Nova Antarctica

Make sure to pack a Sweater.

Surviving in harsh climates is never an easy thing to do, and Antarctica is definitely one of the harshest environments out there. Nova Antarctica tries to capture the harsh realities of this polar desert while keeping an air of mystery about it. It's cold, it's windy, and survival is not guaranteed.

You play as a person in a full environment suit with one goal in mind: get to the South Pole as soon as possible. And to be expected, this trip will be anything but a walk in the park, as the whole land is against you in this one.

There are multiple stats that you need to watch to try to stay alive. The first is your battery, which is always draining, but the rate at which it drains depends on several factors. Some of which are its natural drain, taking damage, or if your thermal resistance fully depletes. This is also your most important stat to keep an eye on, because if it hits zero, you will die.

The next thing you need to keep your eye on is your thermal resistance. The colder it is, the faster it falls. Once it is depleted, your battery will start to drain faster, as your suit will use it to try to keep you warm. However, you can recharge your thermal resistance by standing in a warm climate for a while. Be aware that the temperature needs to be above twenty degrees for the suit to start charging.

The last stat is your stamina, which you use to run or use tools. Running out of stamina is not the worst thing to happen, but you should still keep an eye on it so you can keep gathering resources.

The lands of Nova Antarctica are beautiful to be in and explore. Each area is different, allowing the world to feel more varied and diverse. And the changing weather helps build the world and make it feel less static, but that's not all.

There are multiple types of weather to watch out for, but some are worse than others. These offenders are blizzards and radiation storms, both of which drain your battery at different rates. A blizzard can also throw items at you, taking chunks out of your battery, so you need to find cover before it hits. The weather changes every thirty seconds to two minutes, but you can check the weather section in your UI to see what it will be next. This can help you plan when to explore or when you need to take shelter.

There are a lot of resources that you can collect and make in this world. But the issue is you have only a set amount of space in your inventory to carry, so you will need to prioritize what you will take with you. You can also use these resources to make consumables to help replenish your battery or refill your stamina, or to build a variety of items to help you survive, like shelters, heat sources, tools, and markers to help you find your way.

As you look around the world for resources, you may come across some strange devices scattered around the lands. You can activate them with a finite resource that you start with, meaning you must choose which ones you will turn on and leave behind.

Also, in your travels, you may find animals that need help with something or are injured. You can choose to leave them to their fate or help them, and maybe in return, they will help you.

Resources become more and more scarce to find as you get closer to the South Pole. Due to this, make sure you are exploring every nook and cranny to get everything you can before going to the next area. You will even find new threats that lurk in the shadows along the way... Some that even caught me off guard.

When you reach the end, you will see the ending that all your choices brought you to. The game will end at this point, or does it? After you complete the run, you will get a card that will give you potential upgrades on your next run. What also helps with replayability is the machines you can activate, as different combos of them can influence different endings.

With that said, some issues with Nova make it a bit too hard, or rather, frustrating. The main issue I had was with the weather's dense fog and radiation storm. It makes it nearly impossible to see anything at times. I find myself just waiting for them to pass most of the time, just so I can even see where I am going. I also had a bug where I was glitched out of the map, and one that deleted a chunk of my items. Thankfully, these only occurred once, so it was not as bad as it could have been.

All that said, Nova Antarctica is a great time, and I enjoyed my time in these harsh lands. The fun of learning what you need to do to survive, and saving any animals I found, was a fun challenge. I would definitely recommend this one to anyone who loves to challenge themselves to survive in hostile lands and wishes to push their supply management to the test.

Developer - RexLabo. Publisher - PARCO Games. Released - January 29th, 2026. Available On - PC. Rated - (N/A) No descriptor. Platform Reviewed - PC - Steam. Review Access - A review code for the game was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.