The Archipelago Promise

About

The Archipelago Promise is a single player open world action adventure game with a mystery theme. It was developed by An Otter Game Studio and was released on June 22, 2023. It received negative reviews from players.

Explore a forgotten Archipelago deep in the Bering sea. Sail the cold seas, learn about the environment, evade the dangerous wildlife, and survive the harsh Alaskan weather to find your lost brother.

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35%Audience ScoreBased on 85 reviews

graphics8 positive mentions

stability8 negative mentions

The game has impressive graphics and a lovely atmospheric setting, especially notable for a student project.
It offers a story-driven survival experience with crafting and exploration elements that some players find interesting and fun.
The game is free to play which lowers the barrier for players to try it and appreciate the effort of the student developers.

The game suffers from severe technical issues including poor optimization, constant bugs, unstable frame rates, and saving problems.
Gameplay mechanics such as the boat controls, hunger and thirst depletion, crafting system, and progression are often frustrating, unclear, or broken.
Settings menu is buggy, controls are unchangeable (mouse sensitivity and key bindings), and progress frequently does not save, negatively impacting overall playability.

graphics
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
62%
15%
23%
The game's graphics are generally praised for their quality and visual appeal, making the game look enticing despite being a student project. However, some users report technical issues such as glitches, poor optimization requiring high-end hardware, and problems with saving settings. Overall, while the visuals are strong, they do not compensate for the game's numerous gameplay and functionality shortcomings.
- “The graphics in this game are really quite good, which at least makes the game look more appealing.”
- “The concept is nice and the graphics are good as well, I just felt a bit confused on what to do at the start.”
- “Graphics are good.”
- “Graphics hurt your eyes.”
- “You basically need a NASA computer to run this on anything better than low graphics.”
- “Ok, on the graphics... although it saw the resolution of my screen, it couldn't use it.”
gameplay
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
40%
30%
The gameplay has potential but is hindered by slow pacing, broken mechanics (especially boat controls), and technical issues that impact enjoyment and polish. While it draws on familiar survival and exploration systems reminiscent of games like The Forest, frustrating elements such as hunger and thirst mechanics need improvement. Despite its flaws, some players appreciate its exploratory aspects and project potential.
- “It doesn't have the polish or gameplay of a AAA studio, but as a free game and a student project, well done.”
- “I will thumb this up because I see there is potential with the mystery of the missing team and I like exploration type games with survival crafting mechanics.”
- “Much of the gameplay did not feel unique, but that's okay because it uses a familiar system that fits its genre - it's a survival game that gives me the Forest vibes, so I dig it.”
- “While the game has some potential, its overwhelming technical problems and restrictive gameplay made it unplayable.”
- “After losing progress and battling frustrating mechanics, I decided to drop the game.”
- “But fix the hunger and thirst mechanics that are absolutely terrible and will lead to negative opinions.”
stability
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
89%
The game suffers from numerous stability issues, including frequent glitches with boat mechanics, loading saved games, and achievement tracking. Players experience problems like getting stuck in water, broken controls, and notebook bugs, which collectively hinder smooth gameplay. Despite decent graphics, these persistent bugs significantly impact the overall stability.
- “Docking is impossible, you can’t jump off the boat, and leaving the wheel often glitches you into the water.”
- “The graphics are good but there are lots of glitches in the game, especially with the boat—once you are in it, it's impossible to get out, and there is no place to get fresh water inside the boat.”
- “The game is too buggy to play.”
story
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
43%
14%
The story in "The Archipelago Promise" offers a compelling survival-driven narrative intertwined with quests and crafting elements, creating an engaging experience. However, some players found navigation and guidance lacking, leading to occasional confusion and difficulty progressing. Overall, the game blends its tutorial and story well, appealing to fans of story-rich survival games.
- “It's more about fight but mostly about survival with a nice little story.”
- “I absolutely love a survival genre with a quest/story.”
- “How the tutorial of the game is mixed with the story of the game is also pretty neat.”
- “But here you have a much more story-driven experience, so we could have been led by the hand a bit more. For example, at some point I returned to the boat and died because I was unable to understand how to leave it.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is considered tedious due to rapid hunger depletion, slow resource gathering, and unclear progression. The constant need to monitor health and the inability to save make the experience frustrating and repetitive.
- “Hunger drains quickly, resource gathering is tedious, progression is unclear, etc.”
- “Constantly needing to check your watch for health quickly becomes tedious, and keeping yourself alive is unclear.”
- “But unfortunately - since you can't save - it's a bit too tedious for me.”
music
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
33%
The music is generally pleasant and fitting, providing a soothing atmosphere; however, poor transitions between tracks significantly detract from the overall experience.
- “The music is nice and soothing.”
- “The soundtrack is very fitting.”
- “The music looks great and plays nicely.”
- “The music, while good, suffers from awful transitions that completely ruin the atmosphere.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game features a visually charming and immersive atmosphere, enhanced by its music; however, poor transitions in the soundtrack detract from the overall experience.
- “This is a very pretty, lovely atmospheric game.”
- “The music, while good, suffers from awful transitions that completely ruin the atmosphere.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's optimization is widely criticized for poor performance, including issues with collisions and general technical quality, leading to a frustrating experience even on free-to-play terms. Overall, it suffers from inadequate optimization that detracts from gameplay.
- “This game is a real shame. Even free, it's too expensive. You can't understand the cinematic at the beginning, and you can't change your keys for Europeans. The optimization is terrible, and it feels like the developers can't even make proper collisions on rocks.”
- “The animals in this game are just stupid, and the game is poorly optimized.”

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Frequently Asked Questions

The Archipelago Promise is a open world action adventure game with mystery theme.

The Archipelago Promise is available on PC and Windows.

The Archipelago Promise was released on June 22, 2023.

The Archipelago Promise was developed by An Otter Game Studio.

The Archipelago Promise has received negative reviews from players. Most players liked The Archipelago Promise for its graphics but disliked it for its gameplay.

The Archipelago Promise is a single player game.

Similar games include Arid, Stranded Deep, Mist Survival, The Gold River Project, Project Castaway and others.

The Archipelago Promise

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graphics

gameplay

stability

story

grinding

music

atmosphere

optimization

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