Frost Punk 2 review: When the snowman brings the snow

The original Frost Punk was a surprise hit when it was launched a few years ago, largely because it took a different approach from most conventional strategy games – in fact, the developers at 11bit Studios refer to it as a ‘society survival game’ instead. Rather than pitting you in combat against rival armies, Frost Punk told the story of an alternate 19th century world that has been plunged into a new ice age by a vast, global blizzard called the Great Frost. Instead of pitting your wits against an enemy army, the game challenged you to fight mother nature herself, as you battle the blizzards to find food and fuel for the last survivors, and establish a home in a city called New London.

For more Mac games recommended by us read: Best Games for Mac.

Frost Punk 2 is set 30 years later, when New London has grown dramatically in size. As the ‘Steward’ of the city, it’s your task to find new sources of food and fuel for the growing population. There are other threats too, as the restless population struggles with hunger, crime and factional rivalries. And, of course, there’s the ever-constant threat of snowy ‘whiteouts’ that can strike New London at any time.

Like its predecessor, Frost Punk 2 is quite a challenging game, even for people who have played strategy games before and are used to the standard techniques of resource management and developing new weapons and technologies. This sequel does have a Prologue that introduces the story for new players, and also acts as a tutorial, in which you struggle through the icy ‘frostlands’ to reach a wrecked train and scavenge its resources.

However, even basic tasks such as gathering resources can prove to be quite complex. Rather than simply chopping wood or collecting metal and other components, as you might do in an ordinary strategy game, you first have to ‘frostbreak’ a path, picking your way across the rocky terrain to reach to the train’s overturned wagons. You then have to construct an ‘extraction district’ – a small factory – that can retrieve the supplies from the train, followed by housing districts for your workers, and food districts to keep them fit and healthy.

This means that Frost Punk 2 is a little more abstract than its predecessor, as the Steward needs to step back and take more of an overview of the structure of this society, rather than just rolling up your sleeves and digging up some coal. However, the scale of New London and its complex society provides a rich tapestry for the story that unfolds under your stewardship.

The main story campaign provides several difficulty levels, where you can adjust economic conditions, such as the scarcity of food and fuel. You can also modify the weather, choosing the frequency and severity of the whiteout storms, and even adjust social factors, such as the levels of crime and political unrest, to maintain the city’s ‘zeitgeist’. There are also rival factions within the city, whose demands and aims must be managed, such as the Icebloods who believe that only the strong can survive in the wintry wastelands, and the Machinists who prefer to rely on technology to keep the people safe and warm.

Once you’ve finished the main game there’s also an ‘endless’ Utopia mode that allows you to start a new city by choosing from a variety of locations, with different terrain and weather conditions. The game also looks great, with dramatic and imposing 3D graphics that look like Blade Runner with added snow. You can zoom out to get an overview of the wintry landscape, or zoom in to explore the districts of the city in more detail. The game only runs on Macs with Apple Silicon, but it ran at a smooth 45fps using medium graphics settings on my MacBook Pro with an M2 Pro chip. An M1 might struggle a little, but you should be able to adjust the graphics settings for a basic M2 processor if you need to.

Frost Punk 2 is available on both Steam and the Mac App Store, but the Steam version of the game is slightly cheaper, and Steam also has a Deluxe Edition that includes some additional DLC if you want to keep the story going.

Should You Buy Frost Punk 2?

The Frost Punk games aren’t as approachable as strategy games such as the Civilization series, focusing as the developers say, on their ‘society survival’ mechanics, rather than just building a big army to overwhelm your opponent’s forces. But the challenge of balancing all the demands of this complex dystopia will appeal to many people and it’s a game that you can continue to play long after the main story has finished.