Frostpunk 2: Console Edition
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Critic Reviews for Frostpunk 2: Console Edition
The icy hellscape of Frostpunk 2 translates surprisingly well to Sony's sleek console. The PlayStation 5 occasionally has hiccups, and the DualSense controller is far from ideal for a strategy game this intricate, but the game does a brilliant job patching over these issues to let you enjoy a strong narrative experience. I got to build what I thought were thriving civilizations, and then watch them fall apart through my own shortsightedness. Frostpunk 2 is a beautiful, honest depiction of how far humanity can go when survival is the only ambition, and it makes my multiple political downfalls worth living.
Frostpunk 2 remains one of the most compelling city builders and survival games in recent memory, and it's survived the transition to console in remarkably strong form. That said, if you have the option of playing on PC, that remains the best place to play.
While it’ll never be optimal playing a dense city-building game on a console, Frostpunk 2 is the latest example that it can be done well. The survival game is still thrilling to play with a controller, even if it might take a while for the controls to become second nature. With proper UI scaling and PSSR support, 11 Bit Studios has done a great job with this port.
I also lost reasonable amounts of progress to in-game crashes. I took it as a chance to fix mistakes I’d made, but didn’t save more frequently, though. Especially in the game’s later hours, the process just took too long. Every settlement was clearly always running in the background, slowing the whole thing down. Still, even this port can’t keep me away. I’m already ready to brave the frost again.
Of course, it's not a title for everyone: if you're looking for quick matches or immediate progression, it'll probably be too demanding for you. But if you accept its proposal, it rewards you with one of the most well-rounded management and survival experiences of recent years. And best of all: it's coming to Xbox Game Pass at launch , so you have no excuse not to try it and tell us what you think for yourself.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
All in all, it’s a let down, but not a failure. It’s gorgeously rendered, and a direct evolution from the first game, but it’s left some of the grit and grime behind. If you are the type to love a city-builder, then you’ll likely love it more than the first, just know that there are some technical difficulties when your build number gets too high (you can drop your graphics settings to offset this). But if you were hoping for some hard choices and tough scenarios, the first game (plus DLCs) is the better choice.
After a long wait, Frostpunk 2 has finally made its way to consoles, and it proves to be well worth it. While the strategy genre has traditionally drawn a smaller audience on consoles, Frostpunk 2 delivers an engrossing survival experience that is more than capable of keeping players engaged for countless hours.
Review in Persian | Read full review
