Coming out a little less than a year after their freshman title, Death Park, Antarctica 88 is Euphoria Games' second release. It's labelled as a survival horror game, but in reality it plays more along the lines what you'd find in the action-horror genre. The year is 1988, and you're a guy who is part of a four-man rescue squad in search of of a Russian geological research expedition that was drilling for prehistoric minerals below the frozen tundra of the antarctic. The team of scientists have gone radio silent, and to your gruesome discovery it turns out that most of them have been murdered. It's not long before you figure out what has been killing the team, but now you need to figure out where these terrible monsters are coming from.

I really feel like I say this about every Antarctica-based horror game, but there is heavy inspiration taken from John Carpenter's masterpiece film, The Thing; only not nearly as memorable, and on an indie developer budget. A lost expedition, a rescue team, mad scientists, and evil monsters... well, three to be exact. It's all here, it has all been done before, and I won't bore you with the details of a well-defined trope. Surprisingly enough there are six weapons to use throughout the campaign, and they all work as intended. There's a metric ton of ammunition scattered around each of the eight levels, alongside first aid kits and notes that flesh out the story a bit more. The campaign is fairly linear, and despite the store page claiming 'hardcore puzzles', you'll just be finding some not-so-hidden items required to progress.

From the get-go you'll probably think to yourself, "Wow, this plays like a mobile port", and that's because it is a mobile port. In fact, it functions and feels a lot like Dementium II HD, which was a NintendoDS port, but the engine is probably close to the same version of Unity that the developers of that game used. That's not to take a knock at the optimization, this title actually runs as smooth as butter, but it has that unmistakable, unshakeable quality to it. The graphics aren't terrible, but again they are that Dementium II HD quality and are really, seemingly unintentionally, dated. There is a day and night cycle, all dependent on your PC's own clock; the night version of the game looks far better and adds much more atmosphere than the day version.

Antarctica 88 can be completed in as little as an hour, though an average playthrough will come out to about an hour and a half. For those with patience and curiosity, there are four endings to explore, which will require a minimum of two playthroughs if you save scum near the end of the game. The developers created the soundtrack to the game, which is a never-ending unsuccessful attempt at making the player feel pressured and rushed; a more ambience-centric OST could've done a lot more to add to the game's atmosphere. While there's nothing here that's terrible, this release doesn't have anything provocative or stimulating to offer. It's like eating vanilla icecream, it is what it is; nothing more and nothing less.

The Horror Network Curator | Group Click for Gore

Coming out a little less than a year after their freshman title, Death Park, Antarctica 88 is Euphoria Games' second release. It's labelled as a survival horror game, but in reality it plays more along the lines what you'd find in the action-horror genre. The year is 1988, and you're a guy who is part of a four-man rescue squad in search of of a Russian geological research expedition that was drilling for prehistoric minerals below the frozen tundra of the antarctic. The team of scientists have gone radio silent, and to your gruesome discovery it turns out that most of them have been murdered. It's not long before you figure out what has been killing the team, but now you need to figure out where these terrible monsters are coming from. I really feel like I say this about every Antarctica-based horror game, but there is heavy inspiration taken from John Carpenter's masterpiece film, The Thing; only not nearly as memorable, and on an indie developer budget. A lost expedition, a rescue team, mad scientists, and evil monsters... well, three to be exact. It's all here, it has all been done before, and I won't bore you with the details of a well-defined trope. Surprisingly enough there are six weapons to use throughout the campaign, and they all work as intended. There's a metric ton of ammunition scattered around each of the eight levels, alongside first aid kits and notes that flesh out the story a bit more. The campaign is fairly linear, and despite the store page claiming 'hardcore puzzles', you'll just be finding some not-so-hidden items required to progress. From the get-go you'll probably think to yourself, "Wow, this plays like a mobile port", and that's because it is a mobile port. In fact, it functions and feels a lot like Dementium II HD, which was a NintendoDS port, but the engine is probably close to the same version of Unity that the developers of that game used. That's not to take a knock at the optimization, this title actually runs as smooth as butter, but it has that unmistakable, unshakeable quality to it. The graphics aren't terrible, but again they are that Dementium II HD quality and are really, seemingly unintentionally, dated. There is a day and night cycle, all dependent on your PC's own clock; the night version of the game looks far better and adds much more atmosphere than the day version. Antarctica 88 can be completed in as little as an hour, though an average playthrough will come out to about an hour and a half. For those with patience and curiosity, there are four endings to explore, which will require a minimum of two playthroughs if you save scum near the end of the game. The developers created the soundtrack to the game, which is a never-ending unsuccessful attempt at making the player feel pressured and rushed; a more ambience-centric OST could've done a lot more to add to the game's atmosphere. While there's nothing here that's terrible, this release doesn't have anything provocative or stimulating to offer. It's like eating vanilla icecream, it is what it is; nothing more and nothing less. [h1]Rating: [b]3.0/5.0[/b] - Average, can take it or leave it.[/h1] The Horror Network [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/28221963/]Curator[/url] | [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/thehorrornetwork]Group[/url] Click for Gore