Penguin Colony review - An Antarctic odyssey of Nazis and Lovecraftian horrors

computer; Origame Digital This strange but fascinating adventure sends you across Antarctica in search of an eldritch creature - discovering a world much stranger than it first appears. The other has a gun to his head and is ready to end his life. I direct a little penguin moving towards them and try to imagine what it could be thinking. Discomfort, maybe confusion, but it seems that the smile of K

A Nazi kneels on frozen snow and stares at the endless horizon of Antarctica. The other has a gun to his head and is ready to end his life. I direct a little penguin moving towards them and try to imagine what it could be thinking. Discomfort, perhaps confusion, but a faint smile seems to leave his beaky face, as if at these stupid humans and their mistaken belief that they can entertain this howling and violent sight as best they can.

For most games, the idea of playing as a penguin watching the Nazis lose the map near Antarctica is weird enough. But Penguin Colony, developed by Origame Digital, goes further. It's a bold and often brilliant retelling of HP Lovecraft's 1936 novel In the Mountains of Madness, where eldritch horrors are as common as Nazis. Other oddities abound, too: the many collectibles scattered about aren't shiny gold Super Mario or Sonic objects. But they are words. So as a semi-aquatic bird, you have a unique mission: to collect human tongues.

But let's zoom in for a moment because Penguin Colony is simpler to play than this description suggests. First of all, it's a semi-open-ended exploration game where you guide a penguin to the very alien that the Nazis are after. You jump, swim, and flip around belly-first, chewing up miles of frozen wasteland like a tireless snowboarder. Tapping a button next to another penguin allows you to swap. Meanwhile, fluffy penguin chicks can pass through small gaps.

At first, the polar levels of the game are simple: snowdrifts and ice floes filled with remnants of human habitation such as fishing huts. But your surroundings quickly become stranger: vast stone labyrinths whose architectural splendor evokes dark spirits, alien-looking obelisks, and deep chasms. Everything in the world has rough, low-poly graphics that appear on the screen like a hallucinatory PlayStation 2 game.

As you navigate these spaces, a deep-voiced narrator recounts the journey of a scientist from decades past. It is clear that he is driven by the same pride and racism as his Nazi successors.

The layering of space, time, and narrative is terribly unsettling. At one point, having just made it through a challenging platforming section, I encountered a Nazi cannibal feasting on a fellow soldier while a researcher gave yet another eloquent speech about his God-given right to pillage the southernmost tip of the earth. At times, awkward cuts to archive footage and what appears to be native art interrupt the action camplay. My head was often spinning, trying to reconcile all these contradictory elements. I think it's better to let go and drown in the awkward and inconsistent whole.

Penguin Colony is a bit bumpy technically: I experienced a few audio glitches and, occasionally, glitches with the controls. However, this doesn't detract too much from the experience, which leads to a provocative conclusion: stripping away Lovecraftian racism and Nazi barbarism while, surprisingly, inviting the player to see the world in newly enchanted terms.

That last point is gloriously expressed at the end of the game: a spectacular cosmic map detailing everything you've discovered in the game. More tempting, it shows you everything you've been missing. This revelation can leave you feeling dizzy and surprised: Penguin Colony, one of 2026's boldest and most original games, is much bigger than it initially lets on. To reach all its secrets and explore all its meaning, one must think and act less like a human being moving towards their goal. On the contrary, you should embrace the spirit of a renegade penguin, carefree towards whatever piques your interest: brutality, beauty and all.

Penguin Colony is available now for PC, with PS5 and Nintendo Switch versions planned for 2027.