various events.

Peter and Clara

I am pleased that South of the Polar Circle has achieved this. The entire game heavily uses the techniques of "interlude" and "reverse narration", but the transitions appear smooth and natural.

For example, when Peter opened a certain door, what caught his eye was not the real scenery, but a certain memory between him and the professor. This kind of transition method can smoothly incorporate into the subsequent plot while keeping players fresh.

Another point is that the voice dialogue in the game enriches the character's image. Peter has a gentle tone and is humble in his dealings with others, but he often shows a lack of confidence; Clara, on the other hand, is an intellectual and brave woman with a unique personality charm and sensitive traits. In contrast, the professor appears somewhat dull, often mentioning boring competitions and enjoying preaching.

Professor 's room also appears dim and lifeless

"South of the Polar Circle" not only depicts Peter's experience of seeking help in Antarctica. The game also revealed his path of growth, the various opinions of people around him, and the ideological conflicts of that era.

Speaking of which, the story of "South of the Polar Circle" is also quite realistic, as the historical background of this work is the "Cold War".

In 1955, 12 countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union held an international conference on Antarctica and decided to shelve their territorial claims. However, due to the Cold War competition, governments around the world were constantly suspicious, and the talks took more than sixty rounds of negotiations to achieve results. Until 1959, the participating parties signed the Antarctic Treaty. At this point, people from different countries still have not let go of their prejudices.

Freud harbors hostility towards the Soviets

In that era, social concepts in Britain became quite complex. Radicals took to the streets calling for disarmament, while conservatives were extremely disgusted with the Soviet Union, communism, and women advocating for equality. In university campuses where various ideas collide fiercely, this contradiction becomes even more prominent.

Unfortunately, Peter was in the midst of the Cold War and also in the midst of the land of conflict in Antarctica. He deeply loved Clara, but was manipulated by the professor. Personal thoughts become irrelevant because many people are on guard against each other. Poor Peter, under the influence of the times, faced various tests related to himself.

Play quietly

I mentioned at the beginning of the article that "South of the Polar Circle" can be seen as a "playable movie.". The difficulty level of this game is basically non-existent.

Players can easily enjoy the story by interacting with the system prompts. When players need to perform operations, the system will provide corresponding icons, each representing different emotions, and Peter's conversations with others will also change according to the player's choice.

Here's a small flaw. The game only provides sporadic text prompts at the beginning regarding the emotions corresponding to each icon. Although this simplified design can deepen the overall immersion, I have forgotten the meaning of some icons in the later stages of the game. Opening the help page alone can also disrupt the atmosphere, so sometimes I can only make aimless choices.

Of course, the impact of this issue is not serious. Even if the player does not make any decisions at the moment, the story can still proceed. In order to ensure smooth gameplay for players, the production team has also put in some effort in visual guidance.

For example, outside a certain camp, players can see one of the red doors at a glance. Against the dim polar background, this red door stands out particularly. It is undoubtedly a crucial location for players to start the next storyline.

There are many similar scene designs. The production team has set up many iconic scenes and pre-set action routes. In the vast majority of cases, players only need to lightly push the joystick and the character can move along the predetermined path.

So, if you can spare four or five hours of leisure time one afternoon, then I recommend trying "South of the Polar Circle". Players don't need to make any preparations, just open the game and quietly read the story.

At this point, I would also like to specifically introduce the developer of this game, State of Play. This studio doesn't produce many games, but each one is a masterpiece.

Before "South of the Polar Circle," State of Play had previously released the art oriented puzzle game "Lumino City.". The scene of this work was constructed by hand folding paper, and it took several years before and after development. After its release, the work successfully won the BAFTA Art Achievement Award that year.

Lumino City

And during the production of "South of the Polar Circle", the development team also put a lot of effort into it. They first contacted the members of the Antarctic exploration team to understand the special background of that year, and then personally went to the Antarctic region to take photos.

State of Play co-founder Luke Whittaker is also on the filming team. He later mentioned in a foreign media interview that the real landscape of Antarctica is far more diverse than he imagined. Many scenes have been restored in the game.

I think for players, the same principle applies. Some works may seem simple in form, but only by personally trying them out can one understand the unique fun involved. Although "South of the Polar Circle" had already landed on Apple Arcade as early as 2020, the number of people who knew it at that time was limited. Now that this game has landed on major consoles and PC platforms, more players can access this exciting story.

epilogue

At first, I had no expectations for "South of the Polar Circle". But when I reminisced about it after completing the game, I found that "South of the Polar Circle" brought me a completely immersive experience, and the ending shot also triggered my deep reflection. So, I suggest everyone go and experience this work. Good stories are rare, and it is precisely because of this that ready-made masterpieces become precious.

Welfare period:

In this article, we will select lucky users to give away the Steam redemption code for "Beyond the Polar Circle".