South of the Circle

South of the Circle is an exquisitely produced dramatisation of the rampant paranoia present at the height of the Cold War almost sixty years ago. It shows how it affected the world geopolitically as well as on a more personal level for the wonderfully depicted protagonists of the piece. Special mention must go to Ed Critchley's excellent score and the stellar voice cast.

While its aesthetic showcases no small amount of innovation, the game’s biggest triumph is in accomplishing so much with the most basic of dramatic tools.

A beautifully paced and emotive narrative adventure with some standout vocal performances, what South of the Circle lacks in terms of substantive gaming meat it more than makes up with an intelligently curated, heart-tugging tale that remains long in the memory after you've put the controller down. Holding up a mirror to our own era of social, political and economic turmoil, South of the Circle provides the sort of expertly crafted and keenly felt warm emotional storytelling that we could all perhaps do with right now.

Even though it has no action sequences and lacks tension characteristic for modern TV series, I found South of the Circle to be more engrossing than As Dusk Falls. This narrative game turns out to be more ambiguous than it seems, and uniquely tells a wonderful tale using distinctive art style and a setting that sets it apart from other love stories.

South of Circle is a well written intense short adventure about life, love, choices an politics. The narration is brilliant and convey a very emotional trip through different timelines, even if the interaction is limited to dialogs and a very few other moments.

While not every part of the story hits the mark – we didn’t quite gel with the ending, for example – it’s still very easy to recommend South of the Circle. If you’re the type of person who enjoys interactive dramas, like the recent As Dusk Falls or Gone Home, you’ll likely find yourself engrossed in the narrative that unfolds here. It’s interesting, cleverly told and very intelligent – and, if nothing else, it’ll likely encourage you to learn more about the Cold War and the Antarctic Treaty. Any game that inspires us to educate ourselves more about the world around us is a win in our book.

South of the Circle might be a bit shorter than you'd expect, but its extremely story driven and engaging, and if you are into that type of game you'll definitely have a good time playing it.

With a short run time, South of the Circle isn’t meant to be for someone looking to stretch their gaming dollar. It’s meant to be an expression, a mature tale rife with grown-up themes. This is something that the gaming scene could always use, especially as the existing audience grows older, and newer gamers have their own titles tailored to them. State of Play created an interesting story, something that does pull the player through to the end. Despite the graphical hiccups, it would have been an easy recommendation. How the actual interactive elements shakes out at the end, though, drop kicks the experience in the teeth. If it was a sub $5 price, it would be worth checking out, as it’s intriguing even when it falters. Anything more than that will likely leave the player cold.

South of the Circle is a minimalistic game that tells an initially engaging, but ultimately underwhelming story. And beyond the narrative, there's not much here to recommend.