Arctic Eggs (2024)

Eerie music and cool ps1 graphics, actually some funny dialogue for once and one cool game mechanic at its core - frying the eggs and managing the physics of the pan is kinda fun.

Such an indie game haha, but what I like is that it does not lack a proper gameplay mechanic and actually even puts that one into focus. I actually prefer this to the other Critical Reflex game Mouthwashing!

Arctic Eggs is a really bizarre, futuristic cold war setting in Antarctica where you are caught trying to escape, leading you to be the next cook to feed people around the city. For any chance of escape, you must cook your way to the top. It uses the ps1 type graphics that have been really big in the recent horror games, but does so in a really neat way that feels natural.

Game play consists of walking around and conversing with the characters around. Some friendly, others not at all. Sometimes they will converse with you like a therapist, but the main point of talking is to find who is hungry and requesting you cook for them. This starts out easy with just a single egg. Cook one side, then flip it to cook the other. Pretty quickly though you'll be trying to balance cockroaches, cocktail glasses with ice cubes in them, and many others while still trying to cook that egg. this is done strictly by mouse controls that feel surprisingly intuitive. You'll slowly move the mouse around as you would a frying pan, and must flick your wrist to flip anything within the pan. If something falls out, you'll have to restart though this is thankfully near instantaneous.

Once you complete the main game, you unlock a sandbox mode which comes with additional challenges and achievements. This was added after release as a free update to the game. It gives you every option of cooking ingredients through the main game, but you can make up any challenges you'd like. I found myself only using this mode to get the rest of the achievements before quitting, but this being just a free update was a welcome surprise.

I completed the game with 100% achievements in 2.5 hours according to my Steam play time. I believe the main story was just over 2 hours, with the remaining time the sandbox achievements. Most of these were even completed in one or two tries, with the final one (those damn beer bottles) taking the most time among the challenges.

It's a fun and unique indie game that I'm glad we are seeing more of these days as they try to create new experiences we wouldn't get elsewhere. For full price I may feel a little ripped off, but picking this up on any of the frequent sales it's a no brainer!

Managed to squeeze another short game in 2024! And it was a weird one...trippy and challenging, what at first seemed like a simple egg frying simulator turned into a (quite literal) juggling act. Surprising to say the least.

No story per se, but a bunch of musings about life, society and change.

Can I recommend it? Really depends on what someone is look for in a game, but it is definitely unlike most other games I've played...