Frostpunk

When I showered this morning, I genuinely felt grateful for having internal heating. I'm only ~30% into the main game, and it's entertaining, even if it's taking an emotional toll. The challenges that arise, be they due to shifts in temperature, events, or miscalculations, will force you to adopt social changes (laws) that you wouldn't have otherwise. That being said, Frost Punk plays like a roguelike in a sense. You'll most likely fail miserably the first time and become more adept at managing and facing the hurdles better and better on retries, especially since the beats happen in the same order. Also, most event triggers are under your control. I would generally see this as a negative. Still, FrostPunk includes several additional scenarios (more w/ DLC), all featuring different maps and circumstances, which appear to be fresh experiences in and of themselves. I wouldn't know for sure as I'm writing this. But for 80% off, the primary campaign is totally worth the $. Took one star off because I'm edgy and wanted to grab your attention.

I will keep this short. The game is relatively simple to play and each game plays out much the same. Each campaign is relatively short and is over in a couple of hours and once you get to grips with the gameplay, you will realise its all rather shallow. The interactive "story" such as it is has no actual depth and after you get over the initial impression formed by the look and style of the game, you (if you are like me at least) will swiftly discover that the game is very much a case of "style over substance". Dont get me wrong, there is some fun to be had with it, but its not at all worth the full price and all in all, your time would really be better spent in a game that is genuinely good.

I really wanted to like this game, the idea is great, music is great, the graphic quality is ok too... but it is soo boring after a few hours, I had to force myself to play. It's just too much of the same stuff over and over again. If only it had more choices in the law and technology trees, and also more buildings etc. it justs ends too quickly and then it's only expeditions and snowstorms, nothing else.

At the very beginning its great, new choices, new directions and things to explore, but very quickly you start to realise that exploring is all the same and so is the weather, predictable even. Once you've completed the 'mission', your left with expansions which are just tedious and boring. Even if you succeed at the 'endless', it really is endless with no rewards and just more of the same. There is no user contributed content, only the 'expansions' and I have yet to find any multiplayer features meaning, this really is all there is. Finally, things that annoy me the most; the sound effects are really poor, then endless prompts which are all the same, and finally the 'demands' which are as predictable as the rising of the sun.

At first glance, Frostpunk looks like a typical RTS but as time goes on, you will learn that the mechanics are unforgiving and cruel. We play games to be away from the real world but Frostpunk is a constant reminder of real-world problems like climate change, gathering resources, amputees, hunger, and many more. It’s so depressing! It feels like the player has to have PhD in Add Maths or Politics before jumping in because there's so much micromanagement involved. For example, heating the main generator is not enough; you must reheat other buildings individually. This is a stupid mechanic. Why can't they all heat up together? Notification is totally absent in Frostpunk as it does a terrible job of letting you know when your people are dying or your toilet needs more heat. Gathering resources is a pain as well. It's no cut-and-dry process but involves building more than 3 buildings just to collect coal. You need a coal mine, gathering post and god knows what else. It feels like the game designers didn’t take the time to do the maths in Frostpunk and instead they were winging it. There’s nothing cohesive about the gameplay; everything is all over the place. Even when you win the campaign, the game treats you like a loser. It’s hard to recommend Frostpunk because it’s definitely not for everyone. If you have the patients of a saint and love micromanagement to a T then this game is for you. But if none of this excites you then forget it.