Frostpunk....(& gaming waffle)

 

Of late I've been harsh with games. Not just a cash value thing but more a time v's game-play value as well. Or perhaps more accurately I'm more judgmental of what a game can do for me. Lots to factor in. I've long since stopped impulse and pre-ordering games and those that I do need to tick a lot of boxes. If a game clicks with me all the better....But the proof is in the pudding.

Not all gamers are the same.... People change their minds over time. It's comical to me how serious a lot of the 'Top 10' lists take themselves; As if all gamer's have the same tastes, wants and needs from games. Reviews of game that aren't objective probably more so. Then again I'm waffling on a blog so all of this is personal to me. With luck you'll get some value out of your time here.

From all I'd seen of Frost Punk it's a great game with a lot of game-play mechanics, theme and other elements that would have usually made it a buy for me. However I've played so many other games like it that I 'decided' to pretty much ignore it. Seeing it for 'free' on the Microsoft store via the Xbox Ultimate subscription I decided to try it out. No harm in seeing it....Free is free after all.

So I did and it's a great game. I really like it; The game-play and theme work well. The music really enhances the despair of it all. However it does have the elements that I ignored it for; It's a long, complex and unforgiving game. It's supposed to be. I get that. This is where my harsh considerations come into play.  The harsh pressures within a RPG micromanagement game have already proven that it's not a compelling time sink for me. No matter how good the emotive music and feeling of immersive pressurized despair is in the game. 

The game is unique in a lot of ways; 'But' there is a 'but' for me....I've been there and done that in similar ways in other games. That's a me thing....

It's a game with a learning curve; One that has steps, some more urgent to take for gameplay than others. It's a very min/max game. Once you do get into it, it's easy to see that there's specific things you need to do first, research, resources, heating, scouting, first aid. It's a ballet of RPG micromanagement. All done very well. While even a 'novice' to the game can last a while; Long enough to learn from the experience. It's a game that needs you to fail, learn from that and repeat the process adding in improvements and changes to your plans/tactics as you go. 

A massive time sink for sure. Yet it's really the RPG elements that drive motivation to push for progress. I'm sure endless mode is great for those that are 'into' the game for the sake of the micromanagement; I do endless modes in other games and play on beyond the 'ending' on a lot of games. For me it all boils down to real world game time and I've more to to in other games than just this one.

I'm thankful to have tried it and I can see a lot I like in it; I really do like the game. I'm appreciative of it's take on the genre but it's not clicked with me in a way that makes me want to pour a thousand hours into it. I don't see motivation in doing it's gameplay long-term. I'm a gamer with too many games, simple as that. A very 'first world problem'. Not even for the story, never mind endless mode/expansions or other content; It's just not for me.....Each to their own. 

It's a worthy game, I'd recommend it with a 'time-sink' caveat.