As the Steward in Frostpunk 2, you don’t wield absolute power. When the people are no longer bound together by the sheer need for survival, they start dividing into communities with different, often conflicting, worldviews. Now the biggest threat is no longer nature but rather human nature.
A city-survival game has a lot in common with a city-building one. The world of Frostpunk 2 might be a clean slate, but it’s far from safe. Learn more about the strategic planning of the city’s expansion and how it will affect the survival chances and well-being of the citizens.
Frostpunk 2 is a part of IGF Celebration Days, a digital showcase celebrating award-winning indie games, the Independent Games Festival, and the players who love indie games.
City Unbound is a series in which we'll show you all the different facets and features of Frostpunk 2. Watch the 1st Episode with Jakub Stokalski, Game Director and Design Director, and learn more about the world and the state of humanity after the great storm.
Frostpunk 2 is getting bigger and better – thanks to you!
Hey everyone,
Just over two months ago, you had the chance to play Frostpunk 2 Beta, and we greatly appreciate the feedback you shared with us. So much so that it took us some time to take everything in, as there was both a lot of praise for our work (who doesn’t like praise, right?), but also many keen observations on areas we could improve or add to the final game. Based on the surveys we received from you after playing, the average rating you gave the Beta was 8 out of 10. We’re super grateful for that! At the same time, the Beta was only a small slice of a work-in-progress, still growing game. While our backlog is plentiful, the Beta was an opportunity for us to listen to what you enjoyed, and what didn’t quite land yet. This allowed us to prioritize things better, and bring to the front the features and modifications we were already working on (we hope!) you’ll enjoy the most.
Before we go into detail on the new additions, there’s one drawback we need to be upfront about. As we analyzed your feedback and prioritized things we want to add to the game, we realized that to properly do them justice – and to guarantee the best possible experience at launch – we need more time to finish the development of Frostpunk 2. That’s why we made the difficult decision to postpone its release to September 20th, 2024.
We know this is not the news you wanted to hear. However, we believe these additional features are something you deserve to see in-game on day one, not in a patch added after the release. We can only hope you understand that our decision comes from a place of wanting to create the best game possible for you. One thing is certain – these few weeks will pass by VERY quickly for us, because we’re cooking some really exciting stuff. The list is too long to go through all at once, but the highlights include new additions to the game mechanics, extensive UI & UX enhancement and, by popular demand, a new city feature we like to call Zoom Stories.
1. Additions to the game mechanics – gameplay proceeds more smoothly now
As you clearly pointed out while playing the Beta, some processes could work better or differently. We agree with much of your feedback and wanted to make the game experience smoother while giving you more options for managing your city. Here are a few improvements we’re currently polishing that were high on the nice-to-have list:
Changes to temperature, Heat and proximity-based gameplay, including new and rebalanced Hubs, that will make the city-building gameplay deeper and more impactful,
More detailed and flexible workforce management,
More direct-use abilities in the game loop, to allow you to react to crises more dynamically,
A new resource to make city-building and expansion more strategic, helping you stabilise the city’s economy,
Ability to reshape your districts after their construction,
Factions’ behaviour that is better aligned with their lore,
A more thorough and complex approach to dealing with protests.
2. Extensive UI & UX enhancement – it’s the decisions you should be struggling with, not the interface
The game is challenging enough already, so it came as no surprise to us that you want the interface to be as user-friendly as possible. That’s why we’re making changes to the UI & UX, including but not limited to:
Improving the HUD (Head-Up Display) to make it clearer and more intuitive,
Adding a new construction menu along with five new city Hubs,
Improving the clarity, readability and look & feel of the Idea Tree and frostland.
3. A new city feature called ‘Zoom Stories’ – watch your citizens up close
In the Beta survey, you pointed out that after shifting the game’s scale, you lost attachment to individuals. Indeed, Frostpunk 2 plays out on a much larger scale, but we want to give you an opportunity to get close to your citizens as much as possible even in this new frame. That’s why we’re adding something we like to call ‘Zoom Stories’, which are basically zoom-ins available in specific city parts that allow you to watch the day-to-day life of your citizens.
As you can see, there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done, and we’ve only mentioned a fraction of it here. Without going into too much detail, we can say that we invited some of you to play the game again recently and test some of the features mentioned above. We’re happy to say the results are more than promising – the improvements are indeed working wonders.
That’s why we hope these few weeks of additional waiting time that we need to implement all the new features will be met with your understanding and won’t test your patience too much. From now until the release, we will share with you behind-the-scenes updates so you can see how these additions are coming to life.
Once again, thanks for all your feedback! It’s reading all of your observations that made us realise we can do even better and push ourselves even harder.
The World of Frostpunk: Anthology & Artbook, 11 bit studios merch store.
Hello Citizens,
We are happy to unveil that the world of Frostpunk is being expanded with two more books along with Official Merch and the Side Quest: Frostpunk Board&Dice set.
The World of Frostpunk Artbook and Anthology
We are pleased to unveil two handcrafted collector books that expand the Frostpunk universe and are coming to Kickstarter later this year. The first is a series of novellas set in Frostpunk's apocalyptic world, and the second is a uniquely crafted artbook.
The artbook "Aesthetics of Desolation: Design and Art of Frostpunk", featured in the same Kickstarter, is carefully curated by Frostpunk’s game directors. It features never-seen-before art, and never-before-told insights about the design process that guided the creation of world in Frostpunk and Frostpunk 2.
Follow now on Kickstarter and get updates: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/11bitstudios/frostpunk-anthology-and-frostpunk-2-artbook?ref=l668ww
Official 11 bit studios merch store is now live!
Our brave scouts have brought us some brand-new gear. Ever dreamt of a high quality Frostpunk t-shirt or a large scarf that will keep you warm during the greatest storms?
We've just launched 11 bit studios merch store with meticulously crafted apparel. Right now there are items inspired by Frostpunk, The Thaumaturge and The Invincible. More coming soon!
Check out 11 bit studios merch store: https://store.11bitstudios.com/
Side Quest: Frostpunk set is now available for preorder.
Side Quest: Frostpunk is a new, exciting puzzle game from the authors of the Escape Tales series, set in the immersive world of Frostpunk ❄️
Side Quest: Frostpunk provides players with engaging puzzles, an interesting storyline, and difficult positions. The game tests your creativity, perceptiveness and ability to think outside the box. It’s time to join the expedition, to ensure that we have enough resources to survive and keep the Generator working!
We couldn't be more proud to announce that the man, the legend, Piotr Musiał, responsible for the outstanding Frostpunk OST is working with us on the soundtrack for the sequel! Show Piotr some love in the comments 💙
And if you can't get enough of Piotr's music, you should definitely check out The Alters, another game we're developing. It also features OST composed by Piotr Musiał!
Jan Dolski is a simple worker who faces impossible odds. Crash-landing on a distant planet, stranded and alone, he seems trapped with no way out. Jan’s only hope for survival is to employ additional helping hands on board his mobile base… but how? Improvising as he goes, Jan uses the local Rapidium substance to create alternate versions of himself: The Alters.
Play The Alters Demo and see for yourself what it's like to be Jan(s).
Once again, we'd like to thank you for playing the Frostpunk 2 Beta and sharing your thoughts with us!
Keep in mind that the Beta showed just a slice of what we plan for launch - we're talking more factions, laws & ideas, sandbox maps, the whole story mode (duh!) and so much more we are yet to announce. Based on the surveys we received from you after playing, the average rating you gave to the Frostpunk 2 Beta was 8/10. From the bottom of our frosty hearts - thank you!
It was great to finally show you a first glimpse into years of our work, and see so many of you play the game. We are grateful and humbled by your feedback.
Also, it’s safe to say that around half of you have been doing a pretty good job as the Steward! Check out the statistics that are based on how you reached the end of Beta: 🧊 42% played until reaching the 300 weeks time limit 🧊 24% failed to complete a quest on time 🧊 14% were exiled due to too high tension 🧊 12% managed to find the Oil Colony 🧊 8% were exiled due to lack of trust
The game is continuously evolving, also thanks to your feedback, so stay tuned for more updates and get ready for the release on July 25th, 2024!
Frostpunk 2 Beta featuring a part of sandbox mode called the Utopia Builder Preview is live now until April 22!
Delve deeper into the game with a new developer commentary video, where Frostpunk 2's co-directors provide valuable insights into the game's major changes and an extended gameplay preview.
While Frostpunk 2 is significantly larger in scale than the original game in every aspect, this Preview offers a glimpse of approximately 40 percent of the full experience awaiting players upon the game's release on July 25, 2024. Anticipate additional factions, expansive maps and colonies, increased exploration, dramatic occurrences, and a robust narrative campaign mode.
Over 2 million Citizens have wishlisted Frostpunk 2!
Dear Citizens,
We are extremely proud to announce that over 2 million of you have wishlisted Frostpunk 2! It is great to see how much the city has grown over the years. We're humbled.
