Frozen State

58%
Game Brain Score Based on 548 reviews
  • gameplay
  • story
  • graphics
Frozen State Game Cover
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"Frozen State" is a survival game set in a man-made ice age, where you must repair your transport and survive in a vast, randomly generated world filled with humans, military groups, and alien hybrids. With a deep crafting system, diverse enemies, and the goal of repairing your transport while uncovering the city's story, the game offers rogue-like and normal modes, and features three main characters. Dynamic weather conditions and a large open world complete the experience.

  • Mac OS
  • PC
  • Windows
  • Linux
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

58%
Audience ScoreBased on 548 reviews
story14 positive mentions
gameplay22 negative mentions
  • The game has a great atmosphere, immersing players in a brutal, cold world that enhances the survival experience.
  • The crafting and survival mechanics are engaging, requiring players to scavenge for resources and manage their needs carefully.
  • The developers are responsive to community feedback and actively work on updates, showing promise for future improvements.
  • The controls are clunky and unintuitive, making character movement and combat frustrating.
  • The game lacks depth in terms of quests and NPC interactions, leading to a repetitive gameplay experience.
  • There are significant performance issues, including low frame rates and bugs that hinder the overall experience.
  • gameplay118 mentions

    The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players highlighting its challenging survival mechanics and interesting concepts, but criticizing the clunky controls, shallow crafting system, and overall lack of polish. While some appreciate the potential for depth and tension in gameplay, others find it frustrating due to poor interaction mechanics and a lack of engaging content. Overall, the game is seen as unfinished, with significant room for improvement in its mechanics and user experience.

    • “If you're looking for a good apocalyptic survival game with intense gameplay moments and a good creepy atmosphere, this is it!”
    • “Once you learn the basics of the game, simply surviving (finding food, water, and keeping your home warm) won't really be an issue; fortunately, the rough weather and deadly enemies - both alien hybrids and enemy NPCs - will provide you with a fair deal of challenge and tense gameplay while you're exploring the city and trying to complete quests.”
    • “Gameplay: stern but fair - this sounds like a difficulty but as mentioned in the previous sections of this review, this game is about what you are willing to do and how careful you are to prepare for the icepocalypse surrounding you.”
    • “The crafting mechanics are shallow and limiting, and for some reason you need 7 condoms to build a crossbow.”
    • “Mechanically, there are goods and bads scattered all around, but a definite turn-off is the control scheme - running is very clumsy, the camera controls are far from intuitive and objects, items, and corpses have such high priority in deciding where you can run that you could get stuck on a gas can and need to stop, turn around, and run past it.”
    • “Some people may like a harsh and unforgiving game, but when the game is hard due to the lack of gameplay polish, it borders on annoying.”
  • story68 mentions

    The game's story, while having an intriguing premise involving a man-made ice age and a viral outbreak, is poorly executed with minimal quest design and lack of engaging NPC interactions. Players find the main plot—repairing an explorer truck—to be simplistic and the overall narrative development lacking, leading to a frustrating experience that detracts from immersion. Despite some interesting backstory elements, the absence of meaningful quests and objectives leaves the game feeling flat and underdeveloped.

    • “The plot premise is good.”
    • “Story is humans purposely caused a man-made ice age in an attempt to cure an alien-created virus that turns humans into mindless raging animals.”
    • “Frozen State does a wonderful job of telling a brief story with a minimal introduction as to why the world is a frozen wasteland.”
    • “The quest design, as of how far I've played, is so obscure that it borders on impossible to progress the story.”
    • “The plot development is completely non-existent; I really have no clue what you're supposed to do other than survive.”
    • “There are no NPCs or quests to give the game a point, so at the moment it is just a case of playing to survive.”
  • graphics54 mentions

    The graphics of the game are generally considered passable, with many users noting that while they are not particularly impressive, they are functional and fit the game's theme. Some players appreciate the artistic touches and environmental effects, but others criticize the visuals as overly simplistic and lacking detail, especially in an ice-age setting. Overall, the graphics receive mixed reviews, with scores ranging from 6/10 to 9/10, indicating room for improvement as the game develops.

    • “Graphic-wise, it's not bad cranked up; even little touches like footsteps in the snow are nice and the weather effects add to the experience.”
    • “First off, this game is great; the graphics, gameplay, and crafting are very good for an early access game.”
    • “This is a good game; the main graphics are a bit gritty but fit in well with the theme. A nice touch is that your camera is overhead, and trees/lamp posts get blurred out as they are higher.”
    • “The concept of an ice-age world sounds great, but it wasn't implemented well by the devs. It's an overly barren world, boring to look at, nothing interesting, and the graphics are severely lacking.”
    • “I know this is the first edition of the game and there needs to be improvements, but even with anti-aliasing and V-Sync turned off and all graphical settings at very low, the game still runs very choppy.”
    • “I don't need my games, personally, to be the shiniest thing in the world, but the visuals could maybe use some work.”
  • atmosphere52 mentions

    The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive and haunting qualities, effectively creating a sense of isolation and tension in a post-apocalyptic setting. Players appreciate the chilling sound design and the overall aesthetic, which evokes feelings reminiscent of classic horror films. Despite some gameplay criticisms, the atmospheric elements are consistently highlighted as a strong point, making it a compelling experience for fans of survival horror.

    • “However, despite all mentioned critical flaws, I still recommend this title while discounted mainly because it has a great post-apocalyptic atmosphere in wintry scenery and really terrifying otherworldly foes.”
    • “For an alpha version, this game is quite amazing; the atmosphere is great, pure isolation, coldness, and darkness. I think that somehow this game took a bit of inspiration from 'S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl' and 'Silent Hill 1'.”
    • “Top-down ruins the atmosphere, choppy movements...and let me add, poorly constructed 'inventory' screen...listing items?”
    • “The developers create a terrifying and haunting atmosphere within the game, making players totally obsessed with the horror they create.”
    • “The atmosphere makes me feel like I'm in 'The Thing' (1982), which is one of my favorite horror movies.”
  • music20 mentions

    The music in the game is largely absent, with only a few sound effects and minimal background music present, primarily in the intro and outro. Many players noted the lack of a cohesive soundtrack, which contributes to an unfinished feel, while the ambient sounds, particularly the howling wind, enhance immersion despite the overall disappointment in the musical aspect. Overall, the reviews reflect a consensus that the music is either nonexistent or poorly integrated, leading to a low rating.

    • “Fantastic setting, music, etc. The constant howling wind makes me feel cold and immerses me in the game.”
    • “The intro and outro have music, but otherwise we are left with a constant howling wind and some pretty gnarly ambients, best heard in the sewers.”
    • “Great music, poor atmospheric sounds.”
    • “The sound/music is basically nonexistent with the exception of 2 or 3 monster sounds, gun sounds, melee sounds, weather sounds, and other miscellaneous effects.”
    • “Nothing to warrant points, but the lack of music and a strangely thrown-in feeling soundtrack adds to the unfinished aesthetic that's all over the product.”
    • “The intro and outro have music, but otherwise we are left with a constant howling wind and some pretty gnarly ambient sounds, best heard in the sewers.”
  • optimization18 mentions

    The game's optimization remains a significant concern, with many players reporting performance issues and imbalances despite its release from alpha. While some users with well-maintained systems experience smooth gameplay, others with lower-end machines find the performance frustratingly inadequate, leading to refunds and calls for further optimization. Overall, the consensus is that the game requires substantial improvements in performance across various hardware configurations.

    • “Now I will admit, my system is pretty low-end, but I play games much more intensive at better performance.”
    • “I have seen some people say they had performance issues; I can tell you as a computer expert and someone who keeps my computer free of troublesome malware and such, but also using an almost 4-year-old video card Radeon HD 5750 1 GB, I had no performance or framerate issues, I had no crashes, and my first session was 7 hours long.”
    • “The game runs very well and has no performance issues for clean running systems.”
    • “Since it's out of alpha, I think it's fair to say that the game still suffers from performance issues and imbalance.”
    • “For me, the performance issues are too annoying.”
    • “So right now I would say this game needs to be optimized in every way, shape, and form.”
  • stability16 mentions

    The stability of the game is highly criticized, with many users reporting numerous bugs and glitches that significantly impact gameplay, leading to frustration and a sense of abandonment by the developers. While a few players have experienced no issues, the overall sentiment leans towards the game being an unstable and unbalanced experience, with some players losing significant progress due to glitches.

    • “I don't recommend this game overall because it's a buggy unbalanced mess and it's clearly abandoned.”
    • “Still many bugs and glitches in the game and the devs won't do anything because of their new game.”
    • “Here's why: I was about 3 hours into a game just now, kicking ass with more food and supplies than I know what to do with (not much in terms of weapons or experience, they're very, very rare) and the game glitched out, getting stuck on a loading screen. I quit, came back, and was still stuck in it. Three hours of gameplay down the drain due to a game glitch and their lack of a save game function!”
  • grinding6 mentions

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, primarily due to the rarity of lootable resources needed for leveling up skills. While the game's premise and atmosphere are praised, the repetitive and mindless nature of the grinding detracts from the overall enjoyment and potential of the experience.

    • “Speaking of leveling up, you earn skills by spending a lootable resource, which is just extremely tedious to accomplish as it's rare to appear.”
    • “I really, really want to like this game more than I do right now - the premise, concepts, and the atmosphere are great, and the game overall clearly has a lot of potential, but actually playing the game just feels so... tedious.”
    • “Another concern is that I could wish for something more substantial than mindless random grinding to pass the main quest.”
  • replayability6 mentions

    The game features strong replayability due to its extensive use of procedural generation, affecting everything from map layouts to enemy placements and inventory. While still in early development with some flaws, ongoing improvements enhance the experience, and the addition of multiplayer could further boost replay value. Overall, players find the game engaging and visually impressive, making it worth revisiting.

    • “This game is great, runs well and looks amazing. The only thing I would like to see added is multiplayer; then there would be a lot of replay value.”
    • “The game relies heavily on procedural generation to increase its replay value, from the map tiles (with the exception of the explorer) to your starting inventory, to enemy placement, to the spawn places of containers, to say nothing of the contents of the containers themselves.”
    • “This game is great, runs well and looks amazing, the only thing I would like to see added is multiplayer; then there would be a lot of replay value.”
  • humor2 mentions

    The humor in the game is derived from its absurd mechanics, such as using a car to attract all types of enemies—including allies—leading to chaotic and comical battles among humans, monsters, and animals. This playful approach to gameplay adds a lighthearted and entertaining twist to the overall experience.

    • “It just means you can loot more, travel faster, and funny enough use it as bait for enemies, as every single enemy, including ally/friendly enemies, are attracted to the car when it's on, which results in a battle royale between humans, monsters, and animals.”
  • monetization2 mentions

    The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized as a cash grab, suggesting that it prioritizes profit over player experience.

    • “Seems like yet another cash grab game”
    • “Seems like yet another cash grab game”
  • character development2 mentions

    Many users express a desire for more independent character development, feeling limited by the option to choose only one of three predefined characters rather than having the opportunity to create and evolve their own unique character.

    • “I wish there was more independent character development instead of just choosing one of three set characters.”
    • “I wish there was more independent character development instead of just choosing one of three set characters.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

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Play time

14hMedian play time
14hAverage play time
5-33hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 8 analyzed playthroughs

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