Unlike This War of Mine, which focuses on an individual's struggles, Frostpunk aims at exploring issues faced by society as a whole and whether or not players are willing to challenge their beliefs and morals in times of adversity.

The team was inspired by Jacek Dukaj's novel Ice (2007) as well as reports of near-death experiences, such as accounts from early polar explorers and survivors of the Andes flight disaster.

Announced in August 2016, the game was initially released for Microsoft Windows in April 2018 and was later made available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in October 2019 and macOS in February 2021.

11 Bit Studios has partnered with NetEase Games to release a port for iOS and Android titled Frostpunk: Beyond the Ice in October 2024.

These supplies will quickly run out, and players must construct new facilities such as sawmills, hunting huts, mines, and factories to harvest raw materials (coal, wood, steel, and food) in order to keep their society warm and healthy in the midst of fluctuating cold temperatures.

[5] The generator may shut down if there is insufficient coal,[6] or explode if the player keeps overloading it to meet heat demand, ending the game.

[11] Through research, players can also construct a beacon to scout the surrounding frozen wasteland for additional survivors and resources, learning about what happened to the rest of the world in the process.

[13] If hope is too low, or discontent is too high for an extended period of time, the citizens of New London will revolt against the player and the game will end.

In response to this, several installations called "generators" were built by the British Empire and the United States in the coal-rich North, designed to be city centres in the event that dropping temperatures force mass migration from the south.

"The Arks" is centred around a largely automated city run by scientists from Oxford and Cambridge, seeking to preserve plant samples taken prior to the global cooling.

"The Last Autumn" is also a prequel, set in Atlantic Canada just before the global winter begins, involving the construction of a generator for the evacuation of Liverpool.

Endless Mode was also introduced in a later patch that eschews narrative elements to focus on surviving for as long as possible while weathering intermediate storms.

The DLCs from the Season Pass added additional settings for Endless Mode, such as "The Builders", involving the construction of a generator (based on "The Last Autumn") during winter conditions.

Its success enabled the team to be more ambitious with the game's scale and scope, exploring issues faced by society as a whole instead of individual struggles.

[21] Lead designer Kuba Stokalski positioned the game as an experience exploring how willing players are to "sacrifice" their morals and ideals to achieve a better outcome.

[24][25] The team was inspired by the events in the 19th century, which Stokalski described as "a period of social stratification with masses of the workers"; the Luddites rebellion against automated machinery; and the rise of artificial intelligence in modern day.

[24] The team was inspired by reports about accidents and other near-death experiences, such as attempts at polar exploration, the Andes flight disaster, as well as tragic events surrounding mountaineers such as Joe Simpson and Aron Ralston.

The team implemented an early system in which individual citizens struggling with a problem will make a request, and players can react by choosing one from several choices to resolve the issue.

For instance, the use of child labourers was prevalent during the Victoria era, and Russia had a history of adding sawdust to food during times of hardship.

[24] The team spent an extensive amount of time adjusting the moral dilemmas faced by players so that they would not be too subtle to notice or too exaggerated to become comical.

[36] The mobile versions, titled Frostpunk: Beyond the Ice, added multiplayer functionality, enabling players to trade between each other as well as a variety of minigames.

It has two difficulty modes: Serenity, in which harsh weather events occurred less frequently, and Endurance, which was more difficult than the base game as random parts of the city will shut down.

[40] The first of three expansion packs for season pass owners, The Rifts, was released on 27 August 2019, adding a new map to the game's endless mode and introducing new gameplay features such as the ability to construct bridges.

[42] The final pack, titled On The Edge, was released on 20 August 2020, introducing a new scenario revolving around an outpost that must rely on supplies from New London to survive.

[50] Christopher Livingston from PC Gamer also liked how consequential each choice can be, and managing the overall citizen satisfaction created a "masterful expression of the burden of leadership.

[48][50][52][16] Bertz was impressed by the ethical choices featured in the game and liked how they often challenged his own beliefs and morals, adding that "[r]arely does an interactive experience keep me awake at night wrestling with big decisions.

[50] Livingston added that the game had "extraordinary style and art design" and praised its grim depiction of civilization in the midst of a volcanic winter.

[8] Purchese praised the team's attention to detail and the game's sound design for making the city lively under close inspection.