City-Building in Your Hands: Adapting Frostpunk 2’s Depth to a Gamepad

With many intuitive solutions carried over from the original Frostpunk’s console UI and control scheme, one might assume that porting its sequel to Xbox Series X|S would be a simpler task. After all, the groundwork was already there – a society survival city-builder adapted for gamepad and big-screen play instead of traditional mouse and keyboard.

But Frostpunk 2 is a significantly different game. Leaning further into grand strategy, with more interconnected systems demanding player attention, it quickly became clear that the control scheme needed to evolve into something more robust. Many of the core UI structures – including the radial menu system – still served as a reliable foundation. Circles are practically sacred in Frostpunk’s design language. In the original game, the city was built in rings around the Generator, nestled within a crater, with survival radiating outward from its warmth.

But “settlement” may no longer be the right word. In Frostpunk 2, set 30 years after the Great Storm that concluded the first game’s story, players guide the fate of a growing city – one less focused on day-to-day survival and more on shaping the ideological future of humanity. With nature somewhat constrained, human nature becomes the greater threat. Political conflict, ideological division, and competing visions for the future define the challenge ahead.

A new UI feature – the Command Radial – serves as the top layer of interaction. Activated by pressing the left trigger, it presents a three-option wheel for navigating the Idea Tree, Frostland Exploration, and the Council.

• The Idea Tree lets players choose which faction to support and which research to invest in, pushing the city toward a specific ideological path.

• Exploration remains somewhat familiar to returning players – you send Scouts into the frozen wilds – but with a twist: you can now found outposts and colonies, connected to New London by rail.
• The Council is an all-new feature. With the Captain from the original game dead, New London takes a tentative step toward democracy. Laws are passed via voting, but political maneuvering is far from straightforward. Some factions refuse to compromise.

The Command Radial is designed to be fast and responsive. It temporarily hides most HUD elements with a blurred background, focusing the player’s attention. It also displays progress indicators for active research, council recesses, and ongoing exploration missions.

But Frostpunk 2 demanded more than one radial. The team introduced a Quick Radial, accessed with the right trigger, for contextual interactions. Hover over frozen terrain, and you’ll see the Frostbreaking option. Highlight a buildable area, and you can go directly to the District menu. Trigger it on an existing district, and you’ll see options related to Special Buildings or Hubs. While active, the Quick Radial also color-codes districts, aiding orientation and quick decision-making.

Both radial menus pause time automatically. Players can also pause or adjust game speed using the D-pad. The Extended City View (accessed with X) also freezes time, and allows players to scroll through HUD icons using the up/down buttons, giving deeper insight into the city’s condition.

From a visual standpoint, the UI was crafted to match Frostpunk 2’s aesthetic. The art team leaned into industrial textures: thick-lined, mechanical wheels, worn-out surfaces, and some use of gold – a color from the game’s original visual pitch that stands in contrast to the grimness of oil, a new and thematically vital resource in the sequel.

Frostpunk 2 is out now on Xbox Series X|S, and available with Xbox Game Pass.

Frostpunk 2

11 bit studios

☆☆☆☆☆ 238

★★★★★

$44.99 $35.99

Get it now

PC Game Pass

Xbox Game Pass

The Xbox version of Frostpunk 2 does not feature Mods created by the players community. Only the PC version currently enables those Mods. Frostpunk 2 elevates the city-survival genre to a new level. Take the role of a Steward and lead your city through a cascade of calamities taking place in a postapocalyptic, snowy setting. Build large city districts with their string of endless needs and demands. Navigate through conflicting interests of factions that populate your metropolis. As the needs of the city grow and factional power at its core rises, only you can steer the society towards an uncertain future. The city grows The world is overtaken by an ever present winter, which makes expansion of the city the only way for the survival of mankind. In order to grow, the metropolis needs resources like coal and oil, just like its citizens require food and warmth. In Frostpunk 2, it's your job to tackle this never ending circle of supply and demand. City districts Your city is divided into zones serving different purposes, such as housing or extraction. It’s up to you to build new ones and make sure that those already existing work in perfect unison. Special buildings In time, you will have to build places like City Hall or Research Institute. Inside these buildings, you will put forth laws and projects to ensure that your city develops in the proper direction. Colonies To ensure that your city growth will not falter, you have to venture into the frostland. There, you can build extensive colonies that will provide all the necessary resources. Perlis of human nature The number of your citizens steadily grows, making the task of governing them and satisfying their demands all the more challenging. As the Steward you will have to maneuver carefully across the interests of many groups inhabiting the city. New Londoners Your citizens can form communities and factions, each with different ideas for the city’s future. In the Council Hall you’ll put forth laws and negotiate them with the faction’s delegates. Council Hall Support of every faction inside the Council Hall costs dearly, as one’s faction ascension breeds discontent among others. That means you have to carefully think through every alliance. Towards progress The Research Institute is where you forge the city's future. Each new project must be entrusted to a faction, forcing you to maneuver and form strategic alliances. Factions People of your city want to have a voice in how you run things. Each faction has its own ideology and ideas for the future, yet they also have one thing in common – insatiable thirst for power. Choose your allies in the Council Hall wisely. Story Mode and Utopia Builder The story of Frostpunk 2 introduces a multi-chapter saga set in the frozen wastes. Spanning across the life of the Steward this campaign lets you feel the burden of leadership as you take the responsibility for thousands of lives. At the same time, the sandbox mode called Utopia Builder with infinite play time leaves you room for boundless social and infrastructural experiments.