Indie developer 11 Bit Studios announced earlier today that its newest game Frostpunk has sold 250,000 copies in 66 hours since its release. The bleak survival simulator came out on April 24 for PC and pits players against the elements as they try to build a city and society that can endure the bitter cold of a global ice age. Due to its success, the studio has committed to updating the game with expansions and more scenarios in the future.
#Frostpunk sold 250k units in the first 66 hours! Thank you for supporting us, we love you all! ?
Quick update from our CEO, Grzegorz Miechowski: "Yes, we had plans for the expansions and now we're 100% sure we are doing that, including many free updates of course!" pic.twitter.com/iebDRX4so6
— Frostpunk 2 (@frostpunkgame) April 27, 2018
Like 11 Bit Studios’ previous title, This War of Mine, players have to make harsh decisions to stay alive. You’re in charge of a small scrappy group of people, and you must harvest resources to build your city and keep your steam technology running so that everyone doesn’t freeze to death as the temperature plummets. You send scouts out into the frozen wasteland to search for other survivors and discover why the world has become a giant tundra.
Meanwhile, the business of living comes with moral decisions — like whether or not you’ll decree that all children must work in the mines, whether you’ll rule your miniature society as a totalitarian regime, or if you’ll let the injured die so that you won’t have to bother feeding them. Frostpunk is a management simulator that guts you with the choices you have to make, and then hits you hard once more when you realize later on how easy it’s become to make them.
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“We plan to polish some rough edges of the original game — you’re reporting some issues with difficulty balance, with minor bugs and such,” said 11 Bit Studios in a statement on its Steam community page. “We want to fix that! We also plan to add more modes and scenarios to the game. What are they going to be exactly? It’s too early to announce — but you should be excited. And yes — a sandbox/endless mode is on our mind as well.”
Frostpunk is grim and it continually presents you with tough decisions. But it’s also addictive and hints at a rich world to explore — and it sounds like that will only continue to expand even as the nights grow ever colder.
