Digital Game: Origame Digital: Penguin Colony (New Zealand 2026)
H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness is one of the great classics of Antarctic literature, especially if judged by how many adaptations in other media it has inspired. Penguin Colony is one of the most original ones I’ve seen, transforming the story into a walking simulator you can play in an evening. Only you’re not playing as any of the members of the ill-fated Antarctic expedition, but as a penguin.
It’s an inspired choice. The adaptation is loose, re-interpreting the story through a lens of anti-colonialism. It works very well as a horror story because there’s a lot of horrifying resonances in the extractive logic of European history. It packs a punch, especially as the game explicitly makes mention of things like the genocide Israel is perpetrating in Gaza.
The scientists of the Antarctic expedition would be logical protagonists, but this is clearly a game that doesn’t want you identifying with fascists. So you’re a penguin, or in fact a series of penguins since you can jump from controlling one animal to another to access the various abilities of different penguin species. You squawk your way through the folly of man and the cosmic horror of recurring imperialism.
As a creative choice, it really works.