Arctico

So not a bad play through BUT i picked this one up on sale and it was dirty dirt cheap. FOR MY MONEY, i feel like I got great value. This game also has co-op but I'm honestly glad I didn't drag my wife into this as I don't think there's enough to do honestly.

Pros:
- It's peaceful
- There no pressure or time limit or anything, you just play
- Some building and collecting, little bit of story. Some music.

Cons:

- Its clunky feeling and the controls aren't too smooth, also every movement is just way too slow
- Severe lack of music for a cozy game, there are times when the music stops and there's just nothing playing
- Some creature comforts missing, biggest offense being the lack of access to the map.
- Building is fairly low level, once again missing some basics to build satisfying / functional designs.
- Upgrades aren't noticeable enough to feel like they justified the cost.

Main gripe: Once I got towards the 'end' of the game, I was only missing missing a few documents with no real way to track them down. I had been labeling every POI that I came across but I was not up to revisiting every location and wandering the map looking for 4 documents.... So i chose the option to pick me up or whatever.

I would still recommend this game as I played it a little bit before work during the week and enjoyed the peaceful and chill tone with no real expectation of success or victory. It was a nice mood set for my day. With more content, I feel like this game would gain a better following.

Doggos are super cute but the gameplay and controls are garbage.

The tutorial was a bit tricky to figure stuff out and the Arrow was a triangle shape so was a bit confusing to use other than that you can pet ur palls give them love so 10/10 game!

Super cozy and relaxing!

Chill game, 10/10

It's pretty clunky and hard to enjoy.

Artico is a captivating and serene exploration game that masterfully blends beautiful visuals, immersive sound design, and a relaxing, yet thought-provoking experience. Set in a breathtaking frozen world, the game invites players to step into the snow-laden boots of a lone traveler, navigating through an endless white landscape filled with frozen mysteries.

From the moment you begin, the strikingly atmospheric environment immediately draws you in. The subtle interplay of light and shadows, paired with gentle snowfall, creates a mesmerizing world that feels both vast and intimate. The art direction is stunning—each scene is like a painting, with soft pastel hues against the stark, crisp white of the ice. The minimalist aesthetic works wonderfully, allowing players to focus on the journey rather than distractions.

The gameplay mechanics are wonderfully simple yet surprisingly engaging. You move through the environment at your own pace, solving environmental puzzles and uncovering small secrets along the way. There’s a gentle rhythm to the exploration, making it feel more like an interactive meditation than a race to finish a set of objectives. Each step you take is filled with purpose, and the game’s pace allows you to truly appreciate the stillness and quiet of the frozen world.

The sound design is another highlight of Artico. The score, a soft mix of ambient tones and gentle melodies, complements the serene atmosphere perfectly. You’ll find the sound of wind whispering through the ice and the soft crunch of footsteps in snow to be oddly comforting, pulling you deeper into the world.

The narrative, while subtle, unfolds in a way that adds emotional weight to the journey. It's a story about solitude, survival, and connection with the environment, inviting the player to reflect on the themes of isolation and inner peace. It’s not a traditional narrative driven by dialogue or complex plots, but rather a story told through visuals and atmosphere, leaving much to the player’s interpretation.

Artico challenges the player in a unique way. Instead of offering complex combat or action-based mechanics, it challenges the player’s patience, sense of exploration, and curiosity. It’s a slow-paced game that rewards mindfulness and quiet observation, making it a perfect choice for anyone seeking a calming yet deeply immersive experience.

In conclusion, Artico is a masterpiece of tranquility and beauty. It’s a game that speaks to those who appreciate artful visuals, atmospheric soundscapes, and reflective storytelling. It’s a meditative journey into a frozen world that encourages you to pause and take in every moment, making it a must-play for anyone looking for a peaceful and introspective escape.

Interface and controls are very unpolished and difficult to understand. Not enough polish to be a full release.

It's very relaxing to play! I love exploring with the cute doggos and finding notes and collecting data. Definitely one of my go-to comfort games.

Nice, short but enjoyable game

not worth the money

Difficult to understand. I got it for a dollar and I still regret it. It's definitely not worth $10 in this state

When I saw this game initially, I thought this game would be really fun. It looked similar to astroneer which is one of my favorite games on steam. But after playing for about half an hour I was trying to get into it but it was just boring. I didn't know what to do and nothing really peaked my interest to go explore. Now since I only have .4 hours there could be a great game down the line, but from what I experienced the game seems pretty boring. The art style and music is nice and the game is pretty cheap. Wouldn't recommend but could be worth trying if on sale.

I drove into the water (my fault) but the game respawned the sled onto my heated shed that I built during tutorial, and now I can't remove the sled and I can't move the shed because it says I have to take everything out first, but the only thing in it... is the sled. Dogs are on the roof.

sigma game

⠃⠁⠙

I Like It

I would not recommend this game due to its extremely slow pace. I had fun in the beginning, thinking it was some sort of story game, searching throughout the map and finding small notes. However, there is no story, plot, or ANY sort of interactive campaign in the game. I would only play this game again if they significantly made the progression easier. I've played this game for 3 hours and I've only gotten 3 buildings. Each building quite literally has no purpose. The game has potential but as of now its extremely boring and not interactive.

This game, as many others have said, has a BOATLOAD of missed potential. The game would be very good if it was only a building game, or only a story game. It fails to mash these two genres together in a way that is just entirely frustrating to play through.

---------------------------------------------------

First up, I want to talk about the building system. It seems really half-baked and needs a ton of work as you can't build most basic components when you first start, which the game uses in an actual good attempt to encourage exploration and make sure that the player actually sees everything that the devs added. HOWEVER, in doing this and with how it's implemented, it basically means that until you go to LITERALLY EVERYWHERE to find most of the blueprints, there are a ton of items and buildings that are just LOCKED with no way of even tracking where the blueprint could be, "just go find it!".

The most egregious part of finding these blueprints is that the locations that they're tied to most of the time MAKE NO SENSE WHATSOEVER! Allow me to point some of these out:

- The first telescope blueprint makes sense because the building has a (broken) telescope on it, however on a building that is LITERALLY AN OBSERVATORY WITH A WORKING TELESCOPE, there's nothing except for 2 notes on the floor.
- There are a TON of windmills around the map, surely there's the blueprint for a windmill at ONE of them right? nope. literally not there.
- Oh hey, I found a crashed plane, there's a few of these around. Surely I can use my brain to figure out how the plane works by literally looking at one... NOPE, glider blueprints are spread around RANDOM buildings that don't have ANYTHING TO DO with planes.

---------------------------------------------------

Now I want to talk about the story. It feels insanely forced and just shoved into wherever they wanted to put a note. As the frustration was building up wandering aimlessly around the map going from location to location trying to find ANY semblance of a blueprint, the one thing I kept finding INSTEAD were random notes that had almost nothing to do with the overall story. The game never explains if these notes are all from the same person or not, and a lot of the notes seem to contradict each other if they are supposed to be from the same person.

I normally adore stories in games like this as it feels like you're uncovering the truth and figuring out what happened (which is literally what it says in the opening of the game as what you're supposed to be doing btw) However with how shoved in the notes are, and how pretentious most of them come across, and the added bonus of finding NOTES instead of the BLUEPRINTS that you need TO PROGRESS, It all culminates into an insanely frustrating slog of a game.

---------------------------------------------------

If this game was JUST a building game, It could've been great. You could've been tasked with picking up where the old researcher left off. You could have inherited the lab as a starting base and used the resources on the island to grow out and expand. You still could've had blueprints as a way to motivate exploration, but without making them NECESSARY! There could have been an ancient civilization or alien crash sites or something that had way more advanced technology that you could find and use as SHORTCUTS, skipping the progression needed to unlock said part. In terms of progression to skip, the player could use the research samples and data to unlock new parts in a tech tree. There should ALWAYS ALWAYS be multiple routes to take, ESPECIALLY in a sandbox game.

If this game was JUST a story game, It could've been great. You could have started on the coast and your task is to find out why the researcher stopped sending distress signals or something. And the ENTIRE GAME could have just been managing the dogs, surviving the cold, and finding notes that were left behind like a trail of bread crumbs. Once in a while, through the snow storms, you would come across a structure and actually be EXCITED because it means you're on the right path and you get more info on what happened. The game would end when you get to the researcher's lab where there could be a big twist or something. Overall, a short, satisfying, enticing experience of a game.


It should not have been both.

This game is important. There's very few games out there that create the same experience this game creates. If you can spare just a few dollars to play this, I highly recommend it :-]

This game is what i have been looking for. A game about exploration with no real threat. No Zombies, No mythical creatures at every corner just you your dogs in a vast area.

I just wish for a few things. I would love for more things to be added. It would be amazing to add more animals. Bears , Wolfs , Deer , Elks all types of species to liven the world.

And a expansion on the buildings we have in.

All in all. A great game i would 100% recommend!

Nice game, 6/10.

Very peaceful, no rush, and trekking around is rather interesting.
But it has some performance issues, I have a very good computer, but adding 2 or 3 buildings along few props, it occasionally, but regularly, freezes for few seconds, it's unbearable to the point you cannot really enjoy in building something complex.

Well worth it for the price though.

I played Artico with a friend of mine online and we had fun playing it. We both bought it when it was 80% discounted and for that price it was well worth the purchase. We had fun playing it together for about 7 hours and found almost everything that there was to find, and the exploration component of the game was what kept us playing. There is potential for this game to get even better, potentially by adding more survival components, such as potential environmental hazards like blizzards, polar bears or frost damage, but this would depend on how the developers what to grow and change the game. I will follow them to see any future updates and maybe play it again once new things are added to the game. So far, if you buy it at a discount, it is definitely worth it and fun to play!

Arctico feels like the lifeless, uninspired cousin of The Red Lantern—a game that strips away the emotional depth, engaging narrative, and tense survival mechanics, leaving behind a repetitive, hollow experience.

At first glance, Arctico promises a serene, open-world survival adventure in an icy tundra, but the reality is a game that quickly becomes monotonous. There’s no real sense of purpose—just endless resource gathering and base expansion, all of which lack meaningful stakes. Unlike The Red Lantern, which weaves an emotionally charged survival story through its gripping roguelike gameplay, Arctico throws the player into a sandbox with little motivation to keep going. The lack of a compelling narrative or even dynamic survival challenges makes the experience feel more like busywork than an actual adventure.

The sled-dog mechanic, which should be one of the game’s most exciting aspects, is disappointingly shallow. While The Red Lantern turns dog sledding into a core survival challenge filled with random events, tough decisions, and emotional connections with your canine companions, Arctico reduces it to a simple means of transportation with no real engagement. The world itself, though expansive, feels barren—there’s little to discover, no real threats to overcome, and no sense of progress beyond upgrading a base that never truly feels necessary.

Visually, the minimalist art style might appeal to some, but it ultimately contributes to the game’s lack of personality. The environments feel repetitive, and the absence of detailed animations or environmental storytelling makes the world feel empty rather than immersive. Even the music, while somewhat relaxing, doesn’t do much to elevate the experience beyond a dull grind.

Overall, Arctico is a survival game without the actual sense of survival. It lacks the tension, challenge, and emotional depth that make The Red Lantern so compelling. If you’re looking for a survival experience that actually feels meaningful, you’re better off playing something else.

nice and cozy game
really chill and relaxed

it's very glitchy, and the technological part to get enough resources to fix a certain mechnism is a bit boring/uninteresting

but exploring the whole world was really fun! and i can see the potentional of this game, still a long way to go tho

Very good relaxing game, 2.5 hours in and it's fun so far. I just recently had to clean install windows again so when I booted up my game there was no saved load... you guys need to have the save data upload to the cloud, if I was any further I don't know that I would have played the game again

I think this game is super chill, which is great, however if you are looking for a game with something past the shallow surface, you will have a tough time. The notes were good.
If this game gets updated itll probably be pretty good.
5.0 out of 10

nice little coop game to play with friends. not a very long gameplay but an enjoyable one. well worth the money this game has potential

Although, i have only played a small amount, it is a relaxing game. The game does not have much to do so if you want a game jam packed with various things to do, it would not be a game you would like/enjoy but it's simple tasks and what little extra content there is makes for a surprisingly enjoyable and relaxing experience with the simple abidance and relaxing soundtrack.
I would not recommend buying it at full price but buying it on sale, I got for £1.59 on sale.

Overall, a relaxing game, simple, not much past the collecting materials and reading notes and finding blueprints and the game is not a game for those who would want a large amount of content or variety. Despite its flaws, I have enjoyed what time I have spent playing as it was a relaxing experience.

This is nothing but a shell of a game. I was really excited for the Dogs! But found myself leaving them behind more often than not because walking was just better. Which was so sad. The ui is unorganised, and the core game loop is bland and needlessly repetitive unfortunately. But it is cute. Cute graphics and cute dogs :) You get to name them, but co-op players don't get to name theirs.

This game isn't too long, however what it lacks in length it makes up for in the visuals. the visuals in the game are incredible, from the sky to the water it all look really good, the only this that really need fixing are some small bugs here and there and the moving animations which don't quite look right at times. I would recommend this if your playing with a friend.

with a friend this game changes vastly, exploring the far lands of ice and uncovering structures and lost scripts, yeah it doesn't have a lot to offer but it does have a lot for a game made by 2 people, the simplicity of it makes the cold island a lot better, i recommend this as a game with friends it would be boring by yourself. (it was only $2 when i bought it)

Fun game but is exploitable later due to being able to sleep during the day. Infinite hardware and money. I know this isn't a tryhard game but it would benefit from not being able to sleep during the day.

This game could be great. Please make the dogs move even a little bit faster. Maybe third person? It's close to being a great game but feels clunky. The atmosphere and soundscape are beautiful. It's worth it if you can get it on sale but not for full price. I could see 13 dollars being real if the dogs moved a bit.

This game is absolutly amazing, it's like astroneer but in the antartic.

This game on sale was not really worth it, I played it with a friend and it was kinda uninteresting and they wasn't a clear objective so the gameplay was bland and boring. ;)

Nice game for the sale price, im enjoying it.
Lovely atmosphere, pretty chill.

I wouldn't think its worth the original £7.99 as I got it for £1.59 and really enjoying it! It's a very calming game to play when tired / ill. The mechanics are a bit glitchy sometimes but thats as expected. The soundtrack is very good though and it adds a really nice atmopshere. Would recommend :)

Arctico is a game that promises a relaxing experience but ultimately falls short. While the soothing music and chill vibes create a calm atmosphere, the gameplay feels underwhelming and repetitive. Despite the peaceful setting, there’s little to keep you engaged for long stretches. The exploration elements do offer some charm, with delightful little notes scattered around that add a touch of personality to the world. However, these moments aren’t enough to elevate the overall experience. If you're in the mood for something low-key, it might be worth a try, but don’t expect anything groundbreaking.

Arctico is a peaceful survival and exploration game that thrives on its relaxing atmosphere. The soothing music and serene, icy landscapes create a calming experience, making it perfect for players looking to unwind. However, the game falls short in terms of depth. While exploration is enjoyable, there’s a noticeable lack of engaging activities, leaving the world feeling somewhat empty. Additionally, the environment, though initially beautiful, lacks detail and variety, making extended play sessions feel repetitive. Overall, Arctico is a pleasant but shallow experience, best suited for those who enjoy a slow-paced, meditative adventure.

I almost don't recommend but I have enjoyed this game today. There is definitely room for optimisation and polishing for example: I was having an fps stuttering issue but managed to fix it by turning off ambient occlusion... mostly. There's no loading screens except for one cave but there is a short black screen when getting on and off the sled and boat. Some might not be bothered by it but I find it breaks immersion. There are some invisible walls around the map also. If the devs spent a few weeks testing and fixing above issues, then they could probably sell for more then $3 as the game is quite addictive. I bought it today and played 7 hours straight, there's lots of cool things to discover and the progression and base building is satisfying.

The game has really good potential, but I cant recommend it for any co-op experience.
When people join, there is a chance their dogs get stuck in the air forcing the host to reset the lobby. When trying to restart the lobby, the host gets an infinite loading screen.
Also got soft locked when someone built something while another player was looking in that same menu.
The game is chill and everything is really charming, but its just frustrating to constantly deal with soft locks.

Peaceful game, pretty fun but a bit confusing to start

fun for 2$ , needs a substantial amount of work.

Beautiful scenery, and nice calming music and gameplay. I love the adventure of finding new wreckage around the map. All of this with your doggos. Plus you can name them 10/10!

Worth it at the discounted $2!

If you’re looking for the ultimate cozy survival crafting game,even tho the survival part isn't that challanging, and perhaps that's what's so beatiful about this game, anyway, this one is an absolute gem. From the moment you step into its beautifully designed winter-themed world, it wraps you in a blanket of charm, atmosphere, and rewarding gameplay.

The game perfectly balances survival mechanics with a relaxing, almost therapeutic experience. Gathering resources, building your shelter, and crafting tools all feel intuitive and satisfying, making every session enjoyable. It’s a game where you can lose hours just immersing yourself in its world, watching the snowfall as you go out fishing or exploring. Exploration is where the game truly shines. The world is not just a backdrop, it’s a beautifully crafted landscape and the messages you can find are truly poetic, sad and happy at the same time i would say, like bittersweet. Also Mining, in particular, is a joy, can't say much about it, really basic stuff, but i would say really lovely at the same time.

What truly sets it apart is how insanely cozy it feels. Everything, from the cozy and relaxing lo-fi music to the gentle ambient sounds of snowfall and soft lighting, contributes to an atmosphere that makes you want to stay forever. It’s a rare blend of survival and comfort, making it worth every penny.

The only small improvement I’d love to see is a better use of water resources—making them more relevant and impactful in gameplay. But beyond that, this game is a masterpiece in its genre. If you love survival crafting games and crave something that feels warm and welcoming despite the cold setting, this game is awesome. :steamthumbsup: , :steamthumbsup: , :steamthumbsup:

Arctico has a simple but enjoyable game loop set in a picturesque location. It also has a lot more content since I've last played, which I am excited to try out.

Fun at first and then it's boring

Not much to explore
Not many things we could do

If i'm playing it solo, i would only last for an hour
It's getting boring easily

But i like the visual

firstly i got this on sale for less than 5€, and i like it

it's chill, there isn't much to do at this point in development but it is very cozy to ride around, explore the islands, and pet the dogs :3

beyond that it seems to be in active development by someone who is very able to make a stable and functional game, so that's good ^-^