Frostpunk 2, a radical sequel, is ready for an update

A sequel that altered its series advances its own season of change

Frostpunk 2. Screenshot: 11 Bit Studios

How different should a video game sequel be from the game that came before it?

Jakub Stokalski, a 10-year veteran at the Polish game studio 11 Bit, was pondering that several years ago.

He was winding down work on Frostpunk, the 2018 strategy game about building and managing New London, a desperate city on a damaged Earth, where temperatures could drop to worse than -100 Celsius.

Players had really liked Frostpunk and the misery management inherent in the game. This was no cheerful city builder, rather one replete with dilemmas both architectural and ethical. In the game your placement of factories could matter as much as whether you made children work in them.

11 Bit updated and expanded Frostpunk through 2020, and, internally, began imagining a sequel.

“There was no point doing the same, but slightly differently,” Stokalski told me back in December when we met for a chat in L.A.

“We have to reinvent ourselves.”

They would, with some controversy. And now, though 11 Bit isn’t yet sharing exact details about how it is evolving, a further reinvention for Frostpunk 2 is on its way.