Do you enjoy existential suffering as much as I do? Of course you do! Movies like Parasite, The Platform, Train to Busan, and Snowpiercer are of a particular genre of absolute dread, and I’m sure some of those served as inspiration for a just-announced game from developer Nathan Gane Studio – a Western Australian team comprised of ex-developers from Black Lab Games, known for Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock and Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector. This title looks like it’s essentially Snowpiercer meets Frostpunk. The team describes it this way:
The moon shattered. The world froze. Take command of a nomadic train city hurtling through a war-ravaged frozen wasteland. In this survival city builder on rails, gather survivors, scavenge resources, and do whatever it takes to keep the engine running and stay ahead of the frost.
In Frostliner you take command of a nomadic train city hurtling through a war-ravaged frozen wasteland. In this survival city builder on rails you must gather survivors, scavenge resources, and do whatever it takes to keep the engine running and stay ahead of the frost.
Over on Steam the page continues with a bit more information, as well as the screenshots you see scattered throughout here.
Roam the frozen Earth
The shattering of the moon and the wars that followed have sent temperatures plummeting. Your only hope is to traverse the network of rails in your Frostliner, a massive train designed to endure the harsh environment and adapt to the needs of its passengers. This train will become your city.
Experience a handcrafted world and linear narrative as you search for warmth and safety at the end of the line.
Improve and Expand
Use the Factory to grow your train by constructing new carriages, which can then be filled with facilities to meet your passengers needs, produce resources or provide research into new technologies. Utilize the powerful adjacency bonuses of facilities to create a train that is more productive the larger it grows.
Refuel and Restock
The engine isn’t eternal, and you will need to regularly stop to scavenge for fuel, resources and survivors to keep the train running. However, once the train stops it no longer generates power, forcing you to rely on your limited reserve batteries to keep the heaters on and your passengers safe.
Protect what’s yours
There are dangers other than the cold in this harsh world. Utilize defensive weaponry to eradicate threats, or increase the engine’s speed to outrun your pursuers.
Additional gameplay details and features:
- Construct a massive train called the Frostliner, which is capable of creating its own train carriages.
- Utilise adjacency bonuses which make the train more productive the larger it grows.
- Roam the frozen landscape, frequently stopping to gather much needed supplies, clear debris and recruit new passengers. However, once the train stops the player is on a timer as their reserved batteries powering the trains heaters quickly drain.
- The train runs on fuel and the player must do whatever they can to keep it fueled and running.
- Research new technologies, facilities and improvements such as the corpse furnace which allows passengers to be “converted” into the much needed fuel that the engine needs. Unlock new tiers of passengers who have much greater demands, but provide more powerful bonuses and facilities.
- The train is a treasure trove for the survivors and entities in the wasteland and they will do whatever they can to take the train. Increase the trains speed to stay one step ahead of these pursuers, or invest in defenses to eradicate the threats before they become a problem.
This sounds like my kind of suffering! It looks like you’ll have to grow the train, but also suffer through the challenges of having an ever-expanding but contained society. Conflicting opinions and beliefs will cause people to clash, but when those same people have to rely on each other for food, warmth, and more, that can be problematic. Toss in dealing with other survivors that might try to take what you’ve built and you’ve got a game where your choices should matter.
We don’t have a release date quite yet, but the team is currently saying “Sometime in 2026”.
Stay tuned for more info on Frostliner and much more right here at GamingTrend.com
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