Frostpunk 2 – Breach of Trust DLC Review (PC)
Summary: The new scenario feels lacking, and ends quite quickly. The new challenges aren't that fun to deal with, and the narrative's strength is undermined by the lack of choice the player has in shaping the story or how they would handle Breach of Trust's challenges.
3
Breach of Trust
As Europe (and I) are being devoured by a heatwave, even Frostpunk 2 of all settings can’t escape the heat. Frostpunk 2’s second major DLC introduces a new scenario revolving around the city of New Edinburgh and a nearby colony called Aurora. As the volcano New Edinburgh is built on becomes destabilised by the thermal energy you draw to power its generator, you’ll have to choose between diplomacy and war as you negotiate with the nearby colony of Aurora for food, while fighting the tremors caused by your own machines, and eventually finding safe haven from an erupting volcano.
Besides this new scenario and story, Breach of Trust doesn’t add much more besides the option for volcanic elements in Utopia mode – albeit a little more disappointing than the mountain you deal with in the scenario. The new scenario provides a challenge, especially as I eventually took control of both New Edinburgh and Aurora after choosing war over diplomacy. But it’s not the fun type of predicament, as you basically follow a set path to play out the scenario. No matter which option you take, war or diplomacy, you’ll be dealing with the same objectives and ramifications.
There’s some new content in the form of a war mechanic, only used once for a single colony, negotiations, a resistance mechanic, and everything related to the volcano. There’s new hubs in the form of barracks, shelters and fisheries. But they’re minor additions specific to the scenario and nothing compared to the previous expansion, Fractured Utopias’ slew of updates to its factions in the form of new buildings, looks, laws and entire skill trees. Breach of Trust meanwhile feels like a weak, quick new tale rather than a full-on expansion, which is a shame. I had more fun and felt refreshed dealing with the “Plague” tale in Fractured Utopias than this entire DLC gameplay-wise. And that was a buggy experience on its own. Thankfully, this new scenario didn’t provide me with any unintentional issues in that regard.
Final Thoughts
Breach of Trust feels like it should’ve been longer and designed a little differently, all in all. I’m glad 11bit are at least attempting to develop more scenarios and story for Frostpunk 2, since that felt sorely lacking compared to the original. And the inclusion of the Scottish and certain tiny revelations in this DLC (especially the last line on the ending screen) do help in that regard. Hopefully 11bit can strike a neat balance between gameplay and narrative in the future. Because if anything shines here, it is the narrative of New Edinburgh and Aurora. It’s just a shame the volcano didn’t get to. The story is over before it really begins.
About the Author
Lander Van Poucke Lander is a passionate gamer from Belgium with a flair for the dramatic. Valuing storytelling & narrative in games, he favours single-player games, RPG's & fighting games for their lore and vast array of characters.
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