I’m someone who enjoys getting to relax in video games. Sure some tense moments to heighten the story or when facing a tough obstacle are welcome but for the most part. Frostpunk 2, however, is not one of those games, and as I sat down to play the story mode last week I wasn’t sure what I was in for.
Starting off with a tutorial, players are given access to a small valley complete with some resource plots, plenty of snow and ice, and a crashed train capable of generating heat. Breaking ice I gathered oil and set up a camp turning on the engine.
One of the first things your population discovers during the tutorial is The Captain’s Legacy, a tool that allows you to decide how The Captain, the playable character from the first Frostpunk title led their city. While you can’t transfer over any previously saved data this is a nice way to get some kinda of running start.
Scale Like None Before
Creating districts and harvesting food the increased scale of Frostpunk 2 is immediately noticeable. No longer are you dealing with your population on the individual levels or making single structures, but working with hundreds of people at a time and creating districts.
Knowing that they were still ‘people’ that I needed to be harvesting food or collecting oil it still did make the situation feel less tense knowing that I was a few hundred shy and not just two or three.
Decision-making immediately presents itself as you need to obtain 40k food with a set time limit or you’re not even able to make it through the tutorial. I heard from others that they’d had to repeat the tutorial a few times to make sure they met the limit, I had an event occur where the elderly volunteered to leave and head out into the ice dropping my requirement to 25k.
With a heavy weight on my consciousness and a lot of extra food, I was able to progress.
In the main campaign of Frostpunk 2, you play as the Stewart, after the death of the Captain, the fate of New England is now on your shoulders. You begin with a sizable city but are immediately informed that coal is running out and it’s a race to establish more resources.
Balancing Spinning Plates
Playing Frostpunk 2 you’ll be balancing a lot of the same resources that were important in the original. Do you have shelter to house your population, food to feed them, and fuel to keep them warm? And do you have a large enough population to continue to produce at that level?
Frostpunk 2 does an amazing job of always making you feel like you are so close to balancing your resources but you’re just not there.
On my first playthrough of the first chapter, I was woefully unprepared. Every time I felt I’d have one resource managed I’d realize I was running out of food elsewhere, or that colder weather was on the way and I just didn’t have the coal to keep the people warm.
After struggling and failing to complete the first chapter I’d restart, knowing where the best resources were and what my later goals were to start moving towards them and I still had an incredibly difficult time.
What Kind Of Leader Will You Become?
Social events and making laws is a very different experience in Frostpunk 2. As factions have ideas in New London you’ll end up having to vote for bills.
Taking place in the city council you can put forward a law that you’re a fan of but you may not have the public perception on your side. This creates a new layer of politics on top of what is already a challenging situation.
You can appease one side for votes, by telling them you’ll pass a different law they’re interested in or promising them that you’ll fund one of their projects.
Frostpunk 2 does an excellent job of helping you keep track of all of these promises too. Every subsequent time you bring up that faction’s information or go to vote on a new law you’ll see icons indicating which you’ve said you’ll assist with.
These kinds of decisions start to steadily become more and more complicated as different factions begin to arise from within your city. While I hadn’t managed to make enemies out of the current factions the new one seemed to run opposite to the one I had previously been siding with.
So Many Things To Keep An Eye On
By the time I had reached my third attempt at the start of the game I understood where everything was, what I needed to keep an eye on, and what all of the icons scattered across my screen were for, it’s a lot though.
Frostpunk 2 is not the kind of game to hold your hand, as evident by a tutorial that you could very easily fail if you weren’t giving it your all.
I personally found this ‘trial-by-fire’ approach to teaching a player the ropes a bit daunting. A new player coming into this experience is going to fail, there’s not really any way around that, but it’s the players that will persist that will get the most satisfaction out of the game.
Knowing which laws to pass early, what resources will be the best to come by in larger quantities, and above all knowing which objectives would be coming next were the only ways I was able to reach the end of the demo period and reach Chapter 2.
Where I left the demo was just after establishing a new settlement, obtaining some oil, and sending it back to New England. Not only will players need to balance resources and keep a stable population in New England, but you’ll now be setting up new settlements all over the winter hellscape and balancing resources between them. For a new player, this is definitely a daunting idea but for those who just want more Frostpunk you’ll have a good time.
Did I Enjoy Frostpunk 2?
I honestly wasn’t sure how I would feel about Frostpunk 2 after spending some time with Frostpunk and being discouraged by it.
Being in a situation where I sat down to play for multiple hours, retry, and even see how my peers were handling different situations did help me with a major breakthrough. Is it the kind of game I normally find myself enjoying? Not really, but completing the first chapter with the city in a positive state, there being plenty of new fuel found, and a happy population I felt an incredible amount of pride in my ability.
If you’re a fan of the original I don’t see how Frostpunk 2 might keep you interested, but if you’ve already attempted to play the first and it never clicked with you then you likely won’t get too much of a different experience with the sequel.
TechRaptor was invited to preview Frostpunk 2 as part of an event by the publisher where travel, food, and accommodation were provided. All screenshots have been sourced from b-roll or screenshots provided by the publisher.
