Why I didn't like Frostpunk 2... - An Honest Review

Frostpunk 2 is a society survival game set in an apocalyptic blizzard ravaged earth.

00:00 Introduction
00:27 Story
01:50 Game play
05:05 Design
05:51 Originality
06:21 The Final Brew

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[amzraptor]

I feel like once you master a good start, it becomes really just a ping-pong match between factions. I managed to finish the story mode with probably 1/4 of the research and maybe 6 or 7 rules passed. I would say, its one of those games where you can have fun with once.

[archerj]

When it showed that oil was going to be the thing instead of coal, i expected a remix of the first game, just starring the US. Europe built the land ships and generators, i figured this would have the US doing a similar thing with oil based systems. I was looking forward to a "familiar-yet-different" take on the new ice age.

I'm not real sure who this game is for.

[AlrightMikeGames]

You've articulated my feelings about this game better than i ever could. Perfectly said. Frostpunk 2 had me hyped, but it just simply lacks everything that made OG Frostpunk so fun. I planned for months to do a FP2 series on my channel, but after putting like 40 hrs into the game off-camera, to me it just came off

[maboilaurence]

Seems like this game suffered the same fate of Darkest Dungeon 2, trying to change a winning formula without a clear goal in mind.

[colinhogue]

Hmm. On Steward difficulty it seemed like it is a city-builder resource management game.
I was almost always in the green with my resources after about 150 days.
Though specifically a "strategy" city-builder. Where you can get screwed with "incorrect" district placements and adjacency bonuses. (never place housing in areas without the crevasse bonuses)
EG: so long as at least 3 parts of a sheltered area are part of a housing district, it gets the full bonus even if it's expanded 9 districts outside of the sheltered area. So trying to get 2 housing districts to utilize that bonus plus their own adjacency heat can do quite a lot to help save resources. (And for one specific crevasse in the campaign, you can fit 3 housing districts all having at least 2 adjacency and with a spot for a heating hub to hit all three maximizing its heat efficiency)
Though this was learned through a lot of resetting at first and on the onset feels more like "cheese" as it's difficult to actually "plan placements" since you can't immediately cancel district builds. Not conductive to a new-user experience in that I agree.

[douwe]

I have a similar opinion until I went with survival mode on Steward difficulty. The base rules of this game are the same, make sure you do as MUCH as you can do, from reputation, to research and building the right buildings, activating the right double shifts and harsh choices. Once you get the hang of a good start, the rest is just playing the game on the normal timer, make sure you keep your income stable and balance the infinite resources well enough to keep going. It changed my opinion about the game completely. The fact you cannot pauze, means every choice you make, will have impact and you watch it unfold in front of you. You cannot, not use every system, and hope you win. Having your factions on devoted feels nice, but extort them for money every time you can. Bully them, but always keep them generally happy. FP2 does one thing right, and that is teaching you that people don't matter, the survival of the city matters. Let people die, push boundaries and make sure your economy and stability always have priority.

I restarted two times learning the basics, both times in chapter 2. I finished the game in one go, quite smoothly afterwards.

[DemonicX-vgvp]

Fair video, there's like 100 different ways i got tons of resources. it's meant to be "Never have enough" because it forces you to keep progressing, cause if you don't the city is doomed. for example, in utopia builder, i was hit with 2 back-to-back whiteouts with a generator 1 upgrade for adaptability, and despite the absolute tons of coal and steam i had i was STILL nearly freezing. This is where the generator upgrades, coal liquidation, and a fuel colony came together. because i was forced to innovate, i had to send a colony to retrieve much needed oil, needed to upgrade my generator for better resource optimization, upgraded my steam gathering and pumpjacks in the fuel colony, and after all that innovation i made it through the next whiteout with steam ALONE. (Also why, piece of advice, NEVER have idle researchers, you're wasting time the game will use to make it colder)

I get resource management isn't fun for many people, but its the driving force behind frostpunk. if the game just hands out a deposit of 500 oil flat at the beginning, suddenly nothing you do really matters because your people sure aren't freezing anytime soon.

[Valariel]

It doesn't give you a ton of guidance. Maybe i'm just bad at this game, but I'm very experienced with FP1 and I failed to maintain my city on officer mode twice in a row :( Gonna try again on the lower difficulty.

[LolGamer]

Ngl, the story lost me. It felt like the most Cookie Cutter political story ever seen, one faction hates the other, oh wow. And the general pacing was off a bit, wish we could actually further one faction vision once the other is gone.

[mikepopstar]

I loved FP1 but I dont like FP2 any bit..it is terrible with the UI...to hard...no connection..just bad bad bad I played 8 hours and will play no more...will go back to FP1

[lucho]

"Actions have no impact in this game" - This comment made me pause the video.... Did we play the same game?... The game story is purely actions/decisions oriented and you have around 2-3 different endings PER chapter... which means at the end of Chapter 5 you have your own unique (suffering) story to overcome.

I respect your opinion not liking it (it is indeed a very niche game) - but FP2 is probably one of the best decision making/story teller resource management games out there.

To balance my comment (not everything is praise); I loved the political aspect but wish they had focused/added more 'Frost' and climate events - the Whiteout is very punishing but only happens once or twice so you are not really challenged by the weather (I think this is different on Endless Mode). It would have been interested to have a Blizzard or Whiteout in the middle of my Civil Wars xD

[Kirlian]

Ugh. It's another Stellaris. So much potential, but the micro-management just takes you out of the game. It may seem like 'complexity', but it's honestly just chores. Don't get me wrong, the first game wasn't without its faults, but at least you had a static area, depending on the scenario. Hard pass on this until it's on sale for less than 10 bucks tbh.

[zakbrown]

I feel like the detractors don't really understand the point of it, we have already survived the death of the earth so we are rebuilding society now, along with all the chaos that goes with it, different aim of the world they are trying to create..

[infectiousproduction]

the first one was way better you can build where you wanted you dont have those hexagonal / civilisation 6 type of thing, and it was way more hard, you can lose a game in 10 min, i WILL not buy this game

[FoarteMisto]

From what i have seen Frostpunk 2 is something else and not really a improvement to Frostpunk 1.. I have to play the first one - i have it on both Steam and GOG !