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Frostpunk 2 is being delayed so its developers have time to address player feedback gathered during the beta earlier this year. The survival citybuilder was originally due to begin shovelling orphans into the furnace in July, but those dear children now have a reprieve until September 20th.
“Based on the surveys we received from you after playing, the average rating you gave the Beta was 8 out of 10,” says the announcement of the delay. “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.”
To deliver those newly prioritised features and “guarantee the best possible experience at launch,” 11bit say they need more time.
The full announcement goes into some detail about the changes that are being introduced since the beta, and they don’t sound small. Temperature and heat-based systems, a core part of the Frostpunk experience, are being revised. A new resource is being introduced to make city-building “more strategic”. Players will be able to modify city districts after they’re first constructed. Faction behaviour will more closely align to their lore. The UI is being revamped to make the world more readable.
11bit are also adding a new feature they call “Zoom Stories”, which will let you snap closer to your city in order to “watch the day-to-day life of your citizens.” The aim is to make players feel more attached to those orphans as in the short spell before you shovel them into the furnace.
Matt Cox enjoyed his time with the Frostpunk 2 beta back in April, finding it “quite promising” after playing a relatively “small sliver” of the full game. We’ll now need to wait longer before we find out whether that promise has been fulfilled.