We were able to attend a presentation of Frostpunk 2 and it was a nice surprise. A fundamentally different game or in line with the original? This is what we are going to see.
In 2018, we were surprised to discover a certain Frostpunk. A game players in a post-apocalyptic steampunk universe where the Earth is hit by extreme cold. Players were given the difficult task of managing the last vestiges of human civilization. As the leader of humanity’s last bastion, they had to guide their society through many challenges, where every decision mattered. Having been very well received by both critics and the public, it is ultimately quite natural to see a sequel on the horizon. We were therefore able to attend a thirty-minute presentation to take stock of the new features. Are we in the presence of a real Frostpunk 2 or a version 1.5?
Frostpunk 2 aims to be larger and deeper
Frostpunk 2’s mechanics still rely on careful resource management and strategic decision-making. Players must balance various aspects such as heat, resources, and citizen morale. You are tasked with building and maintaining a city that can withstand extreme cold, while making moral decisions that determine the fate of your community. As in the previous game, heat management remains a crucial aspect, players must ensure that buildings are heated enough to prevent disease and maintain some semblance of life. At the same time, it is vital to manage available resources wisely to ensure the survival of your company. Even more than with the 2018 episode, 11 bit studios wanted to accentuate this impression of the end of the world with all that this implies in terms of difficult moral choices. A crucial area of improvement for developers.
Dramatic consequences in Frostpunk 2
The first big new thing is that Frostpunk 2 is bigger and more expansive. The developers took an ellipse to show us what a city could look like after several hours of play. The result is much more impressive, there is no denying it. Unlike the first game, we really have the impression of now holding the destiny of many “citizens”, or rather survivors, in our hands. But be careful, the bigger the city, the more crime there will be. As is the case with the majority of games of the genre, the larger your management area, the more work you have to accomplish. Events multiply and problems become more common. Inevitably, the more citizens you have, the greater the risk of tragedies (pandemics, murders, disappearances, etc.) increasing.
Although a story mode is still present, the studio has chosen to highlight the “Utopia” mode, which is actually a sandbox game mode. With this mode, you can start a game and manage a city without necessarily following a specific scenario. No surprises there, it was already a major component of the first game. On the story side, this sequel takes place 30 years after what we could call the Great Storm, following the eruption of two supervolcanoes having caused a new ice age. During their presentation, the developers emphasized the importance of choices in Frostpunk 2 during event spawns. The latter are more numerous and can have much more dramatic consequences on your game. They are also darker, crueler and more disturbing.
The search for balance in choices
For example, at the start of the game, the developer faced an event related to wastewater treatment. A city engineer had notably proposed processing them for food production. You are then free to make a decision. Declining and continuing on this unhygienic path can quickly lead to epidemics. Logic. Moreover, later, a child of a worker in the main greenhouse fell seriously ill. As a leader, you have the choice between compensating the family to excuse your bad decisions, or on the contrary, taking a… more autocratic path, thus risking the exasperation of your citizens and a potential revolt.
But as the studio clarified to us, authoritarian decisions are sometimes necessary to avoid losing everything. We must know how to reconcile the need for survival and the happiness of survivors. For example, should children work or, on the contrary, study? If a choice helps boost the economy, in the long term it could have a catastrophic impact on families. In the first episode, some important choices with significant impact required the approval of your citizens. This revolved around a negotiation system that was ultimately quite simplistic, in which it was possible to make a decision without any real negative consequences. Now it seems much more complex to balance the scales. And according to the developers, residents present many requirements.
you are not alone
Afterwards, we spent a good time in the “Council” menu, which is in reality a large assembly where citizens can speak by show of hands to support you, or not, in your decisions. It is also here that laws are passed. It is therefore a sort of fusion between our French National Assembly and a Roman Senate. An excellent way to counterbalance a possible despotic tendency.
The law system, integrated directly into the game’s Council menu, offers extensive customization of your governance, offering various paths that can lead to different outcomes for your city. Everything is closely linked because the Council has its say… The people must therefore be listened to and they can validate or not certain legislative proposals. Going against his advice could be disastrous, although it is always possible. Society expects to be listened to, so you can no longer do what you want as easily as before. That seems like a very good point. Despite everything, there is something gratifying about pushing through a law, especially when it concerns a serious and important subject for the city.
The same vein
From what we’ve been able to observe, Frostpunk 2 remains fundamentally faithful to the original, but introduces many welcome new features. In particular, it appears much richer and nuanced, both in its content and in its approach. The developers wanted to make situations much more difficult to manage. The objective is to avoid a Manichean vision of the issues. It is easy to understand that, in the context of a city facing a glacial apocalypse, humans are not simply divided into “bad” and “good” ones. This sequel seems to seek to highlight all the complexity of human nature. The developers have been able to increase the level of cruelty and violence in the dilemmas proposed, making the gaming experience more intense. And it’s definitely better that way.
WE ARE WAITING FOR IT… WITH GREAT CURIOSITY
Although it is not a revolution compared to the first episode, Frostpunk 2 is nevertheless a nice evolution. It is taking a significant new step, proving more complex to manage in the long term. The events, already at the heart of the gameplay of the first title, prove more difficult to resolve, and overall, we should finally have the impression of managing a real community of survivors to preserve.