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Winter Polaris

Winter Polaris Game Cover
87%Game Brain Score
story, music
graphics, atmosphere
95% User Score Based on 42 reviews

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PCWindows
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Winter Polaris Game Cover

About

Winter Polaris is a single player action game with fantasy and science fiction themes. It was developed by stage-nana and was released on December 12, 2019. It received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players.

"Winter Polaris" is a visual novel consisting of two stories. In "Winter Polaris," a disease causes people to disappear, leading the protagonist to flee to the mountains and later meet a mysterious, supposedly immortal girl in a ruined city. "Sweeper Swimmer" follows Elena, a resident of a small island who works as a sweeper to clean up marine litter, while uncovering secrets about the sea and her past. Gameplay focuses on narrative-driven choices and exploration.

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Winter Polaris screenshot
Winter Polaris screenshot
Winter Polaris screenshot
Winter Polaris screenshot
Winter Polaris screenshot
Winter Polaris screenshot
Winter Polaris screenshot
Winter Polaris screenshot
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95%
Audience ScoreBased on 42 reviews
story12 positive mentions
atmosphere1 negative mentions
  • Winter Polaris features masterful storytelling that explores deep themes of life, love, and immortality in a post-apocalyptic setting.
  • The game is a beautiful and melancholic love story that intertwines two narratives, creating a quiet and introspective atmosphere.
  • Fans of Stage-Nana's previous works, especially Narcissu, will find this title to be a worthy successor with its emotional depth and engaging writing.
  • The translation quality is inconsistent, with some parts feeling clunky and not capturing the original context effectively.
  • Characterization can be goofy and nonsensical at times, leading to moments that may feel disorienting or unrealistic.
  • The pacing can be slow, and the narrative structure may confuse players as it requires jumping between two seemingly unrelated stories.
  • story
    64 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story of "Winter Polaris" is a poignant exploration of life, love, and immortality set against a post-apocalyptic backdrop marked by a mysterious pandemic. It unfolds through two interconnected narratives, focusing primarily on the deep emotional connection between two main characters, while also touching on themes of existence and the human experience. Despite its slow start and occasional narrative complexity, the storytelling is praised for its depth and emotional resonance, making it a compelling and bittersweet journey.

    • “A heavy story about life, love, and the future in a post-apocalyptic world.”
    • “Winter Polaris starts slow, but it has masterful storytelling and explores interesting themes and ideas.”
    • “The story goes through the lives of immortal people, and from there, it delivers the message about death, then life.”
    • “The story hand waves this whole experience and every few lines does a time skip, until like 2 years later he finally encounters a person again, and, of course, it's a chuuni immortal goth lolita.”
    • “But you should understand that the story was written not for the sake of logic, therefore somewhere in the middle, it may get incomprehensible.”
    • “The two main characters in each story are essentially the only characters, with the few people that are encountered in the story not appearing for more than a few lines.”
  • music
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is described as soothing and nostalgic, effectively complementing the heavy themes and storytelling, reminiscent of the soundtrack from "narcissu," from which about 30% of the tracks are drawn. While some assets are reused from previous works, the overall variety and integration of the music enhance the emotional experience of the game.

    • “For those who have read Narcissu, this title may strike a resemblance to it, with the same writing style, art, heavy themes, and relaxing soundtrack.”
    • “Even 30% of WP soundtracks are from Narcissu, but I find them very soothing and nostalgic, and of course, it fits the story very well.”
    • “Speaking of previous games, Stage-Nana once again reuses some assets from older works, like background and music, but it's quite impressive what they've managed to achieve with it, as there's quite a good variety of them.”
    • “Even 30% of the soundtracks are from Narcissu, but I find them very soothing and nostalgic, and of course, it fits the story very well.”
  • graphics
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics in the game are characterized by letterboxed backgrounds and a lack of sprites, similar to the developer's previous titles, such as Narcissu and Rain Marginal. Characters appear only in occasional letterboxed CG scenes, maintaining a consistent visual style across the developer's works.

    • “The visuals mostly consist of letterboxed backgrounds with no sprites, with the characters only showing up in the occasional letterboxed CG.”
    • “The game shares a similar style to the developer's previous works, Narcissu and Rain Marginal, from writing style to art style.”
    • “As in the dev’s previous work Narcissu, the visuals mostly consist of letterboxed backgrounds with no sprites, with the characters only showing up in the occasional (also letterboxed) CG.”
    • “First, WP shares a similar style to the previous works, Narcissu and Rain Marginal, from writing style to art style.”
  • emotional
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The emotional aspect of the game is highly praised, with users noting its heart-wrenching and well-constructed narrative that explores profound themes of love, life, and death, especially considering it is offered for free. The story leaves a lasting impact, prompting players to reflect on deep existential questions.

    • “I was amazed at how much content and heart-wrenching the story was for it being free.”
    • “Bringing a well-constructed and heartwarming love story that fills your mind with questions about life and death.”
  • atmosphere
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The atmosphere of the visual novel is characterized by a quiet and introspective tone, as players primarily follow pairs of characters on solitary journeys, creating a sense of loneliness and reflection throughout the experience.

    • “The vast majority of the visual novel is spent following pairs of characters on a journey with no one else around, which creates a quiet, introspective, and perhaps lonely atmosphere.”
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Frequently Asked Questions

Winter Polaris is a action game with fantasy and science fiction themes.

Winter Polaris is available on PC and Windows.

Winter Polaris was released on December 12, 2019.

Winter Polaris was developed by stage-nana.

Winter Polaris has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its graphics.

Winter Polaris is a single player game.

Similar games include Fault Milestone One, Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet, Narcissu 10th Anniversary Anthology Project, Lost Words: Beyond the Page, SeaBed and others.