The next Frostpunk game isn’t a city builder, 11 Bit Studios reveal, alongside a modern “reimagining” of survival game This War Of Mine

11 Bit Studios have confirmed that they’re making a brand new Frostpunk, alongside a “full” reimagining of their 2014 survival story This War Of Mine, and two other “completely new” games codenamed P14 and P12. No, they’re not talking about the already known-about Frostpunk 1886. The forthcoming Frostpunk project will apparently expand the doomy city-building series “into a new genre.” Please not roguelite. Please not deckbuilder.

All that’s from the company’s latest annual earnings report, in which 11 Bit broadly say that 1) they’re clocking up healthy profits despite carried-over costs and “macroeconomic factors” such as changing currency rates, and 2) that their business is well-balanced between creating original games, publishing games, and making money from existing hits. They’re also talking up their commitment to live service and ‘evergreen’ productions, with creative director Michał Drozdowski remarking that “increasingly, we think of our titles as projects developed also post-release, in dialogue with the community”. Please not Frostpunk: Paradox Interactive Edition. Please not Frostpunk MultiVerse.

“Our goal is to build a diversified portfolio,” enthuses CEO Przemysław Marszał. “On the one hand, we are investing in completely new worlds, opening subsequent chapters in the studio’s history through proprietary projects P14 and P12. We are also expanding the universe of the cult classic Frostpunk into a new genre through the realization of P13.

“We also know what immense value our existing brands hold,” he goes on. “Projects like Frostpunk 1886 or the newly announced P15, which is a reimagining of This War of Mine, are not standard remasters. They represent a fully modern, fresh take on the games that defined 11 bit studios, designed from the ground up with a multi-year lifecycle and long-term community engagement in mind.”

My instinctive reaching for a pitchfork at the mention of “multi-year lifecycle” notwithstanding, I’m keen to see what 11 Bit do with This War Of Mine, their reputation-making story of civilians trying to scrape out a living in an Eastern European country devastated by war. It’s hard to imagine how they would approach this subject matter today without alluding to Russia’s war on Ukraine, just across the border. That said, as Frostpunk 1886 game director Maciej Sułecki told me earlier this year, there have been wars underway across the world for decades – it’s just relatively rare that western Europeans find them so close at hand.

As for the third proper Frostpunk game, I suggested to Sułecki in the same interview that a strategy experience of some kind with a headcount between that of The Alters and the very first Frostpunk could be interesting territory. What would you do with the series, after Frostpunk 1886?

There’s no concrete word as to when the new genre-jumping Frostpunk or This War Of Mine’s reimagining will release, but the press release adds that “in the coming quarters, players can expect the release of, among others, the full version of Moonlighter 2, further paid DLC expansions for Frostpunk 2 (including Breach of Trust in June), and a DLC for The Alters (turn of Q2 and Q3).” Frostpunk 1886 is in the midst of “advanced production work”, with a launch planned for “the turn of 2027/2028”. As for third-party projects, 11 Bit recently announced Crop, which is like Stardew Valley but you arrive in the boot of a car.

I confess, when 11 Bit showed me Crop last month, I thought it was titled “Crap”, which I considered to be appropriately downbeat. I almost called it that in a preview, but then by a stroke of fortune I went on holiday, and Julian had to cover the announcement instead.