Poland-based indie developer 11 Bit Studios have been releasing indie gem after indie gem in recent years. Beginning with the tremendously powerful This War of Mine and continuing with titles like Moonlighter and Children of Morta, they’ve been satisfying a hardcore gaming niche which goes all too often overlooked. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Frostpunk, its retro-futuristic Will-Wright-gone-wrong city-building survival sim made waves in certain circles when it debuted in Early Access in mid-2018, but the title’s first paid DLC, The Rifts, snuffed out some of that enthusiasm, garnering a mixed reception from fans. Fortunately, The Last Autumn provides a robust new scenario that mixes up the formula without drastically♏ altering the game’s fundamentals, and it serves as a spellbinding prequel warm enough to melt the frigid hearts of veteran players.
Preparing For The Worst
Taking place just before the global cooling apocalypse that drove desperate Londoners away from their native city, The Last Autumn tasks the player with overseeing the construction of the first-ever generator, the machine that would prove vital to humanity’s survival during the main story. Resources are more abundant than normal and things may not seem quite as dire as usual, but, as the countdown to extinction inevitably ticks down to zero, situations can grow to be quite tense. Soon enough, players will find themselves orchestrating desperate gambits and making the sort ▨of life-or-death choices for which thꦗe game is known.
The principal difference between this DLC and the base content is that, rather than being forced to contend with an ever-decreasing temperature, players are forced to race against the clock. London is desperate for a solution to the climate issue, and, should players fail to keep up with their predefined work schedule, they’ll be ousted from their post. Gruff and unforgiving, The Last Autumn demands a perfect balance between the health and wellbeing of the working populace and the research a൩nd development of the new generator🍌. Things can get out of hand quickly, and pulling it all off requires some seriously adept management skills—especially on the hardest difficulty setting.
To compensate for the balmy fifty-degree Fahrenheit temperature, The Last Autumn introduces an increasingly treacherous work environment which, in later sections of the scenario, could prove fatal if not carefully attended to. Toxic fumes and cave-ins constantly threaten the site’s la𒈔borers and mishandling any of these elements could lead to revolt. Unfortunately, safety comes at a price, and over-regulating the work environment will slow development to a crawl, virtual guaranteeing failure. So, once again, it’s up to the player to decide when to prioritize safety and when to rush to meet deadlines.
Additionally, instead of the hope mechanic seen in the main game which partially dictated the spirit and obedience of the population, the DLC introduces a motivation bar. Worker motivation can be impacted by a variety of things and will decrease productivity by thirty percent should it drop to low. Consequently, if things are going particularly well, high motivation could increase productivity by the same amount, though ෴maintaining high-enough levels is almost impossible long-term.
Catching A Cold
There are also a few new laws and structures to build. The assorted buildings and machines related to the construction of the generator now take up an entire tab in the workshop, and players can also research and build docks and fishing harbors which allow for the importation of foods and supplies. This makes resource gathering far more manageable than what was seen in the base game scenarios, and it helps to speed up what could som🎉etimes be a tedious early-game.
That said, The Last Autumn is just as difficult as any other Frostpunk challenge, and, while heat management may no longer be a factor, this campaign requires some detailed planning, and it’ll more than likely take several attempts to complete. Frustrating and confusing though it may at times be—it’s easy to lose track of what you were or should be ⛄doing, particularly in the game’s latter stages—abating the destruction of the human race is a quest worth pursuing, and the secไond of three planned DLCs feels like an enthralling and worthwhile continuation of this exorbitantly demanding city-building sim.
A PC copy of Frostpunk The Last Autumn was provided to TheGamer for this review. Frostpunk The Last Autumn is available now on PC.
Frostpunk: The Last Autumn
- Top Critic Avg: 81/100 Critics Rec: 76%