Frostpunk 2 Delays Release Date To Add New Game Mechanics And Features

Highlights

Frostpunk 2 delayed to September 20 due to beta feedback.
New mechanics and features will be added based on community feedback.
Improvements include UI/UX, new gameplay mechanics, and a new Zoom Stories feature.

Frostpunk 2, which was originally set to launch for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and MacOS on July 25, has been delayed to September 20, developer 11 Bit Studios has confirmed.

According to a new blog post on the game’s official Steam page, Frostpunk 2 has been delayed due to the feedback that was received from the game’s beta test earlier this year. While players gave the sequel heavy praise (we recently had the chance to preview the game, and loved it), 11 Bit Studios says there’s new mechanics and features in the works, based on community feedback, that just need a little longer to developer.

Frostpunk 2 Will Be A Darker, More Human Experience, Says Game Director

We spoke to co-game director Łukasz Juszczyk about his creative ambition for Frostpunk 2.

“As we analyzed your feedback and prioritized things we want to add to the game, we realized that to properly do them justice – and to guarantee the best possible experience at launch – we need more time to finish the development of Frostpunk 2,” 11 Bit Studios announced earlier today. The development studio went on to reveal that Frostpunk 2 would now be released on September 20, 2024.

The blog post goes on to state that these additional features “are something [players] deserve to see in-game on day one, not in a patch added after the release.”

Frostpunk 2 Will Be Launching With Some Fresh New Features

Delays are never fun, whether it’s for fans or the development team. But while many other games are delayed to simply fix bugs and optimise performance, Frostpunk 2 will be adding multiple new mechanics and features.

11 Bit Studios says that “the list is too long to go through all at once,” but did reveal plenty of details about the new gameplay mechanics that will allow gameplay to proceed more smoothly, extensive UI and UX enhancements, and a new feature called ‘Zoom Stories’.

Based on feedback from the beta test earlier this year, Frostpunk 2 will be making the following changes to gameplay mechanics for its launch later this year:

Changes to temperature, Heat and proximity-based gameplay, including new and rebalanced Hubs, that will make the city-building gameplay deeper and more impactful,
More detailed and flexible workforce management,
More direct-use abilities in the game loop, to allow you to react to crises more dynamically,
A new resource to make city-building and expansion more strategic, helping you stabilise the city’s economy,
Ability to reshape your districts after their construction,
Factions’ behaviour that is better aligned with their lore,
A more thorough and complex approach to dealing with protests.

The game’s launch will also see a more user-friendly UI and UX, which will include HUD improvements to make things clearer and more intuitive, a new construction menu and five new city hubs, and overall improvements to the clarity, readability, and design of the Idea Tree and Frostland.

A new feature known as Zoom Stories will also allow players to watch their citizens up close, as players had previously complained that they “lost attachment to individuals” as the game is much larger in scale compared to its predecessor. Zoom Stories will now allow players to zoom-in to specific parts of the city and watch the day-to-day life of its citizens.

For more details on Frostpunk 2’s delay and the new features coming at launch, check out the latest blog post on the game’s Steam page.