Beta access for players who preordered Frostpunk 2 Deluxe Edition goes live this week
Beta access will last until April 22 and include the first look at the new Utopia Builder sandbox.
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What you need to know
11 bit studios' much-anticipated follow-up to 2018’s Frostpunk is heading to PC on July 25. Players who havepreordered the Deluxe Edition of the Frostpunk 2can get a head start with a week of limited Beta access. The beta period will beginApril 15 at 7 PM CEST/1 PM ET/10 AM PT, lasting untilApril 22 at 7 PM CEST/1 PM ET/10 AM PT. To mark the beta period, Frostpunk 2 co-directors have released a developer commentary video to givePCplayers the first deep-dive into what they can expect when the game launches this summer.
Frostpunk launched in 2018, thrusting players into a uniquely post-blizzard world that had become inhospitable except for the zone surrounding a massive and unwieldy furnace. The player could strategize how and when to grow their city, scavenge for resources, and help their people survive the harsh new wintry world.
For Frostpunk 2, however, 11 bit studios has taken the mechanics for the game in a slightly different direction. Instead of focusing exclusively on building up the city, players become the Steward, who must keep the city from falling as tensions rise between the factions of survivors. The game maintains its society-based strategy survival roots, but the impacts and decisions that shape the society of survivors has bigger impacts on the gameplay.
At 11 bit studios, we don’t really believe in making just a sequel. It never satisfied us creatively, and we don’t really believe it would satisfy you. So we always wanted to build on top of the foundations that was Frostpunk 1, and create something new, something exciting.
When it was initially released, Frostpunk did not include a sandbox mode. Once an Endless Mode option was added in a later update, players began to invest hundreds of hours into building and maintaining their city. Frostpunk 2 will launch with the brand-new sandbox experience, Utopia Builder, and players can try it out as part of the limited access during the week-long beta period. The Beta preview will give players access to approximately 40 percent of the full Frostpunk 2.
11 bit studios has already shared plans for three post-release DLCs, making the sequel significantly larger than its predecessor. Purchasing the Digital Deluxe edition of Frostpunk 2 will include access to that DLC content when it is released, in addition to the base game, this week’s beta access, and 72 hours of early access to the title’s story mode before launch. The Digital Deluxe edition will include the “Warm Flesh” digital novella, a digital artbook, and the game’s original soundtrack, as well.
Frostpunk 2 will launch on PC on July 25, with an Xbox release planned for later in 2024. The game will beavailable for purchase, but subscribers ofXbox Game Pass UltimateorPC Game Passwill have day one access at no extra cost. Frostpunk 2 will also be available onXbox Game Passday one when it releases on console.
Frostpunk 2
Tempers flare in the frozen city as you become the Steward who must help shape society in the aftermath of an apocalyptic blizzard. Choose your allegiances carefully, your utopia may be another’s dystopia.Preorder:Xbox|Steam|GOG
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Cole is the resident Call of Duty know-it-all and indie game enthusiast for Windows Central. She’s a lifelong artist with two decades of experience in digital painting, and she will happily talk your ear off about budget pen displays.
