Bellular Studios, a small development company based in Belfast, created the game and was inspired by historical Antarctic expeditions.

[2] The game has time that passes each week, during which the player is responsible for managing a number of resources, including food, fuel, and decorum.

Each week, the player is responsible for deciding requests which can involve settling fights between crew-members or taking sides on arguments.

Among the civilians, the crew includes the expedition's young and intrepid photographer Kasha Bellford, the timid doctor Arthur Nutlee, and the mysterious, aloof kennel master Lady Cordell.

Additionally, the game features sixteen minor characters: sailors, scouts, engineers, and scientists working under the Stoke brothers, Darling, Hammond, and Templeton, respectively.

These characters primarily serve during the resource management portions of the game, though each has a distinct design and personality and plays a role in minor story beats.

[2] However, Hunt remains evasive about the expedition's true goals and its benefactor, and his inattentiveness is evident—at one point, Shaw discovers him drunk in the Captain's quarters.

[2] Hunt goes missing a month after the journey begins once the Temperance gets stranded in Antarctic ice, and as First Mate, the player is put into the role of Captain and must help the vessel survive the polar winter.

Eventually, the crew is forced to abandon the ice altogether, salvaging the Temperance's three remaining lifeboats to sail for a nearby island which was presumably the Viscount's final destination.

[5] Bell founded a YouTube channel called "Bellular Gaming" which began to get a following while Hislop got involved with theater in his spare time.

[6][7] Hislop said in an interview that the lessons from these original games they attempted to develop helped to narrow the scope of what they were going to try to create with The Pale Beyond to something that was within their abilities.

[4] Polygon's Alexis Ong felt that the game maintained a "desolate sort of charm, rough edges and all" but lightly critiqued a fourth wall breaking moment towards the end of The Pale Beyond's plot along with its overall narrative cohesion.