Thirty years have passed since the vicious storm that concluded the first chapter of humankind's survival story in Frostpunk, Earth is still overwhelmed by the neverending frost and harsh, icy climate. But the apocalyptic world has moved on. After the age of coal, conquering Frostland for the oil extraction industry is expected to be the new salvation of what’s left of humanity.

The City, settled around the Generator and its life-giving warmth, grew and progressed as the years ticked on. Years of whiteouts have changed the world, giving it a clean slate with which to write a new post-apocalyptic part of its story. Despite the noose of oppression again starting to tighten on a society that is struggling for life-preserving supplies—and increasingly bothered by inner squabbles after recent events—the world is once again facing an era of possibly prolific expansion.

Most notably, however, people changed. And once they feel like they’ve tamed the frost, and the bonding survival instinct has faded, their human nature will come into play, driven by ambition that could spiral The City into the fall.

However, change does not come easily, and not everyone in this new multi-layered society will welcome this new direction.

11 bit studios and the development team behind Frostpunk 2, are thrilled to announce that Frostpunk 2 will launch with mod support thanks to their new tool FrostKit. This modding tool will be available in beta form at first and evolve over time. 

Mod support—particularly for creating maps and scenarios—has been a popular topic among the community for years, ever since the launch of the first Frostpunk in 2018. However, the original game and its in-house engine had limitations. According to Frostpunk 2 Technical Director, Szymon Jablonski, “Thanks to the switch to Unreal Engine, things are totally different now.”

A trailer showcasing the Frostpunk 2 modding tool, created in collaboration with mod.io, offers a glimpse of the possibilities. Notably, players will be able to create custom maps, populate them with custom models, and set their new cities—whether ancient, cosmic, or differentiated in thousands of other ways from the original frosty-apocalypse setting—against custom scenarios.

The beta version of the modding tool will enable creators to access most of its functionalities, although these will be iteratively upgraded based on community feedback. This feedback will serve the development team as a valuable insight into what works well and what needs improvement. To kick off this process, the tool will be first tested through a closed beta with selected members of the modding community before the official release.

Frostpunk 2 is coming to PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG) and PC Game Pass on September 20, 2024, followed by PS5 and Xbox Series X|S at a later time.