Bigger isn’t always better, and that’s especially true when it comes to game sequels: just look at the reviews for Skyrim versus Starfield or Cities: Skylines versus Skylines 2.
At the same time I just can’t help but get excited at how big the city looks in the teaser trailer for Frostpunk 2 that debuted today on PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted. In the original Frostpunk you could definitely build some pretty big cities as you expanded out from the massive generator in the center of town. But it looks like Frostpunk 2 is a different scale altogether. Wow.
It really looks tremendous. There’s the familiar ring of buildings surrounding the central generator, but as the camera pulls further away it almost looks like additional regions are connected by bridges or pipelines, far, far away from the center of the city. It even looks like there’s a huge cliff far outside the city with more buildings on it. Every bit of available frozen land has been claimed by one structure or another, and even as the camera pulls out all the way there’s no indication the city stops there. It continues even further than we see in the teaser. It looks huge.
As excited as I am to build a massive sprawling city in the freezing snow, the size and scope of the trailer also makes me feel a bit anxious. Managing the society in the original game was tough enough already, from tricky moral and ethical dilemmas into downright facism or religious fanaticism in the name of keeping citizens alive. With how big the city in Frostpunk 2 looks, I’m left wondering how the heck I’m going to deal with an even bigger population in such a huge city.
I’m looking forward to finding out, and hopefully soon. Frostpunk 2 is planned for a launch in 2024, and at the end of today’s teaser, 11 bit studios game directors Jakub Stokalski and Łukasz Juszczyk said a full gameplay trailer is “just around the corner.”