Frostpunk 2 builds upon the concepts of the original city builder in a myriad of interesting ways that completely change the scope of the game. While this may be a hard adjustment for fans of the first, and perhaps even sound undesirable initially, the franchise ultimately comes away stronger in this new iteration. Though the overall messaging can at times feel a bit heavy-handed, and the bleakness can make it hard to play long stretches, as a whole the 11 bit studios title is one that deftly and satisfyingly blends strategic management and poignant decision-making.

During a preview of Frostpunk 2 at Gamescom 2023, the title’s co-directors Jakub Stokalski and Łukasz Juszczyk said that they wanted the game to focus on "the demons of pride and being sure" - a goal which the game wholeheartedly achieves. Set 30 years after the original, the society-running minutiae is eschewed for broader leadership decisions, and fighting the elements is only part of the struggle to be faced. Instead of mechanics like placing individual buildings and asg workers, players will build whole districts at a time, and will also have to contend with a growing populace with diverging visions of society.

However, one facet of the original that remains the same is the fact that nothing is easy, which oscillates between rewarding, frustrating, or even funny, depending on the situation. Building up a functioning society through the Story Mode’s five chapters comes at an increasingly high price in of the tough decisions players must make, often making sweeping changes to society with a single click. I walked away from Frostpunk 2 honestly feeling like it had made me evil by the end - which I suppose is precisely the point.

Frostpunk 2’s Story & Utopia Builder Modes

Instead of fulfilling the role of captain, players will instead rule as Steward, elected by a council to lead the growing metropolis of New London following the survival of the initial colony in the first game. The general populace, of course, aims to help form a true utopian society, but the specific visions they have for this concept vary greatly. Throughout the five chapters of the story, the player’s reign will grow from one ever-expanding city to countless settlements and colonies, all of which will need to be managed.

Frostpunk 2 aims to make points about morality, politics, and the darkness of human nature, which it mostly achieves. There are a few instances where the ideas of the game are presented in a more maladroit manner, laying the “your utopian society is actually deeply flawed” concept on a little thick, but the game more often than not presents its bleak narrative in a way that feels impactful rather than preachy. The final chapters of the game involve dealing with a schism among the population, having to make increasingly large decisions to determine the fate of a society that cannot possibly be unified in its current state.

When playing city builders, it’s common - at least for me - to make up narratives about the lives of random NPCs on the street, which paired with strategic management elements makes for gameplay that’s immersive in a unique way. One of the best parts of Frostpunk 2 is the way it manages to iterate on this concept by injecting the typical genre formula with a diverging narrative. Through this, Frostpunk 2 becomes even more captivating, and that connection to individual citizens is still maintained despite the wider scope of the title via in-game events.

The game also offers a Utopia Builder mode, which is a sandbox that allows players to start a new society on one of seven different maps of varying size and resource scarcity. It offers the choice between three Ambitions - Colonize the Frostland, Develop a Metropolis, or Build a Prosperous Future - as well as selecting two out of the three communities New London will start with, which are different from those in Story Mode. This is a nice way to explore different leadership styles and scenarios, and attempt the game’s harder difficulty settings without fear of losing the campaign.

Managing The Populace In Frostpunk 2

Time es much differently in Frostpunk 2 than in Frostpunk, with days ticking by instead of hours, and the full story will take hundreds of in-game weeks. Management is pretty streamlined, with a helpful system of overlays to show different New London stats, though there were a few instances of the bottom-right section of the UI getting in the way of building selections. The overall mechanics certainly take some getting used to, but once they click it can be satisfying to develop efficient, profitable settlements.

The citizens of New London will need five main things in order to thrive: Shelter, Food, Materials, Goods, and Heat, which have corresponding Districts to fit demand. Housing, Food, Extraction, and Industrial Districts will all help keep citizens alive and - more importantly - maintain them as part of the Workforce. Not tending to these needs can have a lot of secondary effects besides death that necessitates careful strategy; not enough Food or Goods will cause Hunger and Crime to go up, for example.

These are two of the five circles that sit at the top of the screen - the other three being Cold, Squalor, and Disease - that represent different issues that can threaten your utopia. However, the much bigger danger to New London is its own residents. The city’s overall Zeitgeist is measured in the left corner, with three different concepts that can each be handled two ways. Technology can proceed focused on Progress or Adaptation, Economy can favor Merit or Equality, and Society can either base its philosophy on Tradition or Reason, and different populations will have strong opinions on how to progress.

Making Progress In Frostpunk 2

In order to determine the direction of New London, players must deal with the Council, where they can propose new Laws in the categories Survival, Society, City, and Rule. These cover a wide array of possible changes for the city, like whether Goods should be mass-produced or durable, or if children should attend school or apprenticeships. All have a baseline amount of for each law, but hesitant voters can be swayed by negotiating via making political promises, and these promises can easily spiral into a complicated web of agreements made.

This can be stressful, but also oddly amusing, like when I earned an achievement for ing, repealing, then ing the same law again. There were several instances during my playthrough where my own promises came back to bite me; at one point, I desperately needed to a law, only to find that I’d promised another Faction the agenda, and I’d have to wait until the next session 10 weeks later. Even after I’d curbed this habit, I found myself making increasingly polarizing decisions and giving favorable treatment to ers and fostering a divisive environment.

Though it can be quite difficult and feel pretty hopeless sometimes, this is counteracted by satisfying moments of victory; or, if not that, at least failure levels that are amusingly bad.

At the beginning of the game, there are three communities living in the city: Frostlanders, Stalwarts, and New Londoners. A sect of Frostlanders soon splits off to form the Pilgrims, a faction of religious fanatics that have much more radical proposals for change that, at first, I found annoying. That was until I made a few decisions they approved of, and they began holding Rallies that helped boost Workforce and Heatstamp numbers and sending out mystical seers into the frostland to discover new lands for me - my opinion quickly turned around after that.

Soon I found myself constantly choosing ideas on the Research Tree - the game’s skill tree system - they’d suggested, looking the other way when citizens complained about their rituals disrupting commutes, and even ing policies literally considered by the game to be Radical Ideas. Pleasing every single group consistently is impossible, and a Tension meter will fill as culture clashes continue. If a community hates the Steward enough, they may start rioting, sabotaging districts, or threatening to overthrow them, and quelling resistance grows harder over time.

Final Thoughts & Review Score

Frostpunk 2 could be a divisive sequel given its expansion of scale from the first entry, but I think the transition into a more macro perspective serves the game quite well. It’s fun to think bigger - I loved looking at my map of efficient trail routes, managing trade between colonies, and being able to make more impactful changes. The game’s UI and overall visual style is more stunning and stylistically consistent than in the first, with a lot of lovely small details like the Tension meter depicted as rising, simmering black liquid that’s slowly reaching a boiling point.

The story the game tells is engaging, with choices that feel meaningful. Though it can be quite difficult and feel pretty hopeless sometimes, this is counteracted by satisfying moments of victory; or, if not that, at least failure levels that are amusingly bad - seeing the Council screen very matter-of-factly say, “You are reviled,” gave me a good laugh at my desk in a way only games like Frostpunk 2 can. It’s a strong step in the right direction for the series, and certainly worth checking out for city builder and survival fans.

Screen Rant was provided with a Frostpunk 2 Steam code for the purpose of this review.

Source: 11 bit studios/YouTube