Frostpunk 2 Story Mode Hands-On – The City Will Fall

While in Warsaw with 11 bit studios, I got hands-on with The Alters and a Q&A session. I also had a Q&A session on Frostpunk 2 and hands-on with the new story mode. Having only recently had a hands-on with the utopia builder mode of Frostpunk 2, I was keen to see where the story here would jump off from the original.

As I said in my earlier preview, you can look at the original as a launchpad for the sequel, as should be the case. As indicated in the Q&A, the one thing 11 bit studios didn't want was to make a sequel that was essentially a retread of the original. When the room was advised to jump into the easy mode for this quick hands-on, I did what I always do and ignored them, going for normal, and I got the Frostpunk experience I expected - I fell. The first time, I didn't even get to the city for it to fall.

Related Story Frostpunk 2 Q&A – Back to the Wasteland

At the start of the campaign's tutorial, you find yourself trying to keep people alive after your dreadnought has crashed. I'm going to spoil something here, but survival is impossible. You want to try your best to survive, and your decisions will impact the core campaign and story, but as with anything in the Frostpunk world, the cold will kill you. I finished the tutorial on my third attempt without killing the elderly or the seals, a very proud victory after one failure and one minor seal-killing victory.

This brings us to the start of the campaign. Thirty years after the first game's events, New London is struggling. The city is essentially in ruins; the generator is down, and there isn't enough housing, resource gathering, or anything. You're the new steward and about as well-liked as Liz Truss. The initial vote of confidence can be won; fortunately, you do have something, and the promises you make to win that vote will have to be met, as well as any actions needed to survive the frozen wasteland.

The core difference here is that your actions are naturally on a bigger scale. While I'm not completely