11 bit Studios have a penchant for games that are dark and consistently put you in tough situations. They are now planning Frostpunk 2 and have given MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus a first look at the game.
I can’t play a game from 11 bit Studios for long. Really: I like the games, I love the ideas behind them. The developers simply know how to sell a tragic story so well that it becomes compelling. Perhaps too compelling.
In This War of Mine, one of the best survival games, they tell the story of the civilian population in a devastated city after a war. The core question: how cruel would you be if your survival depended on it?
Frostpunk is one of the biggest titles from 11 bit. The city-building game is one of the best post-apocalyptic games and takes place in the middle of an apocalypse. The world is frozen, and you must somehow generate enough warmth to keep a small city alive.
In the gameplay trailer, you can get a personal impression of Frostpunk:
Both games fascinate me, and yet I can’t bring myself to finish them. Although I like to be really evil in games, the storytelling simply affects me too much.
Now the studio has announced the sequel to Frostpunk. It was clear to me right away that I definitely want to take a look at the next game, which I will definitely not play for long. And, oh boy! Everything just clicks.
What happens when you survive the apocalypse?
Frostpunk 2 is pretty much exactly what you would imagine from a sequel to a story-driven city-building game. In the first part, you have to manage a small group of people as a captain to help them survive in the eternal ice.
Now, 30 years later, that is behind you. The city is established, everything is developed enough that you no longer have to fight for survival every day. You have time to consider what the future should look like.
Instead of managing individual buildings rigidly, you will plan the city in districts to expand it. The core of the game is, of course, decisions, as the game aims to explore the nature of humanity:
- you manage the city but have different groups of inhabitants with their own needs
- in the senate, you hear what the different groups have to say – and decide on a path forward
- depending on the group you support, the cityscape changes, leading to different opportunities and problems
- further factions emerge from the groups themselves, and more groups can form, often with opposing ideas
Although there is no more autocratic regime dictating everything and making the hard decisions, you still give the direction in the end. However, if a large number of people are too unhappy, disputes may arise…
“Expect that everything has consequences – Dark ones”
Frostpunk 2 aims to explore how a society develops after surviving the apocalypse. It can still happen that you manage the city so poorly that the cold kills everyone – but that’s not really the idea of the game.
Instead, you are supposed to decide how things will continue from now on. The bosses said in an interview at gamescom: “The focus is not on what you have to do, but on what you can do. Your choice depends on who you are.” Every decision you make will have a consequence. Maybe not immediately, but eventually:
- You decide that children need education and should not work? In 5 years, production may fall below an important threshold.
- You prefer to build sustainable bio-plants instead of implementing advanced ideas? That might make workers sick who have to work in those plants.
Although you can try to find a middle ground and satisfy everyone, you may find yourself stuck in place. If you choose the same ideas over and over again, that may turn out to be the wrong path and fail catastrophically.
11 bit wants to tell a story that can “only be told through the language of video games,” the developers said. “Tools that no other medium has.” In my first impression, after seeing 2 gameplay sessions, Frostpunk 2 masterfully achieves this.
Only by playing can you see the consequences of your decisions. And when an 8-year-old child directly tells you that it doesn’t want to work in the biogas plant anymore because it has to cough all the time, that affects a person.
What is actually the “nature of man”?
Frostpunk 2 seeks to explore the “nature of man,” to understand how a society develops that no longer has to fight just for survival but can develop. When asked what this “nature” actually is, the developers provided interesting answers:
- we are a duality, the ultimate elements of destruction and creation; in one moment we destroy the rainforest, in the next we replant it
- man is not inherently evil, but no one can naturally suppress the inner demons of greed
- the only way to survive is humility, to recognize this duality
In Frostpunk 2, this nature is evident. No single decision is only good or only bad. It always comes with a consequence that you must then live with. I would have liked to explore what that means for longer – but after an hour, it was already over.
Frostpunk 2 was announced in 2021, but a specific release date has yet to be announced. Currently, 2024 is mentioned, but without a more specific timeframe. The game is expected to be released only for PC (Steam, Epic, and GOG).
