#Frostpunk 2 review how to#
#Frostpunk 2 review full#

So I forced them to believe it, I made them be hopeful. They needed to believe everything was going to be OK, or at least I needed them to believe it. Patrols led to arrests, arrests led to prisons, and soon I found myself mulling over building a propaganda center to issue leaflets to reassure everyone I had our problems handled. Guard towers felt like a natural choice to cut down on troublemakers. A neighborhood watch sounded like a fine idea to me since thieves had been plundering city supplies and rations. Will it be with order and discipline, or faith and spirituality? Both paths of law can build hope in your population, mainly by exerting control, which can eventually turn you into a despot or false god.

#Frostpunk 2 review how to#

It's harsh to send a kid out to gather resources from the snow, and even harsher to have him work in dangerous coal mine, but isn't that preferable to letting his parents freeze to death?Д®ventually you'll have to choose how to keep your citizens motivated in the face of endless winter. But try saying that when you've only got enough coal to last an hour and night is about to fall. Should the deathly ill be treated or just kept comfortable so you focus on the people you know you can save? Nearly every law has a downside: I mean, obviously, children shouldn't have to work, they're children. To keep production up, you can put children on work detail. To make sure everyone has enough to eat, you can cut the food rations with sawdust. You can pass a new law every 18 hours, and very few of them feel like triumphs of legislation. And you'll make more meaningful choices, and more difficult ones, by passing laws.ДЄt times I felt like a villain for doing the right thing or a hero for doing the wrong one. You're told in advance how your choices may result in a small bump to discontent or hope in either direction, but the reality is that you'll often have to make everyone unhappy to keep them alive. (To be fair, someone occasionally thanks you for something, but kind words are quickly forgotten when an automaton accidentally crushes someone underfoot.) Sometimes you can make a choice: between forcing an exhausted worker to continue or letting him rest, or choosing to believe (or not) a citizen asking for extra food who may not actually have a hungry child. Sometimes there's nothing to do about it: it's just a little moment the game offers up to make you feel like absolute shit. Someone pulling a double-shift worked himself to death. A citizen committed suicide by leaping into the furnace. A child was found nearly frozen sitting next to the grave of his parent. You'll be alerted from time to time of some grim events in your city. It's a masterful expression of the burden of leadership. That lumber you used to construct a steel mill instead of new homes might make your city ultimately stronger, but you broke a promise to provide shelter for all, so people lose faith in you. Fail to deliver, and those meters will take a hit, creating a tricky balance. If discontent gets too high, or hope too low, you may be notified you only have a few days to reverse the trend by accomplishing a specific goal.

#Frostpunk 2 review full#

Sending everyone to bed with full bellies will give them hope, even if they're sleeping in freezing cold tents. Call for a 24 hour work shift and discontent will rise sharply, even as the additional labor saves lives. While my eyes flick restlessly over tiny meters at the top of the screen-how much wood and coal and food is left, and how long will it last-I spend more time staring at the bigger meters at the bottom: discontent and hope, the true gauges of my city's health.