Alpha Polaris

Alpha Polaris is a point-and-click horror adventure for Microsoft Windows, released on June 24, 2011. It was created by the Finnish developer Turmoil Games and published by Just a Game. The story takes place at a research station in Greenland.

The player controls Rune Knudsen, a Norwegian biologist living at the American exploratory oil facility and research station Alpha Polaris. The crew includes Al Schaumann, the station leader; Tully Crean, a coarse and irritating handyman; Alistair Euler, the arrogant son of the company’s CEO who shows up for an unannounced inspection; and Nova, the object of Rune’s romantic feelings. Al discovers a crevasse with a cave, inside which he finds what look like human bones and an old parchment covered in dark images and strange pictographs. As an intense ion storm gathers at night, the crew begins suffering from horrible night terrors, growing increasingly anxious and paranoid. Rune investigates the bones and cave, learning that an ancient renegade tribe may have practiced cannibalism and worshipped a vicious entity called the Wendigo. Events escalate: Tully commits suicide, Alistair becomes paranoid and believes Rune killed Nova, and Al becomes possessed, building a grotesque effigy from animal bones and human body parts to sacrifice Nova and release the Wendigo from beyond the aurora rift. Rune stops the ritual, leaving only him and Nova alive. They drive off toward Thule, passing a polar bear that looks at them curiously, suggesting the Wendigo’s evil has been truly vanquished.

The game is a 2.5D point-and-click adventure. Geometrically modeled 3D characters move in front of pre-rendered backgrounds. The world is divided into individual screens, navigated with the mouse. Players use the mouse to interact with the environment, examine objects, pick them up, apply them to other objects or parts of the world, and talk to NPCs through multiple-choice dialogue.

Alpha Polaris was built using the Wintermute game engine.