The Game Census
The Pale Beyond cover art

The Pale Beyond

Saltstone Studios · Fellow Traveller · 2023-02-24

SteamGOGEpic Games Store

AdventureIndieRPGSimulationStrategy

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: Bird view / Isometric, Side view

Releases: Feb 24, 2023 (Mac), Feb 24, 2023 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Oct 06, 2023 (Nintendo Switch)

You didn’t ask to lead this expedition, but here you are. Stuck in the ice, Captain missing, miles from civilisation. Someone has to take charge. Manage your meagre resources, balance safety and morale, make the hard calls, and head in the only direction you can - through The Pale Beyond.

The Pale Beyond is an Adventure, Indie, RPG and Simulation game released in 2023, priced at $3.99, with an estimated 50,000 .. 100,000 owners and a Very Positive review sentiment (89% of 2245 reviews).

53
playing now
89%
positive of 2.2k reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
50,000–100,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
80/100
critic score (1 outlets, IGDB)
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Verified
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$3.99
steam price (US)

53 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 17:00 UTC (census sample)

The Pale Beyond is a survival role-playing video game developed by Saltstone Studios and published by Fellow Traveller. It was released for Microsoft Windows and macOS on 24 February 2023. The game follows an Antarctic expedition that gets trapped in the ice as the player must manage the crew successfully to survive. Saltstone Studios, a small development company based in Belfast, created the game and was inspired by historical Antarctic expeditions.

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 53 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 177 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~22/week).
  • · Review velocity up 6% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 9% of 28,623 Adventure games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-31

Estimated sales: 45k–101k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 2,245 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

GOG$3.99-80%
Humble Store$3.99-80%
Steam$3.99-80%
GOG$3.99-80%

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $3.99 at Steam (2025-09-15) · bundled 6×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $19.99 · on sale 88 of 122 observed days · at its all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
35735720232026Week of 2023-02-01: 357 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 40 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 333 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 25 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 48 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 60 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 35 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 36 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 68 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 37 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 2 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

24132026-09-15 02:00 — 10 players2026-09-16 10:00 — 3 players2026-09-17 18:00 — 8 players2026-09-19 01:00 — 5 players2026-09-20 09:00 — 6 players2026-09-21 17:00 — 3 players2026-09-23 00:00 — 6 players2026-09-24 08:00 — 3 players2026-09-25 15:00 — 5 players2026-09-26 23:00 — 7 players2026-09-28 06:00 — 4 players2026-09-29 14:00 — 7 players2026-09-30 21:00 — 4 players2026-10-02 05:00 — 6 players2026-10-03 12:00 — 9 players2026-10-04 20:00 — 14 players2026-10-06 04:00 — 9 players2026-10-07 11:00 — 5 players2026-10-08 19:00 — 11 players2026-10-10 02:00 — 97 players2026-10-11 10:00 — 104 players2026-10-12 18:00 — 83 players2026-10-14 01:00 — 41 players2026-10-14 17:00 — 53 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
907Mar 2023Aug 2026Mar 2023 — avg 90 · peak 404May 2023 — avg 19 · peak 79Jul 2023 — avg 18 · peak 151Sep 2023 — avg 15 · peak 50Nov 2023 — avg 19 · peak 49Jan 2024 — avg 36 · peak 90Mar 2024 — avg 20 · peak 61May 2024 — avg 10 · peak 27Jul 2024 — avg 14 · peak 37Sep 2024 — avg 20 · peak 70Nov 2024 — avg 9 · peak 29Jan 2025 — avg 8 · peak 25Mar 2025 — avg 10 · peak 30May 2025 — avg 15 · peak 44Jul 2025 — avg 9 · peak 29Sep 2025 — avg 20 · peak 74Nov 2025 — avg 11 · peak 32Jan 2026 — avg 13 · peak 32Mar 2026 — avg 11 · peak 35May 2026 — avg 12 · peak 40Jul 2026 — avg 10 · peak 23Aug 2026 — avg 8 · peak 25
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Price history

$19.99$3.992023-02-242026-10-142023-02-24 — best price $17.992023-04-06 — best price $17.992023-06-11 — best price $17.992023-07-20 — best price $15.992023-08-28 — best price $14.992023-09-28 — best price $19.992023-11-12 — best price $19.992023-12-22 — best price $11.992024-02-15 — best price $19.992024-03-20 — best price $9.992024-05-21 — best price $19.992024-07-25 — best price $19.992024-09-10 — best price $19.992024-10-17 — best price $19.992024-11-21 — best price $7.992025-01-02 — best price $19.992025-02-16 — best price $19.992025-03-19 — best price $5.992025-04-22 — best price $5.992025-06-03 — best price $5.992025-07-27 — best price $19.992025-08-26 — best price $5.992025-10-14 — best price $3.992025-12-04 — best price $3.992026-01-12 — best price $3.992026-02-09 — best price $3.992026-03-18 — best price $19.992026-04-11 — best price $19.992026-06-06 — best price $3.992026-07-16 — best price $3.992026-08-09 — best price $3.992026-08-25 — best price $3.992026-09-02 — best price $3.992026-09-10 — best price $3.992026-09-18 — best price $3.992026-09-26 — best price $3.992026-10-04 — best price $3.992026-10-12 — best price $3.992026-10-14 — best price $3.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

15192026-05-30 — 43 pageviews2026-06-03 — 32 pageviews2026-06-07 — 42 pageviews2026-06-11 — 10 pageviews2026-06-15 — 29 pageviews2026-06-19 — 25 pageviews2026-06-23 — 18 pageviews2026-06-27 — 15 pageviews2026-07-01 — 11 pageviews2026-07-05 — 16 pageviews2026-07-09 — 15 pageviews2026-07-13 — 15 pageviews2026-07-17 — 9 pageviews2026-07-21 — 22 pageviews2026-07-25 — 16 pageviews2026-07-29 — 12 pageviews2026-08-02 — 12 pageviews2026-08-06 — 13 pageviews2026-08-10 — 25 pageviews2026-08-14 — 18 pageviews2026-08-18 — 14 pageviews2026-08-22 — 18 pageviews2026-08-26 — 33 pageviews2026-08-30 — 15 pageviews2026-09-03 — 21 pageviews2026-09-07 — 22 pageviews2026-09-11 — 36 pageviews2026-09-15 — 20 pageviews2026-09-19 — 27 pageviews2026-09-23 — 27 pageviews2026-09-27 — 24 pageviews2026-10-01 — 27 pageviews2026-10-05 — 24 pageviews2026-10-08 — 12 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Completion

47
achievements tracked
61.4%
earned "Prologue"
15.4%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsmacOSFull controller supportSingle-playerSteam AchievementsFull controller supportAdjustable Text SizeCamera ComfortCustom Volume ControlsAdjustable DifficultyKeyboard Only OptionMouse Only OptionPlayable without Timed Input3 DLC

1 supported languages: English

Post-launch support: 3 DLC released, first 2023-02-24 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)1,1792%47
Switch (Nintendo)110%0

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

2DSnowStrategySurvivalAdventureNarrativeSimulationStory RichAtmosphericExploration

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Recent updates

Players also track

Star Control®: OriginsSavage LandsSurvivalistOmensight: Definitive EditionForce of NatureGreedFallAncient CitiesDawn of Man

Similarity via IGDB.

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