On it’s face, Frostpunk is typical city building. You’re gathering resources, constructing necessary buildings, and trying to keep your population happy. But this is an 11 bit studios game, the people who brought us This War of Mine, so there’s going to be a little more to it than that. In fact, this game is just as much about give and take as This War of Mine, although on a much larger scale.
Early on in Frostpunk you are presented with your first hard decision: Should children be integrated into the workforce. The benefits are clear, more hands equals more resources, but the risks are also many. Children are more susceptible to injuries, and it’s bad for moral to have young children work a dark mine beside their already over worked parents. Hope drops even though efficiency increases, and thus is the balance of Frostpunk.
In addition to resources and population numbers, you have two meters you have to worry about: hope and discontent. Each edict you enact in the game’s Book of Laws menu has two sides. It’s not always a question of good or bad, but more shades of grey. In fact, many of them seem to have the same negative impacts on hope and discontent, yet they need to be enforced lest the whole city collapse. It’s this element that truly sets Frostpunk apart from other city builders. It’s just as much about the people under your roofs as it about the roofs themselves.
I have some qualms about the early portion of the game and how slow it can move at times. There’s a clear way to speed things up, but it takes some time to achieve, and you may not like the road you’ll have to take to get there. I am, however, infinitely fascinated with the setting and possibilities the moral system can bring. I look forward to getting my hands on a final build of Frostpunk and seeing how far I bring my city to the brink before it collapses.
You can take a look at the video below for an extended gameplay session from the PAX East 2018 show floor. Frostpunk is launching on April 24th on PC, so keep your eye to Voxel Voice for more as the release date approaches.
