Frostpunk: The Last Autumn (PC) Review

Humanity's last hope is the creation of the Generator; a marvel of technology that will ensure surviving the ensuing cold. Taking place in a landscape that hasn't froze up yet, you take the role of the one who'll supervise this highly important engineering expedition, and make all the tough calls in order for it to succeed. In essence this is a brand new scenario, with some additional mechanics, like buildings, technologies, laws, as well as more problems to face; a scenario that revolves around managing a workforce, rather than keeping them alive. Does this make your mission any easier? Not really.

For starters, you can be fired and lose long before you even come close to building the generator. No, scrap "you can be fired." You will be fired. The Last Autumn is the toughest scenario yet, despite the fact that you are actually drowning in resources compared to previous modes. Apart from starting with lots of materials to do your thing, you'll soon be able to build docks that can ship whatever you need, and a telegraph station to order more manpower. This isn't about acquiring the necessary components to develop your settlement, though, but about managing it.

You'll have to be able to methodically organise your assets in the most efficient way - especially the ones that walk. The goal here is to meet specific deadlines in regards to the generator's construction. Failing to do so will give you a nice set of walking papers. Rather than the weather, however, your biggest enemy in here are the people who work for you. As such, rather than 'Hope' the main "social" resource is now 'Motivation,' which affects how fast workers do what they need to, with safety being the primary modifier of Motivation. An unsafe workplace can lead to accidents, sickness, and, by far the worse outcome, strikes.

Being "too kind" and overly cautious, though, is not always the solution. Frostpunk has always been about choosing what you think is the lesser evil. In order to keep the seat of the overseer, one has to think when to please, when to negotiate, when to manipulate, and when to straight up discipline. The new Books of Laws that are your disposal are 'Administration' and 'Labour,' with the first covering basic things, like coping with discontent, sickness, and hunger, with Labour turning you into... well, a politician, basically, as you try to work out a deal with the fellow, blue-coloured man - or become a tyrant that will bring terror to the hearts of those retched, ungrateful rats!

The rest of the experience is similar to previous scenarios. It’s possible (and vital) to upgrade structures, unlock new tech, and improve overall performance. One can also assemble teams to explore the surrounding landscape, find useful resources, plus exciting pieces of lore. Oh, by the way, this scenario carries one of the original’s flaws: it’s not dynamic. Each event (aka problem) will rear its annoying head in predetermined intervals, no matter what, heavily damaging replayability, and even immersion at times. Also bear in mind that, while great and all, this expansion isn’t really “expanding” anything, as it only adds a new mode, with unique systems.

This being part of Frostpunk, it’s also a very emotive journey, and not just a strategy title that you simply play and that’s it. Of course, it can’t hold a candle to the superior main campaign, where you had to make some pretty tough, ethically questionable decisions, and hurt some for the sake of the many. This is obviously less oppressive, and… well, post-apocalyptic, as the main focus is the managing of a team of tired, frightened, and desperate people. Is that a bad thing? Not exactly. Like the original, The Last Autumn is a deeply atmospheric, audio-visual masterpiece that perfectly engrosses you into your struggle - especially after the first snowflake makes its appearance.