As soon as I saw The Pale Beyond's adorable dogs, I knew I was about to have a bad time.
Developed by Bellular Studios(Opens in a new tab), The Pale Beyond is an engaging strategy game that puts you in charge of a polar expedition gone horribly wrong. Though The Temperance initially sets sail to find her lost sister ship, the journey south quickly becomes a desperate fight for survival against hostile weather, dwindling supplies, and conflicting crewmates.
Players need to carefully manage both people and resources, balancing competing needs to keep their mismatched crew alive through the long cold weeks before rescue is expected. The crew and the furnace need to be fed, decorum needs to be maintained, and people's loyalties need to be earned — and kept.
Of course, The Temperance isn't stocked for a maritime disaster, so you do have to hunt a few penguins for the greater good. And in order to track them down, you need sled dogs.
If you'd prefer not to have plot details from The Pale Beyond spoiled, turn back now. Just know that if you've ever felt affection for a furry friend you'd do well to brace yourself before playing this game.
Dogs are, overall, a net good. They are generally furry, friendly, and bring comfort in stressful times. The Pale Beyond's canines are no different.
Video game dogs have received a significant publicity boost in recent years, thanks in no small part to Twitter account @CanYouPetTheDog(Opens in a new tab). (And yes, you can pet the dogs in The Pale Beyond.) There are dogs in dating sims, dogs in action-adventure games, and even a few weird non-traditional canines. General consensus is that no game cannot be improved by a fluffy good boy, and no game cannot be improved even further by allowing players to interact with them.
The Pale Beyond embraces this philosophy by providing a full pack of 14 dogs, and allowing you to pet them to your heart's content. All of them are adorable, but the most notable of these pups is Stanberry, a sweet ray of sunshine who constantly accompanies the ship's reclusive kennel master Lady Cordell. Preferring the company of her canines over her crewmates, Lady Cordell only joins your expedition so she can look after her dogs.
Her apprehension isn't unfounded. While bringing a pack of canine companions on a treacherous ocean voyage through freezing waters may be necessary for practical reasons, it is a terrible idea for emotional ones. The Pale Beyond drew inspiration(Opens in a new tab) from real historical events that have befallen actual explorers, and unfortunately, real life isn't kind. As Bellular Studios' managing director Michael Bell told PC Gamer(Opens in a new tab), "History always forgets the animals."
Massive spoilers and tough times ahead
Playing through the game, I wondered if The Pale Beyond would shield its pups. The gameplay focused more on keeping your crew alive, and it wouldn't be the first time video game developers protected digital dogs(Opens in a new tab) in dangerous situations. Reality may be cruel, but video games have room for creative licence and are meant to be enjoyed. Even if you're more of a cat person, nobody with a conscience would wish to see a dog harmed.
The Pale Beyond has no such reservations. Instead, should you survive long enough, you will eventually be rewarded by a bleak choice: Leave the dogs to slowly starve to death on the ice, or shoot them.
This horrible decision isn't glossed over, either. First there's the inevitable realisation of what must be done. Then there's talking to Cordell as her pups happily play around her. Then, depending on how you've chosen to handle the situation, there's either abandoning the dogs to the inhospitable wilderness, or taking a pup to a quiet place and looking into its soft, trusting eyes as you make the final decision to kill it.
Though video games generally have a reputation for running, gunning, and random acts of violence, they can also tell heart wrenching stories that target players' emotions.
When I reached this moment in my first playthrough of The Pale Beyond, I had to sit and remind myself that the dog gazing up at me was just beautifully drawn art accompanied by upsetting writing, and that the adorable canine I was about to shoot does not exist. These dogs did not work hard to help me survive the inhospitable Antarctic, and I was not betraying their loyalty with a cold execution. That didn't stop the whole ordeal from being distressing, though. I was ready for the human deaths. I hadn't prepared myself for the dogs.
I have since played through this sequence several times, trying different paths in my attempts to change the pack's fate. You can spare Stanberry, which is something at least. Unfortunately, there seem to be some events that are fixed. You will always be The Temperance's First Mate, the voyage will always meet disaster, and Lady Cordell's innocent dogs will die, whether quickly or slowly.
In some ways, you have to respect The Pale Beyond for going there. History and truth are ugly creatures, and softening the blow would have had less of an impact. Still, this section of the game may be difficult for dog lovers to endure, and will probably be a dealbreaker for some. Sure, we've all encountered dearly departed dogs in various media before. But I've never had to play through a prolonged, emotional set piece that ends with me shooting a dog in the head.
Plenty of replay value besides for that one part
My prerelease playthrough of The Pale Beyond did include several very noticeable bugs. Occasionally sections would repeat or be skipped. The previewed resource cost of sending crew on hunting expeditions wasn't always correct, which made it difficult to plan. And crewmates who were no longer with the expedition would sometimes pipe up with their two cents, as though they were haunting our journey.
But overall, bugs such as these didn't detract from The Pale Beyond's enjoyable writing, gorgeous art, and engaging gameplay. The game balances its difficulty so that you never feel truly hopeless, helping you push through rather than get discouraged. As a strategy fiend, I spent a weekend hooked on this game, which certainly has replay value even if you know you can't save all the dogs.
I know why the dogs had to die. Even aside from the internal logistics of the situation, their deaths delivered a strong emotional beat that drove home the reality of this expedition and strengthened the game as a whole. Still, it's a cold end for the loving pups, and one I'll probably be thinking about for a while.
The Pale Beyond(Opens in a new tab) is available Feb. 24 on PC.
