The 2018 release of Frostpunk put a unique twist on the city builder genre, putting you in control of a group of people trying to survive the new Ice Age. Players take on the role of the Captain as they build their small colony of workers into a thriving city in the post-apocalypse. Along the way, players had to make difficult decisions, such as restricting food, enforcing strict authoritarian laws, putting children to work, or worse. Frostpunk 2 picks up the story 30 years later and in the process seeks to improve almost every aspect of the well-loved simulator.
Three decades have passed since the events of Frostpunk. The group has been wandering the frozen desert for years, but faced with another white light, they return to the old machine, hoping to use its warmth to survive. This is where my gaming session begins. The old dreadnought is in pieces under the ice, so I have my work cut out for me in the weeks leading up to the white-out. First I have to break through the ice to get to an oil tank car, build an extraction zone to extract its oil, and then use it to light the furnace.
Frostpunk 2’s city operates from production—the resources you produce from areas, buildings, and workers—and from demand—the food, shelter, goods, materials, and warmth your people need. To satisfy the need for shelter and warmth, I build residential quarters next to the furnace. Then I break a frost on an area of fertile soil and grow food on the spots. We’re going to need a lot of food to survive the white, so I’m building a food storage facility.
Unfortunately, 6 of my 1,350 people are getting sick and unable to work, which is hampering our ability to produce food. Diseases rise and fall based on factors such as food supply, warmth, and availability of shelter. People can also injure themselves, further preventing them from working. Still, at this point, there’s nothing to worry about as I still have most of my population up and running. As the weeks wore on, it didn’t look like I was going to make it to my goal, so Finan, a 42-year-old gardener in my group, spoke up, suggesting we work emergency shifts or tighten our belts by limiting rations to catch up to our forecast.
I don’t want to restrict rations yet, but I do allow extra shifts. However, the furnace struggles and I begin to run out of oil, resulting in 30 of my men freezing to death. Morale and confidence in my leadership is falling. I start working on extracting another oil tank, but it’s becoming increasingly obvious that I won’t stockpile enough food in time, so I’m finally limiting the rations. I’m also behind on building materials, so I start working to retrieve building materials from under the ice, but I run into a problem: I don’t have enough workers.
This constant dance of prioritizing and keeping multiple plates spinning is where Frostpunk and, by extension, Frostpunk 2 really shine. The feeling of sand slipping through your fingers, not knowing if you should loosen or tighten your grip, but knowing you have to make a decision quickly or lose it all. That’s what Frostpunk and its sequel deliver in spades.
Here’s how I know things are getting dire: Another citizen approaches me—a 62-year-old seamstress—and suggests that the senior citizens sacrifice themselves so that the youth of the group can live on. I hope it doesn’t come to that, but luckily I have a few more tricks up my sleeve. I build additional food areas and warehouses and immediately order emergency shifts. He’s about to come down the wire and I can feel the tension in my body rising.
Then comes the moment: the decision point. The group is worried that we won’t have enough food to survive the coming storm, so they present two options: We can let our seniors leave the group and go out into the desert, reducing the number of mouths to feed without sacrificing our workforce or the future of our city or we can slaughter a seal colony nearby. I don’t want to do either, so I keep going down the same path, just crossing my fingers that I’m doing the right thing. That might as well be Frostpunk 2’s mantra: hope you’re doing the right thing.
Disease is spreading, limiting the workforce, and white is approaching. In less than a week, we’ve reached our food goal, but at what cost? Confidence has plummeted and sickness is rampant after months of overtime. This tense stretch was nothing more than a tutorial, but it aptly captures the essence of Frostpunk 2.
I am then taken to Frostpunk 2’s main setting, New London. The old captain is dead and the city is weak. Overpopulation is growing, food is scarce and coal is running out. You take on the role of the steward responsible for returning New London to prosperity. Thankfully, this first year has been warmer than expected (but this is Frostpunk, so it’s still an icy mess). I have to use it to get the city back on track.
As the Captain weakened, the city became increasingly divided, causing maintenance to cease. I have work to do. With a city population of more than 4,200 people, I work to address basic needs such as food, shelter and warmth. Three factions emerged in New London, each with their own agendas, desires, and projects. Among them is The Stalwarts, a band that led to a binary choice I made during the lesson. Membership in these groups will vary, and you must balance your allegiance to them by playing the game of politics while working to improve everyday life.
This is true. It’s not just about building a city and assigning workers: Frostpunk 2 requires you to secure enough votes to not only stay in power, but to pass the laws you propose using the game’s complex system. For example, at one point I’m low on money, so I propose an economy law where citizens have to volunteer their free time unless they buy an exemption, which raises funds for the city, allowing me to fund more projects. It’s not the most popular option, but I got enough support to push it. If your predictions seem less confident before the vote, you can try to negotiate with the various groups in New London to try to convince them to vote for your proposal.
City planners can be extremely hit or miss for me, but when they hit, they hit hard. With so many systems stacked on top of each other, including what seems like an incredible system of laws, Frostpunk 2 not only makes me circle July 25th on my calendar, but also makes me eagerly download the original Frostpunk again to satisfy the little taste my hands-on session gave me. Frostpunk 2 arrives for PC on July 25, then PS5 and Xbox Series X/S at a later date.
