South of the Circle Review on Xbox

South of the Circle is best described as an short emotional choose your own adventure narrative game, that questions the consequences of life choices. This has ported from IOS to console. All reviews (unless stated otherwise) are based on the Developer/Publisher providing myself with a review code, which i am grateful for, but does not influence my outcome.

The premise is you play as Peter, a Cambridge academic who crash lands in Antarctica, during the cold war period. As he searches for help, his past unwinds before him, revealing how the pressures of power and his own aspirations have led him into this crisis he must somehow escape. A love story between him and fellow academic Clara develops, and Peter learns the weight of all the things he has promised. Like memories from childhood, some promises stay with us forever.

The game boasts a multi-layered cinematic experience and award winning actors who voice all characters in this deeply tense and moving experience. Choices here matter and depending on them will give you a different experience and alternative ending..

Accessibility

With regards to accessibility there is only a few things, it does have subtitles, that can have the size of the text be changed. However, there is no text-to-speech option for the game, so those with eyesight issues will have problems.

Being that this is a narrative game, conversation/action prompts are a big component, however, there is no single tap options, so those with hand mobility issues shall also have some issues.

Gameplay

The gameplay starts with a short cinematic cutscene showing peter on a expedition, being flown in a two seater plan over the Antarctic. Weather gets bad and you are forced to make a unscheduled landing, which cripples the pilot, leaving you alone to find help.

You are quickly introduced into the main aspect of the game and that’s the visual prompt system, based on colours/shapes. Each of these correspond to a emotion of the main character and to use them, a corresponding button press is needed. It won’t take long for you to realise what each of these mean, for example, a red dot is associated with panic, confusion and concern.

As you progress multiple choices will be shown for you to choose from and the consequences of these choices will then be placed on the top of your screen to as a reminder that your actions matter. Where there are choices, if you abstain, the game will pick one at random. Unlike some choose your own adventure games, saying nothing is never an option here. There is automatic saving here as well, so you can’t use saves to undo a choice. Some choices also are time limited and you will see the small amount of time left thanks to an ever reducing circle letting you know time is running out.

One of the cleverest aspects of this game is that periodically you are given historical flashbacks of your life leading up the expedition. These are cleverly woven into your time in the Antarctic, with objects, moments and scenarios that allow you to flash back to memories of your pervious life. 

At first, these memories are the ones that keep you going, but as you start to lose your clarity and the cold takes affect, it becomes harder to recognize what’s is real life and what is just a dream. The main story soon evolves into a split telling of survival in the Antarctic and around Peter’s life back at Cambridge and his love interest Clara.

The timeline with Clara showcases of how Peter and Clara met, how they fell in love, and the result, all alongside the hot political climate of the 1960’s cold war and women’s battle to be seen more than a housewife. 

There will also be one memory from peter’s childhood, and the dynamics of his relationship with his parents. This was superbly well written and explained easily the how parenting during the cold war was very different than of today, regardless of how you may view it from a future perspective.

The present timeline however is a much more bleaker situation, with areas needing to be explored to move forward, as you desperately look for any chance of help for your pilot and yourself in this harsh environment. It soon becomes clear that there is something going on in Antarctica and you are in the center of it. 

This is a short game, but regardless of that, it plays beautifully and thoroughly engaging. Even after my time playing it, I would find myself replaying choices I had made in head.

Graphics

The game visuals are a simplistic design that somehow showcases of more beautiful detail that the style would like you to believe. As a person who has been lucky enough to visit the Antarctic, the games visuals do, do it justice. The bleak beauty that can make your hairs stand on the back of your neck, shine here. You can truly feel the cold when you are searching the cabins in the ice, and this is expanded upon more, when you are thrown back to the more habitable climate of England.

Character models are smooth and the landscape impacts on their movement, only further help bind that engagement when playing. Atmosphere is cranked out with the subtle pallets on display and even with limited facial gestures or details, you can feel the characters are really distinctive.

Movie style framing and scene transitions push the visuals to a more enthralling aspect, when the lines of reality and life are starting to strip away. It all sells the games narrative well and proves that sometimes, less is more.

Sound

For this game, the general sound quality is the true heavy hitter. The games music emulates the scene is envelopes expertly, and has classical piano tones with high and low crescendos, mixed into harsh wind and snowdrift tones to showcase off a bleak but beautiful movie like quality. This then combined with the uplifting, almost serene music when back in England, pushes the senses to heartful warm feelings. Only a true master of how best to use music to its fullest, could achieve this.

Without doubt, the voice acting here is movie quality with actors from “Bohemian Rhapsody” (Gwilym Lee), “The Woman in White” (Olivia Vinall), “The Crown” (Richard Goulding), “Game of Thrones” (Anton Lesser), “Chernobyl” (Adrian Rawlins) and “Downton Abbey” (Michael Fox). They engaged me in ways I didn’t think was possible and shows that a good narrative needs superb voice actors. Just listening to them tell this story would have been fun enough.

My recommendation here would be a good quality headset or soundbar to really allow yourself to experience this to its most engaging.

Verdict

This leads me onto the rating of the game:-
Now I rate games in order of, avoid, on sale, great purchase and must own. My rating for South of the Circle is a "Must Own’’.

If you are into narrative stories, this is a superbly well written and directed game with a movie like experience. There is so much here for a variety of people. Historical buffs will love the cold wars political aspect, whilst activists will be enthralled by the women’s right movement and how it impacted on creating the modern woman. Action seekers will enjoy the more tense and cinematic experiences set in a harsh and unforgiving land. For me, it enthralled, regardless of those elements and was just a great game to experience.

The game is currently priced on Xbox at £10.74 or approx $13, and depending on skill and patience would give you about 3+ hours worth of gameplay. With the multitude of choices available, and a second ending depending on your choices this could easily add another 3hours of replay ability.  

If you’re looking for a compelling, engaging action a adventure with a superb love story, or you just want an interactive game that you can just take in and relax with over a few lunch breaks, you’ll find South of the Circle is an experience you really shouldn’t miss out on.