If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to try Frostpunk, this is one of the biggest chances to grab it for almost nothing. The acclaimed survival city builder from 11 bit studios (the team behind The Alters) is currently 90% off on Steam, dropping the price to $2.99 from $29.99 for a limited time, running through April 20, 2026.
Originally released on April 24, 2018, Frostpunk throws you into a brutal premise: Earth has frozen over, and your job is to build and maintain what may be the last city left alive. This isn’t a relaxed city-building sandbox. Every decision is shaped by desperation, scarce resources, and a cold that never stops tightening its grip.
To survive, you’ll rely on steam-powered technology, expanding your city’s infrastructure and unlocking new systems that can keep your people warm, fed, and working. But Frostpunk’s real hook isn’t just managing buildings and resources—it’s the leadership choices that come with them. You’ll establish laws, enforce rules, and sometimes punish those who refuse to comply. The game constantly asks how far you’re willing to go to keep the city alive, and it makes sure those choices come with consequences. Push people too hard, and you risk losing their trust. Go too soft, and your city may not last the next storm.
Exploration is another major part of the experience. Venturing beyond the city helps uncover the world’s history, locate valuable resources, and encounter people who need help. These journeys can be the difference between stabilizing your population and watching everything collapse, but they also add more moral pressure—because you can’t save everyone, and every expedition has a cost.
Frostpunk’s reputation speaks loudly. On Steam, it sits in the “Very Positive” range with 92% positive ratings from 132,735 reviews. On Metacritic, it holds a Metascore of 84 and a user score of 8.3 based on 1,453 reviews. Many players highlight the atmosphere, the grim worldbuilding, and the constant stream of ethical dilemmas that make each playthrough feel personal.
That said, it’s not universally loved. More than 9,000 reviewers on Steam have rated it negatively, with criticism often aimed at bugs, moments that feel repetitive or slow, a difficult-to-use interface, and the overall difficulty curve. Frostpunk can be punishing, especially for players expecting a more traditional city builder.
One more thing for bargain hunters: this 90% discount has appeared multiple times in recent months, and the $2.99 price point has been seen before, dating back to June 27, 2024. Even so, for anyone curious about one of the most talked-about survival strategy games of the last decade, it’s hard to argue with the value at this price.
