These Cold Mountains is a historical rpg about dying in the mountains in 1915.
The PDF is 11 pages, with a very well organized and information rich layout. Honestly, it feels like a textbook, but in a good way. The color palette is consistent, the art includes a lot of photographs from the period, there's a detailed map, and nothing feels too small or visually crowded.
Lore-wise, you play as former Austro-Hungarian soldiers, part of a failed assault through the Carpathians, now fleeing the Russians you were meant to fight.
Gameplay-wise, Cold Mountains does a lot to emphasize the various brutal aspects of the situation. Yes, it's cold. Yes, there's wolves. But also you probably don't speak the same language as the other members of your unit.
The basic check in the system is 2d6+Skill, succeeding if you hit 7+. You'll usually have a +1 or +2 in your Skill if you spread your build points thinly, so this means 65% chance of success under optimal conditions, and the GM is free to add modifiers if they wish to.
Combat works the same way as basic skill checks, but the damage system underneath it is more complex. You have four HP tracks (wounds, starvation, frostbite, and terror,) and if they ever sum to 10 you die. You can also die earlier at different points on different tracks, such as if you ever take a third wound. And on top of that, taking damage removes points from your Skills---in most cases, permanently.
The game does come with some GM advice, but the GM should probably also read through the wiki article on the winter war if they're not already very familiar with it. The GM will also have to implement their own specific scenario for the game, as the book gives an overview of the situation and how to play, but doesn't provide specific encounters.
Overall, for folks who like historical, survival, and military ttrpgs, this is a must buy. You'll need to do a little heavy lifting with the scenario, but the mechanics are meaningful, extremely easy to pick up, and do a good job of modeling the relentlessness of the situation.
Minor Issues:
-Page 5, Starvation references suffering a "level of fatigue," but I couldn't find the mechanics for this anywhere.