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Frostpunk 2 will have Twitch integration that lets chat vote on laws

The feature will allow viewers to influence the course of the game's post-apocalyptic democracy.

Lexi Luddy

May 27, 2024 6:00 AM

11 bit studios

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During 11 bit studio’s inaugural hands-on event in Warsaw, Poland last week, Frostpunk 2’s co-creative directors, Jakub Stokalski and Łukasz Juszczyk, announced Twitch viewers will be able to take control of the game’s government and vote whether or not to pass laws.

Frostpunk 2 is a post-apocalyptic city-building, strategy game where players must make difficult decisions in the name of maintaining one of humanity’s last cities against the freezing elements. As the city’s Warden, players are in control of how to build and maintain The City, however, the game has a mechanic where new laws must be democratically passed by Frostpunk 2’s numerous factions.

During Shacknews’ time previewing the game at the event, we got to interact with this mechanic a bit and try to sway the game’s AI political factions in our favor. However, it has been revealed that players can cede control of these votes away from the game and into the hands of their community thanks to an integration with Twitch.

Speaking to Shacknews,  Łukasz Juszczyk said, “I have no idea [how community voting will go]. It will be some sort of social experiment.” When asked how viewers and streamers will react to having this sort of power Juszczyk said, “There’s an aspect in Frostpunk 2 about challenging power fantasy.”

Juszczyk said the team is aware of the potential for communities to intentionally make the game harder to stream, telling us that in other games players can tend to say “Now I rule the world, I will do whatever I want.” but that the team at 11 bit studios wants to challenge this, saying, “This time you have to deal with the people.”

After a PC-only beta in April Frostpunk 2 releases July 25th 2024 on PC, Xbox Series X and S, and PS5. Game Pass subscribers will also be able to access the game on day one.

Lexi Luddy

Contributing Editor

Lex Luddy is a freelance writer and journalism student. She has written for Vice, Fanbyte, PLAY Magazine, Gayming Magazine, Push Square, startmenu and more. She can be found on X (Twitter) @BasicalliLexi talking about Yakuza, Kirby, and queer representation in media.