If you’ve ever wondered what it’d be like to crash land in the middle of nowhere with only a therapy bot and some broken comms for company, Arctic Awakening has you covered. Dubbed by some as “Firewatch with frostbite”, GoldFire Studios’ latest release sets the stage with you and your co-pilot, Donovan, flying supplies to an isolated community… until everything goes belly up in a blizzard.
Cue the tail ripping off mid-flight, a nosedive into the icy unknown, and your character dragging their half-frozen arse through a beautiful but bug-ridden nightmare. And yes, it is beautiful. Between snow-covered peaks and abandoned outposts, Arctic Awakening paints some jaw-dropping vistas when the weather lets you see more than five feet ahead.
Companionship and consequences
You’re not alone, though. Alfie, your court-appointed therapy drone, tags along to give the game its heart. And honestly? He grows on you. He’s that dry-witted companion that you’ll argue with, confide in, and occasionally ignore when the silence feels more fitting. He also acts as your emotional anchor, serving as the game’s way to unpack trauma, both yours and his. Yep, even bots have baggage here.
But the emotional core really hits when you uncover bits of Donovan’s fate, stumble across the notes from another lost survivor, Hollie, and realise this remote hellhole might be hiding more than frostbite and feral drones.
Gameplay with a side of glitches
Mechanically, the survival aspects are light. You can pick up food, drinks, meds, and tools with no inventory limit, which feels like a missed opportunity. If you’re going to give me survival mechanics, make me earn it. Let me panic over whether I brought enough soup or if I have to chew on moss for dinner.
What does work, when it works, is the exploration. Finding cairns where you can stop to breathe and manage your mental load? That’s a lovely touch. But getting stuck in the environment and restarting scenes because you can’t jump down from somewhere or climb up from behind a storage container? Less lovely.
Arctic Awakening crashed more times than I’d like to count, especially early on. Episode 1 alone had me faceplant into bugs multiple times, which definitely put a dent in the immersion. Then there’s the overlapping dialogue in later episodes, which turns some scenes into an accidental radio drama where everyone speaks at once.
Walking sim or storytelling gold?
There’s a fair bit of downtime here. Lots of walking. Sometimes in eerie silence, sometimes with stunning ambient music, and sometimes with Alfie asking the big questions. It’s in these moments where the game flirts with greatness. You want more of them, but also want more to do. The balance’s just a little off.
Despite its issues, I genuinely enjoyed Arctic Awakening’s story. It’s emotional, introspective, and pushes you to think about loss, survival, and healing. Choices do have consequences, which gives the game some solid replay value. Just… be ready to wrestle with the technical gremlins along the way.
Overall thoughts on Arctic Awakening
Arctic Awakening is a cold, contemplative adventure with a warm heart beating beneath the ice. It tells a story worth hearing, with themes of grief, trauma, and hope stitched into every step through the snow. But the journey is marred by bugs, crashes, and some frustrating design decisions that chip away at the experience. If the devs can iron out the issues in future patches, this could go from “good with caveats” to “essential narrative experience”.
As it stands? It’s worth checking out, but maybe keep your mittens on the reset button, just in case.
Arctic Awakening is developed and published by GoldFire Studios. The game was released in September 2025 and is available on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. While you wait for it to download, why not check out some more of our game reviews by clicking here?