Penguin Colony is Steam Next Fest’s weirdest free demo

Steam Next Fest is here, bringing more free game demos than one person could possibly play in a single week. If you only have time to play one demo before the event ends on June 22, make sure you set 30 minutes aside for Penguin Colony.

While that title might imply something cute and lighthearted, that’s certainly not the case. Penguin Colony is the latest game from Origame Digital, the creators of 2020’s excellent Umurangi Generation. The studio’s unexpected follow-up has one heck of a pitch: a Lovecraftian horror game about penguins. What exactly does that mean? Penguin Colony’s free demo offers a glimpse inside what could be 2026’s strangest game.

The snippet drops you into a dark and barren Antarctica circa 1939. Origame Digital calls the story a faithful reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s At The Mountains of Madness and The Shadow Out of Time. Nazis have arrived in Antarctica to uncover something buried in the ice, while the Kaitiaki are there to protect it. Even from the short demo, it’s clear that Origame is weaving its Lovecraftian lore with a story about fascism and colonialism. It’s also about penguins.

You could call Penguin Colony a “waddling simulator.” After an eerie intro, I’m put in control of a penguin who can slowly shuffle across the ice fields. I can get on my belly to move faster, dive underwater, and hop to do some simple platforming. Aside from pulling off those tricks and managing a stamina meter, I can swap over to any other penguin near me. I need to do that at one point when I find a warped fence that’s slightly opened at the bottom. The penguin I was controlling was too big to fit, so I swapped over to a chick to get under the fence.

Image: Origame Digital/Fellow Traveller

While there are “collectibles” to find while exploring, the demo is more about soaking in the atmosphere on a slow-burn journey. An unsettling voice-over teases out the cryptic story, since the penguins themselves don’t have much to say. When I finally do stumble across humans in the icy expanse, I watch in horror as the blocky figures mutilate themselves in front of me. Burning tents, ominous lights in the distance, and more surreal imagery tease a suitable Lovecraft adaptation.

I recommend trying Penguin Colony’s demo to see how it all fits together yourself. Steam Next Fest will run until June 22, so make sure to try it this week. Penguin Colony does not have a firm release date yet, but it is scheduled to launch this year.