4.5/10

I was first drawn to play FROSTBITE: Deadly Climate after seeing how well it had been received by Steam users, as well as how it reminded me in concept of Cryostasis, one of my favorite games, and The Thing, the fantastic sci-fi/horror film. The game is free, so I really had nothing to lose.

The game makes a great first impression - there is a level of polish and thoughtfulness of lore and level design that you wouldn't expect from a F2P title. In addition, I found a Cryostasis arcade cabinet! I'm glad the developer is showing credit and love to his inspirations. I liked exploring the environments and reading the lore, and I liked the visual effects of the cold on both your HUD and the visible shaking of your character's hands. The weapons don't feel great, but they get the job done.

After progressing in the game for a good while, playing around an hour, I found that I had run out of "heat drinks," which allow you to keep from freezing to death. I watched as my body temperature fell and fell until I died. I was a little irritated, because I felt that I had played carefully while still moving at a brisk pace. In this game, your body temperature seems to fall with time regardless of where you are. Even in Cryostasis, the game the developer seems to be inspired by, you could stop and regain body temperature with ambient heat and light sources. Cryostasis created and maintained tension while still giving the player some respite - not to mention that the story was incredible.

After dying in FROSTBITE, I felt that I could only really improve by moving more quickly, memorizing the game's path, and perhaps writing down safe codes, etc. that I had to initially piece together. I signed up for a relatively tense game with interesting environments and lore, rather than a title intended for speedrunning. The achievements make it clear that the developer intends you to play through the title multiple times, perhaps honing your route until you can finish in 30 min or finish using a limited number of heat drinks or bullets.

It's clear the developer has talent, and I would be interested to see how FROSTBITE ends. However, I'm not going to memorize routes and item locations to do so. If the developer had rooms in which you could stabilize your body temperature, I think I'd actually enjoy the game. However, the constantly declining body temperature mechanic ruins the game for me.

☑
Player Bases:
☐ Kids.
☐ Everyone.
☑ Mature.
☐ Casual Players.
☐ Pro players.

Graphics:
☐ Potato.
☐ Really Bad.
☐ Bad.
☑ OK.
☐ Good.
☐ Beautiful.
☐ Masterpiece.

Price:
☐ Full Price.
☐ Wait For Sale.
☐ Refund It If You Can.
☐ Don't Buy It.
☑ Free.

Requirements:
☑ Minimum.
☐ Medium.
☐ Fast.
☐ High End.
☐ Super Computer.

Difficulty:
☐ Easy.
☑ Medium.
☐ Hard.
☐ Very Hard.
☐ Death March.
☐ Dark Souls.


Game length:
☑ Really Short. ( 0 - 3 hours)
☐ Short. ( 2 - 8 hours)
☐ Medium. ( 8 - 16 hours)
☐ Long. ( 16+ hours)
☐ Endless.

Story:
Looks like the story is basing “The Thing” movie. I loved. (Watch it)
☐ It Doesn't Have One.
☐ Horrible.
☐ Ok.
☑ Average.
☐ Good.
☐ Fantastic.

Cinematic/Art:
☑ It Doesn't Have.
☐ Horrible.
☐ Ok.
☐ Average.
☐ Good.
☐ Like Watching A Movie.

Music/Sound:
☐ Horrible.
☑ Decent.
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Amazing.

Gameplay:
☐ Terrible.
☑ Ok.
☐ Average.
☐ Good.
☐ Fantastic.

Bugs:
☐ Game Itself Is One Big BUG.
☐ Game Breaking Bugs.
☐ Lots of bugs.
☑ Few Bugs.
☐ Nothing.
Final:
☐ Terrible.
☑ Ok.
☐ Average.
☐ Good.
☐ Fantastic

Others:
Multiplayer: ☐
Singleplayer: ☑

Final Score:
7/10

Obviously (like the description also states) this game is heavily inspired by The Thing.. hell we even get to look at ID cards with the surname being Carpenter ;)
The inspiration it draws from it is definately a good thing.. The setting is pretty original for a horror game... There are no cheap jumpscares, but the atmosphere is definately haunting..you never know when some frostman/woman lurks around the corner plus the fact that you have to survive minding your body heat tempature adds to a Chilling experience.

I definately give this game a thumbs up! Even more so because it's completely free to play :)

FROSTBITE: Deadly Climate is a survival-based horror game that pits you against the harsh elements of an arctic snowstorm. Though that's not all, the research area known only as Base 75 has been completely abandoned; dead bodies lie within its dark corridors, and beastly groans can be heard in the abyssal distance. Was the fate of the researchers really caused by unfortunate circumstances surrounding power outage and heat loss, or did something more sinister occur?

First thing is first, if you're not into survival gameplay then this is not the release for you. Though the micromanagement isn't heavy or complex compared to games such as The Long Dark or Scum, you'll still have to take control of your health, stamina, and body temperature. There's also a nifty little light crafting system in place that lets you craft things such as heat, health, and stamina drinks, as well as revolver ammo. Much of the gameplay relies on key and item finding to proceed, with a few simple puzzles thrown in for good measure. The ultimate goal is to find three key items to power the generator, and escape the gloom of Base 75.

The developer really nailed the vibe from John Carpenter's The Thing, the atmosphere is just incredible and a lot better than what is found in some paid games; it's accentuated well by the violently whooshing wind and eerie silence. The little touches like the ice building up on the screen as your character gets colder, as well as the increased shaking of the hands that happens, all help make this hidden gem what it is. It's just you and only you, pitted against not only the infected ice-researches, but also against the elements themselves as you try desperately to find a way out of this locked down, abandoned facility. There are some notes scattered about as well, which aid the lore of the game.

As far as free games go, FROSTBITE: Deadly Climate is one of the best horror freebies you'll stumble across. It's a true diamond in the rough that deserves a longer, more polished paid-for counterpart. The only thing that comes close to it is Distrust, which isn't saying much to be honest. There's relatively little holding it back, save for the short hour-long length, and the fact that the hatchet does absolutely nothing; you'll need to find a gun ASAP if you're wanting to survive even your first enemy encounter. If you're looking for an added challenge, there are a total of 4 difficulty settings as well, which in tandem with the achievements gives some good replayability to this release.

The Horror Network Curator | Group Click for Gore

A short, but decent homage to John Carpenter's The Thing

PROS:
+ Free to play
+ No jumpscares
+ Heat management mechanic
+ Tense Resident Evil-like gameplay
+ Acceptable sound design and graphics for a one-man project

CONS:
- Typos
- Short and easy
- Fairly predictable
- Simplistic AI and combat

https://youtu.be/YX3Q6PsZFa4

All in all, this is a pretty decent survival horror that is inspired by Carpenters 'the thing'. Graphics and amnimations are functional, but not outstanding. Game performance was good and the controls are smooth.

Well worth a download at a price that's nice, just wish it was a little longer as it is quite a short experience.

Great writing, good pacing, a little too easy on normal difficulty, will try hardcore later - the only issue I had was heating. Health was plentiful, so was ammo. The puzzles made sense and were not overly nonsensical as RE7 sometimes did (the only 2 things that stood out were the 2 lockboxes with shapes - kind of out of place that they would use those).

The idea that the enemies see you less the colder you are would be nifty but it kind of loses meaning since you cannot skip any of the enemies - you have to kill each one to get to the items. It's a nice story touch still.

The main highlight of the game is probably the temperature system where there is constant temperature drop threat and you have to find heat drinks to keep the body temperature high, if your body temperature reaches zero, your health will drop. This mechanic makes you can't play the game leisurely as you'll need to keep always moving to find the energy drinks, however they are limited, as well as the save items (the harder difficulty, the less items you could find). This kind of gameplay doesn't suit my taste. It makes the game less scary as the constant temperature threat will force you to always be brave to move forward to next area and face the enemy. It makes the game a bit fast paced too which doesn't really suit a horror game.

About the enemy/monster, I don't find them scary at all, the monster is quite basic, nothing special. I found it a bit annoying that they don't make voice when shows up, one time I was reading a note and I got attacked from behind.

Another bad thing about the game is there is no projectile animation when you shoot the enemy, and the enemy doesn't flinch too when gets shot, so you might think your shot is miss. It makes the game looks unpolished.

There are multiple firearm weapons, but they are pretty much wasted as most of the enemy can be killed easily with melee weapon, at least in normal difficulty (haven't tried the harder difficulty and probably won't bother to try as I don't like the gameplay).

This one free game here is better than most indie projects that cost money. It's a downside though, because i'd gladly pay to see a more advanced, more polished, longer version. Frostbite is smooth, it's just small and smooth, it's comfortable to play. Controls are easy and customizable, graphics aren't bad and customizable too, animations are meh at best, but this game has atmosphere and it has a somewhat story and it's just so easy to adapt to, it's incredible.

No tons of settings, no unnecessary action keys, in fact, this game needs aiming, because that's what rmb is for in shooters. It's so short, you can finish it in 13 minutes and get an achiv for that, but in order to do that, you'd need to learn the place and mechanics in general to know what to do and where to go, and that may take a few hours. Or you can just slowly explore the place, kill some enemies, combine things, learn how the game works overall. Actually, Frostbite has a couple of interesting features. You must monitor your body heat indicator at all times as well as health, because here you can easily die of hypothermia (hello, Cryostasis!), and you also must all the time find and put together some elements and stuff in order to create useful... things that will help you survive.

But the best part of this game is achievements. Now, please, keep in mind that Frostbite was made by 1 person, but how he managed to balance difficulty is just beyond my understanding. It's freaking perfect! Difficulty level in this game is exactly what it says. On "Normal", for example, it's a... normal shooter experience for those who play shooters now and then, on "Nightmare" it's a harsh, unforgiving, lip-biting experience for those who are willing to test their FPS/survival skills. And achievements match perfectly here. You hear that, Witch Hunt developer? Now THAT is how you balance achivs in your video game!

So, what else can you ask for from a free game? So that it had cost something. So that it could be longer, more polished, more qualitative. Alex, you really managed to deliver, so, if you're reading this, i wish you to make more games and i also wish you a bright future as a video game developer, because you deserve it. Because a few know where the edge lies. Thank you for your game! 10/10, really.

What's good:
-Has good atmosphere.
-It was free.
-Cool enemies.
-Awesome End boss idea.
-Has guns.
-Was spooky first time playing.
-Has achievements.
-It was fun learn about the story through notes and papers.

What's bad:
-Same enemy placement each time.
-Only 4 different enemies.
-Enemies sometimes hit you without doing animations.
-End boss can get stuck and not attack the play at times.
-Most items never change places.
-Very, very short (especially when you know where everything is).
-Can get physically stuck at shed padlock if you don't know the code.
-No other way to warm up (Besides Drinks).
-Mostly just going back and forth.
-Nightmare difficulty was hard, only because of the faster cool down and not because of enemies.

But because the game was free and enjoyable, I would recommend it.