The Pale Beyond

As the acting Captain of the Temperance after the Captain's disappearance at the beginning of an Antarctic expedition, the player must manage the crew and keep them alive to survive the ice. The game has time that passes each week, during which the player is responsible for managing a number of resources, including food, fuel, and decorum. "Decorum" represents the ship's overall morale and how the crew is holding together. Each week, the player is responsible for deciding requests which can involve settling fights between crew-members or taking sides on arguments.

Often, decisions that could seem reasonable on the face of themselves can lead the player towards ruin, and for a successful playthrough, the player must consider their resources accordingly. It is important to also keep up the loyalty of crew-members in order to ensure survival (and that your decisions are followed or supported). Rations that are on board the ship eventually expire, requiring the crew to hunt for food, and fuel that is available through coal in the ship's stores rapidly depletes as well, requiring the player to carefully stockpile supplies to survive.

The world of The Pale Beyond is closely inspired by the British Empire of the early 20th century, though it remains fictional. The story takes place primarily on a polar continent equivalent to Antarctica, without any overt supernatural elements.

The Pale Beyond features an ensemble cast of characters, with the player controlling Robin Shaw. As a blank-slate protagonist, the player defines Shaw's background and personality as the story unfolds; the narrative avoids using gendered pronouns to describe Shaw. Shaw is hired by Captain Rufus Hunt to serve as First Mate. While Hunt is respected by his crew, he is sly and not entirely forthcoming with Shaw at the story's outset.

The Pale Beyond is the first game from Belfast-based video game developer Saltstone Studios. The group was founded by Thomas Hislop and Michael Bell, friends who took programming courses together at Queen's University Belfast. Bell founded a YouTube channel called "Bellular Gaming" which began to get a following while Hislop got involved with theater in his spare time. The friends decided to work together to develop video games as they thought their skillsets would complement each other.

Originally, the studio tried to develop a mobile game which was cancelled before it could be released, and another game which also failed. The studio announced a World of Warcraft mod that would have overhauled the early quests in the game with voice acting and other modern features, which was shut down by the game's developer, Blizzard. Hislop said in an interview that the lessons from these original games they attempted to develop helped to narrow the scope of what they were going to try to create with The Pale Beyond to something that was within their abilities.

The Pale Beyond has received "generally favourable" reviews according to Metacritic. Rock Paper Shotgun's Rachel Watts compared the game favourably with Frostpunk, describing it as "more human" and noted that the game's loyalty system made you make wrenching choices in specific ways. Watts said that "decisions are hard because you're losing characters you've made connections with" but criticised the game for its save system's lengthy time between saves. Polygon's Alexis Ong felt that the game maintained a "desolate sort of charm, rough edges and all" but lightly critiqued a fourth wall breaking moment towards the end of The Pale Beyond's plot along with its overall narrative cohesion.