Frostpunk on Xbox One review: A frozen wasteland has never been more entertaining

Frostpunk is an award-winning survival strategy simulation game on PC, merely it'southward at present making its way over to Xbox I and PS4, finally, allowing a whole new audition to become their frost-bitten mitts on this landmark title.

Frostpunk is set in an apocalyptic United kingdom, where a new ice age has wiped out much of culture. The remnants of humanity try to carve out a nomadic lifestyle with scrappy steampunk technology.

Frostpunk is congenital by the team behind This War of Mine, and like that game, information technology pulls absolutely no punches with its tough choices.

Here's why Frostpunk is now the all-time strategy simulation game on Xbox today.

The frostland awaits

Frostpunk

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Bottom line: Evocative, atmospherically stunning, and endlessly addictive. Frostpunk is at present the best strategy simulation game on Xbox One.

Pros:

Incredible, unique gameplay
Atmospherically breathtaking
Unhindered, addictive gameplay
Great console control schemes
Tons of content for a great price

Cons:

Mouse and keyboard support would have been nice
Resolution on Xbox 1 X isn't very impressive

What yous'll beloved about Frostpunk

Frostpunk is a survival game first and foremost, with heavy strategic simulation elements. Your goal across every scenario and map type is, ultimately, to survive, while managing the temperature, basic needs of your colonists, and various dynamic hazards that announced at random.

There's rarely comes a moment when you lot'll experience truly comfortable.

The map construction extends out radially from a fundamental heat generator, which is powered exclusively by coal that must be extracted from the globe. Heat can be seen instantly by pressing the view button, and gives yous a infrared overlay of areas that are warm, all the fashion downwardly to freezing.

Managing estrus is crucial to survival in Frostpunk, and forms the ground of the game's virtually heady moments and mechanics. If your workers are too common cold, they'll go sick, get frostbite, and may even require amputations. The cold comes with other complications, such every bit freezing your crops, or making it likewise cold to hunt, putting pressure on your stockpiles and supplies. Frostpunk does an absolutely incredible chore at keeping you on your toes, and unless you're playing on the easiest difficulty, in that location's rarely comes a moment when you'll feel truly comfortable.

Frostpunk is divided betwixt story scenarios and an endless mode, which allows y'all more liberty to build and explore the frostland wastes on the overworld map. The scenarios come up with their own story beats which also come up with various choices and decisions, which can affect the mood of your citizens. You lot tin play equally a ruthless, survival-at-all-costs dictator, using your dead as compost, while arresting anyone who cartel protestation. This might sow discontent, and even lead to a revolution, putting stress on your resource to build guard posts and hire guards, and perchance even build prisons. Conversely, y'all tin attempt to inject some warmth and kindness into proceedings, but all those extra rations put a strain on your resources in other ways.

The moment yous retrieve things are going well, a devastating blizzard might drop, wiping out your scout teams that are far flung from dwelling house. These blizzards come with increasingly intense music, and increasingly intense blasts of frigid cold, putting stress on your heating systems and coal supplies. Oftentimes, you lot'll scrape through the tempest by the skin of your teeth, with many deaths in the tempest'southward wake.

Poor city planning and population management tin can lead to cascadingly devastating furnishings on your colony. If all your doctors die, at that place'll be nobody to treat the sick, and and then, at that place'll be nobody to work and tend to your resources. Notwithstanding, the simulation remains just on the cusp of being "too" complex, balancing accessibility with depth in a masterful way. Yous can e'er slow down or outright suspension the action too while yous make logistical changes to your metropolis.

Atmospherically, Frostpunk really nails its setting with immersive visuals, stellar music treatment, and some of the best UI work of the generation. Soot satisfyingly spreads every bit you open up upwards dissimilar UI elements, and the game'southward tessellation for its 3D snow effects gives physical weight to the threat faced past your NPCs, who will struggle against the current of air as they move between their homes and their jobs. The music dynamically ramps up as the storms get more intense, creating a sense of urgency as your concluding food stores run dry.

Every aspect of the game feels meticulously crafted and polished, making it truly difficult to put downward. I had planned to terminate playing at effectually midnight to write this review, merely when I looked at the clock, information technology was already 5 AM.

What you might dislike about Frostpunk

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Frostpunk, similar many strategy games, has struggled a scrap in its bound from its mouse and keyboard schemes to console, simply information technology has done then more elegantly than many other titles before it.

Frostpunk isn't a game where yous demand uber micromanagement and speed to survive, since you can quickly ramp up or dull down the gameplay speed using the directional pad. Radial menus with shortcuts also get in easy to navigate to the different segments you lot need, although finding things in the enquiry tree to advance your city can exist a bit grating until you've learned where everything is.

It's a tad irritating that Frostpunk didn't decide to leverge the new Xbox mouse and keyboard APIs, which would have made everything feel that flake more than streamlined for those with the right peripherals.

The photographic camera controls aren't "bad," by whatsoever ways, but it's a bit odd that to rotate, you lot specifically need to move both joysticks at the aforementioned time, otherwise they get stuck in panning mode. At that place's a flake of a delay on the toggle, as well. Additionally, selecting specific buildings tin can be a chore when your metropolis evolves to be more complex, although it's far from game breaking.

Finally, I would have liked to have seen Frostpunk squeeze more juice out of the Xbox One X. Information technology runs at 1080p, as opposed to the Xbox One South' base 720p, but when similar titles like Surviving Mars manage to hit 4K 30 FPS, it seems a fleck odd that Frostpunk didn't accomplish higher. Although, its buildings and textures are a lot more detailed. That said, Frostpunk runs very smoothly on the X, even if you're playing in countless mode with a very big settlement.

Should you buy Frostpunk?

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If y'all're not a fan of strategy and simulation games, and then yous probably won't get anything out of Frostpunk. Information technology doesn't exactly revolutionize the genre, but the polish, dynamic narrative elements, and bitesize strategic gameplay makes it an addictive animate being.

This also comes with virtually of the updates the game has seen on PC, including new scenarios, Endless mode with aesthetic edifice options, every bit well as deeper difficulty tailoring. 11bit Studios is among the best indie outfits out there when it comes to free post-launch content, and Frostpunk's current state is a direct result of those efforts.

At that place are a ton of great strategy games on Xbox Ane these days, including Stellaris, afforementioned Surviving Mars, They are Billions, and Historic period of Wonders, just Frostpunk's dynamism, thoughtful console controls, setting, and narrative elements, for me, give information technology a special place higher up all of the others. This is a staggering achievement that strategy game fans shouldn't miss out on.

I for strategy fans

Frostpunk

A post-apocalptic journey like no other

Frostpunk is a staggering strategy simulation game with tons of content, evocative atmospherics, and addictive gameplay.

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