The developers of Frostpunk 2 have announced that it is pushing its release date to address issues brought up by its beta testers. Frostpunk 2 was set to be released next month and Beta testing began a little over two months ago. According to 11 bit studios players did give the sequel a good share of praise but also some criticisms regarding potential areas of improvement.
Per Game Directors Jakub Stokalski and Łukasz Juszczyk (via Steam):
“Just over two months ago, you had the chance to play Frostpunk 2 Beta, and we greatly appreciate the feedback you shared with us. So much so that it took us some time to take everything in, as there was both a lot of praise for our work (who doesn’t like praise, right?), but also many keen observations on areas we could improve or add to the final game.”
“Based on the surveys we received from you after playing, the average rating you gave the Beta was 8 out of 10. We’re super grateful for that! At the same time, the Beta was only a small slice of a work-in-progress, still growing game. While our backlog is plentiful, the Beta was an opportunity for us to listen to what you enjoyed, and what didn’t quite land yet. This allowed us to prioritize things better, and bring to the front the features and modifications we were already working on (we hope!) you’ll enjoy the most.”
“Before we go into detail on the new additions, there’s one drawback we need to be upfront about. As we analyzed your feedback and prioritized things we want to add to the game, we realized that to properly do them justice – and to guarantee the best possible experience at launch – we need more time to finish the development of Frostpunk 2. That’s why we made the difficult decision to postpone its release to September 20th, 2024.”
The developers have also shared details about some of the improvements they are already working on based on the feedback from players. Additions to game mechanics and an extensive overhaul are two areas being focused on.
Game Mechanics
- Changes to temperature, Heat, and proximity-based gameplay, including new and rebalanced Hubs, that will make the city-building gameplay deeper and more impactful,
- More detailed and flexible workforce management,
- More direct-use abilities in the game loop, to allow you to react to crises more dynamically,
- A new resource to make city-building and expansion more strategic, helping you stabilize the city’s economy,
- Ability to reshape your districts after their construction,
- Factions’ behavior that is better aligned with their lore,
- A more thorough and complex approach to dealing with protests.
UI and UX enhancements
- Improving the HUD (Head-Up Display) to make it clearer and more intuitive,
- Adding a new construction menu along with five new city Hubs,
- Improving the clarity, readability, and look & feel of the Idea Tree and frostland.