Progression is a vital component of any video game, but that’s especially true for the strategy genre. Whether it’san RTS, a 4X game, or a city-builder, players need to feel a gradual sense of progression that incentivizes them to keep playing. In many strategy games, that sense of progression is presented as a technology tree, allowing the player to upgrade their abilities, improve their buildings, and unlock new units.Frostpunk 2is one such game.
InFrostpunk 2, players are given the reins to a 19th-century city on the brink of total collapse. Players are required to carefully manage resources like heat, food, and shelter to ensure the city’s population survives. To manage those resources more efficiently, the player is handed a sprawling technology tree, and though it follows the groundwork laid by its predecessor,Frostpunk 2’s Idea Tree features some significant improvements.
How Frostpunk 2’s Idea Tree Compares to The First Game’s Tech Tree
Frostpunk 2’s Idea Tree Trades Cleanliness for Style
Inthe firstFrostpunk, players are presented with a fairly sleek, very streamlined technology tree. Taking just one look atFrostpunk’s tech tree will tell players everything they need to know about not just what they can unlock at that moment, but what they’ll be able to unlock in the coming hours, with all of the game’s technologies being laid out from the get-go. Each tech has a clear icon that hints at its in-game purpose, each tech’s requirements are made clear at a glance, and the tech tree’s branching paths are clearly defined with stark white lines.
Frostpunk 2’s Idea Tree, however, takes a more stylistic approach. As the name suggests,Frostpunk 2’s Idea Tree leans a bit more into the conceptualization of technology, presenting its in-game upgrades in the form of a mind map, with all of its ideas spreading out from the center. This new visual design can be a bit overwhelming at first, with research not being as easily understandable at a glance, but the flashier visuals do give the sequel an elevated sense of production value.
Frostpunk 2’s Idea Tree Is Much Bigger Than Its Predecessor
Another key point of comparison between eachFrostpunktech treeis their size. The firstFrostpunk’s tech tree had four tabs: Heating, Exploration and Industry, Food & Health & Shelter, and Resources. Most of these tabs contained around two technologies for the player to research at the start of the game and gave way to another 2-4 per tech level.
Frostpunk 2’s Idea Tree, on the other hand, is home to six tabs: Heating, Resources, Frostland, City, Society, and Hubs. Generally speaking, most of these tabs contain far more individual pieces of research than the first game’s tech tree. Players also have a much greater choice over which technologies they can research at the start of the game, with most tabs giving the player around 4-6 possible technologies off the bat.
Frostpunk 2’s Idea Tree Impacts Its Social Mechanics
One big evolution withFrostpunk 2’s Idea Tree is that it directly impacts the game’s social systems. Most pieces of research inFrostpunk 2’s Idea Tree have several variations that each correspond to a certain faction’s ideals. For instance, the Watchtowers technology has three distinct variations. The Stalwarts faction wants Surveillance Watchtowers, the Pilgrims want Patrol Watchtowers, andthe New Londoners and Frostlanderswant simple Watchtowers. Each variation has its own unique advantages and disadvantages, and researching one will increase the player’s standing with the respective faction, tying the game’s systems together nicely.
Frostpunk 2
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The game takes place 30 years after the apocalyptic blizzard that has taken place in Frostpunk. Earth is still overwhelmed by the neverending frost and harsh, icy climate. You play as the leader of a resource-hungry metropolis where expansion and internal conflicts are an unavoidable reality. It’s up to you to make decisions about your City’s future and face their consequences.In Frostpunk 2 you can build your City on a new scale by creating entire districts with different purposes. ensure that all parts of the City work well together as well as research technologies that will set the direction for your citizens’ progress.THE CITY MUST NOT FALL “Frostpunk 2 is still a game about the City and its society,” states Jakub Stokalski, game Co-Director and Design Director at 11 bit studios. “But inner turmoils, sparked by rising social differences, mean that players will be facing new kinds of threats. We use a post-apocalyptic setup to tell a meaningful story about human ambition. Because ultimately, what can end us is not nature itself – it’s human nature.”NAVIGATE BETWEEN FACTIONS AS A STEWARD As the City grows, creating and passing new laws becomes a more complex matter. The people slowly divide into factions with different, often contradictory visions of the future. The Council is a place where these ideas clash, sometimes violently. It’s your role as a Steward to ensure that the city will not fall because of those conflicts. Manage emerging crises while at the same time steering humanity towards a new destiny.
