Through the icy wastelands to salvation. A review of the book role-playing game “Heart of Ice”

Quest for the Heart of Power

This is how we are introduced to the frozen world of the Heart of Ice . The player’s task is to get to the frozen Sahara and find the Heart of Power – a mysterious artifact, for which, however, a whole bunch of powerful and extremely dangerous adventurers will compete with each other. Ruthless competitors, mutants, mysterious machines and many, many more await us. We play the role of one of the seven available characters, and then we are guided by our own choices that can determine the fate of the remaining humanity.

A book role-playing game

This interesting plot is not an ordinary book, but a role-playing game. As I have already mentioned, the player’s choices are crucial to the presented story. There is no randomness here, and the fate of the characters depends only on us. It all starts with choosing a hero. Each of them has a unique set of skills and equipment, which later turns out to be important for survival. The available classes are Explorer, Bounty Hunter, Spy, Merchant, Prophet, Scientist and Mutant. It is also possible to create your own character. Of course, ready-made character cards are available in the book, you can also download them from the publisher’s website.

Character creation

After making the choice, all that remains is to save the equipment, skills and Life Points on the Character Sheet. The book also comes with a bookmark with a portable version, which makes it much easier to track your progress. Of course, we subtract Life Points with each wound we suffer, and losing all of them ends the game. As for the inventory, it is possible to carry up to eight items at a time. Sometimes it is even necessary to throw away the possessions, which requires careful consideration of actions. Will an extra food portion be more useful, or maybe a barrage pistol? Everything is in the player’s hands.

Illustrations straight from the 80s.

The illustrations are worth mentioning here. The graphics that we see on the cover have nothing to do with what we find inside. Very characteristic, slightly surreal drawings bring to mind science fiction novels from the 1980s. It has its own unique atmosphere, but in terms of aesthetics, many people may simply not like it. In my case, however, these illustrations were a huge plus. My only regret is that there are so few of them in the book, in addition they are in quite random places. Sometimes it can even end up in spoilers, as it was in my case. Was your character chased by a flying mutant brain? You are not surprised, because the graphic depicting this event has already scrolled at a completely different point in the book …

Great additions

A very interesting solution is the scratch map attached to the book. Some chapters are marked with a special symbol, which can also be found in the appendix. After scratching a given fragment of the map, we will see the place where our hero is. It is a pity, however, that the introduction to the book did not mention this solution. It is up to the player to decipher the use of the scratch card, but then it becomes a great addition to the game. In addition, the authors have added cards with images of individual characters to the book. Everything, of course, maintained in a climatic visual layer.

Left or right?

If I had to give a minus of the plot itself, it would be a certain unpredictability of our actions. If the choice we face is simply to decide whether we run left or right, it’s hard to use your sober thinking skills here. Then we only have a tab in the place of the last choice, because it is difficult to predict the consequences of such an action. Despite this, most of the story forks have been prepared well, and the player can choose between the type of weapon he wants to use at a given moment. The atmosphere of the fight for survival maintained at the highest level. Codeword mechanics have also been added here. They can be obtained by discovering more solutions and exploring different paths, and then use them during the game. In this way, the inquisitiveness of the players is rewarded.

Plus for the atmosphere, minus for the ending

Heart of Ice is an interesting, although not very replayable, role-playing game. Set in a frozen world after a climate catastrophe, the plot turns out to be quite original. Players embark on an adventure that can be deadly in many places. Plenty of choices, a lot of RPG elements, but in the end, unfortunately, an unsatisfactory story solution. However, it is worth feeling this very interesting atmosphere of the icy wasteland, which is full of colorful characters.