The harshest pressures forge the strongest diamonds is a great concept. Up until those pressures are being applied to 8,000 people in the cold frigid remnants of a world that came before. Diamonds don’t need to worry about food, heat, shelter. Education. Unions. Not to mention other factions of diamonds vying for power and control. The cogs that stop this machine from freezing up have many teeth that need maintaining, and even neglecting one of them could spell disaster for this… Is Frostpunk 2
Review Key Provided to Us. The sequel to 2018s hit survival city builder game Frostpunk is here. Frostpunk 2 sticks with a sensible naming structure to let fans know exactly what they’re in for. More suffering… More… Hard… Choices… There’s a strong theme running through the game, not only in regards to the story and thematic elements but also when you turn that lens upon the design aspects of the game. Set thirty years after the previous game Frostpunk 2 takes everything you learnt from your previous struggles, respects them and the hardships that you’ve been through and then makes you suffer even more. There’s common elements here that you’ll have to deal with that you’ll have dealt with before, but if this is your first time jumping in to a Frostpunk game that’s fine too. The game does a great job introducing elements to you.
But Dave I hear you cry. We solved all our struggles in the previous game. Our people had heat, food, TMZ. We solved all the issues you could think of. Frostpunk 2 is considerate in its suffering. It gave you 30 years of relative peace and warmth before things fell apart. New London, a name familiar with those holding Frostpunk 1 knowledge under their belts has started to fall. The Captain has passed, in his final years factions rose and caused things to get worse rather than better as they vied for power thinking they knew best. That’s where the campaign for Frostpunk 2 picks up. Can you right this ship, save the once great city from falling to the frost?
There is a sandbox mode as well, a ’Utopia Builder’ as its dubbed if you just want a more free form experience, bespoke misery, modifying and tweaking the settings of your suffering to your own desires. It’s advised that you play through the campaign first though so you understand the core of what’s going on in Frostpunk 2. As there’s a lot more that goes in to powering the generator this time around. Frostpunk 2 adds a lot of moving parts for you to have to balance. With coal resources dwindling a new fuel source must be found to keep the city from freezing over. This involves spreading your proverbial wings and exploring the surrounding areas to a greater degree. The Frostlands as it’s called is a sprawling map beyond the warmth of your walls. Send out scout teams, encounter multiple choice situations and make the tough choices. What’s the life of 5 scouts when it means the thousands at home stay warm. The Frostlands holds more potential though, as you explore and set up settlements depending on choices you make these could be temporary footholds for resources to be sent home, or they could become their own permanent settlements that require management of their own.
Back home though things aren’t simple A or B choices like they used to be. Gone too is the beautifully stylish circular nature of the original game. The circular core still exists as a monument to those that came before. But now you’re working with hex grids. Laying down extraction facilities or housing units across a hex map filled with resources for you to squirrel away during a harsh winter with no end. The city aspects have been expanded on in every meaningful way as well. Multiple factions vie for power and presence and hold your success in their hands. No longer are the hard choices made by just one voice. New London now votes on important decisions that impact them. Some of these choices are available from the start, others unlock after certain moments or events.
During one of my playthroughs I was warned that children were becoming restless as they had nothing to do. I chose to ignore this situation as there were more important issues I needed to focus on. This of course was a foolish idea as the next thing I know I was being informed that, two groups of kids had a knife fight brawl and 5 people ended up dead. I should have acted quicker there was blood on my hands and it was now my choice. Do I push for mandatory schooling, or instead opt for children to accompany their parents to work. Each of these choices came with their own benefits and downsides making it a tough decision that I had to weigh… Who am I kidding, TO THE MINES WITH YOU TOMMY. Eventually. See to enact such a law I needed to take it to City Hall and get it voted on. Like a Disgaea mini game laws have to be voted on before they can. Be enacted which means you need to bring them before the council and reach a majority vote. That is unless you’ve decided you want to be a… Different kind of leader.
So you’ve decided kids are going to work, you’ve taken it to the council, but now what. Every law being brought in needs a 51 majority to pass, and you might now always have that outright which means you need to curry favour with the factions in New London. Factions will have their own goals and ambitions, which ones occupy your city and how much power they hold will vary based on the choices you make. You can negotiate with them to support your bill but of course you have to offer something in exchange, which means giving them what they want and strengthening their cause. Do you research a technology they want. Decry their rival. The choice is yours.
Which is exactly what you want from Frostpunk 2. Choice. Some are more cut and dry than others, but the core of them are still that grey balancing act. Do you increase warmth at the cost of sickness or squalor. Do you risk giving the religious fanatics more power because you want to build the technology they suggest. You sent the kids to the mines but a worker has advised they should be able to pick who they go work with, do you agree? This isn‘t a simple river with a fork, there’s no A/B choice here there’s a sprawling map of red lines crisscrossing and all of them require your attention while resources dwindle, while life gets colder. While people get more desperate.
That was a core factor in my playthroughs, desperation. No matter how well the foundations at the start, no matter how well I prepared and planned, over time desperation crept in. Sacrifices had to be made. A plan will only get you so far, strong ideals and focus will buckle and bend. Do you do what’s right or what’s necessary. These ideas aren’t new if you’ve played the previous game, but they are ramped up. I don’t remember ever struggling too much with the original. I’m no ashamed to say Frostpunk.2 humbled me on several occasions. The difficulty never felt unfair or unbeatable but it felt cruel and punishing, it felt oppressive and unforgiving. It felt like it had been tuned to weigh me and see how I was judged.
That’s the fantastic thing about Frostpunk 2, you can settle down and lose yourself for hours just like you want in a city builder, you can see hope on the horizon you can pivot and adapt to the cold, making changes to keep your overall city alive. The old adage of ”we survived but at what cost” rings true. Especially when you’ll have to deal with the consequences of your actions from the previous hours. Occasionally minor bugs will jump up in the UI making navigating those choices a little harder, but nothing that was game breaking or overly confusing. The extra time they took to get this game ready shows.
Frostpunk 2 improves on the original in every brutal way. The difficulty curve here is harsh and unforgiving but it never feels unfair, it applies pressure, it tests you. I could sit for hours and talk about all the little moments or stories that crept up on my multiple failed and successful playthroughs but I want you to discover those moments, those diverging paths for yourself. 11 Bit Studios excels at creating games with not only depth and meaning, but that ring true as personal. Games sculpted for each individual to have their own enjoyment, and their own moments that stick with them. Yes their games are bleak and miserable at times, it never gets easier watching your cities fall not only under oppressive weather conditions but also under the pressures of politics. But there’s an addictive quality to it, one that you keep coming back to. Striving to survive and see how you handle those choices, to see if you can seek out a better life for those involved. ‘Beating the game’ being a multilayered phrase. This War of Mine had it. Frostpunk had it. Frostpunk 2 has it, and I’m sure their upcoming The Alters will also have to.
On the subject of choice, one final comment I will make, is that Frostpunk 2 is the latest game jumping on the ‘Early Access’ trend of giving players who bump up to the deluxe edition 72hrs early access to the game. It’s not something I agree with in multiplayer games where that window gives a progression ‘head start’ and being honest it feels needless in a single player game where you’re just trying to up-sell those deluxe editions either intentionally or unintentionally by creating FoMo. If others are playing it early and you’re not, that temptation to open your wallet can be overwhelming. I advise you, just like in this game, to hold firm to your beliefs, as it’s a false idea that shouldn’t be rewarded.
From the warm fires of the generator, to the cold expanse of the Frostlands. Frostpunk 2 kept me hooked, firmly grasped with the concept of just 5 more minutes as I panicked to keep every plate I put in to the air spinning. False promises of research of laws in the future to get the fires of today out to just get one more day of warmth for the people. It’s a successful sequel that as mentioned expands in meaningful ways, making the choices feel more impactful than the previous entry, with new systems and new mechanics at play, if you’re a city builder fan, this is one that will keep you warm, while you try to keep everyone else, from becoming popsicles.
