It's cold and dark out there. Will you allow the weather to kill your people or will you make the tough decisions?
From the creators of This War Of Mine comes Frostpunk, an upcoming city builder PC game with a few unique twists. Announced in August 2016, Frostpunk will be set in the summer of 1886 when severe weather patterns destroyed crops and resulted in millions of deaths worldwide. The job of the player will be to lead a small band of people who locate a generator, fire it up and develop a civilized society.
The issue being the weather isn't going to let up and you're going to have to make some moral choices along the way.
Survival
The role of the player, much like in other city management games, is to ensure the survival of the populous. You'll be managing all the workings of your society, from infrastructure to keeping track of all the potential issues and dangers that come with surviving in the aftermath of a global catastrophe. You won't be able to be the good guy or necessarily an evil dictator. It's all about running along the grey line, opting for decisions that affect the many not the few.
The game will require you to make some awful decisions, based on what the settlement requires there and then. You may need to allow for child labor or overlook a few suspicious deaths. Machines will play a big part in Frostpunk and will help the settlement advance but these automatons may not be entirely safe for use within a city. Jakub Stokalski, the senior lead designer at 11bit Studios, noted in a developer update video that just how safe these automatons are will have to be worked out by the player.
From what we've seen so far, the game looks very promising. Graphics are on par with other big budget titles in the same genre and the unique twists and turns that 11bit Studios will through at you could make for some intense playthroughs. Everything is tied to the steampunk design, which should please those who are fans of games like BioShock and They Are Billions.
Weather forecast
Frostpunk is set for release on PC on April 24 for $29.99. We'll be taking a look and publishing a full review once it's live. Should you be fans of Cities: Skylines, Sim City, and other management games, you'll want to keep an eye out for Frostpunk, which should shake up the genre a little.
Are you interested in surviving the cold winters ahead?