Hello, Citizens!

Thank you for your ongoing feedback about Breach of Trust. We've seen that some of you have experienced balance issues and several crashes, so we've made those our top priority in this update.

In addition, we've fixed most of your reported issues, improved the audio, user interface, and many other aspects of the game to make your experience in New Edinburgh even better.

Check out the full list of changes below!

• Removed the volcano tile from the sandbox when utilizing the NE map.

• Fixed an issue blocking the deployment base from being placed in a non-frostbroken area. 

• Fixed an issue where the deployment base (Legionnaires' Hub) could be placed on deposits in a non-frostbraked area. 

• Fixed titles for new Sandbox maps.

• Crash Fixes: Resolved several boot, runtime, and subsystem crashes that could appear under specific conditions.  

• Fixed a localized link where the "Buy DLCs" hyperlink erroneously routed to the main game store page instead of the dedicated add-ons library.

• Balance changes

  • Global

    • Tweaked global parameters for the DLC2 scenario to adjust balance around food requirements and sickliness.

  • Weather

    • Weather timeline - added better variance for difficulty levels, with citizen and officer being significantly less demanding.

    • Eliminated a possibility, where weather could lower to -40 for 100 weeks in Act 2.

  • Resistance

    • Increased delay of resistance appearing for the first time in Aurora.

    • Resistance soldier abilities weapon costs lowered.

      • Enforce Military Zone - weapon cost decreased from 75 to 50.

      • Force Takeover - weapon cost decreased from 200 to 120.

  • Resources

    • Added additional coal outposts to Frostland.

    • Lowered exploration difficulty of a few close territories.

    • Increased starting stocks in NE of materials and goods.

    • Increased starting prefabs from 30 to 130.

    • The 'Altering the Deal' message now grants an additional 50k Food if the player accepts it.

  • Other

    • Quest to build barracks timeout increased.

    • Tweaked starting research and buildings in Aurora.

    • Lowered tremors rate on steward and officer difficulty levels. 

    • Increased food stockpiles in all Frostland dilemmas.

    • Balanced election voting weights and streamlined multiple occupation story arcs.  

• Conquering Aurora now auto-explores the territories with Auroran outposts, allowing for faster seizure.

• Fixed an issue where reloading a save with the "Feed New Edinburgh" quest active prevented optional objectives from being completed.

• Fixed an issue with Volcanic tile not spawning correctly in Utopia Mode.

• Fixed an issue that could cause skyrocketing population growth.

• Fixed an exploit where tremor wear effects failed to apply to districts currently undergoing deconstruction.  

• Stabilizer Hubs now properly grant refunds when demolished.  

• Fixed issues where heat claim values could exceed overall generator output.

• Addressed event anomalies where the food relations warning could trigger out of order or allow initial stockpiles to exceed limits.  

• Resolved issues with the Aurora Spongers story arc, Brokers "Mediate" capability after conquering Aurora, and properly prioritized retaliation events.  

• Fixed an issue where the First Evacuation quest objective was not displaying when modal tutorials were turned off.

• Disbanded battalions and military zone abilities now check parameters accurately before execution.  

• Settlement unlock research is no longer erroneously accessible within the DLC2 scenario. 

• Fixed an issue where Aurora’s communities/factions were not included in research.

• Fixed an issue where Aurora counter offer had lower demands than original offer.

• Fixed scenario, where player could get stuck in Battle Panel under specific conditions.

• Fixed an issue on the Conquer Aurora path where players could incorrectly lose the game despite winning the vote of trust, if the vote occurred immediately before reducing resistance in Aurora.

• Added Skip Battle button.

• Added the failstate with the custom message for evacuating 0 people for New Edinburgh.

• Graphics & FX: Fixed flickering cartographic view areas, frame anomalies during. district demolition under tremors, floating decals, and missing unsafe evacuation visual effects after reloading saves.  

• Cutscenes: Disabled motion blur during the volcano cutscene for better visual fidelity; ensured Frostland units are hidden during cinematics.  

• Audio & Voiceovers:

  • Implemented audio feedback for big lenses and untangled voiceover levels from being incorrectly managed by three separate audio sliders simultaneously.  

  • Fixed cut-off tremor voiceovers by ensuring they wait for camera zoom transitions.  

  • Fixed missing battle win/loss alerts and incorrect regional colony lines triggering in Aurora.  

  • SFXs for Tales selection (Utopia Builder Menu)

  • SFXs for Communities/Factions selection (Utopia Builder Menu)

  • SFXs for Maps selection (Utopia Builder Menu)

  • SFXs for base game Big Lenses (18 lenses) (Base Game)

  • SFXs for sandbox Big Lenses (2 lenses) (Base Game)

  • SFXs for DLC2 scenario Big Lenses (8 lenses) (DLC2)

  • SFXs for Tremors mechanics (DLC2)

• Gamepad Controls: Fixed focus navigation issues on controllers, including the inability to access the 'Generator Relocation' Law, selector switches in the Generator panel, and platoon transfer sliders.  

• HUD & Navigation:

  • Added a dedicated tooltip over the deathmeter and enabled full button functionality for the predicted outcome bar.  

  • Restored proper controller focus to the trust bar on the bottom HUD.  

• Visual Polish: Fixed misaligned ornaments in settlement headers, corrected text alignment in the War Screen, and repositioned construction menu icons.  

• Text & Tutorials:

  • Added missing intro text for Twilight Waters and fixed incorrect faction portraits appearing on subsequent panel opens.  

  • Re-formatted overflowing text strings across German, Russian, and Turkish locales.  

  • Replaced placeholder screenshots, corrected black circle artifacts, and adjusted formatting for weapon and platoon tutorials.  

  • Updated Chinese Simplified subtitles for intro & outro cutscenes to match voiceover. 

Take care,

~ 11 bit studios Team

Hello Citizens!

The time has come. New Edinburgh awaits, and we need your vote of trust more than ever.

New DLC, packed with a brand new story requested by many of you, is available now!

With the release of the expansion, all players will also receive a free content update, including:

• Volcano Night in a simplified version for Utopia Builder

• Aurora map added to Utopia Builder

• Fishing Hub (available only on Aurora)

Check out the new release trailer, discover the DLC's content, and read a few words from the Game Designer behind the expansion:

(patch notes at the end of the announcement)

The colony on the frozen lake, Aurora, awaits. The volcano burns steadily. And somewhere between trust and force, you must lead New Edinburgh through catastrophe in this full fledged new scenario, a harsh tale about humanity's struggle for survival.

The city shall live, as long as we live. But survival demands a price.

• A gripping new story set in New Edinburgh and AuroraExperience a brand new scenario that explores the fate of a city built in the shadow of a volcano and its former colony on a frozen lake. Navigate political turmoil, environmental disaster, and impossible choices as catastrophe looms.

• Five unique Communities and FactionsMeet five new groups, each with its own identities, ideologies, and ambitions. Earn their trust, challenge their beliefs, or risk pushing the city toward division.

• Deadly new environmental hazardsSurvive the devastating Tremors and the terrifying Volcano Night, two new mechanics that will force you to rethink your strategies and adapt to ever-changing conditions.

• New narrative events and gameplay mechanicsFace fresh challenges through new story events, decisions, and mechanics designed specifically for this expansion, creating new opportunities and dilemmas.

• Independent Colony systemShape your relationship with Aurora through diplomacy, trade, coercion, or outright conquest. Every decision will affect the balance of power between your cities.

• Two new scenario mapsLead your people across two entirely new locations, each presenting unique challenges, opportunities, and strategic considerations.

• Five new buildings and hubsExpand your city's capabilities with new structures and infrastructure options that will help you confront the growing crisis.

• New laws and political choicesGuide your society through uncertain times with new legislation, shape the future of New Edinburgh, and decide how much trust your people are willing to place in you.

Check out couple of words prepared for you guys from Adam Mirkowski - Senior Game Designer and Project Lead on Breach of Trust expansion.
How a famous Polish poem, geothermal tremors and Scottish resilience inspired the team to build 'Breach of Trust', the upcoming expansion that flips the frozen world on its head.

“We’re not doing it because it’s easy. We’re doing it because we thought it would be easy.”
How hard can it be to make a scenario about a volcanic eruption? Volcanoes excite everyone. There is something magnetic about watching a burst of lava erupt from a massive mountain that leaves us completely thrilled.

Volcanoes are a vivid and compelling topic, but paradoxically, that means it is hard to tell a fresh, surprising story around them. Everyone has the same images in mind when they hear about an eruption: fire, ash, Pompeii, and darkness. So, how do you fit volcanoes into the Frostpunk world? Will it just make the earth warm again?

All those questions and doubts didn't stop us. After some research, we found that active volcanoes are indeed present in arctic regions. While their eruptions warm up the immediate surroundings, they don't change the polar climate altogether. What makes it a truly fascinating topic is that the ash blocking the sun can actually cause the opposite effect: a volcanic winter.

While we were sure we could create interesting gameplay around a volcanic eruption, our main question was how to fit that into the Frostpunk universe and style. With this expansion, we wanted to bring fresh stories to the world and expand its lore with a completely new city. While chasing these ambitious goals, we also knew that the most important element was striking the right balance between bringing novelty and honoring our legacy: the specific mood and style that make Frostpunk compelling for players.

While researching potential settings, we discovered that Edinburgh was actually built on Arthur's Seat, a massive, 340-million-year-old extinct volcano located right in the heart of the Scottish city. Suddenly, it all clicked. The Scots, with their national traits of resilience and pride, perfectly fitted the themes of the DLC. Their rich, vivid culture can serve as a source of endless inspiration, from music and storytelling to distinct outfits. It provided an opportunity to stay close to the original setting of Frostpunk while offering a unique new perspective on another culture.
Obviously, in the Frostpunk universe, the Scots settled New Edinburgh near a slightly less extinct volcano. But you will learn that for yourself while playing 'Breach of Trust'.

However, the question remained: how do you make a scenario about a volcanic eruption that doesn't feel like a B-grade disaster movie? From the very beginning, we knew that despite amplifying the survival aspect, we also wanted it to be a story about society, as Frostpunk should be. The inspiration for how to merge these topics came from an entirely unforeseen direction. My mind suddenly went back to my school years, remembering a class on Polish literature. Every Polish kid knows our national poet, Adam Mickiewicz. One of his most famous quotes goes:
“Our nation is like lava,
Cold and hard, foul and sullied on the surface,
But a hundred years cannot chill the fire within…”
Sounds Frostpunk as hell, doesn't it?

That brought us to our core idea: using a volcanic eruption as a catalyst that changes the dynamics within a broken nation. It is an event that can either forge unity or destroy society altogether.
In pursuit of this concept, the tale of two cities was born. One is New Edinburgh, a proud and massive capital that used to live in abundance. The other, the Aurora colony, has always been unequal, treated as a mere servant. The volcano flips this dynamic completely on its head.
To build an engaging scenario, you need to follow where the story leads. And follow it we did. We needed conflict, and two cities in conflict means war. Sometimes a literal one, sometimes an economic one, which brings us to trade negotiations where the stronger side can impose its conditions. We wanted to give players the opportunity to shape the story through their choices, so we introduced a completely branching middle act: one where the two cities attempt coexistence, and another where the stronger side wins and must choose between retaliation or learning to live together.

A cataclysmic event like a volcanic eruption needs strong foreshadowing, so we came up with the idea of geothermal exploitation and tremors shaking the city. We wanted to give you the opportunity to feel like you are stepping into a real city with a rich history, so we introduced the backstory of the former Captain who led the city before you. We also added an election mechanic, giving you a proper entrance onto the political stage and a chance to govern differently than your predecessor.

We followed these threads and many more, which led us to invent new mechanics, create new factions and communities, design new maps, and write new dilemmas and quests. Basically, we created a new world. One that you will need to save.

We hope you have a great time doing it.

General 

• Free update content for Utopia Builder

  • New Utopia Builder map: Twilight waters

  • New Utopia Builder challenge: Volcanic night

General Gameplay

• Fixed the issue in calculations which could cause sudden spike in population numbers up to millions

• ‘Rush Researches’ now lasts 20 weeks instead of 30 and will provide less research speed bonus

• Technocrats’ ‘Optimize Research’ now provides less research speed bonus

• Tweaks to multiple Research Institutes research speed boost bonus so the first two institutes provide less of it

• Slightly lowered base shelter demand of all communities

• Lowered shelter demand on Captain difficulty level

• Shelter area traits now provide less of it

• Decreased population growth speed

• Sickliness now increases quicker for some time after temperature change

• Slightly tweaked the number of sick people generated by districts and different cold levels

• Optimized functions that calculate sick people number to reduce randomness and eliminate edge cases

• Outposts and settlements rebalance aimed to make Frostland gameplay more challenging

  • Meagre Coal Mine

    • Frostland team upkeep changed from 10 to 5 

    • Stockpile now lasts for 70 weeks down from 140

  • Coal Mining Complex

    • Coal output changed from 400 to 200

  • Coal Mining Complex +

    • Coal output changed from 500 to 300

    • Community upkeep changed from 800 to 1200

    • Food upkeep changed from 10 to 25

    • Materials upkeep changed from 30 to 50

  • Coal Mining Complex ++

    • Coal output changed from 600 to 400

    • Food upkeep changed from 20 to 40

    • Materials upkeep changed from 60 to 110

  • Tar Pits

    • Frostland team upkeep changed from 10 to 5

    • Stockpile now lasts for 120 weeks down from 240

  • Old Derrick

    • Oil output changed from 320 to 200

  • Oil Rig

    • Oil output changed from 150 to 100 

  • Oil Rig +

    • Food upkeep changed from 40 to 25 

  • Oil Rig ++

    • Oil Output changed from 250 to 300

    • Materials upkeep changed from 60 to 110

  • Burried Village

    • Frostland team upkeep changed from 10 to 5 

    • Stockpile now lasts for 70 weeks down from 140

  • Imperial Smelter

    •  Materials output changed from 250 to 200

  • Imperial Smelter +

    • Materials output changed from 400 to 300

    • Frostland team upkeep changed from 10 to 5

    • Food upkeep changed from 10 to 25

  • Imperial Smelter ++

    • Materials output changed from 600 to 400

    • Frostland team upkeep changed from 10 to 5

    • Food upkeep changed from 20 to 40

  • Imperial Manufactory

    • Stockpile now lasts for 120 weeks down from 240

  • Imperial Manufactory +

    • Frostland team upkeep changed from 10 to 5

    • Food upkeep changed from 10 to 25

  • Imperial Manufactory ++ 

    • Frostland team upkeep changed from 10 to 5

    • Fixed incorrect 300 community upkeep and set it to 2000

    • Food upkeep changed from 20 to 40

    • Oil upkeep changed from 60 to 30

  • Frozen Whale Outpost

    • Stockpile now lasts for 120 weeks down from 240

  • Whaletown +

    • Food output changed from 250 to 200

    • Frostland team upkeep changed from 10 to 5

    • Community upkeep changed from 800 to 1200

    • Materials upkeep changed from 25 to 50

    • Oil upkeep changed from 10 to 20

  • Whaletown ++

    • Food output changed from 400 to 300

    • Frostland team upkeep changed from 10 to 5

    • Community upkeep changed from 1400 to 2000

    • Materials upkeep changed from 40 to 110

    • Oil upkeep changed from 20 to 30

Interface

• New deaths count widget 

• Construction panel improvements 

  • Radical buildings are now marked in the construction panel 

  • Building variants are always visible 

• Quest objectives can now be expanded/collapsed

New dangers await beyond the frost. The fate of New Edinburgh now rests in your hands.

Will you earn your people's trust, or lose everything to the fire?
Stay warm (but not too much)!

~ 11 bit studios Team