Arctico

73%
Game Brain Score Based on 771 reviews
  • gameplay
  • story
  • graphics
Arctico Game Cover
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"Arctico is an open-world, 2-player co-op game featuring base building, exploration, and collection of resources. Customize your base and equipment, and take care of plants and experiments to upgrade. Discover the island's locations and secrets, and enjoy the exceptional atmosphere, music, and visuals, but be prepared for bugs and grinding."

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Reviews

73%
Audience ScoreBased on 771 reviews
gameplay24 positive mentions
grinding27 negative mentions
  • Beautiful graphics and atmosphere that create a calming experience.
  • Engaging gameplay focused on exploration and resource management.
  • Cute dogs that players can name and interact with, adding a personal touch.
  • Limited content and repetitive gameplay can lead to boredom.
  • Numerous bugs and glitches that affect gameplay experience.
  • Lack of clear objectives or a storyline makes the game feel aimless.
  • gameplay106 mentions

    The gameplay is characterized as slow-paced and relaxing, appealing to players seeking a meditative experience, though it suffers from various bugs and a lack of intuitive mechanics. While the survival and base-building elements are present, they often feel superficial and underdeveloped, leading to a gameplay loop that can become tedious. Overall, the game shows potential with its charming atmosphere and visuals, but it requires significant polishing and quality-of-life improvements to enhance the overall experience.

    • “Great for about 7-10 hours of chill gameplay, but it needs polishing and quality of life additions.”
    • “The world is beautiful and fun to traverse with your pups, the music and sounds are good, and the mechanics are super easy.”
    • “This is a very relaxing exploration survival game with a good storyline and beautiful, though simple graphics, pleasant music, calm gameplay.”
    • “There is no combat, there are only a few stakes; the gameplay loop is simple.”
    • “The gameplay is very basic, which kind of suits the aesthetic and atmosphere of this cute, casual base builder.”
    • “The inventory menu is a complete mess and is hard to follow; the tutorial is just some floating text and is hard to keep track of what to do and what the tutorial is saying.”
  • story99 mentions

    The game's story is primarily conveyed through scattered notes and blueprints, allowing players to piece together a narrative about a scientist's legacy in a serene arctic setting. However, many reviewers find the plot to be shallow and lacking depth, with minimal emotional impact and no significant twists. While some appreciate the environmental storytelling and the calm exploration, others criticize the overall lack of a coherent or engaging storyline, leaving the experience feeling incomplete.

    • “Deep narrative story, lots of choices; got this on sale and highly recommend.”
    • “Exploring and slowly piecing together a short and sweet storyline about devoting your entire being into your work and letting go of that existence with the hope that someone will continue your legacy on a snowy wasteland is *chef's kiss*.”
    • “The characters are super cute, the music is great, and the storyline is engaging and sad but uplifting.”
    • “The 'story' is mostly told through notes that don't really give you anything meaningful.”
    • “There's nothing to do outside of the gathering/crafting loop, no goal, no hook, no story, no emotion, no challenge, no life, no immersion.”
    • “The bit of 'story' that is there is so minimal and doesn't hold up in the slightest.”
  • graphics94 mentions

    The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players praising its beautiful art style and soothing visuals, while others criticize the low-quality textures and optimization issues. Many appreciate the minimalist aesthetic, which complements the game's calming atmosphere, but some find the graphics to be bland or lacking depth. Overall, the visuals are seen as charming by some, yet disappointing by others, particularly in terms of technical execution and detail.

    • “The graphics are quite beautiful, especially for an alpha game.”
    • “The graphics are simple, but pleasing; the game is quiet, and backed up by some faint but very pretty piano music, and it's all just so easy to love.”
    • “The art style is beautiful, the soundtrack is soothing, the game mechanic is ingenious, and overall an extraordinary game.”
    • “It feels dead/soul-less and that applies to the music and graphics.”
    • “Bad made graphics and gameplay, very bad optimization load the computer more than triple A games.”
    • “Graphics are shoddy, the game feel is annoying, and the overall game experience is terrible.”
  • music79 mentions

    The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many players appreciating its calming and soothing qualities that enhance the exploration experience. However, some users criticize the lack of variety and volume, noting that the sound effects are minimal or absent, which detracts from immersion. Overall, while the soundtrack is often described as beautiful and relaxing, there are calls for improvements in sound design and additional tracks to enrich the gameplay.

    • “The graphics are simple, but pleasing, the game is quiet, and backed up by some faint but very pretty piano music, and it's all just so easy to love.”
    • “Its a really calm exploration game, the travel is nice and not too slow paced, the graphics are simple and very soothing to the eye, and the music puts you in a very relaxed state.”
    • “The music is relaxing, the atmosphere is beautiful, it's just overall a fun game to kick back and relax in.”
    • “It's a neat concept, but the rough UI and non-existent sound effects and music ruin it for me.”
    • “The music is horrible.”
    • “Audio: drill is barely audible, music is bland, sound is just straight up missing from everything else.”
  • grinding29 mentions

    Reviews indicate that the grinding aspect of the game is a mixed bag; while some players find it tedious and repetitive, others appreciate the farming and building systems. Many feel that the gameplay can become a slog after a few hours, with resource gathering becoming a chore, especially due to glitches and a lack of automation. Suggestions for improvement include enhancing the farming mechanics and adding more engaging content to reduce the grind.

    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “If they add more automation so you're not grinding supplies every day for the majority of the day, it might be fun.”
    • “You can find everything there is to find within 5-6 hours tops, and after that, it's just resource farming with no endgame.”
    • “Game feels like a grindy slog.”
    • “I'll admit, I had a little fun for an hour or so, but after that, the game really becomes tedious.”
  • atmosphere28 mentions

    The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its relaxing, chill vibes and beautiful design, creating a calming experience for players. While many appreciate the immersive and soothing qualities, some feel the atmosphere can be too tranquil or aimless, detracting from gameplay engagement. Overall, the atmosphere is seen as a strong point, with potential for further development and refinement.

    • “This game has a beautiful atmosphere, nice vibes and feels super calm, but maybe too calm!”
    • “Very peaceful game, gorgeous atmosphere and some fun music.”
    • “Music is relaxing, the atmosphere is beautiful, it's just overall a fun game to kick back and relax in.”
    • “The idea and atmosphere are promising; however, the current game version is hardly playable.”
    • “Where's the sense of speed and atmosphere of freezing and the thrill of going fast in a snowy landscape?”
    • “The gameplay is very basic, which kind of suits the aesthetic and atmosphere of this cute, casual base builder.”
  • stability28 mentions

    The game's stability is a significant concern, with numerous users reporting a variety of bugs and glitches that hinder gameplay, such as graphics issues, clunky controls, and problems with the user interface. While some players have found enjoyment despite these issues, many express frustration over the frequency and severity of the bugs, especially given the game's long development time. Overall, the game is considered to be in a buggy state, impacting the overall experience.

    • “There's graphics glitches, the dogsled feels quite weird to operate and so on.”
    • “The fact that a game is this buggy after 7 years is insane and unacceptable.”
    • “The buggy UI makes it difficult to navigate to the game options and multiplayer menu.”
  • optimization7 mentions

    Overall, the game's optimization has received significant criticism, with many players reporting poor performance and low frame rates even on capable hardware. While some users noted that certain aspects of the game run smoothly, the general consensus is that optimization issues hinder the experience, leading to frustration among players.

    • “Artico is beautiful and runs smoothly!”
    • “For some reason, my i5-4690k and GTX 770 couldn't handle this game at 60 fps with everything maxed... oh well, not that big of a deal, but still I feel that there have been some optimization issues.”
    • “Poorly optimized, doesn't run at all on my machine (Ryzen 7, Vega 10, 16GB RAM, SSD hard drive).”
    • “For some reason, my i5-4690K and GTX 770 couldn't handle this game at 60 fps with everything maxed... oh well, not that big of a deal, but still I feel that there have been some optimization issues.”
    • “Absolutely awful optimization, I had less than 25 fps with a GTX 660 and an FX-6200, which should be perfectly capable of running a game like this.”
  • humor6 mentions

    The humor in the game is highlighted by amusing bugs, such as characters flying through the sky or getting stuck in odd places, which add a lighthearted touch to the gameplay. Players appreciate the game's funny moments and innovative survival concept, although some find it a bit too easy. However, there are also critiques regarding certain soundtrack elements that disrupt the comedic tone, such as unsettling laughter in tense situations.

    • “There is a small and funny bug in the game; when you descend on dogs from a very high mountain, you fly through the sky.”
    • “This game is super fun! It's not a hard game; I enjoy kayaking. It's such a stress-relieving game. Only one bug, and it was a funny bug: my dog got stuck in the roof of the sledge garage. Other than that, it's an amazing game worth the price.”
    • “Got it for 5 €; it's a funny game with an innovative concept of survival, but at the moment, it's a bit too easy in my opinion.”
  • emotional4 mentions

    Players find the game to be a soothing and heartwarming experience that evokes nostalgia and emotional connections, often leading to tears. The incorporation of dogs adds a particularly touching element, enhancing the overall emotional impact.

    • “It is soothing, interactive, and heartwarming at times.”
    • “10/10 would cry again.”
    • “The idea with the dogs and how these guys made it can be very emotional.”
  • replayability3 mentions

    Overall, the game's replayability is considered low due to a lack of procedural generation and limited exploration options, which may lead to a sense of finality after completing it. However, the inclusion of random loot generation does provide some incentive for players to revisit the game.

    • “Random loot generation adds replayability.”
    • “Replayability is quite low when all is done.”
    • “I've not played for terribly long, but I can't help but wonder about what happens later on in the game when everything is explored. The map at this stage is not procedurally generated, and as such, there's probably not a whole lot of replayability.”
  • monetization2 mentions

    The monetization strategy of the game primarily relies on advertising, as players can access the full game experience by watching promotional videos. This approach has led some users to feel that purchasing the game is unnecessary after viewing gameplay online and advertisements.

    • “If you watched the advertising video, you already had the entire game experience.”
    • “I bought this game for Mac after having seen some of the gameplay on YouTube and watching the advertisements here.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

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Play time

7hMedian play time
6hAverage play time
3-12hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 9 analyzed playthroughs

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