There's two types of news in Frostpunk 2: bad news, and good news that you slowly realize is actually bad news

GamesCity BuilderFrostpunk 2There’s two types of news in Frostpunk 2: bad news, and good news that you slowly realize is actually bad newsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: 11 bit studios)

Citizens talking about life in Frostpunk 2

Little pop-ups of commentary from my citizens appear from time to time. Sometimes it’s a personal reflection, like an elderly resident who thought “I don’t want my grandkids to starve so I’m gonna walk out into the cold and die.” Other times it’s a hint that you could make a policy decision in the future, like: “Gosh there aren’t as many people to rob at knifepoint as there used to be. I wish this city had a more tolerant immigration policy so I had more people to steal from!”

And sometimes it’s directly related to a law you’ve passed. “Just FYI, those 20-foot-tall security robots you have patrolling the city completely destroyed my store while chasing down a starving child who stole a candy bar. Uh, thanks for fighting crime?”

I know that all sounds grim, but not all news is bad news. Not long after a 12-year-old girl shared that she’d chosen to burn her one possession, a violin, for warmth, I actually got a nice notification. Some good news? In my city? Finally.

A woman named Jane shared that she’d broken her prosthetic hand but she was happy because she had a spare. In fact, she had several spares, all thanks to a decision I’d made to allocate materials to the production of prosthetics.

(Image credit: 11 bit studios)

Citizens talking about life in Frostpunk 2

Yeah, that’s a bit of news I could actually feel good about! For one whole second. Then I thought about it for asecondsecond and realized… wait, why does this woman need a prosthetic in the first place? In fact, why does my city need a specific policy to over-manufacture prosthetics at all? Oh, right, because it’s a frozen hellscape where people are losing extremities to frostbite and having their limbs chewed off in industrial accidents because I’m making them work emergency shifts so kids don’t have to burn their violins to stay warm.

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

As long as I don’t think about that, it’s great news.

I learned my lesson quickly: when you get good news in Frostpunk 2, don’t think about it too much. I got another pop-up not long after: a woman had received a cornea transplant to restore her vision and was happy she could see again. It was all thanks to me: I’d declared that we should harvest spare parts from all the dead people my city was producing.

I forced myself not to think about why she’d lost her vision in the first place (perhaps a gruesome accident in one of my many prosthetic limb manufacturing facilities) or who had “donated” the corneas. The latter I inadvertently found out anyway: it turned out to be a young man who’d fallen off a rooftop while trying to break into a hothouse to steal food.

Because he was starving. Because of me. As long as I don’t think about that, it’s great news.

(Image credit: 11 bit studios)

Citizens talking about life in Frostpunk 2

Unfortunately, you can’t get away with not thinking about things for long in Frostpunk 2. For example, people in my city were getting sick and spreading disease, so I had three choices. Do nothing (a popular one!), pass a law where sick people would have to wear little signs around their necks so people could avoid them—gee, something about branding people with labels just doesn’t feel right—or pass a law setting aside housing for quarantine so the ill could recover without endangering others. That last one felt perfectly sensible, or at least more sensible than ignoring the problem or branding people. Good news, I passed the law. Now I never have to think about it again, right?

My leniency quickly led to the death of a mom who got infected while visiting her sick kid.

Then another problem pops up: when I quarantine sick children, their parents can’t visit them, which really doesn’t feel great. The good news about my quarantine law was getting pretty sour at this point, so I passed an amendment to the law saying parents, at least, could come and go from the quarantine zones. As you’d imagine, that completely undermines the idea of a quarantine. A pop-up informs me soon after that my leniency quickly led to the death of a mom who got infected while visiting her sick kid.

Great. Just… great. I love being in charge of all this! Now my council is demanding the repeal of the quarantine law altogether, and I’m seriously considering it. It’ll mean we’ll go back to rampantly spreading disease and sick people dying in the street… but at the same time it might free up some eyeballs for a few extra cornea transplants. That’s good news, right?

More about city builderI played a whopping 23 city builders in 2024, and here are my 5 favoritesBest City Builder 2024: Manor LordsLatestPalestinian developer raises more than $200,000 to make Dreams on a Pillow, a game about the horrors of the 1948 NakbaSee more latest►

More about city builderI played a whopping 23 city builders in 2024, and here are my 5 favoritesBest City Builder 2024: Manor Lords

More about city builder

I played a whopping 23 city builders in 2024, and here are my 5 favoritesBest City Builder 2024: Manor Lords

A city near a waterfall

I played a whopping 23 city builders in 2024, and here are my 5 favorites

Best City Builder 2024: Manor Lords

LatestPalestinian developer raises more than $200,000 to make Dreams on a Pillow, a game about the horrors of the 1948 NakbaSee more latest►

Latest

Palestinian developer raises more than $200,000 to make Dreams on a Pillow, a game about the horrors of the 1948 Nakba

Dreams on a Pillow concept art - Palestinian woman holding a pillow

Palestinian developer raises more than $200,000 to make Dreams on a Pillow, a game about the horrors of the 1948 Nakba

See more latest►

Most Popular

2024 was the year updates for old games beat out all the new ones for me

Train like you game with this adventure-inspired workout

‘It’s simply impossible to make a difficulty level that’s just right for all players’: How Final Fantasy 14’s lead battle designer has been playing a precarious balancing game for Dawntrail’s dungeons and raids

Please join me in getting super excited for all the cool looking survival games coming in 2025 (and beyond)

Competitive shooters are at a crucial crossroads in 2025: ‘sweaty’ teamplay vs. casual fun

Call of Duty’s $28 Squid Game skins are the perfect crossover for our capitalist dystopia, and Activision knows exactly what it’s doing

These are the 14 biggest upcoming RPGs of 2025—get ready for another amazing year for the genre

Five new Steam games you probably missed (January 6, 2025)

I’ve seen enough: No more forcing singleplayer studios to make mediocre live service games

6 games that could be bigger hits than you’re expecting in 2025

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

A bunch of the best Steam Deck accessories on a blue background.

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

Thank Goodness You’re Here review

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback

3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

4Ikea Utespelare desk review

Ikea Utespelare desk review

5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals