Frostpunk (opens in new tab) is a fantastic city-scale survival game that takes place beyond the world as we know it, in a new ice age that puts a question mark on the prospect of human survival. Surprisingly, rather than deepen the cold in its upcoming expansion, 11 Bit Studios has chosen to melt some of the snow, turning back the clock to just before the globe was consumed by ice in The Last Autumn.
The lengthy, narrated gameplay video above runs through the ways a bit of green grass changes the game. It's still dire—the ice is on the way—but rather than living in hell, you're building a lifeboat to climb in before it arrives. It's still fundamentally the same kind of plate-spinning city building sim, but new laws will change how you manage discontent and productivity as you attempt to construct a giant generator that will power life following the freeze. The resources have also changed, with most arriving by sea, and safety ratings are another thing to worry about. Workers don't love working in death traps.
The Last Autumn (opens in new tab) releases on January 21. There's no price for just the DLC listed right now, but it can be purchased as part of the Frostpunk Season Pass bundle, which also includes the existing Rifts DLC, one future expansion, a digital art book, and the soundtrack. That's on sale for $24.47 right now, but will be $34.97 or £27.77 normally.
