When Frostpunk 2 was announced, gamers’ expectations were quite high. All because it’s a sequel to one of the most beloved games of recent years. The original Frostpunk was released in 2018 by Polish studio 11 Bit Studios. It shocked me and many others by becoming one of the best games in this genre. The familiar mechanics of the city-building simulator were mixed with rough survival elements and uncomfortable moral choices.
This game is set in a world where a harsh winter a.k.a. the Great Frost forces humanity to build cities around massive heat generators to survive. Back then, if you were immersed too deeply into the game’s narrative, it wasn’t just a survival game anymore, it was a traumatizing experience that forced you to confront the moral choices you made. So, is Frostpunk 2 as good and morally traumatizing as its predecessor? Read on to find out what I thought!
[Note: While I am reviewing this game independently and honestly, it should be noted that 11 Bit Studios has provided it to me for this review. Warning: Light spoilers from Frostpunk 2 are below!]
Morality and the story of Frostpunk 2
Before we get into the general aspects of Frostpunk 2, I have some important questions for you. Would you sacrifice who you care most about only to keep your city running, or would you risk losing precious resources and possibly more human lives? Would you turn your society toward dangerous beliefs or strict authoritarianism? These are some of the dilemmas that await you in this game.
Frostpunk is known for putting players in front of impossible choices. That’s one of the elements of the game that players were most excited about in the first game. With the announcement of Frostpunk 2, players hoped for an evolution of this system to see, if it could be improved even more. Sequels always have big shoes to fill, and with Frostpunk 2, fans were eager to see how 11 Bit Studios would build another game that would tell another story set in this desolated, heartbreaking world they created.
Frostpunk 2 takes place around 30 years after the first game. The world is still recovering from the consequences of the apocalyptic climate catastrophe. It remains cold and harsh, but humanity has slightly learned to adapt to the extreme conditions. What is important, is the discovery of oil as a new power source, which is now central to the story. In the first game, a form of generating power and heat was coal. Now it is being replaced with oil.
The introduction of oil to this story is important because it has created political and community divisions. People are no longer united by their desperate need to be warm and to survive. Humanity is now split in half. One-half of the people wish to pursue industrial growth through oil and development. The other half is far more conservative and opposes this new technology for ideological or environmental reasons, and wants to survive but not like that.
This conflict becomes the core of the story of Frostpunk 2. Because people are so divided, a councilman gets murdered. Our task is to either save the city or lead it to chaos which will consume it. It’s also a fantastic motive for the story because you never know how it will end. Your choices are not always obvious, and this is something that I craved the most from this game. A feeling of not always being sure or making your decisions based solely on your hunch is something I wanted to experience the most.
Gameplay & mechanics are familiar but improved in this game sequel
Frostpunk 2 builds upon the foundation of mechanics introduced in the first game. It offers a mix of city-building, survival, and decision-making mechanics. However when you compare those two games, some significant expansions and improvements make this game even better. The main goal is similar, to manage a city and its inhabitants who struggle to survive.
A key challenge in the game remains the same: to keep people warm and alive, as the world continues to suffer from freezing temperatures. However, bringing oil as a source of “power” creates new strategies to manage resources. While coal was the most important and essential resource of the first game, oil offers a much more powerful energy source that comes with risks. They are most similar to the ones in the real world, oil spills, pollution, and more. Our job is to balance the usage of oil with potential environmental and political risks. We’re not playing as just a leader who is making decisions for other people’s survival, but a ruler who balances the development and future of your city with the constant pressures from multiple factions, each with their agendas and ideologies.
The survival elements in the game will punish you for wrong decisions even more than before. There’s still not much food, the cold is relentless, and citizens are constantly on the verge of life and death. Managing the city’s resources is hard, especially when one wrong move can lead to widespread starvation, disease, or even rebellion.
One of the most exciting additions is the increased focus on exploration and diplomacy. In Frostpunk, you sent scouts to uncover the world’s remaining resources, but Frostpunk 2 takes this to another level. You now interact with neighboring settlements and factions, making alliances, trading resources, and even engaging in conflicts. This is something that I wanted to see. This addition alone introduces new geopolitical elements that open countless possibilities that will either help you or doom you.
The mechanics of Frostpunk 2 will feel familiar to players who checked out the original game. The core of the city-building system remains difficult yet rewarding in the end. You must carefully balance the needs of your citizens with the resources available. You must also ensure that your city remains operational no matter what. Focusing on evolving and further developing your oil industry to power larger cities and more complex infrastructure should be one of your priorities, at least in the beginning. Later, you have to find a way and balance between the needs of your citizens as well as how to keep them alive.
Of course, moral dilemmas are still the front and center of Frostpunk 2, and they continue the tradition of presenting players with difficult choices that don’t have obvious right or wrong answers. You may be forced to make decisions that you think will benefit the city but in the long term, they will have devastating consequences or vice versa. The consequences of your choices very often become visible much later, and you have to live with them.
In terms of technical performance, I don’t have anything negative to say about Frostpunk 2. All the time I’ve played in it, it showed a noticeable improvement over the original. The user interface is less detailed, making resource management and city planning less tiresome and frustrating. It works well, especially in the late game, when cities become larger and more complex, and you have to somehow keep them working. What I love about it is the world, which feels more alive even despite its post-apocalyptic setting.
Final thoughts on Frostpunk 2 from 11 Bit Studios
I didn’t expect Frostpunk 2 to be an amazing sequel, but it is. It successfully builds on the foundations laid by its predecessor while introducing new and exciting elements that push the boundaries of the genre. City-builders are not my favorite genre, but Frostpunk and Frostpunk 2 did their job so well, that they made me more than interested in exploring it more.
While the game very often remains difficult, the challenge is part of what makes Frostpunk 2 so satisfying. It is a game that forces you to think carefully about every decision and think about the potential outcome. For fans of the original Frostpunk, this sequel will feel like a welcome expansion of the world they already love. For new players, Frostpunk 2 will offer a deep, challenging, and emotional experience that will introduce them to the genre and not bore or frustrate them.
It is not just a game about building cities or surviving in harsh conditions. It’s a game about humanity’s ability to endure, adapt, and, ultimately, decide what kind of future they want to build.
Frostpunk 2 is now available to play on Xbox Series S/X, PlayStation 5, MacOS, PC, and PlayStation 5. Are you excited? Did you play in it? Let us know on social media @mycosmiccirus or in our Discord server!
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