Frostpunk

Frostpunk is a city-building survival game from 11 bit studios. It was released for Windows in April 2018, reaching consoles. The game imagines alternate 1886, after volcanic winter devastates Earth. Its catastrophe follows eruptions that darken skies and freeze oceans. Britain evacuates survivors toward coal reserves discovered around colossal crater. Refugees find a steam-powered generator and begin building New London. Generator provides heat only while coal continuously feeds its furnace. Every settlement decision connects directly to temperature, fuel, and survival. Players govern New London as captain, balancing competing human needs. The central challenge is preserving life while accepting severe compromises.

Citizens require shelter, food, healthcare, employment, and warmth during storms. Homes outside heated zones can make residents sick or die. Workers can gather coal, wood, steel, and raw food from sites. Engineers construct facilities, research technologies, and improve generator's efficiency substantially. Technology unlocks tools, while the Book of Laws unlocks measures. Laws address shifts, child labor, medical triage, faith, and order. Each law changes options while altering hope and discontent levels. Some choices offer relief but create long-term ethical consequences later. Frostpunk consequently turns resource management into an explicitly political responsibility. The settlement's survival depends on collective discipline and constant adaptation.

Its principal scenario A New Home begins with London's refugees. The scenario gradually reveals New London is not their destination. Players send scouts across Frostland, exploring landmarks and finding survivors. They can discover automatons, settlements, resources, and evidence of collapse. A major revelation concerns London's fate and Britain's government directly. New London must also confront approaching superstorm of extraordinary cold. The storm tests stockpiles, infrastructure, laws, and willingness to cooperate. Other scenarios focus on different groups and moments within apocalypse. The Arks protects valuable plants maintained by Oxford and Cambridge. The Refugees explores class conflict after survivors arrive seeking protection.

The Fall of Winterhome presents a ruined settlement and desperate aftermath. Its scenario is notable because players inherit a failing city. The Last Autumn serves as prequel to New London's founding. It depicts workers constructing generator before the frost reaches Britain. On the Edge follows New London after the Great Storm. It introduces outpost supplied by, increasingly independent from New London. Frostpunk's moral pressure often comes from laws rather than disasters. The game asks whether authoritarian tools can preserve freedom's conditions. Players may establish a faith-based society or militarized order regime. Both paths can culminate in repression, showing power's dangerous momentum.