Frostpunk - This War of Mine, steampunk, apocalyptic snow

2018 Roadmap

I choose “Escort dev team back to the City”

1.1 update adds Survivor Mode and other stuff.

I picked this up a week or so ago and the world really took me in - played about 15 hours to beat the 3 main scenarios and had a blast.

My one complaint is that the game does get a bit formulaic once you figure out the upgrade paths and get decent build order going. You can win w/o too effort once you have the main concepts down (at least on Normal). Not sure if Survivor mode keeps it interesting or if it’s just punishing - might check it out a bit later.

Let’s hear how Endless Mode is, Frostpunk owners, while it’s 33% off. :-)

Since there are some decent discounts available, I would like to post a couple of thoughts as it relates to Frostpunk.

Imagine the movie The Day After Tomorrow. You know the one with the killer cold weather that is a terrible movie with some decent special effects. Lets just say that the weather was world-wide and few survived. You have a band of about 80 survivors who have managed to salvage a giant coal power engine and use it for heat. You find a spot a bit out of the wind and set up, trying to re-establish some semblance of civilization. You build tents around the glowing engine and then later upgrade those to more permanent structures. You mine for coal and steel, dig in the ice for dead wood, hunt and try to raise crops via hydroponics.

Your burgeoning town either migrates towards order or faith for comfort. In the meanwhile, you make a series of difficult decisions (like child labor) and fight the inclement weather. Then just as you get established, you find out that one of those terror weather systems is on its way. The one that makes jet fuel freeze in the lines. Can your community survive? Do you have enough food and fuel? Have you upgraded your engine enough? Do you have enough control over your populace to survive the coming storm?

That is the essence of Frostpunk and it is really quite fun. There are a host of decisions to make and challenges to overcome. It took me 8 hours to beat the first scenario but I only had to restart once.

The downside is that the game runs like a hog. It is not well optimized so for those with older PCs I would not recommend it. But otherwise if you like city builders I highly recommend it. It is far more entertaining than, say, Aven Colony.

Christmas update from a few days ago:

I hope they keep this going for like a month at least. Its disappointing that games do all these holiday special and I don’t have time to do them all within the allotted time period.

Yeah I figure they will. :)

I finished my first game of Frostpunk last night, with about 440 survivors. Wasn’t sure I was going to make it, because I didn’t realize what the end-game was and didn’t save much food until about 2 days out. So, everyone was fed sawdust in their food. Also, I didn’t advance technology nearly as far as I needed to insulate everything. Lost about 1/3 of my colony and many people lost their limbs.

I adore pretty much everything about the game - but I’m not sure if it has much draw to play it again once you beat it. I know they have some other maps - so maybe i will try one of those on endless mode for a faith run (i’ve only done order)

Things can go south quickly. I felt pretty good in the early days, providing food and shelter. People were warm, I found survivors.

Then we got a cold spell and some workers out collecting resources got sick, then more got sick. I closed down shop for the last day of the cold streak, but it was too late. I built more healthcare but it wasn’t enough. I also didn’t build wood and coal mines quite soon enough. i fell behind on food and started serving soup.

I got kicked out on day 13, but I can’t wait to jump back in.

Is this in a game, or is it real life in Michigan?

Good point. I’d say they’d love a 100 foot coal furnace at the moment.

That was brutal. I somehow survived even though everything was going to crap around me. I think everyone was half frozen and maybe a third died in the last couple days. I love how their games manage to capture such a grim tone and make it fun to try and make the best of a bad situation.

Congrats @robc04 just noticed your post, its a hard campaign!

Game dev’s tweeted today:

Game is headed to consoles soon!

If only it was also play anywhere on Xbox.

That would be great. The story and setting are fantastic.