Highlights

  • Frostpunk 2 introduces new social elements with Factions system, impacting gameplay and story significantly.
  • Frostpunk 2 starts players with Engineers and Foragers Factions, with potential for splintering into extremist sub-groups.
  • Players in Frostpunk 2 make constant decisions affecting each Faction's influence, using "Idea Tree" and Council space.

Released back in 2018, the first Frostpunk isn't the usual run-of-the-mill city management game. Rather than forge a bustling modern-day metropolis filled with skyscrapers and advanced vehicles, Frostpunk puts players in charge of a makeshift city of survivors, tasking them with ruling amid a fresh new Ice Age. Dystopian, grim, gritty, and genuinely upsetting at times, the first Frostpunk mainly focuses on sheltering people from constant disasters, exploring the ravaged world around them, and ensuring that their citizens are kept warm, fed, and as happy as possible given the world-ending circumstances.

Set to release sometime this year, Frostpunk 2 seems as though it's going to be doubling down on all of this, but at the same time, it's going to be introducing more social elements than ever before. While decision-making was a big part of Frostpunk's gameplay, Frostpunk 2's entire gameplay loop essentially revolves around it, with a new Factions system influencing just about every aspect of the sequel.

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Frostpunk 2's Factions Explained

There are currently only four Factions confirmed for Frostpunk 2, and it's unclear how many there will be when the game releases later this year. The four confirmed Frostpunk 2 Factions are:

  • Engineers
  • Foragers
  • Technocrats
  • Icebloods

According to Frostpunk 2's previews towards the end of last year, players will begin the game with just two Factions, the Engineers and Foragers. As the game progresses and the player makes more choices, these Factions have the opportunity to splinter off into several different sub-factions, with the Technocrats being an extremist sub-group of Engineers, and the Icebloods being a more strict sub-group of the Foragers.

How Frostpunk 2's Factions Work

In the original Frostpunk, players would be constantly prompted to make decisions that affected their community, from signing certain laws to building certain buildings to smaller-scope decisions such as agreeing to perform surgery on an injured man. As players progressed through the survival elements of Frostpunk, groups would occasionally pop up, often putting a specific scenario into action, such as the Londoners who attempt to convince the city's population to leave within a specific time frame. These groups often only appear briefly, and though they play significant roles in the story and gameplay, they act more as momentary challenges than something the player has to constantly monitor.

In Frostpunk 2, Factions persist throughout the entire game. As Frostpunk is a dark management game, players will begin Frostpunk 2 with two rival Factions. In its sandbox mode, "Utopia Builder," players can choose any two Factions, though the only starting ones confirmed right now are the Engineers and the Foragers. While the Engineers believe that the future of the city lies in the advancement of technology, the Foragers believe that they can only rely on the adaptability of humanity to survive.

Throughout Frostpunk 2, players will be given countless decisions, both big and small, that affect each Faction's influence and stance. For instance, choosing to use technology to fix a problem will gain the player favor with the Engineers, but it'll put them in worse standing with the Foragers. Players can use Frostpunk 2's "Idea Tree" to learn more about how each Faction would solve the city's ongoing issues, and act accordingly.

Many of these major decisions will take place in Frostpunk 2's new Council space, which sees each Faction make an argument, and has the player choose to either put the decision to a vote or just make the ultimate choice right there and then. As players progress through Frostpunk 2, these Factions will grow and evolve, eventually splintering into sub-groups that have the potential to be even more dangerous and disruptive to the city.