What occurs while you survive the un-survivable?” This query lies on the coronary heart of Frostpunk 2’s multi-layered construction. Frostpunk 2 is ready 30 years after the occasions of the primary sport and society has lastly discovered its ft. The whole lot concerning the sport is expanded in scope from the primary one, with a bigger populace to take care of and metropolis districts to handle. However scope isn’t the one distinction between the video games. Be part of us as we discover 15 of the largest variations between Frostpunk 1 and Frostpunk 2.
The Age of Coal is Over
Set 30 years after Frostpunk 1, the expansive sequel replaces coal with oil as a extra highly effective heating useful resource. Frostpunk 2’s opening hours are spent utilizing coal, however as demonstrated within the beta, this primitive useful resource fails to maintain the generator going for lengthy. As such, one of many beta’s a number of endings includes the invention of an oil colony. Oil’s position in gameplay phrases is getting the town to thrive as an alternative of simply surviving the chilly, leading to a metropolis that may develop far past its generator. It’s clear that the dev staff is saving the finer particulars of oil’s position for launch.
Construct and Handle Whole Districts As a substitute of Simply Buildings
With oil comes nice accountability, and which means a much bigger metropolis. Frostpunk 1 centered extra on the intimate hub surrounding the all-important generator. Issues have been a lot smaller in scale within the coal days, with a single constructing marking a considerable addition. Now, gamers can develop their metropolis into completely different districts. Every district in Frostpunk 2 fulfills a novel manufacturing position. A housing district would require completely different assets than a meals district, supplying you with distinct benefits. Provide and demand gasoline the economics of Frostpunk 2, a change from the brutal ‘scraping to outlive’ economics that the primary sport necessitated.
You’re No Longer the Sole Dictator
Frostpunk 2 has you negotiating with leaders to go legal guidelines by way of a democratic Council Corridor. The Council Corridor provides a deep new diplomatic layer to the sport, tying collectively the brand new faction system with it. Proposing a brand new regulation is commonly met with stern resistance from committee members, forcing the participant to barter with them and strain delegates. Your relationships with factions shall be strained should you negotiate too forcefully with them. Factions are a posh new wrinkle deserving of their very own entry on this listing.
Completely different Competing Factions
Upon beginning up a brand new sport, you’re met with the choice to decide on between completely different Communities to populate your metropolis. Employee communities prioritize completely different values and assets than thinker communities, with every finally creating into full-fledged factions. Factions come into play by way of the Council Corridor negotiations and the analysis of recent buildings and applied sciences. For instance, faction-exclusive analysis comes at a reduction if you’re on good phrases with that specific faction. Get on dangerous phrases with staff or the technocrat faction they usually might work in opposition to you in Council Corridor periods and make it tougher to analysis sure buildings.
Time Is Measured in Weeks As a substitute of Days
Frostpunk 2 strikes alongside at a brisker tempo than its predecessor, actually. The in-game clock now consists of week, month, and yr indicators. Days go by in literal minutes, and the visuals point out as a lot. Roads between the linked districts are lit by the blurred define of swift-moving residents, paying homage to time-lapse automobile lights. This zoomed-out perspective of in-game time is only one manifestation of Frostpunk 2’s expanded scope.
Frostpunk 2 Makes use of Unreal Engine 5 Whereas Frostpunk 1 Used Liquid Engine
Frostpunk 1 doesn’t look ugly by any stretch of the creativeness, however wow does the sequel outshine it within the graphics division. Lighting specifically actually pops because of the excessive distinction Lumen tech facilitated by UE5. The staff does job differentiating terrain to make every thing look natural and rugged in Frostpunk 2, which is simply additional helped by the capabilities of Unreal Engine 5.
Hexagonal Grid Tiles
Surprisingly sufficient, Frostpunk 1 didn’t have grid-based constructing placement. It didn’t want it because of the micro-scale it was working on. However now with complete districts linked by lengthy roads, grids are a necessity. Empty land areas are divvied up by hexagonal tiles, however when you construct on the land, a wider grid define surrounds your property. It is a small, but important addition that accommodates Frostpunk 2’s bigger scope.
Frostbreaking
Extracting coal and ore deposits within the frozen wastes past the town is not any easy feat. Not like the primary sport, you will need to ship Frostbreaker groups to interrupt the ice earlier than constructing on the tiles and extracting supplies. Frostbreaking might seem to be pointless busywork, nevertheless it means that you can develop the town limits far past something dreamt of within the first sport. You’ll be able to stretch the town out far into the space … should you can sustain with the useful resource demand, that’s.
Relations, Stress, and Belief Change Discontent and Hope Social Assets
Frostpunk 2 builds upon the primary sport’s social assets with Relations, Stress, and Belief. All three of those assets tie into the substantial position that factions and communities play. How different faction teams understand you exchange the brutal survival-oriented issues confronted within the first sport.
New Crime and Squalor Useful resource Tabs
Crime will increase as items turn into extra scarce, as you’d count on. You’ll be able to mitigate elevated crime by posting Guard Squads across the districts, however a basic inhabitants enhance results in an increase in crime. Likewise, Squalor worsens because the inhabitants will increase, leading to a dirtier, extra disease-addled metropolis. Ensuring you stability metropolis enlargement with assets to counterbalance the elevated inhabitants seems to be a enjoyable problem in Frostpunk 2.
A Inhabitants of Hundreds Reasonably Than A whole bunch
And naturally, the rationale we’ve got new Squalor and Crime assets is because of Frostpunk 2’s a lot bigger inhabitants. Micromanaging a sub-hundred inhabitants in Frostpunk 1 required refined micromanagement expertise, whereas the sequel requires you to multitask throughout a number of social vectors and assets to satiate the plenty.
From Micro to Macro
This shift from micro to macro is a fairly substantial one. I can’t assist however suppose that there’s a component of intimacy and familiarity that’s misplaced when managing a multi-district metropolis. This macro-scale method will undoubtedly rope in new gamers averse to the primary sport’s micromanagement. However the broader scale additionally makes Frostpunk 2 a bit of bit much less area of interest and extra akin to different city-builder video games. Whereas there are nonetheless micromanagement components current in Frostpunk 2, the zoomed-out perspective emphasizes the macro way more.
Far Completely different Ethical Dilemmas
Ethical dilemmas in Frostpunk 2 largely present themselves when deciding which Faction you wish to accomplice with and what options to prioritize. Getting a regulation handed that bans meals components isn’t as black and white of an ethical determination as boosting labor for a few weeks to stave off the chilly. The ethical dilemmas introduced in Frostpunk 2 could also be much less dramatic than within the first sport, however they’re extra nuanced and politically pushed.
Shift From Survival Administration to Social Administration
Frostpunk 2’s artistic director completely summed up the sport’s premise with the query, “What occurs while you survive the un-survivable?” Each system within the sport displays this shift from primary survival to societal evolution. From the legal guidelines handed at Council Corridor to all of the completely different Factions at play, Frostpunk 2 focuses extra on social administration than survival administration.
You Play because the Steward, Changing the Deceased Captain
Lastly, there’s us, the participant. We performed the position of the Captain again within the first sport. We held the accountability as a lone dictator, in a way, with little to no opposition however the deathly chilly and riotous populace. Your position in Frostpunk 2 continues to be a serious one, although there’s much more teamwork and negotiations with different leaders this time round. The Steward continues to be a giant fish, however the pond is far greater than the primary sport, making it a extra diplomatic affair total. We’ll see simply how a lot we, because the Steward, can get away with when Frostpunk 2 releases on September twentieth.
