Frostpunk Reviews

Frostpunk is ranked in the 95th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
Jul 3, 2018

I thought I'd pretty much seen everything in the strategy gene and I'm delighted to say Frostpunk while hard and unforgiving is rewarding and a breathe of fresh frozen air to of the strategy genre, with and great story. Underneath the cold harsh tone, difficulty, and slightly tricky interface lie the warm beating heart of a strong and surprisingly deep game.

Read full review

8 / 10
Oct 10, 2019

At its best, Frostpunk provides a tense, nail-biting experience like few others in the genre. It's not about building an empire, or creating a beautiful cityscape, but simply doing what you need to do to guide your people through what at first seems like insurmountable adversity. There's a few niggling issues, but the feeling you get from surviving the campaign is one of utter, unbridled joy, and it's that feeling more than any other why we have absolutely no qualms about recommending Frostpunk to you.

Read full review

9 / 10.0
Oct 10, 2019

A stellar societal strategy game with a dark, moralistic centre, Frostpunk is a rare genre effort where your actions linger with you long after your time with it has finished. This is tactical, though well-meaning nihilism at its best, and is an easy recommendation to those who want their grey matter tested as much as their heart.

Read full review

TrueAchievements
Heidi Nicholas
Top Critic
Oct 10, 2019

Frostpunk can be overhelming and would benefit from a longer tutorial, so it’s understandable if those new to the genre find it too tricky. But a well-conceived narrative and premise makes it worth picking up whether you’re new to the genre, or have years of city-building experience behind you.

Read full review

86 / 100
Oct 28, 2019

Frostpunk is, without a doubt, not an easy game and requires extensive strategizing and multiple playthroughs to succeed.

Read full review

4.5 / 5.0
Apr 23, 2018

Frostpunk is an extremely polished city-builder game that builds upon the genre's core mechanics with meaningful innovations. Despite the steep learning curve at the start, it manages to be captivating every step of the way while never forgoing that rush of adrenaline you get when the game strips away your power and complacency with yet another ethically conflicting challenge.

Read full review

8 / 10
Mar 22, 2018

11 Bit Studios have done marvellous work on evoking the symbolism of the engine giving life.

Read full review

Apr 24, 2018

It pushes back hard against the sort of easy dominance over people so common to city-building games.

Read full review

8.5 / 10.0
Apr 23, 2018

Frostpunk is one of the best sim games to come out in decades. If you want a more bleak and depressing twist on the age old genre of city management, this is your game.

Read full review

9 / 10.0
Apr 27, 2018

Frostpunk is a bleak and challenging colony builder/survival title that will either give you more respect for your boss, or have you rallying your co-workers to oust them.

Read full review

Unscored
Apr 26, 2018

When I turned away sick refugees and lost children and pulled my engineers away from medical rounds so they could labor in the mines with blue-collar workers I could only admire how skillfully the game teased out my latent ruthlessness.

Read full review

8 / 10
Apr 30, 2018

Frostpunk is a very good management game. Intelligent, dark and mature, its major flaw is its lack of replay value and the lack of impact of moral choices. Despite that, it's clearly a must have for all management/survival games lovers.

Review in French | Read full review

9 / 10.0
May 25, 2018

Frostpunk is an ingenious blend of city building systems and morally ambiguous decision making. Its mechanics are streamlined enough to be easy to grasp, but it's tension and demanding nature make it an apocalyptic experience you shouldn't skip.

Read full review

9 / 10.0
Oct 10, 2019

Without skipping a beat from the original PC game, Frostpunk's console port is a slick and efficient strategy game of misery and compromise in the coldest apocalypse. You could say it's the cold standard in console strategy.

Read full review

9 / 10.0
Oct 10, 2019

To say Frostpunk is fun would be like saying watching The Road is fun. It's engaging, challenging, inventive and unique. It cleverly re-purposes old genre tropes, and embraces the rigors of micromanaging dire people in a dark time with such earnest that it's hard not to get charmed into hours of sadistic yet satisfying struggle.

Read full review

89 / 100
Oct 10, 2019

Morally rousing mix of strategy and survival, which convinces with clever comfort functions and good menu navigation even on console.

Review in German | Read full review

Oct 15, 2019

Despite its graphical compromises, Frostpunk: Console Edition is an excellent way to experience one of the best games of last year.

Read full review

RPG Site
Top Critic
8 / 10
Apr 26, 2018

This grim and stressful city-building survival management game is well worth your time.

Read full review

8 / 10.0
Apr 28, 2018

Frostpunk aspires to be something more than just a city builder game with survival elements. Some of its ideas work, but widely advertised moral choices are overrated. Fortunately the gameplay defends itself.

Review in Polish | Read full review

9 / 10
Apr 30, 2018

Frostpunk is without a doubt an excellent new entry into the city-building genre. It contains enough familiar elements tinged with new, fantastical ones comprised of the steampunk aesthetic and feel. Admittedly though, the game's seemingly shorter length may make it feel like it's not complete, but that's not true in any way. It's great price point, challenging gameplay mechanics, and overall offerings with replayability make this a solid game to pick up. It takes some time to master as well, making it worth the challenge of surviving in the long winter.

Read full review