“Alternative reality allows us to push the levers of pressure on society to extremes where this is not really possible in the real world.” Frostpunk Design director Jakub Stokalski told WIRED. “And what happens to large groups of people who are under pressure — that’s really the topic.”
While Frostpunk’s Volcano plot allows humanity to get out of relationship, its most recent expansion, Last Autumn, describes efforts to prepare for disaster even as many social groups deny it is coming.
“When conducting Last Autumn, the question is what are you going to sacrifice to secure opportunities for the future,” says Stokalski. “But not for yourself; for others. This sacrifice isn’t just yours — you can choose to make someone else’s sacrifice, whether they like it or not. ”
That scenario is a natural extension of Frostpunk’s the concept. It’s not really About climate change, but questions of who and what sacrifice are felt more in our efforts to grapple with the problem than in arguing whether our city’s sleek recycling center is Where will you look the most attractive. It’s a game of questions, not goals.
“Societies are under pressure, and what players are going to do to ensure their survival, is an interesting space where we can ask uncomfortable questions,” says Stokalski. “I find these questions very interesting because players have to answer them by making realistic choices. And we reap the consequences on our way to ‘beating’ our game.
“I think that’s the game’s unique ability: to ask questions that the player has to answer through actions, rather than statements. And I think it makes sense, to learn more about ourselves, because only then can we try to be better.”
Stokalski and his colleagues at 11 Bit Studios are hard at work Frostpunk 2, will see their de facto transition from coal to oil. Stokalski considers both resources symbolic; coal keeps fire in a frozen world, while oil is “a talking resource, an energy source for the great achievements of man, but also dark, sticky, and soiling everything.” that it touches.” It’s not an obvious comment about the time, but it’s also hard to separate series of negative headlines– “the density of the news is really bad,” as Stokalski puts it – from the game’s development.
If Frostpunk challenge players to think about the people in cities, Terra Nil remind them that there are places people shouldn’t go. The upcoming simulation challenges players to build a city, transforming old urban wastelands into natural space rolls up. If you manage your resources properly, your last resort will be to recycle your tools and depart, leaving no trace of human presence. It’s an implicit criticism of games like Civ 6 and Horizon line, where climate is just another bump on man’s infinitely open road.
Expected in 2022, Terra Nil is the latest title of the South African indie studio Free life, which has previously commented on war and masculinity — in its own unique way — with hyperbolic Broforce and Jousting genitals. One of the goals of lead designer Sam Alfred was to show that city builders can still be fun and engaging even when you walk away from, well, the building.
