Frostpunk

This game is Amazing, Difficult, Fun, and very unique to any other city management game I have ever played before I love it :) (PS it will eventual persuade you to the dark side)

There are many games I never finish, many others that I finish and never play again. This is a game that I completed and it left enough of an impression that five years later I did it all over again and loved it just as much.

Passed a law so kids could safely work in warm buildings. Everyone: "You MONSTER!" Built a shrine to raise hope. Everyone: "We’re still freezing, you tyrant!" Cooked soup to make food last. Everyone: riots The most fun I’ve ever had freezing to death. Especially loved the opening cinematic! What really blew me away, though, was how each scenario added a new layer to the world. They’re not just separate challenges, they feel like chapters in the same shattered timeline. One moment you're trying to save the last scientists, the next you're running a city of refugees, or enforcing brutal order just to survive the storm. And it all connects. And sometimes I wonder [spoiler] "what happened to those I send away in Winterhome!" [/spoiler] 10/10 experience!

It's been a long time since I played a game that was made with passion and love. The animation are neat and the story is great. It's addictive

Highly recommended! Awesome graphics, nice and easy to control / play - but even on Easy levels, difficult to master. A great game to play during the hot weather recently in the UK (you can feel the cold from the game) lol

Addicting gameplay, immersive storytelling, memorable and meaningful choices. If you enjoy city building, resource management and making hard choices that truly impact YOUR story, get this asap.

Frostpunk Review (11 Hours Played): A Cold Masterpiece of Morality and Survival After spending 11 intense hours navigating the frozen world of Frostpunk, it’s clear that this game is not just a city-builder—it’s a psychological test, a crisis management simulator, and a moral tightrope walk through the harshest dystopia you can imagine. What starts as a survival game quickly reveals itself as a deeply layered narrative about leadership, sacrifice, and what humanity becomes when the world freezes over. ❄️ Atmosphere & Setting: Frostpunk's setting is its strongest and most haunting asset. The world is dying, frozen in a volcanic winter. You are the captain of a group of survivors trying to build the last city on Earth around a massive coal-powered Generator. The cold is omnipresent—an invisible enemy more terrifying than any army. Every drop in temperature feels like a death sentence, and the bleak art direction reinforces this constantly. Snow blankets everything. Warmth is rare. Hope is fragile. The visual design conveys dread and desperation flawlessly. The frost slowly creeping onto your screen, the huddled figures by the generator, the cries of the sick—these aren’t just details; they’re storytelling tools. The ambient music and grim sound effects further immerse you in the brutal atmosphere. There’s no escapism here—just brutal realism wrapped in steampunk aesthetics. 🏗️ City-Building Mechanics: At first glance, the core gameplay resembles traditional city-building: gather resources, build infrastructure, manage citizens. But Frostpunk twists the genre into a constant crisis simulator. Resources are not just limited—they are always just barely enough. Coal keeps your generator running, wood and steel build your shelter, food keeps people alive, and all of it is under constant threat of freezing temperatures and storms. You make choices based not on growth, but on triage. Who gets heat? Who gets food? Who gets medicine? The real gameplay lies in balancing urgent priorities, rationing everything, and making moral compromises to keep your city alive for just one more day. The layout of your city matters. Heat spreads in rings from the generator, so building outward is risky. Roads, resource depots, workshops—all must be carefully placed, and any mistake might mean mass deaths during the next cold wave. 📜 Laws & Morality: After a few in-game days, the game introduces its most chilling mechanic: the Book of Laws. This is where Frostpunk transcends traditional games. You’re forced to pass laws to stabilize society—but each one costs you a piece of your morality. Do you allow child labor to fill your coal shortage? Do you build a Public House to keep workers happy with alcohol, or suppress their dissent with a Propaganda Center? Do you allow organ harvesting from the dead to save the living? At hour 5 or 6, you’ll be staring at a screen, mouse hovering over an option like Forceful Persuasion, wondering what kind of person you’ve become—and what kind of leader the world needs in a storm. 🔧 Tech & Progression: The tech tree provides a sense of forward momentum. You’ll need to research better insulation, improved generators, automaton robots, and ways to find new survivors. Research always feels meaningful, and it directly affects survival odds. What’s interesting is how the tech tree doesn’t represent prosperity, but barely coping. You’re never thriving—just enduring. Even unlocking automatons (giant steam-powered machines that replace workers) feels more like a desperate grasp at sustainability than a technological marvel. 🌨️ Difficulty & Replayability: Even on normal difficulty, Frostpunk is brutally hard. You’ll lose many times before getting the rhythm of temperature shifts, efficient city layouts, and optimal law choices. There’s a rhythm to the game: each day brings a new challenge or crisis. Weather drops, protests arise, refugees arrive, food runs out, children freeze. But this difficulty is what makes the game unforgettable. Success isn’t measured in luxury—it’s surviving until the next storm. And when the Great Storm finally hits around hour 9 or 10, the game pulls no punches. You’ll watch citizens freeze to death in your streets, your food stocks vanish overnight, and you’ll realize every decision you made is now being tested in the harshest way possible. Despite the despair, the game’s variety of scenarios and moral systems makes replayability strong. You can try different law paths—Order vs Faith, Compassion vs Efficiency—or explore the game’s other scenarios like The Arks, Refugees, or The Last Autumn (which adds a prequel setting with even more strategic complexity). 🧠 Emotional & Psychological Impact: Frostpunk is emotionally draining—in the best way. It doesn’t ask, “Can you build a city?” It asks, “How far will you go to keep your people alive? What will you sacrifice? Will you still be human by the end of it?” You’ll finish a session and feel a mix of accomplishment and guilt. That’s rare in games. 🌟 Final Verdict: Rating: 9/10 Frostpunk is a masterclass in combining city-building, strategy, and narrative into a single unforgettable experience. It demands tough choices and delivers cold, brutal honesty. It’s not a game for power fantasies—it’s a game for players willing to ask difficult questions and live with the answers. After 11 hours, I haven’t just built a city—I’ve lived through a tragedy, made unspeakable decisions, and somehow, still felt hope flicker at the end.

Frost punk is one of my favorite games. Its not just a city builder, its an experience! I was filled with so much emotion finishing the base game i was left in tears. If you're interested in the dlc's i recommend Last Autumn. And the sound track for this game is possibly if i dare say one of the best compositions I've ever heard. 10/10

Lots of replayability, good resource management game. Arks is the best scenario.

I didn't care for this one much. I started the game scenario and the tutorials are fairly limited. I like games that let you figure out how to play on your own but this one wasn't intuitive. I wasn't able to get beyond day 3 in numerous attempts on the very first scenario... Sure, skill issue. The game looks interesting, and probably has a good deal of depth but I'll never see it.

I like this game but with caveats. 1) I love that it's absolutely BRUTAL. On any setting no matter what, you'll die. Period. There is no way to win. You're just buying time for the inevitable. 2) However, what I don't like is that certain things don't work like they are supposed to. I've gotten into google/ChatGPT about it - & it says "These are known bugs, you need to do XYZ, etc." No... I'm not doing all that. Steam hubs are important, & when I build them they need to work. Not just show red on the 1 pixel they are built on. On nearly every game I've played they have never worked & glitch out, but then they will work on some random building the FURTHEST away from the core. Makes no sense. You will never save your homes, but you can save arks with them. 3) You MUST go exploring to win, but it's hidden so far down in the tech tree that by the time you get to it - it's too late. You NEED so many things that if you choose A, you'll die from B. If you choose B, you'll die from A. You can't do both. You need workers, so you bring more people, but because you went to those spots 1st, you didn't get the ore outpost. Now you're frozen from being so far behind on it. I've never been able to establish more than 1 outpost, even though I know it's mandatory to survive. There simply isn't enough resources to do it, nor time to get them because you have to spend them all constantly, & your people are always sick & can't work to get their jobs done. 4) When all of this isn't happening, it's a fun game, but once you've played it 3-5 times, you'll see the tech tree is the same always, there is always the same laws to pass in the same order. You can choose ORDER or FAITH. I did one game 1 & the other game 2. Despite doing everything flawlessly in game 2 I actually didn't make it as far. They were "mad" at me because I had tons of supplies & everyone was warm & happy. Discontent was high & I got exiled for playing well. Made no sense. All in all I haven't seen the sequel to this game, but I'm hoping they fixed everything that is wrong with this one. The concept is amazing. The playstyle, pacing, graphics, difficulity, etc is perfect. Things just need to work, & make logical sense. If it did that this game would cook & sizzle so hard that you wouldn't feel the cold at all. Graphics: Who cares what a game looks like? You're here to play it not look at it. The elements of haunting souls coming out of the snow with steampunk elements are great. I'm guessing it was inspired by Artic expeditions from the early 1900s. Story: 5/10. After the 1st time through, it's the same every time, but it will well written & has the potential to be a deep world over time. Gameplay: Smooth, intuitive, even if glitchy. HARD AS HELL to find your buildings once you set them down. Once the town gets big, you'll lose everything & can never find it. There is no search option & that should be MANDATORY. I found myself clicking on everything looking for 1 building in particular that I knew I put facing me (south) & it wasn't there & 15 minutes of looking, I finally found it right where I thought I left it, only slightly off because apparently I turned the map A LITTLE. Shouldn't be that easy to disorient yourself. Worth: I got it for either free or a couple of bucks, I can't remember. I wouldn't pay more than $3.99 for this, & I damn sure wouldn't pay anymore than $5 for the sequel. I don't care what they have done it to. Full campaign mode. Fixed everything, added different countries, tech trees, etc. It's still the same game. Multiplayer feature where you try to freeze your opponent might be cool, but I doubt they have that. That might make it worth $9,99. Overall: You'll probably kill 20-30 hours on it, get bored & move along. Maybe come back to it here or there when you want something different, & to see if you can mix up your strategy a bit & get 3-4 days further than before. It's a cute little game, but needs a little something else to really make it pop.

If you like semi-builders and resource management, this is one of the best titles I have ever played. Simple, yet very difficult.

Well designed game with good story line. Can you survive and lead your people in a frozen world ?. Respond to occasional quests and guide your people to success. One of the best games of its type.

i really loved this game. the atmosphere the mechanics and everything in between. you gotta give it time to shine. with every hardship there is a sunshine coming

This game is great for strategy nerds and city/resource management lovers. It's extremely engaging while also being quite challenging at the same time, I'm currently 24 hrs in real time (on day 43 in game) and I cannot stop playing it or thinking about it when I'm not. The story is quite a bit more detailed than I expected, and I'm really enjoying it so far. I also really like exploring the different skill trees, since they affect gameplay, story, and the direction your city goes, as far as morals/ethics. It makes me stress out at times because I don't want to make the wrong decision - but it's also cool because that adds to the realism. It does take some time to learn the mechanics, but once you do, you don't want to stop playing. All around, a very fun and engaging strategy game that realistically portrays the emotional weight that comes from attempting to survive in horrifying conditions. I can see myself putting many many more hours into this.....

New to this game, but a longtime fan of city-building and strategy games. I am already hooked, less than a few hours in. This is a challenging game with a lot of aspects to keep in check, rather than just an hour of struggle and strategy followed by easy playing as the city grows, as so many of these games do. Highly recommend.

Never has a game beaten me down so much and yet I still want to keep playing. 11 hours in and I haven't finished the first scenario, but I got so so close!

A truly incredible game. No other words for it. At least, for the main scenario, A New Home. The Arks scenario was also incredible, until I finished preparing for the last storm and the game just... ended. You don't get to actually ride it out like in a New Home. I think it was actually the most anticlimactic thing I have ever experienced, and it's sort of bizarre because I don't think it would have even needed to be that different from the base final crisis. It undermines the main conflict of the scenario because there's no uncertainty - you know from the moment you find out what the optional objective is whether you have enough resources to complete it or not. The tension of "is this actually enough to ride out the storm, do I have enough to spare to help other people" is gone, because the answer to those questions is just some simple math away. Then, succeed or fail, you're told the fate of your city in text instead of actually getting to watch. It's not a huge deal. Takes the game down from a 10/10 to 9/10, maybe. Just a really weird thing to fumble right at the end. Still gave me probably my favorite gaming memory from winning A New Home.

Each day you survive is a victory in itself. It's an incredible feeling I never had in any other strategy game. Whatever you do, you'll never be sure to survive tomorrow, you'll always be just right on the edge... riiiight on it. So good. True survival, awesome and unique gestion (the "politics" feel so alive). And while the gestion is hard, it's not complexe at all: there's not much to learn in terms of mechanics, it's quite diegetic and progressively introduced, and also quite simple! The complexity of the game, the hard part, is on taking the right decision at the right time. So yeah, I'd say play this game in hard without hesitation (and I don't say that for every games ;) ), you'll have a wonderful feeling the first time you'll see the end (but don't worry if you want a shorter experience, you should be on the edge on a normal playthrough too). I truly loved this game, and the different story modes, the dlcs, they're a whole new experience too.

wow, a very good game. however i feel with some more aspects being procedurally generated it could have given a lot more replay value with its unique mechanics. yes there are a few more scenarios, endless mode, and difficulties, but i feel like i could have played this game for so much longer. but i had lots of fun in the ~10 hours it took me to finish the game. very good.

realy fun game 16h and still in first story and loseing and keep playing it love it

Absolut story, absolute backsound, absolute city survival. absolute game.

TL:DR This game is very goog God. This game is an experience. Once you know how this game works, it just flows together so nicely, your city just works. The game is hard, yes, but there is just something special about it, it does not feel unfair, it just works. Is this a game for everyone? No, it is not. The game is hard, and it is hard to understand how to play (at least in my experience) without a guide, or watching someone else play. I saw Pravus play through it, his playthrough is 10/10, would recommend. The music: 10/10. Some of the most immersive music i have ever heard. The gameplay: 10/10. Works into my previous points. Balancing 7/10. I will be completely honest, some things in the game are not completely balanced, like automatons! They normally only work at 60% efficency, to make up for the fact that they work day and night, but you can upgrade them with research, to make them better, up to 90%, and there is a series of events that upgrades them to a total of 100% efficency. At that point, they become significantly better than normal workers, and are only held back by the fact that they cost a valuable steam core. Overall, a 10/10 gaming experience, would recommend.

I yearn the aesthetic of Frostpunk, its dark, grim, yet hopeful nuance giving a unique perspective to a city-planner game.

As of writing this review, I've just finished playing the main scenario "A New Home" after playing the game for 7 straight hours with a few breaks, and let me say how much this experience moved me: I honestly didn't expect Frostpunk to be this good, I mean, I had high expectations starting out but I was genuinely taken off guard by how much of a special experience it can provide. Frostpunk is a city builder type game where your main goal is to keep your city well fed, safe, and most importantly, warm. The game starts you off with the basics, gather resources, build some homes, get some food, with the catch being that everyone is dealing with temperatures of AT LEAST -20 Celsius, and every couple of days, it gets even colder. Since the game gets harder as you go, you need to learn how to manage your resources and what to prioritize so you don't doom your people to an early, icy death. There are a lot of things that you can do to evolve the inner workings of your city: You can put the more educated part of your people to work on new structures for you to build, or maybe upgrade the systems you already have. Every couple of hours you can set laws from your [i]Book of Laws™[/i] to change things about the city's workings, like how your people deal with the gravely ill, or if kids should be put in shelters while the adults work for the day instead of laboring at the steel factory, things of the sort that start small but eventually change how the entire city operates. All of those choices can also take away from or add to how your people see you, controversial choices might make them discontent, but might end up saving their lives in the long run. One of the things it does incredibly well is that while there is A LOT to learn, there's also no guess work. You'll have to deal with RNG every now and then, sure, but whenever you make a decision, the game makes it 100% clear on what that decision will change. That lets you keep more control over the city without being worried something random might come out of what you choose. Also, the game is incredibly smooth and responsive. The menus aren't tricky to navigate, almost everything comes up with the press of a button and you don't need to consider fifty different things when making a decision. As long as you pay attention, you won't get lost in the game's systems. It also just feels really good to see your city evolve from your actions, to see your people go from struggling with insane temperatures and drinking thin soup to having cozy homes and better food, from working long hours at the coal mines to having it be fully automated with no need for your people to worry. If you help them, they'll leave notes of appreciation, even sometimes coming to thank you personally for your constant efforts and care. But what makes this game really, truly special is the entire atmosphere surrounding it. It's a constant mix of hope and worry that keeps you glued to it for hours, I literally played for like 5 whole hours the other day and didn't see time pass until it was late in the night and my eyes were half dead (totally worth it, though), it's the type of game that will hold your attention so hard you forget the rest of the world even exists. But it also makes you care, about your people, about your resources, about your fate and theirs. You don't want them to die, you don't want to submit them to insane work hours or force them to eat flavorless slop, but the cold. Is. Merciless. It will not give you the luxury of not making those decisions. Ride or die. The quality of the music is also something that cannot be overstated, all of the tracks I've heard so far have left me perplexed at how much they perfectly add to the game, especially during the final days of the campaign. The music changes as the game gets harder (and colder), and each "stage" perfectly encapsulates how it would feel to be in a situation like this. After I finished it, I kept thinking how in reality, things weren't as chaotic or hopeless as I thought, but every single element about the game made me feel like it was chaotic and hopeless anyway, like the world was gonna end if I didn't manage to keep that generator at full power for just a little longer. And to be honest, I might as well write an entire essay about those last days, because they were amazing. Brutal, but amazing. Everything gets harder, there's no foreseeable end to the cold, the city can barely function, it's a mess. Everything that you've built is threatening to shatter in front of your eyes, but the whole situation keeps you excited and gives you just enough hope for you to you keep pushing on. You've reached this far, can't give up now! Finishing the first scenario gave me a sense of completion and happiness I haven't felt from a game in quite a while. My people were safe, my efforts weren't for nothing, and the extreme cold hadn't beat us this time. For a few points I'd like to add, I wanna say the game looks incredible, they really nailed the "steampunk but we're freezing to death" style, I love it very much and really wanna see how the other scenarios might change things up. Again, the game is also really responsive and simple to understand (even without tutorials), you can change things in your city with ease, the controls are great and the UI is really tight, basically no clutter anywhere, it's really clean and really good at conveying information. And this is what I think of the incredible gem that is Frostpunk. A marvel of game design, and a mustplay if you enjoy city builders, even if just a little bit. It's easy to understand, but takes attention and creativity to master, keeps you interested with incredible atmosphere and a soundtrack that will make you feel for every poor soul stuck in that cold, dead pit. Be warned, It [b]will[/b] steal hours upon hours of your life without you even noticing. And don't forget to bring a coat if you're coming. It's freezing out there.

Very immersive and brutal. This game will test your limits and bring you to some extreme choices.

RU: Эта игра - изумительна, достаточно сложная и она не похожа ни на одну другую игру жанра симулятора выживания, в которые я когда-либо играл Я доволен тем, что купил её и рекомендую всем, кому нравятся подобные игры ENG: This game is amazing — challenging enough and unlike any other survival simulator I’ve ever played. I’m glad I bought it and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys these kinds of games.

Absolute must play for anyone who enjoys city builders or colony sims. Different scenarios/stories flex the gameplay in interesting ways. I can't recommend Frostpunk enough. 8.5/10

Crap, that so good game I did not slept whole night to finish the map :)...wife will kill me on the morning...

Playing this game at mid-night with a hot bowl of ramen and the air-conditioner at lowest setting while sending children to the coal mine on my second monitor is my most immersive gaming experience I've ever had

At first this game is hard, trying to work out the best way to survive. But after sometime it`ll click and you`ll have a great time.

First playthrough was so peak. The desperation, the tension, ah, the soundtrack, the pacing, the setting, the art style, the laws, the choices, the research, all incredibly peak. very atmospheric. choices [i]matter[/i]. one of the best games I've ever played. the city must survive

Hear ye! Hear ye! This has been one of the longest and most thrilling experiences I have seen. Challenging as hell even in normal difficulty and more than once my save files were named something despective towards the citizens due to the behaviour toward my benevolent (Yeah, right...) rule. I have never cared more about the lives of the workforce I employ, never had so many difficulties deciding what to do for people as well as looking for ways for everyone to be OK. I love this game and the studio as well. Started playing Frostpunk 2, then bought Frostpunk. Both games were so good at moral choices I knew I had to try The Alters the moment it came out. Best decision ever and had a lot of fun.

Прекрасная иллюстрация того, как нежная рука диктатуры помогает отчаявшимся обрести надежду, негодующим - умиротворение, опустившим руки - смысл жизни, позволяет преодолеть разногласия и начать жить лучшую жизнь на общее благо. И как никакие уговоры, пряники и пожалуйста без неё не работают.

This is it. The OG Frostpunk. Played hundreds of hours since it was launched (pirated) until I can actually afford the proper PC and the actual game. There's not really anything to say about the things that made this great other than it set the standards of what made it great, which was fondled to death by Frostpunk 2 which was basically Civ VII: Brrr Edition. My only complaint is that I wish they would make new scenarios for this, or at least allow people to make new scenarios for it through mod support.

Gripping, chilling and incredibly fun. Frostpunk will test you at every turn; will you choose to be moral, risking your resources and disappointment? Or will you show tough love and sacrifice your people's wellbeing to ensure that you are ready for the coming storm? I recommend this game highly.

Great game glad they made a second one took me a little bit definitely challenging but fun

It is a very difficult game which keeps one more eager to conquer it!

Really great. Every single time I replay the main campaign I end up finishing it all in one long 6 hour session. Very addictive

It's a city builder where every person matters. A really cool concept, amazing visual style, a gameplay where you have to think. Really great game.

SO ENGAGING with the city building and survival, I've never found interest in these types of games until now, completely hooked to this game, I love the sound design, feels heavy and important, every time there's something sound related I get goosebumps

I'm pretty much obsessed with this game. If I'm not playing it, I'm probably at least thinking about it. Everything feels so high stakes and every choice you make feels impossible because you really are sitting there knowing the wrong one, even if right in the moment, might spell the end of a playthrough. Absolutely amazing and even when it's at it's most frustrating, I'm having fun. Very sad to hear that their newest game may have used AI due to all of this because this game really shows the power of humanity in its writing and art direction.

刚上手的时候手忙脚乱比较难，但弄明白资源规划之后会变得简单，在大部分情况下后期资源都比较溢出，于是就可以可以专心和刁民对线了（不是 暴风雪那一段初见的时候还是很激动的，配乐很神，比博人传燃

I very much enjoy the world building and systems this game hands to you. They can be a bit confusing and take a couple of tries to figure out how to play with higher efficiency each play-through, yet once you figure out what is meant to be done is a bit less troublesome to navigate. You are entrusted as the leader of a small civilization encircling a coal powered generator. You must assign people to build structures, sign laws into effect, and deal with the consequences of certain events as well as the discontent and hope of the people. A cozy and atmospheric dive into a bleak and frozen dystopia.

[b]Highly recommended — even if you don’t like city builders.[/b] I normally don’t enjoy city-building games at all, but Frostpunk completely changed my mind. It’s not just about managing buildings — it’s about making impossible choices and feeling the real weight of your decisions. This game is incredibly emotional and immersive. Every mechanic matters. Even controversial features — like sending children to work — hit hard and force you to think. It’s not there for shock value; it’s all part of a larger, meaningful system. I genuinely don’t regret buying it. It pulled me in from the very beginning and hasn’t let go. If you’re looking for a game that challenges both your mind and your heart, this is it.

Yes I do infact recommend it It's a city builder with boss music, nuff said

Unique game in the strategy class, not big but so exciting, highly recommend to try to survive in the snow hell. Also great discounts

Very challenging game. Takes a few attempts to really get the hang of it, but the mechanics are deep and the strategy required is topnotch. Very rewarding game once you get the hang of it.

Recommending this game with an asterisk. It has some fascinating city-building and resource management ideas that instill genuine fear by forcing sudden and absurdly precise split-second decisions and only falls short because the campaign ends so abruptly. I never completed anything but the first one because of this, but I hope that other games will pick up and refine some of its concepts.

Immersive, enjoyable and can be very hard if you don't catch on quick. I loved every second of this game... which is surprising because I dislike both city builders and resource management.