Frostpunk– Micromanagement… Micromanagement Everywhere

Why yes, that is a reference to that Toy Story meme

I decided to do this thing where I snoop around my EGS library and see what kind of games I downloaded, the likes of which I don’t even remember downloading (I guess that just happens when you get older). I found this game Frostpunk and remembered that I heard that it was quite the indie game. I don’t know what “quite the indie game” means exactly, but I got the impression that it might be worth checking it. Was it? Probably, but it’s not me.

The game requires more management skills than an open position for the head of a national bank. It’s a simulation game of sorts where humanity had found its end when the world suffered a volcanic winter. The remaining survivors of humanity formed a colony where they must persevere through the cold, manage resources, ensure that the people have all their needs satisfied, and gradually rebuild civilisation and all the other stuff you can find in any intricate simulation game. However, I happened to find that this game, in particular, has had one too many options for micromanagement.

It’s probably just me becoming more impatient as the years pass by, but there were so many things to mind in the game that I just lost myself at some point. You had to enact laws, and then the people weren’t satisfied; you had to distribute your resources appropriately, or you could find yourself with a shortage; you had to maintain the heat, or the people could freeze to death. That last bit actually makes sense, but those are just a few examples of how I was imposed with so many tasks at once that I just said, “screw it, let’s move on” an hour and a half after starting the game. I should’ve known better than to dwell on games that aren’t my favourite genre, but it did inspire me with a question: how would English evolve on a post-apocalyptic frozen Earth?

It would probably just be a dialect

Well, I suppose that it would take time to develop something linguistic out of the ice-cold apocalypse. More so, the language probably wouldn’t change unless humanity has been in the snow for over a millennium. In a century, the language will probably diverge into multiple different dialects since that’s what would happen in a harsh and cold environment that is determined to kill you.

Then there would be the consideration of which words will change and what new words will be added to the ever-changing dictionary of frozen humanity. Slang terms would probably revolve around cold elements, with people exclaiming things such as “you’re the icicle!” with “icicle”, meaning someone really awesome. I don’t think that sounds a bit silly, but that’s just an example of something that would probably happen to an English if it spent too much time in the cold.

Of course, all of these hypotheses are nice, but how does that work in favour of the game?

Language is not really a concern for people who are about to freeze to death

In the game, humans are trying to survive a harsh winter, as is the case with all animals on Earth who cling to life without even knowing why. Metaphysical bullshit aside, I don’t think the game focuses too much on linguistic elements.

The game focuses more on the survival of humanity as a colony that’s trying to make the best out of a terrible situation. There’s a lot of micromanagement, from politics to resources to whatever, but developing a language because the harsh environment demands from you? That happens by itself and not because you constantly have to enact new laws to keep your people happy (that was a mistake I made in the game). I suppose that if they’re happy, they’ll develop the language themselves.

Although in truth, the whole language mechanic that could be in the game is largely irrelevant, and I believe even the developers know that. Next time, maybe just make a game where languages develop erratically based on the conditions of the environment in which they develop. Now that’s a game about the evolution of language.

Is this your kind of game? Because for me…

I guess it’s pretty evident that I did not enjoy this game. Then again, I hardly gave it a chance, but I guess that’s what happens when you play genres that aren’t really for you. Anyways, say what you think about Frostpunk or the English language that developed in the heavy snow, or whatever you call a snowy apocalypse.

In Conclusion…

So… Frostpunk, huh? I uh… didn’t play the game too much, so I don’t have much opinion about it. I already said it, but it wasn’t for me. You can still check it out if you want, though, and if you do, I assume you like simulation games because this one is not for me.

Language in the post-apocalypse and how it would develop is an interesting thing to think about, and as a game by itself, maybe someone can make something cool out of it, but not as a feature to an existing game. If that happens, I’ll probably check it out to see what it’s like, but I have enough projects to handle right now, so I’ll let someone else take care of it… if they want to, that is.

And with that, I’m going to scour for another random game to play. Hopefully, this one will be better.