Penguin Heist lets players witness an At the Mountains of Madness-style event from a penguin's perspective. Despite obvious issues with its platforming, the limited and clumsy physicality enhances the sense of insignificance felt by a non-human observer, making its cosmic horror themes more pronounced.
Players can honk, slide, swim, and jump, as well as possess different penguins encountered along the way, leveraging each species' abilities to overcome movement challenges. Chicks can squeeze through narrow spaces, while Rockhopper Penguins use their superior vertical jumping ability to explore higher areas.
The platforming mechanics aren't always satisfying. Penguin movement is sluggish, edge-climbing detection is inconsistent, and the circular stamina meter—reminiscent of Shadow of the Colossus—is overly large and visually jarring, with an unclear relationship between stamina consumption and player actions. However, this sense of restricted movement serves the narrative, allowing players to only catch glimpses of the conflict between humans and unknown entities from the periphery.
Lenval Brown voices the new character Howard Blakely, delivering a performance reminiscent of his work in Disco Elysium. Short vignettes featuring Māori warrior squads are interspersed between levels, expanding the mystery through coded messages, alien megastructures beneath the ice, and indirect storytelling. The review concludes that, despite its rough edges, the game reinterprets Lovecraftian traditions with tight, multi-layered interactive narrative and explicitly counters their racist legacy.