I remember my astonishment when FROSTPUNK came out. It was unlike anything else, the rarest of all gems - a new experience. Sure, we can use simple, clean labels to give us a speedy context, like making a cake from premade mixes. It is a city builder, to be sure. It is a narrative game that is rich in story. It is a survival game. It is a lot of things, all blended with fluid elegance - and with a great dash of gut-wrenching misery. It felt fresh at the time, and even nowadays it stands out in this genre as something special.
No wonder the sequel was so highly anticipated. Players enchanted by the frosty armageddon wanted to reconnect with the haggard survivors. Their pains, struggles, and the inhumane decisions they had to take to ensure survival against the dreaded frost. It was a city builder, yes, but it was the brutal realities written into its every corner that made it special. Each passed law came with a consequence that was never trivial. Each slip of planning ended up in the demise of many. It's a ruthless game that will squeeze you try - both in the cerebral aspect of working out the mechanics and on the emotional front. The audience expected more of that in the follow-up, so the sequel had quite a hype train to catch and fuel with the precious coal!
The game is very different from its predecessor, with the main shift being that of scale. In the first installment, the whole affair was rather intimate. Your congealing society had merely a couple hundred people, the city you were raising from the unyielding ice was tightly huddled against the warm-giving, life-sustaining generator. It was crucial for building the oppressive atmosphere. The lack of space juxtaposed with the need to expand, which was always hindered by the constant lack of heat or resources. Sending scout teams into the blizzards was a thing of fright and necessity. Every loss was hard felt. This, for me, was what made the experience so riveting - there was always a threat, looming and coming with relentless steps. And every day was a challenge against the odds, stacked against you, but never crafted to be insurmountable.
FROSTPUNK 2 changes this formula a solid bit, giving it a hefty shakeup. Everything is bigger. Your city no longer grows mere structure by structure but by districts. Your population goes into thousands and even tens of thousands. Expansion is a big factor, reaching tendrils of your newfound civilization into the cold abyss to scrounge up new colonies. You, a Steward, no longer have the singular power and final say in things - the city is too big for that, and so, the Council is now the true governing body. Politics are back on the menu, more complex and nuanced than before, with many factions emerging with their dreams, goals, and agendas. Simple survival is no longer the holy grail to chase after. Now people demand more. They yearn for real life outside the ruthless toil and threat of blizzards wiping them off the white-covered map. There are aspirations to propel your ever-growing city onward, like a cancer of smoke and metal biting into the tissue of rigid ice.
This change of scale won't be everyone's cup of tea, that's for sure. It robs the game of that previously kept intimacy, the feeling of being the leader of a small group of desperate yet hopeful survivors. Things are grander now. Perspective shifts, to take in bigger problems and find more holistic solutions. However, it is not as if the game got completely stripped of its edge. It's not like we suddenly found an oasis of heat, a blossoming paradise, filled with animals and plants to live on. The snow, the ice, and the biting cold are ever present, in flux, growing, fading, but there - making sure to squeeze us at every corner.
The human element is very much present, still. You will hear the stories of many of your citizens, from the child miners to the aspiring politicos, trying to weasel themselves into the council. The people might no longer be represented by various individuals and their struggles, but as the city grows, so do the many groups within it. And they are getting bold. They know what laws they would like to see and are happy to voice their disapproval if you go against their wishes. If you bail on your promises, their wrath might be swift, toppling your districts into chaos and open revolts. Each of the groups has their way laid, clear agendas - they might be all for technological progress, trusting in science and machines to let them rule over the ice-wrought earth again. They might be conservative to the bone, wanting to upkeep traditions of the old world and the first Captain. Or they might want to embrace the forever winter, adapt to it, and become new humans made and bred for the ice and snow. It is in your hands to balance these ideas and needs and keep everyone, if not happy, just content enough to keep the cogs spinning, goods coming, and factories operational.
There are many new systems to play with. Some were simplified - heat dispersion, for example, is no longer governed by a zone of influence you have to manually spread. But rather is another resource you need to deliver, the spread for the most part taking care of itself. But your people are no longer happy just with food, shelter, and warmth. They need goods. Simple, yes, but if you don't deliver them into their hands, the life of squalor will turn them into the ever-welcoming hands of crime. To raise your districts you need to first break the ice - in the most literal way.
Also, your expansion isn't contained to the sprawling networks of rails and trenches to distant edges of your city, but outwards, to the vast Frostland. Searching far and wide for resources, survivors, and valuable spots for further settlement adds a layer of complexity and plenty of new challenges to face. Considering your main hub will, in the end, be living off its colonies, keeping those operational will be crucial - not just to survive another cold season, but to thrive and reach for more.
FROSTPUNK 2 is quite a different game from its primogenitor. While still sharing its core components - the oppressive vibe, the harsh decisions to make, the city building, and resource management – it has all shifted to a different perspective. The lens was pulled up, the overview stretched wider. You can no longer afford a thought to spare the individuals or small numbers of your citizens. Losing ten engineers is no longer a crisis. An expedition lost to the snow is written off with, hah, the cold calculation of collateral in such endeavors. Now it all turns into a brutal machine, a city-engine that will churn its people to grow and thrive. For me, it is a sequel done right - one that doesn't wallow in the greatness of its older brother but rather takes a bold leap forward into deeper waters.
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