"Frost" is a single-player, drama-filled turn-based strategy game with beautiful mechanics and phenomenal visuals. As you navigate through a harsh, lethal storm with a group of survivors, you must gather resources and make strategic decisions to reach the rumored refuge. Throughout your journey, you can acquire 'Idea Cards' with powerful effects to aid in your survival. The question remains: will you be able to find the refuge and escape the Frost?
Frost offers a unique blend of survival and deck-building mechanics, providing a challenging and engaging experience.
The game's atmosphere is immersive, with beautiful art and sound design that enhances the feeling of desperation and urgency.
Unlocking new cards and scenarios as you progress adds depth and replayability, keeping players coming back for more.
The game can feel overly punishing due to its heavy reliance on RNG, leading to frustrating moments where players feel they lose due to bad luck rather than skill.
Some players find the lack of guidance on unlocking cards and scenarios to be frustrating, making progression feel arbitrary.
The interface can be clunky, and certain mechanics, like fatigue, may feel too punishing, detracting from the overall enjoyment.
gameplay
52 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
61%
6%
The gameplay of the game is characterized by its intuitive mechanics and thematic card design, offering a blend of casual enjoyment and strategic depth, particularly through unique scenarios that enhance the experience. While the core mechanics are engaging, some players find the gameplay can become repetitive and overly reliant on randomness, which may detract from long-term enjoyment. Overall, it provides a solid deck-building experience with a good balance of resource management and storytelling elements, appealing to both casual and more experienced players.
“Although it isn't multiplayer and plays very differently than Dominion, the core mechanic is there and it's lovely.”
“It appears simple at first, but there is a good depth of variety to the gameplay.”
“The mechanics are quite unique and lead to interesting decisions.”
“All of this just hides the fact that core gameplay isn't very deep.”
“The problem with Frost is that it's heavily, heavily randomized around its most basic mechanic.”
“On top of that, the limited story of the game unfolds through those scenarios--specific challenges with unique deck mechanics and abilities designed to create a slightly different game feel--and unfortunately that game feel consists of constantly hammering on the restart button.”
graphics
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
39%
13%
The game's graphics feature a unique and minimalist art style that evokes an immersive ice age atmosphere, complemented by a moody soundtrack and sound design. While some players appreciate the rough charm and originality of the visuals, others find the lack of high production value and resolution options limiting. Overall, the aesthetic is described as stylish and haunting, enhancing the gameplay experience despite its simplicity.
“The visuals and sounds put you back in the ice age.”
“Its visuals, low-key world-building, atmospheric winter soundtrack, and general design aesthetic are fantastic.”
“The atmosphere and the art style are quite original.”
“Let’s just get the production value/graphics/sound out of the way; if you’re someone who likes super-slick graphic design and sound, you’re going to have a hard time getting into it.”
“There's no resolution or graphics options - full screen as it is or nothing at all and the only thing you can change is the sound which I set to off, since I found the weird groans and clanks a little annoying.”
“It has a very simplistic art style, UI, and a very minimal soundtrack made up of odd winter noises, but a surprising amount of depth to gameplay and strategy.”
atmosphere
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
61%
22%
17%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its engaging simplicity, effectively conveying feelings of desperation and panic through its art design, winter soundtrack, and overall aesthetic. While some players note that basic visual effects can occasionally detract from immersion, the overall experience is described as meditative and relaxing, making it a standout feature of the game. The combination of atmospheric elements contributes to a compelling and replayable deck-building experience.
“The atmosphere in this game is incredible.”
“Its visuals, low-key world-building, atmospheric winter soundtrack, and general design aesthetic are fantastic.”
“The atmosphere in this game gives the feeling of desperation and panic as things start to go worse and worse.”
“On a negative note, some of the special effects are very basic, to the extent that they distract the player and break the immersion of the atmosphere.”
“Some of the visual effects are too basic and detract from the atmosphere.”
story
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
64%
18%
The game's story is engaging and enhances the gameplay, with players appreciating the narrative elements tied to card interactions and character missions that evoke a survival theme. While the introductory story is deemed unnecessary after the first viewing, the unique scenarios and character abilities provide a variety of storytelling experiences, though some players express a desire for a more cohesive campaign and progression system. Overall, the story adds depth to the game, but its execution leaves room for improvement, particularly in terms of translation and the randomness of card selection.
“I know it's just cards, but the simple pervasive theme and mood just works on me and raises the game above a math problem or puzzle and makes it feel like a survival story.”
“Imagining what the card interactions represent sparked my imagination many times, and the in-universe story of my character leading their survivors frequently took twists and turns worthy of a novel.”
“This is the meat of the gameplay: every scenario has a little story presented at the start, and then every character has custom bonus powers and a custom win requirement.”
“The intro story, while skippable, should probably have been dropped as after you see it once you'll never need to see it again.”
“Story threads are limited to whatever awkwardly translated text you see during splash screens, which is a shame, but the overall theme of the 'frost' meaning different things to different people is an intriguing one nonetheless.”
“There's no campaign to give you a sense of progression or story, but there are levels of difficulty that are unlocked, as well as specific challenge scenarios that unlock as you play.”
music
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
53%
27%
20%
The music in the game is characterized by simple ambient drones and a minimalistic, eerie soundtrack that enhances the atmospheric winter setting, creating a sense of tension and immersion. While some players appreciate the unique and moody soundscapes, others find the music repetitive and note that transitions between tracks can be abrupt. Overall, the soundtrack effectively complements the game's stark visuals and contributes to its foreboding ambiance, though it may benefit from more variation.
“The white graphics and great music make it really immersive.”
“Its visuals, low-key world-building, atmospheric winter soundtrack, and general design aesthetic are fantastic.”
“The drawings are stark and simple, which perfectly fits the theme, while the dark, brooding, and tribal soundtrack brings a strong sense of foreboding.”
“The music can end rather abruptly without a smooth transition from one piece to another.”
“One one hand this makes the game remarkably tense and the designer's unsubtle use of creepy music and jarring screen effects only enhance that tension further.”
“It has a very simplistic art style, UI, and a very minimal soundtrack made up of odd winter noises, but a surprising amount of depth to gameplay and strategy.”
replayability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
37%
25%
Overall, the game is praised for its high replayability, with many users highlighting its charm, various play modes, and the ability to unlock new decks as key factors that enhance the experience. While some reviewers suggest considering alternatives at full price, the consensus is that the game offers significant replay value, making it a worthwhile investment, especially at a lower price point.
“Fantastic traditional deck builder with a lot of charm and a ton of replayability.”
“Great deck building game with phenomenal atmosphere and great replayability.”
“Unlocking more decks and the various play modes provide a nice amount of replayability.”
“As it is, at full price I don't recommend it; save up and buy a better card game with more replayability.”
“Frost is a similar game in some respects, but there’s so much more replay value here – and at around a fiver on Steam, it is an absolute bargain.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and often boring, particularly for those experienced with similar titles, as it requires significant effort to unlock more engaging content. While some appreciate the unique scavenging mechanic that replaces traditional resource gathering, others feel it lacks depth and content, especially for those not interested in farming achievements. Overall, the grinding experience is seen as a mixed bag, appealing to some while frustrating others.
“Only offers easy mode to begin with; if you are experienced with such games, then it takes boring grinding before you can unlock anything more interesting.”
“I don't like strategy/survival games generally because I find them tedious and frustratingly complex.”
“The open-play with limited cards makes it feel a little lacking in content to me, unless you're a fan of farming achievements, in which case there'd be a goal in mind.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game has been reported to have significant stability issues, with users frequently encountering bugs that affect gameplay.
“But it is buggy.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express a lack of emotional satisfaction in their victories, feeling that wins can feel unearned or hollow, as if the game is artificially facilitating their success rather than allowing for genuine achievement.
“Two rounds later I won, which should have made me feel like I earned it a little, but I didn't even notice as it just ended. Honestly, it felt like it must have let me win.”