Frostpunk 2 is a labour of love, so far demonstrating everything we needed from a sequel set in the grim ever-winter of Frostland. Challenging, complex, and gorgeously bleak, it channels the spirit of the original and reinvigorates it with an infusion of new mechanics, reworked gameplay, and a narrative dripping with the sense of desperate survivalism that helped Frostpunk 1 stand apart in the city-builder genre.

So what can you expect? Could it end up surpassing the first instalment entirely? And is there enough here to suggest what the final product may have in store for us? In this Frostpunk 2 preview, we’ll break down our initial impressions, and why we’re hopeful the full release may be one of the best games we see this year.

My city has become far too egalitarian for the Icebloods. Marxist policy choices mean the faction are now protesting in my coal mines, shutting down a vital heat pipeline and fomenting further dissent among the now freezing broader populace. It is, regrettably, time to talk. They want me to pass the Apex Workers decree, a darwinian shift towards culling the weak while enhancing the strong. That’ll mean a tasty increase to production efficiency, so I’m not complaining - but the Technocrats will, so the vote won’t pass unless I can persuade the Machinists, their less extreme cousins, to support the bill. Not to worry: I promise the Machinists they can choose the next law we vote on, and watch a chunk of undecided voters shift towards implied eugenics.

The Frostpunk 2 beta has rammed home how different my role is to Frostpunk 1’s dictator. I’m more of a smooth talkin’, palm-greasin’ mayor tasked with keeping a dozen ideologically-opposed plates spinning above a city that could be one harsh blizzard from disaster. I like it, even though at times this jaunt to the a-popsicle-ypse can feel less like solving a crunchy puzzle and more like wading through politics soup.

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