The Pale Beyond is the first title from developers Bellular Studios and publishers Fellow Traveller. This role-playing survival management simulation is brewing with interesting landscapes, Deep characters, and difficult circumstances. You play as Robin Shaw, the new first mate to old Captain Hunt.

The opening has you choose different aspects of Shaw's life. Did he serve in the military? That may earn you the respect of some of the sailors, but the scientists might think you're a brute. Is he a Saltborn man or is he a landborn? Each of these choices is relevant and important as it dictates the nature of your own personal Robin Shaw.

The Pale Beyond immediately does an excellent job of placing you in the world and having you decide the nature of your character. Moreover, throughout the game, these choices will have dire consequences on various aspects of the crew, ship and more. Particularly once things start going wrong.

Of course, things go wrong. The Captain goes missing, and you have to keep the ship in line. This is where the game fully comes into its own. Gameplay-wise, it isn't the most complicated system imaginable. Assigning crew members to do specific jobs, enhancing the food to keep morale up, and ensuring that the ship is well supplied with coal so that the crew can keep warm. Each of these is as important as the other and feeds into the crew's shaky morale.

Managing each of these is a complicated task and immediately, as the game intended, makes you feel responsible. It becomes a very intense management sim, more so when you have to sacrifice certain things. Perhaps you have to sacrifice keeping warm in exchange for food and vice versa. These decisions make the game much more interesting and incredibly intense, especially for a game with such a methodical pace.

In addition to this, the many crew members also have their own specializations and talents. Engineers work in the boiler room specifically and should work to ensure it's in the best condition possible. Scouts can explore the icy landscape that you are trapped in, possibly hunting for food, and scientists can man the radio or develop medicines to help anyone recovering from illness or injury.

This links rather well to the various stats that players will have to manage. Decorum, food and warmth each have their part to play throughout The Pale Beyond. If food drops low, crew members can develop scurvy; if the warmth drops too low, they may become freezing and get hypothermia, and if decorum drops, the crew will become demoralized.

These status effects must be managed carefully and often. While this is intense and does create interesting choices, it can also be brutally difficult. It takes very little time before people become malnourished or freezing. While some may be all for this brutality, others may find the game almost too unforgiving.

I should state that The Pale Beyond can become rather repetitive. Sometimes you are repeating the same tasks over and over again, trying to gain coal, food or whatever, and despite the game's best efforts, that feeling of monotonous work can creep in from time to time. However, in a similar vein, the title does regularly try to keep you engaged through the use of little conversations that people are having around the ship, it may not remove the monotony all together, but it certainly makes it more bearable.

Something that links closely with the gameplay is the title's loyalty system; earning a character's loyalty is one of, if not the most important aspects of the game. Earning character loyalty obviously depends on the choices you make and whether or not each character agrees or disagrees with the decision. Those who are loyal to you will have dire ramifications for the title, so it is important that you get as many crew members loyal as possible.

Aside from the gameplay, the The Pale Beyond's narrative, while simple, is executed extremely well. The writing is stellar; every character has their own motivations, thoughts, ideas and loyalties, which makes them fully three-dimensional and interesting. This enhances every aspect of the game as the character depth creates an emotional connection which can make those character deaths incredibly difficult to handle.

The game lacks voice acting, which may be a dealbreaker for some. I should state that while the lack of voice acting can lessen the impact of certain emotional lines, overall, it is not enough of an issue to ruin the plot of the title.

The Pale Beyond also has one of the most stunningly beautiful art styles in gaming. The unbelievable vistas and interiors of the ship to the characters themselves. Every detail of this game is exquisite to look at and makes the game a joy to look at. The eerie beauty of the ice is stellar and truly immerses you in the world. There were some occasional clipping issues with some textures, but they were irregular enough that they did not necessarily impact the title to that much of an extent.

Furthermore, the UI design of the game is excellent. It is easily readable, all the while maintaining this cold, brutal style that aligns with the game's aesthetic brilliantly. This, combined with the well-designed icons for the various cabins/tents that players will interact with, means that you will rarely become lost and confused whilst you are trapped in the ice.

Moreover, the audio of this game is fantastic. Every scrape across the hull of the ship, every gust of wind, and every mumbled word is superb and once again creates an incredible and deep immersive atmosphere. The music is a mix of calm and creepy; you almost never feel comfortable, always 'on edge' for what the next week may bring.

Ultimately, this highlights what, to me, is the greatest strength of The Pale Beyond. It's the atmosphere. Few games can conjure an atmosphere to such a degree that it feels like you're living and breathing in it. The Pale Beyond does just that; the game is so deep you could drown in it. Every detail is meticulous, interesting, and well-crafted. The fact that the smallest thing, like not being able to add fuel to the boiler, or not feeding the crew, or even simply having a crew at low morale, can create so much tension is proof of the quality of this title.

Overall, The Pale Beyond is a fantastic game. From the intense and methodical gameplay, stunning art style, and fantastic characters. Everything about this game is meticulous and shows in every aspect of the title. The gameplay can become repetitive, especially during longer playing sessions, but the depth of the characters and the marvelous atmosphere that this title manages to conjure seems to grip you as you attempt to survive the horrifying cold of the arctic. This is a title that surprised me with its depth and one that I heartily recommended, especially to hardcore lovers of management sims or survival games.
 

Joshua Burt (@JoshuaBurt123),
Senior Editor, NoobFeed