Developer: CO's Entertainment
Publisher: Ultimate Publishing, Ultimate Games S.A., PlayWay S.A.
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
A game about Penguins – Review
Anyone who’s ever been online has, one way or another, heard about Disney’s Club Penguin. One of the original MMOs, which was unfortunately shut down, then later rebooted through various unofficial iterations. Now, CO’s Entertainment has released ‘A Game about Penguins’. This is another penguin-focused MMO where you and your friends can enjoy cozy and chaotic moments together whilst throwing snowballs at each other, gathering coins, and styling your character as you like.
Story
Given that the game is a cozy and very casual MMO, there isn’t really a main story present in the game. You’re just a penguin living in this snowy ‘kingdom,’ and that’s that. Through optional quests with the world’s NPCs, however, there are some aspects of storytelling, albeit they are very vague. For example, you get to see a giant statue that speaks to you about the island’s past. Though this narrative component is irrelevant, it adds a tiny bit of worldbuilding to an otherwise empty Arctic island.
That being said, the lack of story doesn’t bother the game, as NPCs still have some personality, even if rather flat and stereotypical.
Graphics
A Game About Penguins is shown as a 3D open-world game. The main area features snowy landscapes with a river to swim through, surrounded by giant mountains that penguins can slide on as they please. In its current state, the world feels very empty and almost void-like. The main area is barely filled with anything, and the lack of interactive buildings or furniture makes the game feel almost unfinished. Whilst exploring the island, players will quickly realize that almost all open areas are just blank slopes with generic tree assets randomly placed, leaving much to be desired when it comes to the visuals.
Furthermore, the game’s UI lacks a distinctive style, with cream-to-brown colored blocks and orange text; they really missed the opportunity to push the penguin- or Arctic aesthetic. Using warm colors whilst in a supposedly cold environment makes for a readable interface but creates such a contrast that the whimsicalness the game aims for just disappears altogether. The icons used for the interface are also clearly AI-generated, once again removing any bit of flair or personality this game could offer.
Something we also took note of was that after dyeing your penguin a certain color, going inside buildings will make you light up like a radioactive bird. We found this to be the case with bright colors mostly, making us feel the need to change to something darker so as not to hurt our eyes too much.
Sound
During normal gameplay, A Game About Penguins will loop the same few songs. There’s little to no variety in the track list, nor do the songs sound like a part of the world or the area you’re currently exploring. Given that everything is open-world, it makes sense that transitioning into area-specific music might be harder, but the lack of winter-esque music just feels like a missed opportunity.
During minigames, other song options come into play, luckily. There’s a dancing minigame, for example, where players can, as of writing, choose out of four different songs to play on. These modern songs caught us initially off-guard, as they are of a whole different genre compared to the cozy music used everywhere else. Though the songs were good, the change of theme felt like a placeholder rather than part of the world.
Gameplay
As mentioned earlier, A Game About Penguins is a cozy MMO to enjoy with friends, or strangers alike. In joining or hosting open or private lobbies, players get to slide around with their own penguin and participate in quests or minigames as they please. The game allows players to link their Discord profile as well, giving the option to use proximity chat, simply by having Discord run in the background. This can be disabled and re-enabled whenever players want. Chatting is also an option, as well as using pre-made emotes.
Once players have figured out the controls of the game, they can waddle or slide around the map and go wherever they want. There are quite a few activities players can partake in alone or with friends. There is a disco and arcade to play by yourself, or you can go racing with friends. Those who prefer more easygoing games can play chess or simple card games at the restaurant by joining the right table. Our initial interaction with another player in an open lobby wasn’t the greatest, however. One of the interactions penguins can do is throw snowballs. Though this sounds funny, it quickly becomes frustrating when you realize that being hit makes your penguin fall over and stagger a little. The interaction to throw snowballs has no cooldown, leaving others free to stun-lock your penguin in place until you manage to miraculously dodge a snowball. This happened to us in the first ten minutes of starting up, whilst still going through the main tutorial of the game.
The minigames come without an initial tutorial or instructions. The controls are always displayed on the screen, though reading them the first time does take away the potential to score points, when most of these games have a time limit. On the positive side, however, the racing game and rhythm game were easy to figure out and played very smoothly.
Conclusion
Though the idea behind a 3D world with penguins makes all our hearts a bit warmer, the execution so far leaves a lot to be desired. We can see potential in this game and find it to be enjoyable with friends. The developer also actively listens to player feedback and tries to consider their opinions when patching or adding to the game. At the time of writing, however, we feel there are simply better options out there that already have a more polished look and personality set than A Game About Penguins.
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