Frequent images of Frank’s breath vaporizing in the point of view mix with honeycombed organic life and a perpetual settling of snow and dust to create a place that often feels alive with moisture. Chills, in this case, does not mean fear but the sort of cold that travels suddenly and unexpectedly up the spine. But it also has some of the lows through uneven voice acting and gamier elements that fit awkwardly alongside the otherwise great environmental storytelling.Ĭonarium works well when using the Unreal engine to craft a chilling environment for the player to navigate. Conarium hits some of the highs of Lovecraft-inspired video games with a firm control of mood and environmental storytelling. There’s potential to be mined from plumbing Lovecraft’s obsession with the horrific unknown that frequently butts heads against many developers’ desires to provide a solid narrative experience. Lovecraft continues to be a popular source for video game inspiration. Conarium review: the light is tantalizing but doesn’t promise safety. Through Frank’s interactions with the arctic mystery, the player will discover what happened to the expedition team and what this may mean for the future of humanity. The mostly linear path forward takes the player and Frank through the surprising depths of the base into an expansive network of tunnels with sudden shifts into another time or space.

All navigation through the snowy expedition base is done through first-person moving and object manipulation with careful focus needing to be paid to environment details for clues. The player begins and traverses through Conarium as Frank Gilman, a scientist on an Antarctic expedition searching for the unknown. Lovecraft’s “At The Mountains of Madness” with environmental puzzles and accompanying spooks. Conarium hopes to provide a first-person horror experience as a spiritual successor to H.P. Publisher Iceberg Interactive presents developer Zoetrope Interactive’s Conarium for review.

Download conarium switch