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Frostpunk 2 huh ? (hexbear.net)
submitted 18 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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So the truth is I didn’t care much for Frostpunk 1. Just seemed like a survival city builder with some story elements. I can see why people like it but it didnt exactly wow me.

Frostpunk 2 seems different, though—the grander scale and apparent focus on politics really intrigue me.

I enjoy games like Victoria 3, Suzerain, etc. Does it scratch a similar itch? Or is the political arena much less impactful?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

I quite like Frostpunk 1 as a city builder and I found Frostpunk 2 to be not that good, the UI when I played was not that good and playing through the game itself it doesn't get much better, at some point you will found different cities and dealing with them just doesn't work since you need to micromanage three screens now.

Politics wise it goes all in on the 'You wanted to do this good thing that's actually bad.' Like you can do something like 'Communal Child Rearing' and it basically develops into children taken from mothers right after birth and given a different name so...... I don't know why I guess for misery shit.

And like there's very little gameplay wise like it's incredibly anemic once you figure out how it works so all you can do is follow the story and it's yeah not that good, it's just this over and over.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 17 hours ago

Frostpunk 2 huh ?

and freeze on that thang

[–] [email protected] 14 points 16 hours ago

So the truth is I didn’t care much for Frostpunk 1. Just seemed like a survival city builder with some story elements. I can see why people like it but it didnt exactly wow me.

The secret is to allow light child labour on account of "this is literally the apocalypse you idiots" and then send all the excess engineers that free's up towards other job and ignore all of their pleading for better work conditions since they're too small a faction to do anything about it.

Fascinating theory of automatons you have there, here's a pickaxe.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 16 hours ago

I didn't like the dumb af tone in the first one whenever you took any drastic measures in a life or death situation so idgaf about the second one

[–] [email protected] 16 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (2 children)

when I finished the first one, it gave me some liberal bullshit about "authoritarianism" or "Stalinism" can't remember which. so I do not have high hopes for a more political Frostpunk

[–] [email protected] 16 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

I might be wrong but I think that Frostpunk 1 criticizes your choices not matter what you do at the end.

I dont care that much wether the politics in Frostpunk 2 are good. I just enjoy the concept of trying to manage different political factions ingames.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I redownloaded tropico and am having more fun in that

[–] [email protected] 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Tropico is pretty fun, despite the theoretically anti-communist setting

[–] [email protected] 3 points 12 hours ago

I kinda wish there was something between tropico and workers and resources in terms of city building that scratches the political economy itch :(

[–] [email protected] 5 points 18 hours ago

Yeah I think it was authoritarianism. I finished a play through earlier this year and feel the same way. Still tempted to try it out though.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I found Frostpunk 2 to be worse than Frostpunk 1.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

In which ways did you find FP2 worse ? . Cause I didnt enjoy Frostpunk 1 that much and at least on paper Frostpunk 2 looks more interesting to me. Its obviously possible that neither FP1 or FP2 are the right game for me.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

the politics were very boring and the city building just didn't feel as good as the first.

Edit: also the UI was absolutely horrendous.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

I really liked Frostpunk 1 (despite its "authoritarianism" bullshit, I've played 122 hours) so I preordered the sequel. I've played ~11 hours of it.

I enjoy games like Victoria 3, Suzerain, etc. Does it scratch a similar itch?

I've only played Vic3 of the two listed. I wouldn't really say it does. Continued below...

Or is the political arena much less impactful?

There is a lot less... Both in the economic and political spheres. Not that its bad, its just that there are a lot less resources. Somewhat less in the entire political sphere. So, if that's not what you want, no. But if that isn't a problem then maybe its a game for you.

I know I haven't really fleshed this out if you want more info on something do tell. Or if you have other questions, ask.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (2 children)

How much content / replay value is there in Frostpunk 2 ? Can I experience most of the game in just 10hours or is there much more than that ? So in terms of scope its much grander than the first game right ? Like I can control even multiple cities and have to juggle different factions ? Is the interaction with these factions fun (for a lack of a better word?)

I heard some folks say it even goes a bit into the direction of 4x games maybe.

Any input is welcome

[–] [email protected] 2 points 17 hours ago

I also forgot to, though it is slightly apparent from playtime, I liked the first more.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

FP2 is divided up into 5 chapters, in my playtime I've gotten through the prologue(quite short, acts as a tutorial) and played some of the 1st chapter. Then restarted and played through the prologue (I only wanted to restart the 1st chap though. I kinda fucked up, ofc.) and some of the 1st again. I'm not sure I got to the end of the 1st chapter. So there is more than 10 hours (even considering I restarted). As such I also can't say how much replay there is once done with the chapters.

Yes, you can control multiple cities, since I didn't get that far into the game, I haven't had much experience with it. Its mostly like the main city, you build districts, you extract resources, you manage housing and heat, etc., but with the part I have played, fewer people, less space, and therefore also less resources in total. And the laws and research follows the main. You can transfer people back and forth, and can set resources to be sent either way (instant transfer, only for cities, if I remember correctly)

The faction juggling is primarily through the Senate (or whatevs its called) and research, where the factions have their preferred solution^[in the senate you might have to negotiate with one of the factions to have something passed, or not, depending on what you want. Promising them e.g. the right to choose what law to vote on next session, potentially one you don't want, requiring you to negotiate]^[In research, their solutions will have different requirements, e.g. one needs less of resource X, but more people, and gives disease, where the other faction will require more of X, but less people, and give squalor] to problems. Outside of these two, the factions are displayed at the bottom of the screen where you can click on them and do a few things, stuff that increases their relationship with you, asking them for money (decreasing their relationship with you in return), and others I forget.
Of course, if one of the factions has a very bad relationship with you, they'll riot.