A new survival shooter called Frostrail is set to release on Steam. The cooperative game aims to challenge you with hard survival in a frozen environment and Lovecraftian horror monsters. Your only protection: a steam locomotive. And the creators definitely know what they’re doing.
What kind of game is this?
- In Frostrail, you travel across an icy wasteland with a steam locomotive, similar to the popular survival game Voidtrain, but not in space.
- The emperor of the realm you find yourself in has made a pact with the void. As a result, not only has the land turned to ice, but cosmic shadow monsters now roam.
- As the “Gardener of Penance,” you are now tasked with combating evil and finding “redemption amidst the icy wasteland.” Frostrail is set to release in early access on Steam in 2026, where you can already add it to your wishlist.
This is what Frostrail offers: The focus of the game is on exploration. While you will drive your train through the land – either alone or in co-op – you must frequently stop to replenish supplies. Hunger and thirst don’t affect you, but the cold certainly does.
In ruins and other dungeons, you will find useful items for crafting: you can create and upgrade weapons and tools yourself. Whenever you leave the train, you expose yourself to the dangers posed by the shadow monsters that hunt you.
The central element of the game is your steam locomotive. Throughout the game, you can expand your train, attach and furnish new carriages. This allows you to create additional storage, workshops, and turn your train into a fortress. However, you cannot stay stationary for long – similar to Snowpiercer.
Previous game by the creators already makes players suffer
Frostrail comes from FakeFish, the studio that created the Dwarf Fortress-inspired Barotrauma. Barotrauma is considered a significant challenge among players on Steam.
In the survival game, you must manage a crew in a submarine in space, which is constantly attacked by cosmic horror beings. Chaos and despair are the order of the day, and survival is rather the exception, at least at the beginning.
Providing protection in an immensely limited space within an otherwise vast world with only a few stops is something that FakeFish has already executed well. Horror and survival are recurring themes here as well. Barotrauma has a 94% positive rating on Steam.
Unlike Barotrauma, the developers are trying their hand at a first-person shooter with a realistic look this time, rather than a 2D game with comic graphics. The challenges are likely to be similarly tough. If you’re looking for more options in the genre, you’ll find the best survival games for PC, PS5, and Xbox in our list.
