Does this game suck now or not?

[DonGeilo]

So whats up, I see lots of people say its ♥♥♥♥ and an equal amount of people saying its fun.
I get it, its different, but is it bad or just different.
I get it, its been barely a few hours since release but the first part was also really small and one could fully explore it in just a few hours.

[Harth]

i loved the first one the second is different yes... but its amazing.
i cant understand this whole hate

[JustMonika]

I'm enjoying it.

Needed more QA, the soundtrack is not worse. It's not Frostpunk 1 in any way, shape or form.
But I don't regret my purchase, and it's engaging. It's not super challenging on the lower difficulities, but I can imagine on the more extreme ones it's going to be super punishing to learn how to play it right.

[Drac]

The town building aspect of the first game is basically gone and replaced with a civ5 like town building

[Ele]

I think it depends on your expectations for what you think it should have been. Too many people wanted FP 1 with more scenarios, bigger areas, etc. That's not a sequel. This is 30 years later, things have changed. Hell it starts off with them offing the Captain (you) to make way for advancement. The prologue is pretty crappy overall, but once you get past it, then the game opens up.

I am thoroughly enjoying the Chapter system, I'm sitting at Chapter 2 right now, before I start streaming. Playing on Normal difficulty, and since I've got 800+ hours in first game, I'm pretty aware of the pitfalls to avoid. That being said, my friend who barely finished New Home in FP 1 has had to restart Chapter 1 three times now and he's on Easy (Citizen). I am currently missing some of the hardcore decisions we had as Captain, I will admit. Here and there an option dialog will pop up (I sent off the elders to die in Prologue, and I sacrificed child miners in Chapter 1), but those have really been the only truly morally challenging decisions I've had to make. I miss that moral dilemma of what laws to choose, etc., something 11 Bit is known for. But it may still be there when I get through to the end, we'll see.

[Crazy8Chief]

Loving it. Eating dinner and getting back into the COLD!

[Harris]

First game was so difficult that I failed on Normal and had to do my best to even beat it, and Hard&Extreme were unplayable for me for a long time until I got better. This one warns you about how challenging it is but then ends up being trivial.

First game had me want to improve my skill and hunt for every achievement. This one is so engaging that I browse the forums and do other things with the game window open on release day.

First game had me care for my people and hesitate before signing off on the "New Order" law. Here people are just a number so you commit war crimes without a second thought.

[DonGeilo]

Appreciate the replies. Especially the detailed ones, thanks.

[Moody™]

Gamestar: 89% Rating

[kleiner blauer Elefant]

Originally posted by Harris:

This one warns you about how challenging it is but then ends up being trivial.

What difficulty are you playing?

[Rath Rain]

It's not like the first one so if you are expecting more of that then move on to something else. I think it's very underwhelming and not worth the price. 20 dollars at most.

[Thirsk]

I'm not sure if I would say it sucks, but I was very disappointed. I didn't see anything about Frostpunk 2 beforehand, so I was more expecting an evolution of Frostpunk; take the mechanics unique to the series and refine them then expand on them.

Instead, we got what feels like a weird Civilization game that didn't retain much of what made Frostpunk 1 unique. To steal an analogy I liked from another thread, it feels like if they made This War of Mine 2 and instead of having traumatized survivors struggling to live another day, they had you building a Walmart and expanding franchises. Sure, it's bigger than what was going on before, but "bigger" doesn't automatically mean better. A game where you play as a supermarket mogul might be fun, but it wouldn't be This War of Mine, you know?

Ultimately, Frostpunk 2 is a very different game from the first one. Normally, if you like the first game in a series you can be reasonably sure that you will like the second game in it, because it is a continuation of the previous game. Frostpunk 2 is not like this. The two games share an aesthetic, at least.

I think the devs would've had a better reception if they had it more like Amplitude did with their Endless series: Dungeon of the Endless is clearly tied to the franchise they're building, but the obviously different name revealed that it would have very different mechanics. If they had called it Endless Legend 2 instead, people would've complained much more because it was wildly different from expectations.

[Mirvra]

Originally posted by Harris:

First game had me care for my people and hesitate before signing off on the "New Order" law. Here people are just a number so you commit war crimes without a second thought.

People audibly calling for you in a tone of voice that changes depending on that faction's attitude towards you...
Expanded upon ''announcer'' both for random events and for certain story events.
More and frankly better pop-up text describing your citizen's reaction to laws/research/events you get.
Way more events have followups compared to the first game.
The fact that you can end up having to make a deal with a faction that has a wildly different desire for the city compared to you just so you can get the votes for a child apprenticeship law to pass, and then have to deal with the consequences for that.

You being able to ''commit war crimes without a second thought'' speaks more about you rather than the game.

[Louksir]

Seems like people are so used to have the same game over and over and over again, they are lost when a sequel is actually trying to do something else than just "a little bit more, a little bit better"

[Birmingham Chuck]

It's different from the first game for sure.

If people go into it expecting it to play exactly like the original Frostpunk they might end up disappointed. If they go into it expecting it to be a continuation of Frostpunk that expands the game and it's mechanics in a different way then they might end up pleasantly surprised.

I've been pleasantly surprised so far and having a good time with the game.

[Dracula, Redheads Supremacist]

Originally posted by GamerNamedDrac:

The town building aspect of the first game is basically gone and replaced with a civ5 like town building

Ah, that's a big no-no for me. Oh well. I'll pick it up at a 90% discount after all DLCs are out in a few years.