One of the “coolest” (sorry) sequels to 2024, Frostpunk 2, is revving up the engines…

The Frostpunk 2 beta allows you to watch the citizens under your care freeze, starve, and work themselves to death while you stand on the sidelines, hopelessly unable to save them from the horrors. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

The sequel to 2018’s relentlessly brutal city builder, Frostpunk 2, is one of the most anticipated games of 2024, with over 2 million wishlists on Steam.

Here’s some information on when the Frostpunk 2 beta started, along with details on how to access it and what to expect.

How do you access the Frostpunk 2 beta?

Frostpunk 2 is coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X (via Game Pass), but the beta is only available on Windows PC. Moreover, it is only available to those who pre-order the game’s deluxe edition.

The game’s beta began on Monday, April 15, at 1:00 p.m. Below is when it is in different time zones:

• 10 a.m. PDT on April 15 for the west coast of North America
• 1 p.m. EDT on April 15 for the east coast of North America
• 6 p.m. BST on April 15 for the United Kingdom
• 7 p.m. CEST on April 15 for west mainland Europe
• 2 a.m. JST on April 16 for Japan

Frostpunk 2’s beta is scheduled to run for a week until Monday, April 22, but developer 11 Bit Studios hasn’t said precisely when it will end.

The game’s beta will include two language options at launch: English and Simplified Chinese.

What can we expect from the beta?

Frostpunk 2 beta provides partial access to the “Utopia Builder Preview”. 11 Bit Studios described this as a sandbox mode of the game, although it didn’t elaborate much beyond that. That said, a gameplay trailer suggests that the title will be very similar to its predecessor, albeit on a larger scale, with bigger cities and a more complex scenario of political strife.

For those who missed the original, Frostpunk is a city-building game set after a planet-destroying ice age. The task of the player with scarce resources is to create and maintain a fragile, dilapidated settlement during the permanent winter. In Frostpunk, there are no good decisions, only “less bad” ones – and your citizens aren’t afraid to voice their displeasure…

Source: Steam, GameLeap