Summary
Released back in 2018, the firstFrostpunkisn’t the usual run-of-the-mill city management game. Rather than forge a bustling modern-day metropolis filled with skyscrapers and advanced vehicles,Frostpunkputs players in charge of a makeshift city of survivors, tasking them with ruling amid a fresh new Ice Age. Dystopian, grim, gritty, and genuinely upsetting at times, the firstFrostpunkmainly focuses on sheltering people from constant disasters, exploring the ravaged world around them, and ensuring that their citizens are kept warm, fed, and as happy as possible given the world-ending circumstances.
Set to release sometime this year,Frostpunk 2seems as though it’s going to be doubling down on all of this, but at the same time, it’s going to be introducing more social elements than ever before. While decision-making was a big part ofFrostpunk’s gameplay,Frostpunk 2’s entire gameplay loop essentially revolves around it, with a new Factions system influencing just about every aspect of the sequel.
Frostpunk 2’s Factions Explained
There are currently only four Factions confirmed forFrostpunk 2, and it’s unclear how many there will be when the game releases later this year. The four confirmedFrostpunk 2Factions are:
According toFrostpunk 2’s previewstowards the end of last year, players will begin the game with just two Factions, the Engineers and Foragers. As the game progresses and the player makes more choices, these Factions have the opportunity to splinter off into several different sub-factions, with the Technocrats being an extremist sub-group of Engineers, and the Icebloods being a more strict sub-group of the Foragers.
How Frostpunk 2’s Factions Work
In the originalFrostpunk, players would be constantly prompted to make decisions that affected their community, from signing certain laws to building certain buildings to smaller-scope decisions such as agreeing to perform surgery on an injured man. As players progressed through thesurvival elements ofFrostpunk, groups would occasionally pop up, often putting a specific scenario into action, such as the Londoners who attempt to convince the city’s population to leave within a specific time frame. These groups often only appear briefly, and though they play significant roles in the story and gameplay, they act more as momentary challenges than something the player has to constantly monitor.
InFrostpunk 2, Factions persist throughout the entire game. AsFrostpunkis a dark management game, players will beginFrostpunk 2with two rival Factions. In its sandbox mode, “Utopia Builder,” players can choose any two Factions, though the only starting ones confirmed right now are the Engineers and the Foragers. While the Engineers believe that the future of the city lies in the advancement of technology, the Foragers believe that they can only rely on the adaptability of humanity to survive.
ThroughoutFrostpunk 2, players will be given countless decisions, both big and small, that affect each Faction’s influence and stance. For instance, choosing to use technology to fix a problem will gain the player favor with the Engineers, but it’ll put them in worse standing with the Foragers. Players can useFrostpunk 2’s “Idea Tree” to learn more about how each Faction would solve the city’s ongoing issues, and act accordingly.
Many of these major decisions will take place inFrostpunk 2’s new Council space, which sees each Faction make an argument, and has the player choose to either put the decision to a vote or just make the ultimate choice right there and then. As players progress throughFrostpunk 2, these Factions will grow and evolve, eventually splintering into sub-groups that have the potential to be even more dangerous and disruptive to the city.
Frostpunk
WHERE TO PLAY
THE CITY MUST SURVIVEOffering players a complex strategic challenge alongside a rich narrative featuring an alternative take on the 19th-century industrial revolution, Frostpunk weaves a story of how our planet mysteriously freezes, putting an end to civilization as we know it and forcing the human race to adapt to the harsh conditions. As the leader of possibly the last civilized society on Earth, you’re going to build the city your survivors live in, discover new technologies, explore frozen wastelands and most importantly, manage and rule society to prepare it for life in an unforgiving world. Whether you’re an enlightened ruler or an iron-fisted tyrant, you’ll discover choices in this world aren’t as easy as they seem, and that holding power over people has a cost as heavy as the responsibility you feel in caring for them.
