Enjoyable for a while, but ultimately repetitive with seemingly no way to really please the people you're expected to lead.
I must be missing some crucial game mechanic cause I can have 100+ people available, but none of them will build the houses etc I've got queued up. I can only assume they're too busy complaining to actually help rectify the problem.
I'm sure I'll get back into the game at some point perhaps.
I have played through the main campaign several times and enjoyed it. The game starts off great and really sucks you in. The game feels like a city builder at first, but reveals itself as more of a puzzle game than a real city builder. It feels like you need to follow a certain specific path to win the game. Expect to go through and lose several times as you learn the "right way" to run your colony.
The city building is fun and interesting, but you do have to be careful with placement as later buildings will provide bonuses in a certain area. Once you learn all the buildings, it isfun to plan your building well in advance.
The storyline isn't anything special, but does increase the dread as time goes on. The feeling of loneliness and worry as the temp drops and resources start running low really adds to the desperation you feel playing.
My 2 biggest complaints are the game is short and very linear. The scope is limited to your single crater with a brief way to interact with the outer world. The setup and events are set in stone and never change. This really hurts longevity. i think I played 10-20 hours, but don't really feel the desire to do more. The other issue is the way you place your buildings will come back to bite you until you learn all the buildings and how they interact. This doomed several of my early attempts through the game. The game is also short. Once you get the hang of it you can easily beat the campaign in 2-3 hours.
I do recommend the game because I enjoyed my time with it, but I wish there was more to it.
rarely have i played a city builder that glued me to my seat like this one. though you don't need many apm there's a constant sense of urgency. everything about the presentation reinforces the atmosphere of surviving the iceage. the screen edges freeze, the sounds change, the music is just superb. this game also manages to tell a story which is unusual in this genre.
can't wait for frostpunk 2.
This game is outright awesome. The steampunk cold apocalypse shown just right, visuals, sound and music in this game is the main selling point. This is true art right there.
Gameplay is solid as well, its a very time limited city builder with strong emphasis in resourse management and foreplanning. It offers original map of the city where it is necessary to build around core Generator. Keep your citizens fed, healthy, warm and calm. Hope and discontent add a good headache to captain you play as on top of everything else. The minmal goal is to survive for 50 days, by any means.
Sounds exciting and it really is! But this is clearly a spiritual successor to "This war of mine", another game from the same developer and sadly, it has the same problems.
First is replayability, game offers several scenarios with various goals and starting conditions. You can even play in the greenery of the Last Autumn. But after first playtrhough you dont really have to play it again to see something new. Most likely you'll visit all the map markers, build most useful buildings and upgrades, try everything except for one of two mutually exclusive path of restoring hope which you pick every run.
Second is keeping your citizens calm. This war of mine had very big issues with mental health of your characters. Same happens here, poor captain tries his best to keep everyone ALIVE yet these morons nag and cry about horrible living conditions. In 'A new home' scenario there are even Londoneers who want to go back to dead city they barely escaped from! WHY?! I understand game design decision behind this player task, but it's really stupid. Or my expectations from people in such dire situation are way overstated.
So you quickly find out the most effective ways of running the city and abusing several exploits in the game and thats it.
Still, compared to 'war' and on its own, this game is worth taking a look and several hours of your time. If not for gameplay but for style alone. Very well done 11bit
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.