A physical table top recreation of the seminal sadness simulator, Frostpunk is now available at brick and mortar retailers across Australia and New Zealand. The board game, which features the videogame's iconic and survival-centric furnace, utilises cards and other board game elements to capture the systems of the OG game in ways that shouldn't work, but do.

Designed for up to four players, here's a bit of official information on the physical product:

Designed by Adam Kwapiński (Nemesis, Lords of Hellas), Frostpunk: The Board Game has players take on the role of leaders of a small colony of survivors in a world that was hit by a severe ice age. Their duty is to effectively manage both infrastructure and citizens in gameplay that’s challenging but easy to learn. As the game progresses, society members will issue demands and react according to the current mood, so every decision and action players make bears consequences.

We've put our hand up to give this a real-world bash, so before you spend your hard-earned dollarydoos, stick around for our full verdict.

If you can't wait, the current SRP for the game is $199.95.

Frostpunk is a city builder meets post-apocalyptic survival game that we've talking about for sometime -- our review from 2018 explains just why it made our list of the best games for that year. It's bleak, hopeful, beautiful, and stark. Harsh too.


As per our review.

The sheer emotional weight behind each decision is what separates Frostpunk from other city builders. Where enacting child labour laws or turning away refugees on the basis that you simply don’t have enough food or shelter to go around, further emphasises the stark narrative ambition of its survival side. One that eschews the more free-form experimentation and endless structure found in most simulations, instead providing intensely focused pre-determined scenarios.

Where you’re in charge of saving humanity as a new ice age dawns and temperatures plummet. No stress.

That may not sound like fun, but it weirdly is immersive and engaging. And right now Frostpunk is currently free via the Epic Games Store.

The wonderful Frostpunk (one our favourite games from 2018) is set to get its biggest expansion to date with the arrival of The Last Autumn. Which, as per the title, showcases a pre-Ice Age world where trees and grass were still a thing. Very much a prequel it will showcase the final days before the fall and the origin of the game's iconic Generator.

It looks fantastic, and will also feature a new set of Laws that take advantage of the new setting.



Frostpunk Lead Designer Kuba Stokalski highlights the care and effort gone into the new scenario. "Everyone associates Frostpunk with snow and winter, so our goal was to provide them with something totally new and change the tone of the game a bit. It was a challenge, but the result is the biggest and the most tone-nuanced scenario in the whole Frostpunk universe."

Here's a breakdown of The Last Autumn's features.

A prequel story set in a new environment not yet covered by snow that allows players to construct the Generator from the ground up to prepare their society for the upcoming winter.

A new Endless Mode variant -- Builders -- that redefines the challenges players will face by providing different setups and solutions.

Two new Books of Laws allowing players to shape their society in previously unknown ways.

New threats and issues to deal with such as toxic gases and workers going on strike.

Influence society in creative new ways from establishing labour unions to outright manipulation.

New technology tree, inventions to discover, and resources to obtain.

25 new buildings to construct such as docks, a telegraph station, a labour union building and more.

New social classes including Convicts -- a cheap and obedient workforce.

Discover even more new mechanics and tweaks to gameplay.

Frostpunk: The Last Autumn is available now as part of the Season Pass or separately for $16.99.

"The Fall of Winterhome" is a new story-driven expansion coming to the excellent Frostpunk next week, as part of developer 11 bit studios' free post-launch content plans. The new story mode will take place in a new map and will include players uncovering specific lore and history about the world of Frostpunk.

Although vague, it sounds interesting. For those that are unaware Frostpunk is a city-builder and survival game all-in-one that takes place in an ice age where players will need to manage and build a shelter while dealing with the cold.



And will launch alongside a new visual overhaul for the game

With more planned for 2019. This is very cool news as the harsh survival city builder is without a doubt one of the most memorable games released, so far, this year. Check out our full review to find out why. Frostpunk developers, 11 bit studios, has revealed that we can expect more content this year including two new modes and a new scenario.

Here's the roadmap.


Which includes, in order of planned release:

• Survival - New Mode
  
• People & Automatons - Base Customisation
  
• The Builders - New Scenario
  
• Endurance - New Mode
  
• Winter Snapshots - Update

"The City has survived but that's not the end of the journey - we are ready for further expeditions. This development road map will give you the idea of where Frostpunk is heading in 2018. We have planned some substantial content updates - unlocking new modes, tools and scenarios - on top of continuous technical patches which will arrive when necessary. It should go without saying that all of those are going to be FREE updates. And we have even more stuff planned for 2019..."

Although details outside of titles are slim, there looks to be quite a bit here. We're definitely keen to check out the new scenario and the Survival/Endurance modes sound very cool with the latter hinting at a "see how long you can survive the cold" setup. And one final bit of good news comes word that Frostpunk has found the sales success it deserves with it topping the Steam sales charts during its week of release with continued presence each consecutive week.

This is a game that we've been keeping an eye on for a while now, as the premise of building a city during the beginnings of a new ice age sounds both intense and brilliant. But even knowing the premise and setup does little to prepare you for how down-right heavy Frostpunk gets. Where in a matter of minutes you can justify some pretty dark things.

And it's through its peerless execution of moral dilemma in addition to solid and engaging mechanics where Frostpunk succeeds.

Frostpunk is a survival game first and foremost. One that just so happens to be built around well-designed city builder and real-time strategy mechanics. Where you’ll not only need to gather resources and ensure that everyone doesn’t freeze to death, but also choose what laws to enact and technology to research. This can result in a small close-knit society, where prayer meetings take place in the evening around the deity-like spire that is the generator. Or a dystopian world where labour is enforced, and free-thought is treated as a crime. Where in either scenario children can work extended hours to prepare meals whilst adults toil in coal mines and steam-powered saw mills.

Click Here to Read Our Full Frostpunk Review