LA Cops
LA Cops
Game
Game2016
Near Death
Developer Orthogonal Games
Stranded at an abandoned Antarctic research base with no hope of rescue, you must battle a deadly blizzard in a desperate fight to find your way home. From the Steam store page
201 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Nov 4, 2026 · last updated Nov 4, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
90
LovedLoved
170 positive · 18 negative
95% range 85–94%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 170 | 18 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
659 of 721 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
91% recommend · 172 yes, 18 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 190 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (976 of 1,073 positive).
Players praise the game's immersive atmosphere and its unique focus on surviving the cold without monsters. [1][2][3] Some reviewers note the game is short, linear, and involves fetch quests, which can feel repetitive. [4][5][6] Many recommend it for its tense survival mechanics and compelling environmental storytelling. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [4]
A great premise but disappointing execution. The game is very linear. You can roam wherever you want in theory, but if you go somewhere before being explicitly told to, you can't interact with any plot-relevant items, you'll use up valuable resources, and you may end up making the whole thing harder for yourself because some parts of the world only function once. You'll have to come back later when you're told to go …
- [1]
A fantastic short-ish game (around 3 hours for a first playthrough) where there are no monsters, no jump scares, no shooting, just you against the unforgiving environment of Antarctica. With cold constantly bearing down on you and resources running low, you need to think and act fast to finish a set of objectives and leave the place. The game is quite well balanced. My first playthrough was on hard; here cold …
- [8]
I LOVE this game! Being isolated on a remote research base in -100 degree Celsius weather without food or water is an intimidating prospect, and the game wastes no time throwing you into the deep end. You begin to freeze to death outside almost immediately, and finding shelter does nothing to help until you use a portable heater to temporarily warm up enclosed rooms - which runs on kerosene, a limited resource. This …
- [9]
I enjoyed Near Death. The game is really just you vs. the weather, which makes for a surprisingly intense antagonist. I found the constant need to remain warm nerve-racking and atmospheric: you have to be very careful about your movements, especially in the beginning, lest you fall victim to the Antarctic winter. The bitter cold keeps you on your toes! Gameplay consists largely of collecting resources and learning …
- [2]
They did it; they made a frightening survival game in the real world without a single monster. It is amazing how good this game is at communicating coldness. Not to mention blizzard conditions; navigation over seemingly-short distances with no visibility is exactly this difficult, and this is exactly how you accomplish it.
Summarised from 34 of the 200 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 11, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Near Death sits at 90% positive across 188 opinionated reactions from 3 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Reactions
60 of 201 · most liked firstA journaling game. Two prompts. You are (roll a d6)... 1. Lonely 2. Stupid 3. Naked 4. Broke 5. Arrested 6. Near Death Write stream of consciousness in your journal to find out why. Your BFF does something reckless to try to help you. Write how it plays out. #journalGaming 🖊️📓
neutral · AI labelView post →powerful statement
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A great premise but disappointing execution. The game is very linear. You can roam wherever you want in theory, but if you go somewhere before being explicitly told to, you can't interact with any plot-relevant items, you'll use up valuable resources, and you may end up making the whole thing harder for yourself because some parts of the world only function once. You'll have to come back later when you're told to go check that area out anyway. The resource economy and amount of backtracking…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fighting to not freeze to death. Story: You play as a pilot that crashes near an abandoned research station in the arctic. It's a cold night and you will freeze to death unless you contact someone that help you guide your way to safety. That's about all the story you really get with Near Death, however the story is not really needed as it does everything it needs to do as it goes on. You can find stations that advance the story, however these are nothing more than just task updates given to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Near Death is by a San Francisco company Orthogonal Games http://www.orthogonalgames.com/press/index.php or more precise Kent Hudson who works for Ubisoft Toronto and has up to a decade of Game Design and Game Director experience up his sleeve. Orthogonal is his personal side company and with it, has so far produced 2 games ‘The Novelist’ and this one. Unfortunately, a while ago he reported to a fan that he has no personal plans of creating a third indie game simply due to the amount of time…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I WANT HER TO STRANGLE ME TO NEAR DEATH, JUST ENOUGH FOR ME TO COME BACK TO LIFE FREE GAME BTW #WhereWindsMeet
neutral · AI labelView post →Slightly Diminish a game: Average Mario Bros. Penultimate Fantasy VII Bacteria Eve Near Death Stranding
neutral · AI labelView post →A fantastic short-ish game (around 3 hours for a first playthrough) where there are no monsters, no jump scares, no shooting, just you against the unforgiving environment of Antarctica. With cold constantly bearing down on you and resources running low, you need to think and act fast to finish a set of objectives and leave the place. The game is quite well balanced. My first playthrough was on hard; here cold affects relatively fast, resources are scarce and you cannot afford many mistakes. A…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🦑 Live Right Now 🦑 We're playing a Patreon Pick today for a survival adventure game called Near Death 👀 Let's see if I can survive! ❤️🧡💛 twitch.tv/katftwynn 💚💙💜
neutral · AI labelView post →Near Death ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ === ( 🎯 Difficulty ) === ☐ No Difficulty ☐ Easy ☑ Standard (Anything past normal i'd consider hard) ☐ Big Learning Curve ☐ Hard ☐ Impossible === ( 👪 Audience ) === ☐ Everyone ☐ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☐ Mature === ( 👀 Graphics ) === ☐ What Is This? ☐ Bad ☑ Acceptable ☐ Good ☐ Great ☐ Stylistic ☐ Beautiful ☐ Masterpiece === ( Sound/Music ) === ☐ Bad ☐ Nothing Special ☑ Okay ☐ Great ☐ Beautiful ☐ I´m Gonna Cry === ( 🌏 Story ) === ☐ This Game Has No Story ☐ Nothing…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Completing this game with Screen Shake turned all the up should be an achievement of it's own. Cool game nonetheless although on the short side it's one of the more unique survival games, it deserves more love. definitely recommend it!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So I just played for two hours and when I came out of the game I realized that I felt very cold even though there's a furnace on this floor of my house, and it's on, and I'm wearing a zipped up hoodie. It took a minute for me to realize that I was actually warm, and another minute to convince my brain that I wasn't going to need to do anything to maintain that state of affairs. That's what this game did to me in two hours. The loneliness is palpable, the story, delivered in fragments, is full…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Loved the game, we need more 'battle against the elements' games like these. Scratched the precise itch of lonely isolation also present in The Thing, but without the thing. Short and sweet.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a short walking simulator through a hash Antarctica terrain. It was a bit difficult until I figured out the mechanisms. After that it was a bit easier to play. Fun for a few hours, more of a sit back and get into the cold vibe. Would not recommend playing this if you are already cold.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →They did it; they made a frightening survival game in the real world without a single monster. It is amazing how good this game is at communicating coldness. Not to mention blizzard conditions; navigation over seemingly-short distances with no visibility is exactly this difficult, and this is exactly how you accomplish it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a wonderfully well-executed, straight-forward story of a pilot's survival after crashing near an decommissioned Antarctica base. There's no supernatural beast stalking you, jumping out at you, stressing you out - it's simply you, a base that's falling apart, and the harsh Antarctic landscape that surrounds and informs every decision you make. I heartily recommend this game to anyone. It can be played in one (slightly extended) sitting, and is a pleasant, consistent journey.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I LOVE this game! Being isolated on a remote research base in -100 degree Celsius weather without food or water is an intimidating prospect, and the game wastes no time throwing you into the deep end. You begin to freeze to death outside almost immediately, and finding shelter does nothing to help until you use a portable heater to temporarily warm up enclosed rooms - which runs on kerosene, a limited resource. This seems stressful right off the bat, and it wouldn't ordinarily be my time of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good game. Played on normal difficulty prob should have picked hard. When you understand the mechanics its pretty straight forward. Advice, just follow the objective log your not supposed to run all over discovering things, you can but its not recommended.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Oughgh nothing like a tabletop game where someone is hunting down your PC and gets 4 hits on you bringing you down to Near Death 😏
neutral · AI labelView post →Surprisingly nifty little game. Movement is a bit awkward, but it looks halfway decent, the story is compelling, and the survival mechanics are actually rather thrilling, which I think can be chalked up to the excellent environmental design. My recommendation is to avoid the higher difficulties unless you play a second time to get those achievements; on the hardest difficulty, the random resources are scarce enough that you can just get shafted out of being able to craft essential items, and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought this game one time I was hoarding every piece of media I could get set in Antarctica under the influence of seeing The Thing and reading At the Mountains of Madness for the trillionth time. There's something utterly special, haunting and dangerously fascinating in those icy expanses that just leaves me spellbound. Then I played the game for 20 minutes, got lost like an @ssh0le because I couldn't read stuff properly and left it installed in my library for about three centuries, planning…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I enjoyed Near Death. The game is really just you vs. the weather, which makes for a surprisingly intense antagonist. I found the constant need to remain warm nerve-racking and atmospheric: you have to be very careful about your movements, especially in the beginning, lest you fall victim to the Antarctic winter. The bitter cold keeps you on your toes! Gameplay consists largely of collecting resources and learning your environment to survive. I found Near Death most fun when I focused on…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"ELF IS NEAR DEATH" 😂 GL was on the PS2 & original Xbox I think. was 3D & had more gear & character development than the arcade game. kinda boring playing alone but fun w/friends. this one's very much a throwback to it.
neutral · AI labelView post →(4/7) -Last Labyrinth -Late Homework -Like Clay -Lily's Well -LIRE -Lost in Vivo -Love, Sam -Matsuro Palette -Mini Reaper -Mirror Layers -Morph Girl -Mothered - A Role Playing Horror Game -MOUTHOLE -My Friendly Neighborhood -Narcosis -NashBored -Near Death -Night at the Office -Nightmare of Decay
neutral · AI labelView post →Is Near-Death Experience and Necropotence an early game two card combo? We've asked *laugh* the community to *laughing harder* weigh in and decide *absolutely losing my shit off-camera*
neutral · AI labelView post →Completed the game in one sitting while needing to pee in order to maximize the survival experience
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very short, mostly just walking around doing basically fetch quests. Perhaps it's too easy on Normal, but at the same time due to the lackluster experience I doubt I'd pick it up again with a higher difficulty setting. Atmospheric, but I wouldn't call it "survival" or "exploration" - the first boils down to "heat yourself every 30 seconds" and the second boils down to "another almost empty room with a crate and a desk".
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Slightly diminish a game Near Death Stranding
neutral · AI labelView post →Delightful and tense 3 hour experience against the cold with mechanics added at the right time to keep pacing tight. Every decision I made along the way had trade-offs to make the moments of peace hit so much harder. 100% recommend as an engaging walking simulator that I'll be revisiting for sure. Extra thank you for the soundtrack!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great experience! short and sweet
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has a very good balance between survival, resource management and planning. Aside from some fairly easy puzzling, the main struggle is overcoming the Antarctic cold, which is done by surviving weather more severe with every step of progress. If the themes sound interesting, this is definitely a no-brainer, especially when on sale.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A short but enjoyable experience
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played once on easy to get the feel of the game, without stressing myself too much. It was a nice stroll through the harsh Antarctic environment. I liked it so much, that I started the game again on Condition 1, and oh my was it an experience! The cold was like an active enemy, trying relentlessly to kill you. The heater couldn't do its job fast enough. There were just enough wires to create one wiring kit for each location, but I had to thoroughly search for them. Zip ties? Only two!…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nice little game. For enjoyment, play on normal difficulty. If you want to kill the fun and hate the game... play on hard or above. But seriously... don't ... play on normal and have fun.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Has some atmosphere for sure, you can feel some of the cold even in a warm room, Two of the best moments were when I entered the habitat's living area and in the end scene when the dark was gone. Unfortunatelly all in all it comes to running from one warm place to another mostly blindly collecting some kerocene for the warmer and stuff from one place to another. The plot isn't very interesting you just have to run back and forth. So it's my no, but the game is worth playing when bought on sale.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A small game, but very atmospheric and immersive. Stranded in Antarctica you have to fight the wild forces of nature in order to survive, and at night it's not a nice place to be stuck in. Playing Near Death you can almost physically feel the cold blizzard seeping into your bones, and the decommissioned research station you find offers little shelter. Search and rescue is not an option due to the worsening weather conditions, so you either buckle up, make good use of the resources left in the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Near Death is a short survival and exploration game set at an abandoned Antarctic research station. After her plane crashes nearby, the protagonist must find, repair, or cobble together the tools and supplies necessary to keep warm, shelter from the storm, and summon help. Exploring abandoned buildings and navigating a blizzard in the darkness provide plenty of spook factor, even without eldritch horrors. http://www.neardeathgame.com #gameing #NearDeath #spooky
neutral · AI labelView post →Though certainly rough around the edges, this remains one of the best crafted narrative driven survival games I've played, sitting alongside the likes of Subnautica. The biggest deviation from it's contemporaries is that there are no evil monsters, no zombies, no aliens, not even a single sign of something still alive. Not because of some disaster, or apocalyptic catastrophe. No. It's winter, and you've crash landed in the Antarctic, outside a decommissioned research base. The whole experience…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Most similar to a walking sim game with an excellent atmosphere and the ever-present, novel antagonist of the polar storm bearing down on you. The basic resource management and the changing weather makes it feel like you're really battling the wind and cold, and the story propels you through the 3-5 hour experience. It felt like normal difficulty was properly tuned and I really enjoyed this one. I'd highly recommend it to people who enjoy walking sims or that would like a simple survival game…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Near Death is, by far, my favorite survival game on Steam, even beyond Subnautica or Valheim. Near Death strikes a perfect balance between gameplay systems, atmosphere and exploration. You have a very limited number of upgrades to unlock during your progression, but each of them is meaningful in the gameplay and serves a clear milestone. Game systems such as heat management and basic housing are simple, easy to grasp but align with the game intent perfectly. No farming gets in the way of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dear god save me! Please save me. I've tried to give this the benefit of the doubt. It's a bad game just let's accept we all buy one now and again. It was on sale at least. Still four hours wasted.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Amazing game! Gives off vibes of The Thing with the 1980s antarctic research camp, but without the monsters. A lot like Sub Nautica but instead of holding your breath you are trying to make it from spot to spot without freezing to death. Just like in that game, you can craft different things that lengthens the time you can spend in the cold, increasing your access to other parts of the camp. I absolutely loved this game!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →OOOH IS Near Death a game? I thought you were saying, casually, that you almost died and are playing tekken about it
neutral · AI labelView post →Short narrative-driven game about surviving the Antarctic winter. No monsters, no aliens, just you vs the encroaching cold. It's relatively short (3.5-4 hours on Normal for my playthrough), but I think any longer and it would start to overstay its welcome.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The OG South of the Circle. I honestly wasn't expecting the game to be so immersive but it was very neat and well thought out.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →#MondayMorningMetal In this video Katalepsy's singer looks like a dude watching the team he bet money on lose the game. Tell me I'm wrong. Katalepsy - Evidence of Near Death (E.N.D.) #deathmetal #musicsky #metalheads #deathmetalsky www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wVt...
neutral · AI labelView post →As someone else pointed out, for a game with no enemies or interactable characters, it never gets boring. The tension of trying to survive in a harsh climate feels real, keeping you engaged throughout. The open-world map gives you the freedom to explore anywhere at any time, adding to the sense of realism, though the quests themselves are mostly linear and follow a decent story. The atmosphere is a standout—the scenery and weather effects are beautifully done, fully immersing you in the cold…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Awesome little quest with survival elements. The soundtrack is so cool!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really cool indie game. Sadly, not very long and the ending was reportedly also cut due to time and budget constraints. Despite that, the intensity of the weather, evokes a very immersive experience. I'll probably will beat this game again, but on a higher difficulty for that reason alone. The soundtrack works really well, and those brief moments of safety gave me genuine feels of coziness. Although some of the platform-based gameplay (having to make somewhat questionable movements), the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This little gem is incredible. Yes, it's rather short, but the gameplay is interesting and the atmosphere is awesomely done. The music is great and sets the tone well. Also, while the themes are similar to The Long Dark, this game is actually finished. I wish the developer had been able to take this as far as they had wanted. This game feels like home. I am as alone in this game as I am in real life.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A short game with alright story.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't know why I had this game in my library for 8 years untouched, but I finally cracked it open and braved -80 degree weather. As everyone has said, short, sweet, solid and doesn't wear out its welcome.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun little indie game that really nails the atmosphere of being isolated in the arctic against the elements. Short but works in its favor as you are engaged the whole time and the mechanics don't wear out their welcome. Very much recommend on sale.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A short survival game with some light crafting. Basically, you just have to NOT freeze to death brrrrrr and there's stuff to help you with that while you're looking for a way out of this predicament which you can craft or pick up around the map. Ahhhhhh. The weather gets worse over time and it makes moving a bit awkward if you're moving in the opposite direction of it (like fighting the current) ungggh brrrrrr. About 3-hours of gameplay. I paid £1.20 for it which as the protagonist likes…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Don't be fooled by the way it looks; the story and atmosphere are perfect, and combined with the gameplay, I would say it's well worth the money spent. I was roaming around a lot, and as a result, I had to do a lot more backtracking than was needed. I think had I only followed the story, I could have beat the game in around three or maybe even two and half hours instead of the four it took me, but overall, while very short, it was a very good game. I played the game on normal, and I have to say…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not too short not too long! Nice atmospheric visuals/game play. Good game to play when holed up for the winter inside nice and warm! ;D
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty fun game, short, done in like 3 hours and imo too much focus on the survival part. I think this game could make for an intense survival horror game like SOMA if it wanted to, and it would be reaaally good. But as is, short but decent, bit repetitive but decent enough.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Actually extremely fun. Highly recommend if you like The Thing.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For the price, its a really good game. Whilst the game is relatively short, it really keeps you on the edge of your seat with it's subtle narrative and immersive gameplay that really puts you in the shoes of the main character and encourages you to empathize with their situation, mainly the stress and emotional drain they are going through. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a basic survival and narrative focused game, to preferably play at night or the early hours of the morning.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A nice, short survival experience that has you stranded in an Arctic base and trying to escape. Very well done.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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