FrostRunner

About

FrostRunner is a single player action game. It was developed by Think Arcade and was released on January 1, 2019. It received very positive reviews from players.

FrostRunner is a first-person platformer “speedrunning” game, where the player rapidly completes platforming challenges before the timer runs out. Using their tether tool, players compete to finish each of the 36 unique levels as quickly as possible and earn a place at the top of the leaderboards.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

95%

Audience ScoreBased on 2,204 reviews

gameplay157 positive mentions

stability13 negative mentions

Engaging and fast-paced gameplay that is fun for speedrunning enthusiasts.
Minimalist yet stylish graphics that enhance the overall experience.
Free to play, making it accessible to a wide audience without financial risk.

Very short playtime, with most players completing it in under an hour.
Limited variety in levels and mechanics, leading to a lack of long-term engagement.
Frequent crashes and technical issues, particularly on higher-end PCs.

gameplay
263 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
38%
2%
The gameplay of the game is generally praised for its fun and engaging mechanics, particularly the movement physics and unique features like grappling and ice sliding, which enhance the overall experience. However, many players note that the game feels incomplete due to underutilized mechanics and a lack of levels, leading to a relatively short playtime that could benefit from more content and better level design. Despite these shortcomings, the fast-paced and easy-to-learn gameplay keeps players entertained, especially those interested in speedrunning and leaderboard challenges.
- “I love the movement physics and unique mechanics.”
- “The mechanics are easy to learn, the gameplay is fast-paced and enjoyable, and the overall experience is quite fun.”
- “The gameplay is smooth, moving around is easy and the mechanics are very easy to learn and pick up on, and the collectibles add an extra layer of challenge which makes finding them feel rewarding.”
- “It's not perfect; some mechanics are very underused (this game feels incomplete) and the early levels felt too basic and boring.”
- “The levels are super short, the level design itself is unimpressive, the movement feels okay but not great, the air control is bad, some of the mechanics feel clunky, and the look speed is atrocious even when cranking the mouse sensitivity setting all the way down and lowering the DPI of my mouse extremely low.”
- “Levels are very repetitive, and they never try to combine multiple game mechanics together to create more complex paths (e.g., ice with moving platforms, or sling); also, every level is much too short.”
graphics
124 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
50%
2%
The graphics of the game receive mixed feedback, with many players praising the visuals as beautiful and well-executed, particularly for a free title. However, several users report issues with limited graphics settings, crashes when adjusting these settings, and a lack of flexibility in customizing the visual experience. Overall, while the graphics are generally considered appealing, technical problems and a need for more options detract from the experience for some players.
- “Absolutely incredible game, surprisingly amazing graphics, the controls feel fantastic, level design is superb.”
- “The graphics are amazing and I really enjoyed this.”
- “Frostrunner is a short but sweet game with amazing graphics and fun gameplay.”
- “The game is definitely a tad unpolished graphically, but mechanically it's pretty decent; it could be a pretty great game if it was expanded and polished a bit.”
- “This game doesn't allow any specific graphics settings to be changed at all. You can only change graphics presets to low, medium, and high.”
- “The game also has motion blur on by default, and because most of the graphics options (everything except for resolution and fullscreen type) are tied together, you can't disable it without making the game look bad.”
story
54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
78%
9%
The game is largely described as lacking a traditional story, with many reviewers noting that it focuses primarily on gameplay rather than narrative. While some players appreciate the fun and engaging mechanics reminiscent of other titles like "A Story About My Uncle," they express a desire for a more developed storyline or context to enhance the experience. Overall, the consensus is that the game is enjoyable as a gameplay-centric experience, but it would benefit from a deeper narrative element.
- “Interesting combination of genres, unique art style, cute story, and great music.”
- “The only thing I could suggest for this game is more levels, and maybe a potential story/campaign mode to really bring it to life, but even without these things, this is a fun time and definitely worth playing.”
- “It's a well-made student project made by a small group of passionate people. They released this for free for all of us to have some fun. While it's short, you can finish it in a half an hour or so. I ended up playing it for another hour to finish it 100%. It's like a story about my uncle, a little platformer where you can slide around, use a laser rope to swing around, and move through fast-moving platforms. It's a little experiment of a game and while it can provide you at max an hour or two of fun, it's worth checking out.”
- “This game has no story.”
- “The game has no story mode, so I can't really rate this.”
- “It's basically a story about my uncle, if a story about my uncle didn't have a story.”
music
48 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
54%
19%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many players appreciating its upbeat nature and fit for the fast-paced gameplay, while others criticize it for being repetitive and lacking variety. Some users noted that the soundtrack could benefit from more tracks and diversity, as the current music often becomes annoying over time. Overall, while the music enhances the experience for some, it detracts from enjoyment for others, leading to suggestions for improvement.
- “Interesting combination of genres, unique art style, cute story, and great music.”
- “Short and very great, music was amazing, mechanics felt great, overall I had a blast playing!”
- “This game is so fun and the music is very relaxing, the devs really outdid themselves here.”
- “The soundtrack is about 20 seconds long and repeats all the time... a bit more variety would be highly appreciated!”
- “I will admit, the music in this game could use work; it's not memorable, sounds fairly generic, and it kinda just loses its presence as you hear it multiple times.”
- “What I didn't like that much is the music (way too repetitive, only one piece) and the general pace of the game.”
replayability
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
62%
8%
The game's replayability is generally viewed as strong, primarily due to features like leaderboards, hidden collectibles, and achievements that encourage players to return. While many reviews note the game is short, they also highlight that the engaging mechanics and competitive elements provide ample motivation for repeated play. However, some players express a desire for more content to enhance the replay experience further.
- “The movement is fluid and all the collectibles add some great replay value.”
- “This game is an endlessly replayable wonder.”
- “All of this contributes to a game with a surprising amount of replayability for how short it is, and you'll be left wishing there was more content when you finish.”
- “Fun for a few hours, but little to no replay value.”
- “The only big problem here is that there are so few levels that you can finish it under an hour and a big replay value isn't there.”
- “Very short game, little replayability, near perfect mechanics (sometimes buffering a jump doesn't work) and showers you with useless achievements.”
stability
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
11%
72%
Overall, the game's stability is mixed; while it runs well on platforms like the Steam Deck and offers enjoyable gameplay, players report various bugs and glitches, particularly with achievements and movement mechanics. Some glitches add humor rather than frustration, but issues like inconsistent sensitivity and minor visual bugs suggest that the game could benefit from further polish. Despite these concerns, many players still find the experience fun and engaging.
- “Runs great on Steam Deck.”
- “I beat the major part of the game in 27 minutes, but there's still tons more content to play with the insanity levels. It's a very clean game with no glitches that I've found.”
- “Didn't really encounter any issues, and it runs great.”
- “Lowest sensitivity is way too high, inconsistent movement and glitches that stop me from jumping plague this game.”
- “The game itself seems to have potential, but it could use some tune-ups considering it seems to be rather buggy with what it is.”
- “The mechanics and parkour were clever and well made, aside from a couple minor glitches like the 'you died' text remaining on screen and moving platforms occasionally freaking out and launching you across the level.”
humor
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is widely appreciated, with players finding character deaths and glitches amusing rather than frustrating. Many reviews highlight the game's comedic elements, describing it as a fun and funny experience, despite its short length. Overall, the humor contributes significantly to the enjoyment of the game, making it a recommended play for those seeking a lighthearted experience.
- “Personally, I find the character's screams when dying super funny XD.”
- “It did have a few glitches, but these glitches just made for more humor than frustration.”
- “Overall, such a funny speedgame.”
optimization
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
28%
29%
Overall, the game's optimization is mixed; while some players report smooth performance and no crashing issues, others experience significant optimization problems, including unsaved settings and poor performance on certain hardware. It serves as a fun platformer for testing PC performance, but the inconsistency in optimization may affect the experience for some users.
- “Just a fun platformer game to kill time and helpful for testing out my PC's performance when I first got it.”
- “Encourages you to improve your times and optimize your performance.”
- “Really good looking and really well optimized.”
- “It didn't have any optimization or crashing issues when I played, so I'm guessing new hardware and/or drivers could be an issue at play here.”
- “Bad optimization.”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be extensive, often requiring significant time investment to achieve 100% completion. However, many appreciate that the grinding is not overly tedious and is balanced by enjoyable gameplay elements like speedrunning and collectible hunting. Overall, while it demands a lot of time, it remains engaging and fair.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “Not as hard as I expected, so you end up grinding for that 100%.”
- “That being said, it's a fun speedrunning, collectible adventure that's immediately accessible and never felt unfair or grindy.”
atmosphere
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
60%
The game's atmosphere is characterized by an icy ambiance that enhances the overall experience, contributing to a calm and relaxed gameplay despite its fast-paced nature. While players appreciate the unique first-person perspective and the atmospheric elements, some express disappointment over the limited variety of obstacles and abilities. Overall, the atmosphere is well-received, though it could benefit from more diverse gameplay elements.
- “This game has an icy atmosphere, and the gameplay is pretty fun.”
- “It is fast-paced, yet at the same time, the atmosphere plays a huge role in making the player calm and relaxed.”
- “I appreciate the overall concept and atmosphere, even though there could have been more abilities and obstacles.”
- “What I'm disappointed by isn't the length of the game, but the fact that I'm not a speedrunner guy nor did I find anything new brought to the table aside from a first-person perspective and the usage of ice to create a different atmosphere.”
- “There could have been more abilities and obstacles, but in the end, there simply was not a large variety of obstacle concepts, though I do appreciate the overall concept and atmosphere.”
- “It is fast-paced yet at the same time the atmosphere plays a huge role in making the player calm and relaxed.”
monetization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
75%
The game is praised for its completely free model, lacking in-game purchases and ads, which enhances the overall experience without any monetization pressures. Players appreciate that it offers a fun and engaging experience without the typical frustrations associated with pay-to-win mechanics.
- “Because the game is free (no in-game purchases too), you're not losing anything (except time) if you don't like it.”
- “However, great little game, and it's completely free too with no ads or anything.”
- “I'm genuinely shocked to see a free game that's actually fun, has no pay-to-win advantages, no in-game purchases, has scoreboards for those that are competitive, looks nice, and runs without a hitch too.”
- “The monetization model feels exploitative, pushing players to spend money to enjoy the game fully.”
- “I find the constant prompts to purchase in-game items really frustrating and intrusive.”
- “While the game is free to play, the aggressive monetization tactics make it hard to enjoy without spending money.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express a strong emotional connection to the game, reminiscing about the thrill of speedrunning and experiencing a sense of accomplishment upon achieving all goals within a short time frame.
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviewers express disappointment in the character development, noting that while the character design appears impressive in concept art, players only experience limited visual engagement, primarily seeing just the character's arm throughout the game.