Frostpunk
What to Know
Average Score
- October 11, 2019
- 11 bit studios
- Strategy
- Nom: Best Strategy Game (2018), Editors' Choice
Critics Consensus
- October 11, 2019
- Strategy
- Nom: Best Strategy Game (2018), Editors' Choice
Critics Consensus
# Reviews: 73
Frostpunk is a truly harrowing strategy game requiring you to make difficult decisions to survive inhospitable conditions. It's a thrilling twist on the city builder genre, and well worth your time.
Awards & Recognition
Critic Reviews for Frostpunk
Reviews
Silver TIER
53% of scored reviews fell within the range of 86 to 92 / 100
Caley Roark (IGN)
9/10
“Frostpunk deftly mixes a variety of thematic ideas and gameplay elements into an engaging and unique, if occasionally unintuitive, strategy game.”
GameCentral (Metro GameCentral)
9/10
“It may have the framework of an ordinary city builder but there’s an insightful, and frequently disturbing, philosophical message at the heart of this cross-genre classic.”
Brittany Vincent (Shacknews)
8/10
“The game does lose a bit of its luster after you beat the main scenario, but the two additional stories do put what you learned to the test. I’m eager to see what new situations 11 Bit Studios adds to the Frostpunk in the future, as the concept has a ton of untapped potential.”
Outlet | Author | Score | Date | Quote | Read |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
33bits | Fernando Sánchez | 90 / 100 | 10-11-2019 | Frostpunk is like catching a city builder, like Maxis's famous Sim City but where our moral decisions can leave a trail of corpses along the way and ultimately fail means our end, or the end of the entire city. It is simply brilliant how moral decisions have been implemented with such great consequences in an almost innocent type of genre such as construction and city management, but 11 bit Studios has managed to do so, and in a very satisfactory way. Highly recommended. | Read review |
3DNews | Денис Щенников | 9 / 10 | 04-30-2018 | Frostpunk is not as complex city builder as it could be, but an engaging one for sure. What is more important, it will challenge your moral principles like no other game before. | Read review |
Ars Technica | Steven Strom | Recommended | 04-24-2018 | Frostpunk is a city builder focused on story and setting over creativity. Minor issues hold it back but not enough to ruin its grim vision of alternate history. Buy it. | Read review |
Attack of the Fanboy | Brandon Adams | 4.5 / 5 stars | 10-10-2019 | If you have yet to play Frostpunk and enjoy city-builders you should absolutely give the console edition a look. It's a worthy port of a phenomenal game, and I hope to see more games brought over from PC given this sort of love and attention in the future. | Read review |
AusGamers | Kosta Andreadis | 9 / 10 | 04-30-2018 | One of the most intense, beautiful, and emotionally resonant games that features arranging housing and streets ever made. | Read review |
BaziCenter | Danial Karimi Tar | 9 / 10 | 10-13-2019 | Your most important challenge in the latest release from 11 Bit Studios is that you always have to make ethical decisions that affects your people directly. Putting the children to work? Using dead people's organs before sending their bodies to mass graves? Sacrificing some to save others? And so on. These are the decisions that you have to make if you are to lead your people through frozen wastelands of Frostpunk. | Read review |
CGMagazine | Preston Dozsa | 8.5 / 10 | 04-23-2018 | Frostpunk is a brutal city-builder that shines thanks to difficult choices, an original world and engaging gameplay. | Read review |
Chalgyr's Game Room | Nick Herber | 9 / 10 | 10-15-2019 | With dozens of different selections for technology research, an interesting and almost living personality to your city, and heaps of frozen trouble, FrostPunk will challenge every fiber of your strategic being and it. is. glorious. I am not entirely sure I can adequately define the addictive brutality found in FrostPunk as it is genius in its drive to freeze you out. FrostPunk is worth your time on every level … the visceral struggle of a lost people working their way through the frozen tundra is incredibly relatable and it is terrifying. | Read review |
COGconnected | Stephanie Sung | 86 / 100 | 10-28-2019 | Frostpunk is, without a doubt, not an easy game and requires extensive strategizing and multiple playthroughs to succeed. | Read review |
Critical Hit | Darryn Bonthuys | 9 / 10 | 10-10-2019 | Frostpunk is an ingenious blend of city building systems and morally ambiguous decision making. Its mechanics are streamlined enough to be easy to grasp, but it's tension and demanding nature make it an apocalyptic experience you shouldn't skip. | Read review |
Cubed3 | Josh Di Falco | 9 / 10 | 05-30-2020 | Frostpunk is quite simply one of the best city-building experiences on the PlayStation 4 with a highly detailed narrative written for four huge campaigns. The sadness in there only being four campaigns is a true testament to the team at 11 Bit Studios, as they have crafted such a memorable experience, with gut-wrenching decisions at every turn. The savagery of the game can have long-lasting effects that can carry into the subsequent play-throughs, as the memories of what arose from making previous decisions can sway future decisions down other pathways. For those who wish to experience a more laid-back 'Sim City' like experience, then this title may not be the right title to jump into. However after experiencing this, it will be easy to feel anxious to see whatever the team behind it has in store next. | Read review |
Cultured Vultures | Jimmy Donnellan | 8.5 / 10 | 04-27-2018 | While not without some faults and limitations, Frostpunk is an often harrowing parable on society that makes you the monster without you even realising it. | Read review |
Daily Mirror | James Ide | 4 / 5 stars | 07-03-2018 | I thought I'd pretty much seen everything in the strategy gene and I'm delighted to say Frostpunk while hard and unforgiving is rewarding and a breathe of fresh frozen air to of the strategy genre, with and great story. Underneath the cold harsh tone, difficulty, and slightly tricky interface lie the warm beating heart of a strong and surprisingly deep game. | Read review |
Destructoid | Patrick Hancock | 8.5 / 10 | 05-01-2018 | Frostpunk is such a bizarre game. Playing through it mechanically and logistically leads to a relatively standard resource manager. However, by investing yourself in the town and the people within it, you allow in the crushing weight of the decisions you'll have to make and the emotional consequences that follow. They may not be affecting real people, but treating it as such is what this game is all about. It's an emotional roller coaster that will likely leave you more defeated after "winning" than when you first started, and that is incredible. | Read review |
Digiato | Shayan Karami | 84 / 100 | 04-22-2018 | After This War of Mine and its expansion, 11bit studios has done it again. Great attention to details, multiple choice options and artistic and technical design are the reasons that make Frostpunk a truly joyful experience for people who seek a truly different city builder. | Read review |
Eurogamer | Robert Purchese | Recommended | 04-27-2018 | A thrilling but thin survival twist on the city builder genre, oozing dark charisma and political dilemmas. | Read review |
Game Informer | Matt Bertz | 8.8 / 10 | 04-23-2018 | Don't come to Frostpunk if you want sunshine, unicorns, and happy outcomes. This is a bleak game about making difficult decisions to survive inhospitable conditions | Read review |
Gameblog | Camille Allard | 8 / 10 | 04-30-2018 | Frostpunk is a very good management game. Intelligent, dark and mature, its major flaw is its lack of replay value and the lack of impact of moral choices. Despite that, it's clearly a must have for all management/survival games lovers. | Read review |
GameCrate | Angelo D'Argenio | 8.5 / 10 | 04-23-2018 | Frostpunk is one of the best sim games to come out in decades. If you want a more bleak and depressing twist on the age old genre of city management, this is your game. | Read review |
Gamefa | Mohammad Aria Moghaddam | 8.5 / 10 | 06-10-2018 | Another amazing game from developers of This War of Mine. Beautiful story, challenging decisions, unique art style, variant gameplay mechanics and deep survival elements, made Frostpunk one of the best survival game of this generation and a must-have game for fans of deep dark challenging survival games. Don't miss it! | Read review |
Gameplanet | Ben Wilson | 9 / 10 | 04-27-2018 | Frostpunk is a bleak and challenging colony builder/survival title that will either give you more respect for your boss, or have you rallying your co-workers to oust them. | Read review |
GamePro | Manuel Fritsch | 89 / 100 | 10-10-2019 | Morally rousing mix of strategy and survival, which convinces with clever comfort functions and good menu navigation even on console. | Read review |
Gamers Heroes | Johnny Hurricane | 8 / 10 | 10-10-2019 | Frostpunk is not for the faint of heart. However, if you think you can handle the stressful job of being a leader, you can easily lose a couple of nights to the game. | Read review |
Gamersky | 不倒翁蜀黍 | 8.8 / 10 | 04-29-2018 | Frostpunk is a fantastic city-builder which contains tough survival elements, and you can expect to be impressed by the shocking scenarios. | Read review |
GameSkinny | Sergey_3847 | 9 / 10 | 04-23-2018 | Both in technical execution and gameplay design Frostpunk is practically flawless. It's incredibly complex and may create an illusion of great moral pressure, and that's the beauty of it! | Read review |
GameSpew | Chris McMullen | 8 / 10 | 05-08-2018 | If doom and gloom isn't your thing then Frostpunk won't appeal and you're better off with a less misery-drenched city-builder such as the excellent Cities: Skylines. But if you're a sucker for the punishing post-apocalyptic (and this game can certainly dish it out) then Frostpunk's bleak winter wonderland will keep you hooked, turning you into a horrible, horrible person in the process. | Read review |
GameSpot | Daniel Starkey | 9 / 10 | 04-24-2018 | Frostpunk is a brutal city-survival sim that thrives on forcing you to make tough choices in harrowing scenarios. | Read review |
GameWatcher | Marcello Perricone | 9 / 10 | 05-09-2018 | Frostpunk is definitely one of the most engaging strategy games around, and one that deserves to be experienced. | Read review |
GamingBolt | Ravi Sinha | 9 / 10 | 05-02-2018 | Frostpunk is a captivating experience, whether you're seeking an emotionally effective story or a solid city-building survival game. Even with all the despair, each decision feels like it matters and had weight. | Read review |
GBAtemp | Taleweaver | 8.6 / 10 | 05-21-2018 | It's just an amazing experience. Unfortunately, you're going to have to take my word for it. The screens don't do it justice. The reviews and gameplay doesn't do it justice. Actually playing it yourself gives a sort of constant concern for your inhabitants, which makes the tough decisions really nailbitingly hard ones. | Read review |
God is a Geek | Chris Hyde | 9 / 10 | 10-10-2019 | Frostpunk Console Edition is the happiest I've been staring despair in the face. A fantastic city-builder where you really care about the people you're trying to save. | Read review |
GRYOnline.pl | Jakub Mirowski | 8.5 / 10 | 04-22-2018 | Give Frostpunk a chance – you’ll soon find out that this is yet another ambitious project from 11 bit studios that is greater than the sum of its parts. This very atmospheric "survival strategy" deserves a success and the developers should know that they are on the right path of achieving it. | Read review |
Hardcore Gamer | Cory Wells | 4 / 5 stars | 04-30-2018 | Frostpunk is a unique strategy game that offers both an engaging and addicting element. | Read review |
IGN | Caley Roark | 9 / 10 | 04-25-2018 | Frostpunk deftly mixes a variety of thematic ideas and gameplay elements into an engaging and unique, if occasionally unintuitive, strategy game. | Read review |
IGN Spain | Carlos G. Gurpegui | 8.5 / 10 | 04-23-2018 | Frostpunk can get to your heart and let it frozen just with a few simple decisions and that's amazing. | Read review |
Metro GameCentral | GameCentral | 9 / 10 | 10-10-2019 | It may have the framework of an ordinary city builder but there's an insightful, and frequently disturbing, philosophical message at the heart of this cross-genre classic. | Read review |
MonsterVine | Shannon P. Drake | 4 / 5 stars | 05-03-2018 | If you want some amazing, bleak, and depressing world-building, Frostpunk is definitely your jam. | Read review |
New Game Network | Josh Hinke | 74 / 100 | 05-03-2018 | Frostpunk is a solid entry into the city-builder genre with a unique survival twist, and one that's bound to appeal to those who have enjoyed similar games. Still, it lacks the personality and depth to win over anyone who doesn't already love micromanaging workforces and watching numbers go up. | Read review |
NoobFeed | Bogdan Robert Mateș | 82 / 100 | 04-28-2018 | Frostpunk is an engrossing survival city builder that doesn't shun away from requiring difficult decisions on the player's part. | Read review |
OnlySP | Damien Lawardorn | 3 / 5 stars | 04-27-2018 | Few games are as unremittingly grim as Frostpunk. In this world of snow and sacrifice, success comes rarely, and hope is but a fleeting memory. Failure is almost assured, and the lessons learned in that process can only be applied to a certain degree. Additionally, some elements intended to be challenging can be exasperating. Nevertheless, these gripes are relatively minor and do little to detract from the engrossing atmosphere. Although the title is unlikely to be remembered as a benchmark or future model for the city builder genre, it stands out from the pack by daring to carve out a wholly unique niche and refusing to pander to the mass-market mentality. | Read review |
Oyungezer Online | Eser Güven | 7.8 / 10 | 04-26-2018 | Atmospherically, Frostpunk is very good at making you feel the cold and the desperation that comes along with it. But since you don't really get to create emotional ties with the people you manage, you don't feel the emotional weights of the choices you make either. | Read review |
Pardis Game | Shahab Zareei | 9 / 10 | 05-31-2018 | Frostpunk is both a fresh and intense experience in its genre. It is both a competent city-builder and an engaiging survivor game. Its beautiful art and music go very well with its settings and story. Your choices matter and each has its consequences, and pitch your senses of morality and reason against each other. The gameplay is challenging and fun by itself, yet new challenges are presented throughout the game to keep things fresh. The only downside is that these challenges lose their element of surprise after the first playthrough. | Read review |
PC Gamer | Christopher Livingston | 89 / 100 | 04-23-2018 | Frostpunk is a stressful, stylish, and addictive survival management game filled with incredibly difficult choices. | Read review |
PC Invasion | Paul Younger | 8 / 10 | 04-24-2018 | Frost Punk will test your city management skills to the max and keep you coming back for more. | Read review |
PCGamesN | Julian Benson | 8 / 10 | 03-22-2018 | 11 Bit Studios have done marvellous work on evoking the symbolism of the engine giving life. | Read review |
Player2.net.au | Glenn Gugliotti | Recommended | 07-05-2018 | If you are into these non-combat/city building types of strategy games, I highly highly highly recommend Frostpunk. The gameplay is very engaging, the sound is amazing and the game is just stunning to look at. Just so you know, expect your people to die, because they will. So, so many of them will die. | Read review |
PlayStation LifeStyle | Jarrett Green | 9 / 10 | 10-10-2019 | To say Frostpunk is fun would be like saying watching The Road is fun. It’s engaging, challenging, inventive and unique. It cleverly re-purposes old genre tropes, and embraces the rigors of micromanaging dire people in a dark time with such earnest that it’s hard not to get charmed into hours of sadistic yet satisfying struggle. | Read review |
PlayStation Universe | John-Paul Jones | 9 / 10 | 10-10-2019 | A stellar societal strategy game with a dark, moralistic centre, Frostpunk is a rare genre effort where your actions linger with you long after your time with it has finished. This is tactical, though well-meaning nihilism at its best, and is an easy recommendation to those who want their grey matter tested as much as their heart. | Read review |
PowerUp! | James Wood | 9 / 10 | 05-20-2018 | The impact Frostpunk can have on the player is truly remarkable. | Read review |
PSX Brasil | Francisco Maia | 94 / 100 | 10-11-2019 | Whether it's the setting and mature themes presented or the diverse and complex gameplay mechanics, Frostpunk sets an example on how strategy games should be. The immersion is so deep that it is difficult to realize the lost (but well invested) hours. It is a game that deserves your attention and it's absolutely worth of your time. | Read review |
Push Square | John Cal McCormick | 8 / 10 | 10-10-2019 | At its best, Frostpunk provides a tense, nail-biting experience like few others in the genre. It's not about building an empire, or creating a beautiful cityscape, but simply doing what you need to do to guide your people through what at first seems like insurmountable adversity. There's a few niggling issues, but the feeling you get from surviving the campaign is one of utter, unbridled joy, and it's that feeling more than any other why we have absolutely no qualms about recommending Frostpunk to you. | Read review |
Rapid Reviews UK | Chuck Osborn | 4.5 / 5 stars | 10-19-2019 | Being in charge of a virtual city (and, I imagine, a real city) can be stressful, but rewarding. Take Cities: Skylines for example; there’s the pressure of keeping people happy, but the fun of constructing your own city and seeing it thrive. Now, add being situated in a frozen wasteland where people need warmth and food to survive. The pressure is significantly heightened, and this is what Frostpunk is all about. | Read review |
Rock, Paper, Shotgun | Xalavier Nelson Jr | Recommended | 04-23-2018 | Frostpunk may be one of the most tense, exciting city building survival games on PC, but for a game with such an emphasis on innate justice, and heat, it leaves you surprisingly cold. | Read review |
Screen Rant | Connor Trinske | 4.5 / 5 stars | 10-15-2019 | Despite its graphical compromises, Frostpunk: Console Edition is an excellent way to experience one of the best games of last year. | Read review |
SECTOR.sk | Branislav Kohút | 8 / 10 | 04-24-2018 | Anothoer unique game from 11 bit studios, however with some reserves. Anyhow worth buying and playing. | Read review |
SelectButton | Kevin Mitchell | 9 / 10 | 10-11-2019 | Frostpunk is without a doubt an excellent new entry into the city-building genre. It contains enough familiar elements tinged with new, fantastical ones comprised of the steampunk aesthetic and feel. Admittedly though, the game's seemingly shorter length may make it feel like it's not complete, but that's not true in any way. It's great price point, challenging gameplay mechanics, and overall offerings with replayability make this a solid game to pick up. It takes some time to master as well, making it worth the challenge of surviving in the long winter. | Read review |
Shacknews | Brittany Vincent | 8 / 10 | 05-09-2018 | The game does lose a bit of its luster after you beat the main scenario, but the two additional stories do put what you learned to the test. I'm eager to see what new situations 11 Bit Studios adds to the Frostpunk in the future, as the concept has a ton of untapped potential. | Read review |
Slant Magazine | Steven Scaife | 3.5 / 5 stars | 04-24-2018 | It pushes back hard against the sort of easy dominance over people so common to city-building games. | Read review |
Softpedia | Silviu Stahie | 9.5 / 10 | 04-23-2018 | I can only hope that players won't be discouraged by the insanely difficult learning curve because I promise you, on the other end is a beautiful game that everyone has to experience. | Read review |
SomHráč.sk | Martin Bago | 80 / 100 | 12-23-2019 | Frostpunk skillfully combines survival with city building and adds unique winter setting and tense atmosphere to the mix. There's not much replay value, though. | Read review |
SpazioGames | DottorKillex | 8 / 10 | 10-25-2019 | Frostpunk is not the usual city builder, but it is a game that pushes the player to its moral limit. | Read review |
TechRaptor | Don Parsons | 8.5 / 10 | 05-01-2018 | Frostpunk is a compelling experience with a smart and interesting take on the genre that might not have the emotional punch you were looking for. | Read review |
The Digital Fix | Lloyd Coombes | 9 / 10 | 03-14-2019 | Frostpunk is bleak. Really bleak. | Read review |
The Games Machine | Mario Baccigalupi | 8.8 / 10 | 04-23-2018 | 11 bit studios changed radically its formula from This War of Mine, and engaged in a compelling, well-written steampunk odyssey set in a frozen wasteland. The connection between gameplay and dynamic storytelling is impressive, and the result is a great experience. | Read review |
TheSixthAxis | Jason Coles | 9 / 10 | 05-03-2018 | Frostpunk is a truly harrowing game in the best possible way and one that will have you steeped in the harsh reality of eternal winter for dozens of hours to come. | Read review |
ThisGenGaming | Justin Oneil | 9 / 10 | 10-10-2019 | If you’re like me and missed this on PC don’t remain out in the cold, come in and see why it’s so good. | Read review |
Too Much Gaming | Matthew Arcilla | 9 / 10 | 04-27-2018 | What separates Frostpunk from other city builders like it is the tension between ethics and expediency, morality and morale. Your decisions will cost you either your humanity or your principles. | Read review |
TrueAchievements | Heidi Nicholas | 4 / 5 stars | 10-10-2019 | Frostpunk can be overhelming and would benefit from a longer tutorial, so it’s understandable if those new to the genre find it too tricky. But a well-conceived narrative and premise makes it worth picking up whether you’re new to the genre, or have years of city-building experience behind you. | Read review |
Twinfinite | Zhiqing Wan | 4.5 / 5 stars | 04-23-2018 | Frostpunk is an extremely polished city-builder game that builds upon the genre's core mechanics with meaningful innovations. Despite the steep learning curve at the start, it manages to be captivating every step of the way while never forgoing that rush of adrenaline you get when the game strips away your power and complacency with yet another ethically conflicting challenge. | Read review |
VGChartz | Jacob James | 8 / 10 | 10-21-2019 | Frostpunk: Console Edition is a brutal game where every choice comes at a price. | Read review |
Washington Post | Christopher Byrd | Recommended | 04-26-2018 | When I turned away sick refugees and lost children and pulled my engineers away from medical rounds so they could labor in the mines with blue-collar workers I could only admire how skillfully the game teased out my latent ruthlessness. | Read review |
Wccftech | Jorge Jimenez | 8.5 / 10 | 04-29-2018 | Frostpunk is a challenging city builder where your decisions have dramatic repercussions on the citizens you're tasked with looking after in a wintery apocalypse. It's a pleasant surprise that is definitely worth your time if you're looking for something different and brutally challenging. | Read review |
Game Info
Frostpunk is a brand-new title from the creators of This War of Mine. It’s a society survival game that asks what people are capable of when pushed to the brink of extinction. In an entirely frozen world, people develop steam-powered technology to oppose the overwhelming cold. The city’s ruler has to manage both the citizens and the infrastructure they live in. The leader’s tactical skills face challenges that will frequently question morality and the basic foundations of what we consider organized society. Optimization and resource management often clash with empathy and thoughtful decision-making. While city and society management will consume most of the ruler’s time, at some point exploration of the outside world is necessary to understand its history and present state.
RELEASE DATES:
DEVELOPER(S):
- 11 bit studios
PUBLISHER(S):
- 11 bit studios
GENRES:
- Strategy
SERIES/FRANCHISE:
- n/a
GAME MODES:
- Single player
GAME ENGINE:
- -
DLC:
- Frostpunk: The Fall of Winterhome (Sep 19, 2018)
- Frostpunk: The Last Autumn (Jan 21, 2020)
- Frostpunk: On The Edge (Aug 20, 2020)
BUNDLED IN:
- -
DIRECTOR(S):
- -
PRODUCER(S):
- -
DESIGNER(S):
- -
PROGRAMMER(S):
- -
ARTIST(S):
- -
WRITER(S):
- -
COMPOSER(S):
- -
GAME MODES:
- Single player
GAME ENGINE:
- n/a
DLC:
- Frostpunk: The Fall of Winterhome (Sep 19, 2018)
- Frostpunk: The Last Autumn (Jan 21, 2020)
- Frostpunk: On The Edge (Aug 20, 2020)
BUNDLED IN:
- n/a
DIRECTOR(S):
- n/a
PRODUCER(S):
- n/a
DESIGNER(S):
- n/a
PROGRAMMER(S):
- n/a
ARTIST(S):
- n/a
WRITER(S):
- n/a
COMPOSER(S):
- n/a
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