I’ve never cared about the people under my command in any game more than in Frostpunk. The window-dressing isn’t perfect. Aspects of the experience are frustrating; a couple of failed games can leave one a tiny weeny bit annoyed. I am not even sure if some of the scenarios are even possible! Yet if the perfect game is a series of choices where every choice has meaning, then Frostpunk is it.

Frostpunk is among the best overall takes on the survival city builder to date. Its theming and consistency create a powerful narrative through line that binds your actions around the struggle to hold onto humanity in uncertain times. Hope is a qualified good, but you may not always be strong enough (or clever enough) to shelter that flame from the cold.

I suppose that Frostpunk's main flaw is also its central conceit, because not everyone will be attracted to experiencing its icy apocalyptic wasteland or the uncomfortable ethical and moral decisions that the game forces at nearly every moment. Nobility, zealotry, authoritarianism and egalitarianism are hardly the stuff of sunny escapist fantasies. Kudos to 11 Bit Studios for crafting a game that is as addictive as it is dire, dour, and determined to make us regret our choices, no matter how well-intended.

Frostpunk is a challenging city builder where your decisions have dramatic repercussions on the citizens you’re tasked with looking after in a wintery apocalypse. It's a pleasant surprise that is definitely worth your time if you’re looking for something different and brutally challenging.

Thanks to its accurate management mechanics, its visuals and what it has to say, Frostpunk is a great game, which only suffers from a systematic need to take the decision that works, regardless of the moral aspect of the game.

Frostpunk is a very good management game. Intelligent, dark and mature, its major flaw is its lack of replay value and the lack of impact of moral choices. Despite that, it's clearly a must have for all management/survival game lovers.

Nice-looking and highly original, Frostpunk is too simplistic for a city-building sim and too shallow to grip you with emotional hooks.