Who doesn’t love a good city builder? Even more so when you throw in some survival elements into the mix. That’s what 11bit Studios did with Frostpunk. I have had my eye on this game ever since it got released on the PC but sadly because I don’t have a pc, I never got a chance to play it but just my luck when it got announced for consoles. All I had to do was wait till it came out onto the PlayStation 4 so that I could play it. I love the art style and how complex the game can be with its law system, research trees and of course the constant battle to keep your people warm from the freezing weather, though I’ll cover this in more detail later.
For people that might not know, Frostpunk is a city builder with a twist. It mixes the brilliant gameplay of a city builder and throws in the suspense of a survival game. Throughout you’ll find out that trying to keep warm is the main factor when it comes to your survival and every decision you make can come with a price. Set in an alternate 1886, the world is suffering from a volcanic winter and it has led to an ice age. From the get-go you’ll have to maintain a liveable heat for your people as well as researching new ways to sustain living in this frozen wasteland. The game comes with four scenarios these being A New Home, The Arks, The Refugees and The Fall of Winterhome. When you first start out A New Home is the only available scenario but if you manage to survive twenty days it’ll unlock the others for you to play. Each one is different and offers challenging gameplay.
You start out with a small number of survivors that are made up of engineers, children and adults. You’ll also be given a low amount of resources to try and get a basic layout down before furthering your city. Using various buildings and resource points located on the map you’ll be able to gather wood, coal, steel and food which provides the necessary resources to create a happy and stable living environment. If the pressure of being on top of your materials isn’t bad enough the constant fluctuation in temperature is a nightmare and difficult to manage at times. Making your people happy is hard too, because if the weather conditions aren’t good enough for them it’ll effect their work ethic. If this wasn’t enough, you’ll have to make political choices and steer your city into the direction that you think will be best for the people. The happiness of your people is measured with hope and discontent, by allowing certain laws and providing the right living conditions will make it go up or down depending on whether the population agrees with your choices. After making laws, you’ll have to wait 24 hours (game time) before being able to make another law, the choices you make will ultimately affect the city and whether your people will be happy living in the city. Your best friend in this game is the workshop because it allows you to research the technology and buildings that ultimately will make your city more efficient, and will allow you to send scouts into the frozen wasteland to find more resources and survivors that will make help further the success of your settlement.
Frostpunk looks beautiful running on a PlayStation 4 Pro, the steampunk theme the studio went for really suits the game and gives it a unique feel as there isn’t another on the market using this style when it comes to city builders. The music is relaxing and what you’d expect from this type of game and the little sounds that come from the generates and other buildering really creates an atmosphere when you zoom into your city and are looking around. The little details really stand out, whether this be the smoke coming from the generators and steam hubs to the industrial sounds coming from the coal thumpers and steelworks. It really helps capture a rustic feel and allows the player to be drawn into the grittiness of the game. I used my PlayStation 4 wireless headphones that have 360 audio and I felt as though I was there because the atmosphere that 11bit studios created makes for a fantastic experience and one amazing effect.
There is a lot to do in Frostpunk which allows for hours of gameplay. Once you have completed all the scenarios present there is an Endless mode available that keeps the player going. The Scenarios in themselves are challenging enough and can keep you hooked for hours, so the addition of the extra mode means that you won’t be getting bored of this game any time soon.
Closing Statement
Frostpunk is a fantastic experience and has kept me hooked ever since I got my hand on it. From the unique art style and the complex mechanics, it stands out from the other city builder that are on the market. If anything, I would honestly say that with the added survival element it puts itself above the rest and I highly recommend it to anyone that is into these types of games. I love the political system, day and night cycle as well as the harsh weather conditions, even though at times it really annoyed me because it would kill loads of my people as well as stopping production in certain building. It’s so in-depth that even now when I play it, I find new things and change the way I play to try and better suit my cities. Frostpunk is worth every penny and personally has minimal faults, my only bug bare is that it can feel repetitive at times and it gets hard to stay on top of everything late game, though that’s just my opinion. For these reasons I giving the game a 9/10.
More at:
- Xbox Store
- PlayStation Store
- Retail version for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and limited Signature Editions
- Official Website: http://www.frostpunkgame.com/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/frostpunkgame
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frostpunkgame
Enjoy the review? want to read more of our reviews? then click right here to be whisked away to the realm of our opinions.
If you enjoy games and gaming and want more NEWS from the Gaming World Click Here
You must be logged in to post a comment.