Blood in the Ice is a dark Arctic survival visual novel set aboard the fictional whaling bark Mercy of Hull in 1859. You play as Dr. Elias Ward, a ship surgeon whose first voyage north turns into a locked-room investigation after a deckhand is found dead in the hold. The captain wants order. The harpooner wants silence. The crew wants warmth, food, and someone to blame before the ice closes for good. Question witnesses, examine evidence, follow hidden cargo marks, and decide how much truth the ship can survive. Every choice shifts the Mercy's condition through Heat, Rations, Trust, Truth, and Guilt. Some decisions preserve evidence. Some preserve lives. Some only preserve the lie long enough to reach morning.