FROSTPUNK Review for PC

If you thought that surviving the winter in This War of Mine was tough, you should check out the challenges that lie in store for you in this cruel city simulator. Frostpunk, by 11 bit Studios, is like a crossover between the Anno series and This War of Mine. The survival element now extends to a couple hundred people instead of three to four unfortunate souls. The economic costs behind all your decisions may cost you dearly. There are always problems, and the game can be quite the challenge.

There is not too much in the way of plot. An ice age appears without warning and envelops the world in a sheet of ice. You control an expedition of Victorian Era dwellers, who find refuge in a crater, where an Engine heats the ground around them. The goal is not to die. Simply gathering the required resources can become burdensome, in that people may become crippled by the ever-worsening frost. Your expedition was scattered by a blizzard, and one of the questlines includes finding everyone who strayed from the caravan’s path.

Frostpunki is hardcore on economics. Way more than any Tropico game can muster. You have to consider how much coal you have at all times, but there are other resources that require constant monitoring. As your population grows, you will need more food, more housing, more healthcare. To relieve some of the burden, you can institute laws that will forever alter your game experience. Will you force children to work? Will you honor the people who will inevitably die with ceremonial burials? Will you force someone to stay alive just to have another worker in the field?

The people under your care react to your decisions and the current state of affairs. Bad healthcare, housing, and rationing will cause Discontent to rise. Breaking promises and seeing several people die will cause their Hope to fall. What really makes this game hard is trying to do the moral thing, but the situation becomes so dire. Sacrifices must be made. I usually go for the soup law, because at this rate there is no point caring about poverty. Your civilization is completely socialist under these extreme conditions, so I can only hope you use the means of production wisely. Otherwise humanity dies.

There are missions you can issue to expedition parties outside of the crater. You can find resources, survivors, automatons (huge steampunk robots), and other dangers. The expeditions will move much more quickly on routes you’ve already made. Sometimes you will encounter wildlife and will have to make tough decisions that may endanger the scouts.

The graphics are amazing. I really like how the snow works in this game. People make their own paths as they traverse through sheets of white. Snow piles on top of buildings that are too far from the engine’s heat, and there are so many pyres, fires, and mini engines that it feels like your leading the survivors of the Metro series. The aesthetic is amazing.

I think a fair rating for this title is a 10 out of 10. I think even more content, like laws, new challenges, and new buildings can only enhance the experience. I will definitely be playing this one over and over again, just like This War of Mine. I wonder how many more days I can go on for before the frost takes me, and the last flame of humanity is snuffed out. I’ll probably figure it out the day after tomorrow. Meanwhile, I hope you all get the chance to experience this epic strategy title!

Check Out the Frostpunk Serenity Trailer:

Frostpunk is available for PC via Steam, GOG, Humble Store, and Windows Store.

John Pruitt

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I like to think of myself as the average Joe who grew up alongside video games. I have fun playing strategy games, RPGs, shooters, sandboxes, the whole shebang! Every game provides an experience whether it strikes you as profound, mundane, or someplace in between. I'd like to weigh in my two cents before you spend a single penny.

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