Conarium

About Conarium

Conarium was developed by Stormling Studios, then called Zoetrope Interactive, the team behind the Darkness Within games, and published by Iceberg Interactive. It came out on Windows in June 2017, on Mac and Linux in February 2018, on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in February 2019 and on Nintendo Switch in February 2021. It was first announced in 2015 as Mountains of Madness, was shown at IndieCade in 2017 and won Game of the Year and Best PC Game at the Kristal Piksel awards that year.

You are Frank Gilman, who wakes in a room at Upuaut, an Antarctic base, beside a strange device throwing patterns of light on the walls. The base is deserted. You soon learn that during the expedition you used the device, died, and came back subtly changed, with memories of places you have never been. To find out what happened to the others you head out of the base and down into what lies beneath the ice.

The game plays much like a classic adventure such as Riven: you walk, interact and solve puzzles by reading notes and journals, studying clues and working old mechanisms, while moving through ruins of an ancient, inhuman civilisation, as well as dreams and visions. There is little combat, and the macabre beings you meet are to be avoided at all cost. Several endings depend on what you find.

It suits players who want a slow, atmospheric cosmic horror with puzzles, and fans of Lovecraft's Antarctic story who want to see where it goes next.

How to play Conarium

1. Buy it on Steam (Windows, Mac or Linux), PlayStation, Xbox or the Nintendo eShop.
2. Explore the Upuaut base and read the notes and journals left behind.
3. Study the clues to solve puzzles and open the way into the ruins below.
4. Avoid the macabre beings rather than face them.
5. Seek out the secrets you missed to reach the other endings.

Tips

• Read everything: the journals carry both the story and the puzzle hints.
• Explore every corner: some puzzles are optional and hidden, and it is easy to walk straight past them.
• Look closely in dark areas; it is easy to miss items, especially on a small screen.
• When something hunts you, move away first and think later.
• Lovecraft readers will find many references; reading At the Mountains of Madness first adds to it, though it is not needed.

Questions