Frostpunk 2 delayed by nearly 2 months following beta feedback

By Tomas Franzese Published June 27, 2024

Key art for Frostpunk 2 — 11 bit Studios

11 bit Studios has delayed the launch of Frostpunk 2 from July 25 until September 20.

The developer made this decision regarding its highly anticipated postapocalyptic city-builder based on feedback from the beta held earlier this year. Although the reception was positive, with 11 bit revealing that the average rating players gave the beta in surveys was 8 out of 10, it wants to rework and implement some features based on feedback and needs more time to do so.

An image showcasing upcoming improvements to Frostpunk 2's game mechanics following its delay. — 11 bit studios

Jakub Stokalski and Łukasz Juszczyk, Frostpunk 2’s game directors, went into more detail on what some of these improvements are in the Steam blog post announcing the delay. On the game-mechanic front, 11 bit Studios will add things like “direct-use abilities” that players can react to crises with, the ability to reshape districts after construction, a “resource to make city-building and expansion more strategic,” and more. It will rework aspects of Frostpunk 2’s heat, faction, workforce management, and protest systems as well.

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Improvements to Frostpunk 2’s user interface and general user experience are on the way. This includes making the heads-up display “clearer and more intuitive,” implementing a dedicated construction menu and new city hubs, and improving the readability of the Idea Tree. Finally, Frostpunk 2 will also receive a new feature not in the beta called “Zoom Stories,” which you can see in action above, that will allow players to zoom into parts of the city and watch its inhabitants at work.

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The PC version of Frostpunk 2 will now come out September 20. It will be on PC Game Pass from day one, and console versions for Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 are also in the works and will launch at a yet-to-be-announced date in the future.

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As a Gaming Staff Writer at Digital Trends, Tomas Franzese reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…

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In the original Frostpunk, the main goal is to survive an icy apocalypse and reestablish civilization around a powerful generator while slowly gathering resources, building structures with them, and dealing with a plethora of ethical questions along the way. It’s a challenging game, but after dozens of hours and several decisions, players have a solid city center that can withstand the apocalypse.
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Developer 11 Bit Studios recently gave me a presentation of the sandbox “Utopia Builder” mode in Frostpunk 2. During this hands-off demo, I saw how Frostpunk 2 has grown much larger in scale, with players primarily dealing with building entire districts and influencing council votes rather than concerning themselves with gathering tiny amounts of resources and the minutiae of building a small city. That’s a bold approach for a city builder sequel, as they don’t usually change the gameplay this much, but 11 Bit Studios is confident with its large-scale swing. Frostpunk 2 may expand on the original, but it's not throwing away what made the 2018 gem so special.
A true postapocalyptic game
The developer believes Frostpunk 2 is postapocalyptic in the truest sense. While that term was often applied to the original, its developers pointed out in my hands-off preview that the original game technically occurred during an apocalypse and was mainly about surviving it. Meanwhile, this sequel takes place 30 years later and is more interested in challenging players by having them manage a society that’s saved itself and is trying to evolve following an apocalyptic event.

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