Polar exploration, crew management, and cosmic dread meet in The Perilous North
Reviewed on PC.Score: 8/10
The Perilous North brings the terror of polar exploration and survival in an exciting strategy RPG.
The Perilous North is set during the golden age of polar exploration and is being created by a talented husband-and-wife development team. The game is in the early stages of development, but already shows a huge amount of potential.
You’re in charge of a small crew aboard a tall ship on a rescue mission for a lost expedition, charting the Northwest Passage—famously discovered by Sir Robert McClure and successfully navigated by Roald Amundsen by small boat in 1905. Narratively, it echoes the spirit of AMC’s brilliant supernatural horror drama The Terror, which fictionalized Captain Sir John Franklin’s lost Arctic expedition in the mid-1800s.
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The Perilous North
Release: TBA (Wishlist on Steam)
Genre: Strategy RPG, Survival, Crew Management
Developer / Publisher: SUBMERSION STUDIO LIMITED / Anna & Morgan (SUBMERSION)
Platforms: PC — Steam (wishlist)
Strategy RPG with resource and crew management
There’s a heavy emphasis on gathering and managing resources, upgrading, and surviving subzero temperatures. As captain, you’ll shoulder responsibility for your crew’s lives in the polar region: assigning tasks, maintaining morale, and dealing with disobedience through the actions you take. Crew management is a major focus—the less healthy your crew becomes, the more likely they are to refuse jobs, so it’s a constant balance: a healthy crew is a happy crew. Starvation, hypothermia, and even cannibalism threaten their survival.
Ship interiors include working spaces like the galley. Image: Submersion Studio.
Key to survival is how you adapt to the cold: lay traps for animals, fish in ice-cold waters, mine iron or drill for oil, and build research stations and medical tents to improve your chances.
Evolving art style and detailed visuals
Visually, the game looks impressive. The art direction initially drew on the realism and illustrative styles of Norman Rockwell and J. C. Leyendecker but has since shifted toward a more modern approach.
Set at the turn-of-the-century (early 1900s), the premise gives the developer creative freedom to pursue “unique visuals.” Crafting complex vehicles and machinery from found resources introduces an almost steampunk aspect to their design.
A fantasy-horror mix with survival and navigational layers
Light fantasy and Lovecraftian horror vibes blend with navigational and survival layers to bring this strategy-survival RPG to life. There’s still a long way to go, but the developer appears on the right track—sharing detailed insights via devlogs and actively teasing progress across social channels. It’s impressive to see such a well-laid-out Steam page and consistent social content this early. Stay tuned—we’ll be watching closely.
A three-masted vessel edges through pack ice toward makeshift camps. Image: Submersion Studio.
Moment-to-moment, you’ll juggle crew tasks and discipline, push supply lines, and expand capabilities by laying traps, fishing in ice-choked waters, mining and drilling, or erecting research stations and medical tents. The setting—turn-of-the-century tech at the polar edge—invites inventive machines cobbled from what you salvage.
Prototype gear and cold-weather suits underscore the expedition theme and survival focus. Image: Submersion Studio.
Official links
Written by Aidan Minter, Fix Gaming Channel.
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