▼ Not recommended
0 hrs
Adventures at the North Pole is yet another asset flip/construction kit template copy+paste from serial Russian shovelware asset flippers, Dnovel/FreeAnimals_Software/Trinity Project/My Way Games. These guys (or just one guy flipping accounts to mislead gamers) do nothing but copy asset store assets and game tutorials, fill out a few things/stamp out basic levels using the construction kit templates, and dump them on Steam and into DailyIndieGame bundles as cash grabs. Trying to get paid for someone else's game templates, assets... at best, this is shovelware, at worst, it's a scam/cash grab.
Today's "effort" from these guys is Adventures at the North Pole, and it's a garbage mobile app-like hidden object puzzle game slapped together by copying + pasting other people's code for the godawful Cocos2D game development engine. As a game, it's terrible, of course.
It's a short, limited experience of clicking on arctic themed hidden objects... it's so bad it makes Artifex Mundi mobile apps look like masterpieces. But as usual from this Russian scammer, the objective is not to make a game for gamers, it's to get your money for someone else's work.
For those reasons, this is below acceptable standards, and has no real merit or value as a genuine, sincerely made PC game.
Copying templates from construction kits doesn't need any talent or professional game development effort, and results in shallow, low quality shovelware like Adventures at the North Pole. The status of this thing as nothing but an asset/template flip/cash grab is cemented by the "developers" prior history of asset flip/construction kit copy+paste jobs, the fake/compromised Steam accounts they used to write fake reviews (all with the same broken English), the laughable $10 USD USD price tag for this garbage, and they way they dumped it into DailyIndieGame bundles immediately at launch. There's no serious value, substance or merit here worthy of consideration from PC gamers. I can't recommend it to anyone.
From a technical perspective, the game doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard.
There's no options to change the resolution for the game or customise the graphics settings. There's no way for gamers to ensure this is running at the native resolution of their displays... there's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision. There's no way for gamers to try improve the low quality graphics.
Some of the defects in the game can be attributed to the choice of using the Cocos Creator/Cocos2D game engine/toolset. This is a very poor quality toolset sometimes used by amateur developers as it's free (so they don't have to pay for GameMaker Studio) and doesn't require advanced game development skills, but unfortunately has very limited capabilities (it's arguably worse than GameMaker Studio). Just as you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear, you can't make a great video game if you use a terrible engine.
This looks and feels like a mobile app, but I wasn't able to find it on the app stores. Maybe it was removed, maybe it was rejected by Apple and Google (they do have more rigorous quality standards than Valve does for Steam, after all). Regardless, for all intents and purposes this is a mobile app, it has the same limitations and dumbed down qualities. It's impossible to recommend such a game to PC gamers. We don't spend all this money building gaming rigs so we can pretend they're iPhones.
These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.
Unethically, the developer sold keys to this abandoned Early Access game into cheap, nasty game bundles, where they knew it would be advertised and sold as a complete game. This seems to have been done in an attempt to mislead gamers into buying a knowingly faulty, defective and incomplete product. When a developer does this for a game they have zero practical intention of completing, this is essentially a scam, an intention to get paid for a broken/unfinished product. Often this is done as an exit strategy, as the developer takes the money and runs. No refunds have been given, the developer kept all the money they took from gamers.
It's also important to note the "developer" here has connections to a number of shady Russian asset flippers and review manipulators (My Way Games, A Nostru etc) who show an organised pattern to scam and defraud gamers with fake reviews and asset flipping the work of others for profit. While reviews are about the games, gamers should be informed when developers act unethically. Whether these connections are the same developer using multiple accounts, or just working closely with other unethical developers, gamers should be warned about the harm to gamers by this developer and their associates. Buying games from unethical developers puts your money at risk.
This game features a number of fake positive reviews from accounts known to be in the business of review manipulation/paid reviews. They're all written in either Russian or broken English, appear at almost exactly the same time, very shortly after the game launched on Steam, all have a direct Steam purchase of the game, and the accounts are used consistently to write fake reviews for asset flips and other cash grabs/scams. The "Positive" review score on this game should be disregarded due to this blatant, unethical review manipulation. This is done to deceive and scam gamers into paying for a bad product.
Adventures at the North Pole has a laughable, eye watering price of $10 USD, for which you could easily get any number of older AAA games, let alone the sheer number of free games available on Steam. Given the defects and quality issues with the game, coupled with the unrealistic price, and the questionable ethical nature of the developer and/or their associates (as outlined above), this is impossible to recommend.
Today's "effort" from these guys is Adventures at the North Pole, and it's a garbage mobile app-like hidden object puzzle game slapped together by copying + pasting other people's code for the godawful Cocos2D game development engine. As a game, it's terrible, of course.
It's a short, limited experience of clicking on arctic themed hidden objects... it's so bad it makes Artifex Mundi mobile apps look like masterpieces. But as usual from this Russian scammer, the objective is not to make a game for gamers, it's to get your money for someone else's work.
For those reasons, this is below acceptable standards, and has no real merit or value as a genuine, sincerely made PC game.
Copying templates from construction kits doesn't need any talent or professional game development effort, and results in shallow, low quality shovelware like Adventures at the North Pole. The status of this thing as nothing but an asset/template flip/cash grab is cemented by the "developers" prior history of asset flip/construction kit copy+paste jobs, the fake/compromised Steam accounts they used to write fake reviews (all with the same broken English), the laughable $10 USD USD price tag for this garbage, and they way they dumped it into DailyIndieGame bundles immediately at launch. There's no serious value, substance or merit here worthy of consideration from PC gamers. I can't recommend it to anyone.
From a technical perspective, the game doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard.
There's no options to change the resolution for the game or customise the graphics settings. There's no way for gamers to ensure this is running at the native resolution of their displays... there's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision. There's no way for gamers to try improve the low quality graphics.
Some of the defects in the game can be attributed to the choice of using the Cocos Creator/Cocos2D game engine/toolset. This is a very poor quality toolset sometimes used by amateur developers as it's free (so they don't have to pay for GameMaker Studio) and doesn't require advanced game development skills, but unfortunately has very limited capabilities (it's arguably worse than GameMaker Studio). Just as you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear, you can't make a great video game if you use a terrible engine.
This looks and feels like a mobile app, but I wasn't able to find it on the app stores. Maybe it was removed, maybe it was rejected by Apple and Google (they do have more rigorous quality standards than Valve does for Steam, after all). Regardless, for all intents and purposes this is a mobile app, it has the same limitations and dumbed down qualities. It's impossible to recommend such a game to PC gamers. We don't spend all this money building gaming rigs so we can pretend they're iPhones.
These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.
Unethically, the developer sold keys to this abandoned Early Access game into cheap, nasty game bundles, where they knew it would be advertised and sold as a complete game. This seems to have been done in an attempt to mislead gamers into buying a knowingly faulty, defective and incomplete product. When a developer does this for a game they have zero practical intention of completing, this is essentially a scam, an intention to get paid for a broken/unfinished product. Often this is done as an exit strategy, as the developer takes the money and runs. No refunds have been given, the developer kept all the money they took from gamers.
It's also important to note the "developer" here has connections to a number of shady Russian asset flippers and review manipulators (My Way Games, A Nostru etc) who show an organised pattern to scam and defraud gamers with fake reviews and asset flipping the work of others for profit. While reviews are about the games, gamers should be informed when developers act unethically. Whether these connections are the same developer using multiple accounts, or just working closely with other unethical developers, gamers should be warned about the harm to gamers by this developer and their associates. Buying games from unethical developers puts your money at risk.
Warning: Review Manipulation!
This game features a number of fake positive reviews from accounts known to be in the business of review manipulation/paid reviews. They're all written in either Russian or broken English, appear at almost exactly the same time, very shortly after the game launched on Steam, all have a direct Steam purchase of the game, and the accounts are used consistently to write fake reviews for asset flips and other cash grabs/scams. The "Positive" review score on this game should be disregarded due to this blatant, unethical review manipulation. This is done to deceive and scam gamers into paying for a bad product.
Adventures at the North Pole has a laughable, eye watering price of $10 USD, for which you could easily get any number of older AAA games, let alone the sheer number of free games available on Steam. Given the defects and quality issues with the game, coupled with the unrealistic price, and the questionable ethical nature of the developer and/or their associates (as outlined above), this is impossible to recommend.
7 found helpful
Steam ↗
