Have you ever wanted to be a leader? In charge of thousands as they struggle to survive a bleak, brutal and cold world? Have you ever wanted to make the tough choices like deciding whether to let the few die while the many survive? Well, Frostpunk 2 is for you. This city-building survival game by 11 Bit Studios has finally come to consoles. Survival is all that matters in the world of Frostpunk 2 and players are in for a tough time. As they say in Game of Thrones, ”Winter is Coming” and Frostpunk 2 is no joke. Let us break the ice and dive in. This is Frostpunk 2.
A Cold, Cold World
Frostpunk 2 is set in a alternate world in 1916 where the world has experienced a world-ending event. The entire world is covered in ice and snow and freezing temperatures have wiped out most of humanity. Civilization has collapsed, the biggest being the British Empire. Many that survived this brutal world have gathered together to try and rebuild what is left against the overwhelming cold. Players assume the role of ‘Steward’, the leader of New London as they attempt to bring order to the chaos.
A Challenging Time
Players are in charge of New London and keep the residents happy and safe after the death of ‘The Captain’, the beloved leader before them. The plot of Frostpunk 2 is relatively simple. Keep control of New London and complete mission objectives to advance to the next chapter. There are five chapters in Frostpunk 2 and they vary in length. Some of the chapters can take a few hours to complete. Chapter One took me 4 attempts and about 3 to 4 hours to complete. I am new to the Frostpunk series and the game is challenging so there is plenty to overcome here especially for newcomers.
‘The Steward’ must remain in charge of New London and complete the main objectives in order to advance to the next chapter. Sounds easy, right? Well, no. Players must keep track of many things like food, overpopulation, and most importantly, fuel for the generator that sits in the center of the city. If you don’t keep the population happy or complete the main objectives in time, the population will get sick of you and exile you out into the unforgiving cold world where you will succumb to the harsh environments. There is a lot to Frostpunk 2 with its gameplay. This is a complex city-builder that does not forgive the weak.
Survival Of The Fittest
There are many areas players need to keep track of if they want to succeed in Frostpunk 2. The main ones are food, fuel, materials and money, which in this universe are called heatstamps. Materials and heatstamps help build districts like houses which are needed to house the growing population. Other districts include extraction districts which extract materials and fuel. In order to put down districts, players must first frostbreak their way to though ice in order to access coal seams or abandoned ruin tiles on the map.
While frostbreaking makes sense in the world we are in, it can become tedious after a while and basically serves a way to waste your time. Don’t be mistaken, every minute counts in Frostpunk 2. You will spend quite some time frostbreaking as you progress through the game. Best to get it out of the way when starting a chapter. Once you gain access to these tiles you can do put the appropriate district. Extraction districts extract fuel and materials while food districts extract food from fertile soil tiles.
Fuel that is extracted is put towards the generator which gives heat to the other districts. You are in charge of distributing heat. You can heat every district from houses to the extraction districts. Remember, fuel is scarce at times and you can’t make every district warm. There are different depending on how much heat is in the district and how close you build them to the generator. If they are close the generator they are slightly warmer in temperature. Districts can go from very cold to chilly, to livable and to warm.
This keeps the population happy if you can maintain it. You can keep track of your materials and food at the top of the screen. If you have enough in your storage it will come up as a plus. If you don’t it will be a negative. Keeping track of your resources is important as it can change rather quickly. You can also force your workforce in the districts to work overtime to extract more materials but this can damage trust with your communities. And this is where Frostpunk 2 shines in my opinion.
Can You Play The Game Of Thrones?
Frostpunk 2 has a trust system which keeps track of the multiple factions in New London and what they think of your leadership. Some of the factions are big and some are small and the biggest are usually the ones you want in your corner. There is a politics like system present here and you can even pass votes if you can keep many on your side. Players can research ideas like new coal mines that can produce more coal for fuel. The factions have their own ideas and you can decide which coal mine to use like a blast coal mine which The New Londoner faction approves. Researching this idea can help build trust with them. You can then bring other ideas to the Council Hall like what to do about youth crime in the city.
Want to pass a law to force young people into apprenticeships or prioritize schools and education. Well, you need to negotiate with the other factions. Some like the Faithkeepers may not be open to negotiations as some laws are against their worldview. But ones that are open will support you, if you return the favor. These favors include researching ideas for buildings that they believe will best help the city. If you make these promises you have a certain amount of time to fulfill those promises.
If you fail, the faction will lose trust in you. Succeed, and you will gain trust which will buy you more time in the throne. A nice little political system that makes you feel like you are in the Game of Thrones universe. Do you lie and backstab some factions to please others? Be ready to face the consequences. Frostpunk 2 has many of these types of choices that affect the future of your story. The prologue makes this especially clear.
Do you allow the elders of your group to leave and die out in the cold so the young have enough food for the incoming whiteout? Do you use explosives for a mine for small amounts of coal or send in the children to work in the mines for more, even if it means their doom? These are the types of choices you will make. Will you be a cruel dictator or a fair and just leader? It is up to you. I also want to mention the soundtrack, which was composed by Piotr Musial. It is brilliant and perfectly captures the atmosphere of Frostpunk 2.
Utopia Builder
After playing the campaign, there is a Utopia Builder mode you can dive into. It is basically a sandbox mode where you can make your own rules. You pick a map to start on and they have pros and cons. Some have areas that can be easily accessed for materials and others have difficult terrain or other obstacles. You can play on any difficult and choose your ambitions or custom challenges.
These ambitions can be having a significant population in the frostland or building a prosperous future by having massive stockpiles of food and materials. Players can also play with no ambition, and just have fun. What factions are featured can also be chosen as well as some tales like surviving a catastrophic whiteout. If you fail them however, the game ends. A fun game mode that is best played if you finished the campaign or a have a few hours played and understand the basics. There is a lot of replay value in Frostpunk 2 that will convince you to come back.
Verdict
Frostpunk 2 is a brilliant city-builder game. It is difficult but very rewarding to those who stick with it and learn from their mistakes. I am a newcomer to the series and I love it. While I struggled at times (took me 3 attempts to pass the prologue) I persevered and kept coming back. There is a steep learning curve here but it is worth getting through it. Veterans of these games will love the survival aspect of the game and building massive cities and challenging themselves in the Utopia Builder. Lots of freedom of choice present and you can play whatever way you want. Dictator or fair leader? Good or evil? Maybe in the middle? Up to you. Lots of replay value. An excellent game that is worth checking out for PS5 players.
