In 2018, 11-bit Studios first released their creation called Frostpunk. This is a city-building game that fits the classic style of the genre and also has some survival simulation elements. The game is set in the 19th century, during the rapid development of science and technology, when each country fought for its place in this world and experienced many shocks.
However, the developers decided to experiment a little with the official story and put it in a fictional situation: a new ice age is gradually approaching the earth, volcanic emissions prevent the sun’s rays from reaching the earth, so people have to fight for territories and survive.
The game was originally emitted only for Windows, but later the developers helped to easily port it to such popular gaming platforms as Xbox One and PlayStation 4. There were also plans to release Frostpunk for macOS, but that has not happened yet.
Gameplay
In Frostpunk, players need to develop their city according to one of the scenarios they select: Survivor, the Arks, and the Refugees. Each of them has the same plot: a generator becomes the central element of the infrastructure as the sun warms the earth less and less, forcing people to fight for survival.
The task of the players is to build dense urban buildings around the generator and send engineers and workers in search of different resources and coal for energy. It is important to provide the inhabitants of the city with everything they need. Otherwise, they will simply die from cold, hunger, and some other problems.
Another important task that players have is to develop the technologies available in society, thereby opening up the possibility of finding new resources and opening up new territories on the map. The main resource is coal, as it feeds the generator. The more you upgrade the generator and increase its power, the more resources it consumes, so they are always needed.
All people in the game world can be divided into three different classes: engineers, workers, and children. Your goal is to create suitable living conditions for them all, namely to build houses for them and make sure they are warm, and provide them with medical services, food, and other essential supplies.
In the world of Frostpunk, players can make various laws, thereby establishing different forms of government, such as a dictatorship or a theocracy. The mood of the population is indicated by two main parameters: hope and discontent. The higher the first and lower the second indicator, the better the settlement develops.
Advantages and Disadvantages
The game is fairly new and has decent graphics. To play smoothly, you need a computer with the following characteristics:
- Intel Core i5 3.2 GHz processor or better, which is pretty decent even today.
- The GeForce GTX 660 graphics card or its analogs, such as, for example, the GTX 1050 or the lower-cost Radeon R7 370.
- 4 GB of RAM or more.
The big advantage of the game is that it does not take up much memory: just 8GB of hard drive space is enough to install it. But this also affects the length of the story: it is quite short, and all you need to do to complete the campaign is to survive a powerful ice storm.
Other advantages of the game include excellent graphics, a high level of difficulty that makes you try hard to complete it, and beautiful and even mesmerizing visual effects. The main disadvantages are a rather short story and a strange ending.
If you desire to feel like you are in a snow apocalypse for a few hours and try to save a few settlers from a new ice age, then Frostpunk is an excellent choice for you to try it!