The usual complaint I read about Frostpunk is regarding its replayability value. Before I bought the game, it seemed like a legitimate point of critique—it’s a city builder, after all. Fortunately, one day the complete version of the game was on discount, and I purchased it on an impulse, as I tend to do (I’ve learned to ignore the tears of my wallet). Unlike many other financial decisions I’ve made, this was a good one.

The most important thing to note before buying Frostpunk, I think, is that it is not really a city builder. It is a sh*tshow simulator, and you are there to manage it. It is also an incredibly sad game. These two aspects make Frostpunk a very well-defined, albeit shocking, experience. And any experience, good or bad, the more time it’s repeated, the weaker it becomes for us. This game avoids this problem—it gives you exactly the amount of time you need to be immersed, crushed, to survive, and to feel it in your bones before it’s ruined for you by overly long gameplay.

I don’t think most people even need the endless mode (it’s there for those who want to try it out nonetheless). However, the few story-driven scenarios that are there tell good stories, and each provides just enough change to the way you need to structure your decisions that I’m sure you’ll stay interested. I've played 4 out of 5 scenarios so far, with the original one and The Last Autumn being my favorites, and it was time well spent.

The game looks phenomenal for a title of this genre, and the sound design is something from another world. The game literally makes you feel the freezing, disarming cold through your screen, especially if you play with good headphones.

To sum up: sure, Frostpunk is not a game in which you will spend 1000 hours. But the 30-40 hours that you will are so well designed, so well-focused on the experience they aim to provide, that I believe even the full price is justified. If the game’s on discount, don’t even think twice.