Frostpunk 2 Review on PC
As my city of New London burns and the people revolt over years of conflicting policies gone awry, I’m already mulling over how I want to approach my next Frostpunk 2 run.
The last one, probably my 11th or 12th overall, went well until I hit a devastating stretch of cold seasons. Each one tore through my resources in a matter of months, and before long I was faced with day after day of complaints about scarcity and heat problems.
But maybe if I’d researched some different technologies, or rigged a few more council votes so that I didn’t have to pass costly initiatives to save face with certain factions, things would have gone differently. And maybe during my next attempt, I can finally make things work.
Such is the gameplay loop of Frostpunk 2 in a nutshell. While it might be incredibly challenging on its face, the game is host to a wealth of options for how you can approach these challenges and figure out how to overcome them. And honestly, this all makes it a blast to play.
For those not in the loop though, it’s best to give a general overview of the game and its story. Set in an alternate universe where the world was hit with an apocalyptic ice age in the 1800s, you take on the role of the Steward. Put in charge of New London after the death of the city’s former leader, it’s your job to figure out how to help your growing band of survivors thrive in their new world.
What exactly this means is up to you. One can expand across the Frostlands via settlements, stripping the land of all its resources as quickly as possible in order to create an all-powerful empire. Counter to that, one can focus on careful and thoughtful expansion, only taking what is needed so that the good of all can be ensured throughout the years.
It’s up to you, and while certain factors can emerge and force your hand in certain situations, it’s never impossible to work around them in order to build up the city your way. I was honestly shocked at how many scenarios 11 Bit Studios included where I could work out different approaches to story problems; and by how often I was rewarded with different outcomes that would have been impossible otherwise.
Granted, there are limits to this. The story mode is more about placing you in specific situations, and you’re mainly tasked with responding to them in a set number of ways before you can get back to expanding or evolving as you see fit. The Utopia Builder, meanwhile, is more in line with a free play mode, and allows you to build your city and react to more random scenarios in whatever ways you’ve opened up for yourself.
Regardless of how you choose to play though, the gameplay of Frostpunk 2 functions largely the same way. It’s a city builder at its core, and the majority of the gameplay loop revolves around juggling a few select tasks at any given moment.
On one hand, you need to consider the needs of your populace and address them accordingly. This means building enough housing and food production areas to keep them sheltered and fed accordingly, while also crafting and expanding extraction points for oil and general materials to fuel heat generators, build general goods for people to use, and so on and so forth.
Failure to do so can lead to factors like Disease and Cold which make the game harder, so it’s vital to stay on top of these elements at all times. Even then though, there will be situations where you must choose between solving one problem and letting another fester, with the consequences of your choices becoming apparent later.
On the other are the exploration elements. While you can only break ice and expand your buildable area at first, the option to explore the wider Frostlands and establish colonies becomes available later on. Doing so greatly expands the potential resources you can make use of and cuts down on the stresses caused by overpopulation.
In exchange though, you’ll have to juggle the needs of multiple cities, which can be pretty intense when the game throws new problems at you via environmental hazards like cold seasons or depleted resources.
And this is before you account for the game’s factions. As your populace grows, different groups will emerge with ideas and technologies to research, agendas they want to push via laws you vote on, and more. Supporting one over the others leads your city toward a variety of different paths, but can cause tensions to rise in the city; which in turn can cause issues that either lead to your metropolis’ collapse or a less than ideal ruling situation for you and your people.
If that sounds like a lot, rest assured that it is. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that all of it overwhelmed me at first, and it took about a dozen hours before I even felt like I had a grasp on the game’s basics. It also didn’t help that the game’s tutorials, while helpful for explaining the general concepts, weren’t great about showing me how to build certain structures or carry out certain actions. It made the learning process a real chore, and I wouldn’t blame anyone for being turned off by this steep barrier of entry.
Once everything clicked though, every part of the game did feel necessary and worthwhile. Each mechanic helped me move toward my goals, and none ever felt unnecessary or like they didn’t serve the larger gameplay loop.
There are also plenty of other elements to entice people to stick with Frostpunk 2 as well. The visuals are excellent, and really draw you into the experience whether you’re watching a dire vote take place among the populace or looking on as your cities hustle and bustle along. Granted, it sticks very aggressively to its aesthetic of a world coated in ice and snow, but it’s still gorgeous enough that you shouldn’t lose interest in what the game shows at any point.
Audio-wise, the game is even more exceptional. The voice acting and vocal clips for the factions are incredibly well done, and almost every line expertly sells every emotion the people wish for you to hear. The wider sound design elevates the atmosphere perfectly with the pumping and whirring of machinery alongside the frigid gusts of wind from the icy outside world.
While it might not be the most approachable city builder in the world, Frostpunk 2 is still an exemplary entry in the genre. Its challenge leads to some really rewarding moments of triumph, and the sheer number of options for how you can help your band of survivors thrive is a great selling point for anyone who wants their day to day decisions to matter. I’ll be braving the icy wastes of this game for months and years to come, and I doubt I’ll be the only one.
- Impressive amount of choice
- High difficulty makes successes feel earned
- Great sound design and visuals
- Mechanics aren't always explained well
- Steep barrier of entry
Published: Sep 17, 2024 01:00 pm