- Tested on PC with a RTX 4070 TI in 3440 X 1440 ultra wide screen.
- Game purchased on Steam, the top for a steampunk game.
- Played about thirty hours in a few games. I took over the game from the beginning and loaded up backups multiple times. Long live the long weekends!
- Solo campaign finished in difficulty mode 2/4, officer, level recommended by the game for veterans of the first opus!
- Faced with the complexity of the systems, I probably could not see that the Polish iceberg emerged!
- My dictatorial destiny was all traced... my mother called the little ayatollah to the primary...
- Home gameplay captures.
- Any resemblance to real facts or the recent results of the American elections is purely accidental.
« All the evil of this world comes from what we're not good enough or not perverted enough. » wrote Machiavelli which I took to the letter. Democratic friends and ecoterrorists in short panties, in these troubled times with brown red hues, is it not high time to renounce our ideals and embrace dictatorship once and for all? Even from the wishes of our good president, enfied by the hybris, he whispers that we should celebrate our monarch and his broads. That after all, we toothless and filthy are nothing. We could only try the dictatorship with wisdom. Piqué au vive par such kindness vis-à-vis the little people, I therefore decided to endow Pol Pot's uniform by launching Frostpunk 2, a demanding and radical management game in the ice age. A political simulation in which the temptation of power quickly friezes the coup. The child of the Enlightenment gradually became a bloodthirsty tyrant. Like what, from democracy to fascism, there is only one step. Logbook of an implacable governor.
«I like gas, I like oil » Donald Trump.
For those who do not yet know the original franchise of 11 Bit Studios, Polish devs are one of the leading figures of the independent scene with playful proposals that never forget to make the player think, led to take part in cornelian choices. Let it be the tears of war and calvary on the side of civilians in the remarkable This War of Mine or their next production, The Alters, where a space minor is forced to create alternative versions of himself in order to survive on an inhospitable planet, 11 Bit Studios systematically seeks to make the player involved in his destiny. In each new game, a variant of the survival. The first opus, released in 2018, totally convinced us. My experience was – again – led by a fanatical theocratic government that would certainly emulate the Israeli ultra-orthodox today.
Find snow Frostpunk is a treat. The game takes advantage of current technology to improve its graphics. This urban world steampunk is full of life and the camera can zoom in ready enough to see machines breaking the ice where settlers crisscross the streets of the districts. The weather effects move gradually on the map until new areas to explore are revealed. Frospunk circulates between cities and outposts without time dead with a particularly successful zoom effect even if it also presents some saccades. Overall the game enjoys a serious finish though a strand of facade on the details at the time when these lines are written. Among the defects, some parts have resulted in graphical bugs and backups sometimes make the screen curl for a few seconds. An excusable pitfall that reminds us that we're in a video game while it's been ten hours since we were playing... We gradually slide into the governor's skin while being carried away by the magnificent OST composed again by Piotr Musial (The Witcher 3, Frostpunk). Cherry on the cake, the pieces adapt with intelligence to the popular grunt, enough to raise the crescendo tension.
The original game was already particularly complete leaving the part beautiful to experimentation (and pain) because error was quickly the prelude to failure. Still particularly punitive and probably more than his grandfather, this second part is even more cruel. First because he throws you into the bath by letting you make your weapons for yourself. No matter if you're not familiar with management games, it's up to you to discover the mechanics and countless game subsystems with only one database that can be accessed at any time by pressing the T key on the keyboard. The objectives announced to the left of the screen allow you to test the temperature and guide the player without the heaviness of a tutorial. This destabilising choice could throw away some of them but it must be understood that failure is an integral part of the playful system of Frostpunk. Even automatic checkpoints are not a guarantee of success to come and it will be necessary in the first parts to load the previous chapters and admit failure rather than persevering towards a situation in any way inextricable.
Where Frostpunk The first of the names systematically put the player in an emergency, the stress is always palpable but more measured, first because of a parliamentary tempo specific to the different sessions and where we will have to convince rival factions to move forward at all costs to legislate. It will thus be possible to negotiate parliamentary pacts with different groups by promising them, for example, the construction of a specific building, by using certain emergency prerogatives or by offering them the hand for the next parliamentary niche. Watch out for undecided people who can tilt the balance and course of the diet unexpectedly. The stakes of the vote are highlighted by a short cinematic where MPs' lanterns light one by one until they get closer to the expected majority. At La De Gaulle, the vote sometimes turned into a plebiscite, even though I only obtained a unanimous vote once by seizing the political opportunity. Sometimes we need to know how to go back and repeal a law to regain public confidence. But be careful not to betray his promises and irritate those with whom we had engaged.
Where white hell would punctuate the parties in the first, surviving in this second part seems much easier in comparison with the parliamentary intrigues to digest. Logical since it is a direct continuation of the former and where people have necessarily learned to live with this ice storm that takes the inhabitants by hundreds, at least for those unfortunate who do not have the luxury of living near the generator, sheltered from the wind, near a heat pole or a computational distributor. This is the natural selection, my poor Lucette, what do you want? What do you mean, it's not enough for a rasis for the week? Illness, unsanitaryness, coldness, accidents at work are a daily routine and it will be necessary to exercise agility to minimize these disorders because there are many variables. It is quite possible to establish regimes similar to communism or, on the contrary, a pure deregulated unequal society.
Divide to better rule
Beyond the generator that will always have to be fed under the risk of triggering a social crisis and a game over, this second part has clearly emphasized parliamentary dynamics and inter-factional intrigues. It's fascinating to see how different each side differs according to your appetite for democracy or your inclination for dictatorship. The potential research tree is also prodigious in terms of gameplay possibilities and certain situations will have to be confronted in order for scientific research to result in a legislative outlet and vice versa. If my Republican sympathies were initially oriented towards progress, research and exploration, I was quickly caught up in the appetite of fascism. A first part again ended in the impasse of fanatical pilgrims who had actually indirectly taken power. These fanatics devoted to religion and adaptation had taken possession of the parliamentary agenda. In seeking to contain or seduce them, I gave them the keys to Parliament. The other sparser factions gradually became phagocytized by this group virulent until they disappeared from the chessboard. Some will notice the resemblance with the French right and whose political agenda is today dictated by the RN. Frostpunk is disturbing in its ability to reproduce contemporary political configurations.
In order to take over the reindeer, I had no alternative but to load a backup upstream. A luxury we'd like to be able to afford IRL. This time, no neighborhoods, I opted for Stalinist planning. As we say in jargon, it is in old (Pol) pots that we make the best recipes. Until the last chapter, the factions, though rivals, seemed satisfied by my management as a good father of the family according to the consecrated old expression. Instead of undressing Paul to dress James, I took advantage of the intestinal divisions to enlist the most virulent elements in my Republican patrol (Ndr: Always beware of self-proclaimed Republicans). The latter very quickly took the form of a consistent secret police from a few men to full brigades and also « passionate » that the BRAV-M. Blinded by their dedication, the different factions did see only fire.
Building on my popularity, I mobilized the parliamentary agenda to put successive states of emergency to the vote, reinforcing my hand on Parliament. Montesquieu would certainly have turned to his grave before the concentration of powers suggested by my reform. Fiction and reality sometimes seem to intersect. With his « Project 2025 » to create a « Executive unit » overseas Atlantic, the repented of the Capitol and 47nd President of the United States also manipulates the euphemisms to set up a loyal regime, where officials are traditionally the guarantors of the meaning of the state rather than the substitutes of the executive head. Another one who played too much to Frostpunk !
After all, does not white hell require the sacrifice of some fundamental freedoms? The perpetual crisis remains a well-functioning technique. In spite of appearances, do not expect to dictate the tempo of parliamentary life to your finger and eye, it will take more than louvoy to achieve your ends. There is also nothing to force you to choose this tyrannical path (but seductive). By entrusting parliamentary sessions to each other and anticipating the legislative proposals of the different groups, I gradually articulated flexible legislation based on one single objective: to retain power and advance my pawns in submarines. The dictatorship is always a reflex in times of crisis.
London Calling
In addition to managing New London, Frostpunk 2 goes much further than its predecessor by allowing to explore and colonize the extended. This macro-political dimension is difficult to take in hand at first, but terribly satisfactory once mastered. Once again, freedom is a queen and we can decide to establish camps that will allow us to reap more resources. It is therefore not one but several cities to be managed, each with its own economy. It will always be necessary to extract enough oil, coal or wood to power turbines from our generators. Sharing and planning expeditions between the different poles of the Scope is equally crucial. Each game can take unpredictable turns that force the player to position itself. In one of my aborted parts, science without ethics gave rise to unbridled legislation close to eugenics. Another led pilgrims to a cult obsessed with oil and morbid rites threatening the balance of society as a whole.
The construction of industrial districts is added to all these components. The latter allow to produce goods essential to the satisfaction of a rather paradoxical consumer proto-society in the era of (real) sobriety which would involve the end of the world. This will require learning to juggle between these different local economies to trade, export and import the missing resources. This will require regular settlers to fill the gaps in the work. Suffice to say that the possibilities of the Scope are infinite with one side « game of which you are the hero » which strengthens our choices. Of course, I had a first time in the face of my incomprehension with certain subsystems that are not always legible, starting with these above-mentioned mechanics or the construction of land and air routes essential to trade but not easy to implement initially. The player gradually bows in front of the crazy generosity of Frostpunk who could have simply replicated the successful formula of the first, where he prefers to invite us to reflect in depth on the mechanics of power.
Once freed from economic constraints and white hells, I opted for the colonization of a territory that cost human life dearly, the fault of toxic gases that it had to deal with regardless of my administration. A choice here still carefully reflected behind my keyboard, sheltered from the scourge. Meanwhile, still in catmini, I was recruiting the most radical elements of the Beatate factions of New London, planning a coup d'état in the event of a regime crisis. I promised asylums, closed houses and a total absence of alcohol rationing. The drunken hairy letters and the mastery of Russian vodka courses have always learned the benefits of watering proletarians at low prices to divert them from their oppressor.
« Thus, freedom was extinguished, in a rain of applause. »
In the fifth and final chapter, the tension between the two rival factions of pilgrims and sappers led to the tragedy... The leader of the latter was stabbed by a bougon pilgrim. Patatras, I who cultivated indivision to rule clocks, now my authoritarian calendar turned to Berezina. « Nothing is as desperate as not finding a new reason to hope » He taught Machiavelli. Since my promises had remained dead letter, it was high time to opt for a more muscular and well-known recipe of our modern societies at the risk of defeatism gnawing my troops.
My patrols then took care of the low bereavements without browing, while the other citizens trapped in the civil war between sappers and pilgrims were more willing to vote martial law. Frostpunk is a reversible manual of struggles. And Polish developers have very well integrated that a serious revolt systematically targets the capitalists' production apparatus, all the more so in a society where exhaustable resources are very limited. After my fierce repression, I interned the sappers in the asylums that I had asked to build the pilgrims months earlier. A Soviet method that still emulates Russia, China or Iran today.
In my infinite wisdom, I set up detention camps to park the sappers on the outskirts of New London near polar caps where they can meditate on their rebellion at leisure. The game is won. I triumphed, but for how long does the final cinematic sound? With two fingers to repeat the Nazi crimes, I remembered my promises when I launched Frostpunk ; « The last time I ended up with national preference and a theocratic regime, this time I would accomplish the Tocqueville project Hey! » as I swore to myself. Promises commit only those who believe them and if Frostpunk has a lesson to teach us, it is that democracy is a legal fiction that holds only one thread. Promised, Frostpunk 3, I'd try democracy...
There are few games that make me regret not having put more money in my PC when I buy, and strangely Frostpunk 2 is part of it, while the management is usually far from eyeing me. Now, I know that a console version is coming, but it's definitely the kind I refuse to touch with a controller, even though the gameplay's incrustation is well done.
Oh, yeah, sure, on consoles, it's another case! ^^^