The Pale Beyond Sets You as Captain of a Ship of Hard Choices
Jan. 19, 2023The Pale Beyond Sets You as Captain of a Ship of Hard Choices
The Pale Beyond is an upcoming management adventure that forces players to make difficult decisions.
What drives someone to the edge of the world? Glory? Money? Loyalty? Answers? Or escape? These are some questions that you, as the captain of The Temperance will find out as you sail the southern seas in search of answers.
The player character is thrust into a role that they are not prepared for in the slightest. The Temperance is on a mission to follow the trail of a previous expedition, called the Viscount. We find out that the entire crew of that endeavor was lost at sea, never to be heard from again.
It is this tragic event that motivates you and your crew to trudge forever on through the harsh waters and hail. An endless wasteland of snow and danger is your only constant companion throughout this journey. It will be up to the player to make the hard choices that will serve the greater good. This is the stage that The Pale Beyond sets up.
Bad news for us, as the player isn’t the original captain of the ship. The real one has gone missing suddenly and disappeared without a trace. While you may be unprepared to take on this responsibility, you are the most qualified to take up the mantle. You, as well as everyone on board The Temperance, will need to make do with what you have. What makes matters even worse is that your ship suddenly finds itself stuck in the ice, without an immediate plan of escape.
The Pale Beyond can definitely be compared to the likes of Frostpunk orGord. They share similar DNA in the sense that we are a bastion of humanity, surrounded from all sides by harsh weather. Both games force the player to make difficult choices on what to do with what little they have. The only difference here is that The Pale Beyond occurs mostly on our small fleet of ships and sometimes a bit of respite on the icy tundra.
Players will need to carefully walk the line between furthering the expedition, the resources available, as well as the crew’s safety, morale, and state of mind. Random events will occur at frequent intervals to test your mettle. Maybe a sneaky stowaway finds their way onto your vessel. Do you throw them overboard for breaking in, or do you absorb them into the crew to get more hands on deck? Will the rest of your gang even accept this person?
Or maybe our food stocks are growing low. Do you send out valuable hunters and sled dogs to forage for anything edible, at the risk the snows take them forever? Or do you implement stricter rationing for everyone’s provisions?
Each and every choice will inadvertently have some consequence. Some may be quite immediate, but others may manifest many many days later. Anger the wrong people and there may even be a mutiny at hand. Then the frigid wastes will be the least of your worries.
Such is the risk you run when journeying through The Pale Beyond.
At its heart, The Pale Beyond is a story-heavy game. There will be a lot of named characters amongst your crew, and it will be up to the player to get to know these people. Which one of them will align best with your strategy for making the mission successful and getting everyone home?
Keep in mind that you will never be able to keep everyone happy. As each person has different personalities and priorities, their ideals will not always align with yours. Some people can even be selfish, and manipulative, depending on the scenario.
Developers Bellular Studios is a small, humble organization based in Belfast, Northern Island. The studio is quite eager to release The Pale Beyond, which will be their debut game.
Auberon
Writer at Fextralife. I really like vanilla ice cream.
