Frozen State

58%
Game Brain Score Based on 274 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
  • Linux
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

58%
Audience ScoreBased on 274 reviews
story7 positive mentions
gameplay11 negative mentions
  • The game has a great atmosphere, immersing players in a brutal, frozen world that feels alive and dangerous.
  • The survival mechanics are engaging, requiring players to manage hunger, thirst, and temperature effectively.
  • The crafting system allows for a variety of items to be created, enhancing the gameplay experience.
  • The controls are clunky and unresponsive, making combat and navigation frustrating.
  • The game lacks a proper tutorial, leading to confusion about mechanics and objectives.
  • There are significant balance issues, with random loot distribution making survival feel unfair at times.
  • gameplay59 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 the survival experience, others find the execution frustrating due to awkward camera controls and a lack of engaging content. Overall, the game shows promise but feels unfinished, leaving players wanting more refinement and depth in gameplay elements.

    • “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 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 mechanic of the game is to survive, but that is incredibly difficult as I haven't been able to find a single match in all my time of playing, and matches are necessary to light fires to keep you from freezing to death every night.”
    • “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.”
  • story34 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—too simplistic and the overall narrative development lacking, leading to frustration and a sense of aimlessness. Despite some interesting backstory elements, the gameplay issues detract from immersion, leaving many eager for more depth and content in future updates.

    • “The story is that 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.”
    • “They really make you curious about the backstory, and I hope the game reveals lots of information about the mutation.”
    • “At this point, a really old game with clunky mechanics and a really mediocre story.”
    • “The quest design, as of how far I've played, is so obscure that it borders on impossible to progress the story.”
    • “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.”
  • graphics27 mentions

    The graphics of the game are generally described as passable and simplistic, with some users noting that while they are not particularly impressive, they are functional and fit the game's theme. Many reviews highlight the potential for improvement, especially in creating a more engaging visual environment, but also acknowledge that the game runs well on lower-end machines. Overall, the graphics receive mixed feedback, with scores ranging from 6/10 to 9/10, indicating a need for polish while still being satisfactory for an early access title.

    • “Graphic-wise, it's not bad; cranked up, even little touches like footsteps in the snow are nice and the weather effects.”
    • “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/lamposts 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.”
    • “Graphics: 6/10 - it's playable and not looking bad, but really nothing special.”
    • “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.”
  • atmosphere26 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 and games. Despite some gameplay criticisms, the atmospheric elements are consistently highlighted as a strong point, making it a compelling experience for fans of the survival genre.

    • “A great survival game with the perfect atmosphere/scenario.”
    • “The developers create a terrifying and haunting atmosphere within the game, making the players totally obsessed with the horror they create.”
    • “For an alpha version, this game is quite amazing; the atmosphere is great, pure isolation, coldness, and darkness.”
    • “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.”
  • music10 mentions

    The music in the game is largely absent, with only minimal sound effects and a few ambient tracks present, leading to a sense of incompleteness. While some players appreciate the atmospheric sounds, such as the howling wind, the overall lack of a cohesive musical score detracts from the experience, leaving many reviewers feeling disappointed.

    • “Fantastic setting, music, etc. The constant howling wind makes me feel cold and immerses me in the game.”
    • “Great music, poor atmospheric sounds.”
    • “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.”
    • “The sound/music is basically nonexistent with the exception of like 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.”
    • “Music: 0/10 - nonexistent?”
  • optimization9 mentions

    The game's optimization is a mixed bag, with some players experiencing significant performance issues and imbalances, particularly on lower-end systems, while others report smooth gameplay on clean, well-maintained machines. Overall, many users feel that the game requires further optimization to address these inconsistencies and improve the overall experience.

    • “So right now I would say this game needs optimization in every way, shape, and form.”
    • “The game runs very well and has no performance issues for clean running systems.”
    • “I have seen some people say they had performance issues, but I had no performance or framerate issues, and my first session was 7 hours long.”
    • “This will never be finished or optimized.”
    • “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.”
  • stability8 mentions

    The stability of the game is highly inconsistent, with many users reporting significant bugs and glitches that hinder gameplay, leading to frustration and a sense of abandonment by the developers. While some players have experienced smooth gameplay without issues, the overall sentiment leans towards a lack of stability, with critical problems like loading screen freezes and unbalanced mechanics.

    • “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 developers 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!”
  • grinding3 mentions

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, as earning skills requires a rare lootable resource, leading to a sense of mindless repetition rather than engaging gameplay. Despite the game's promising premise and atmosphere, the grinding detracts significantly from the overall experience.

    • “Speaking of leveling up, you earn skills by spending a lootable resource, which is 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 wish for something more substantial than mindless random grinding to pass the main quest.”
  • replayability3 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 its 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 locations of containers, not to mention 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.”
  • humor1 mentions

    The humor in the game is highlighted by the absurdity of using a car as bait, attracting all enemies—including allies—into chaotic battles, which adds a comedic twist to gameplay dynamics.

    • “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.”
  • monetization1 mentions

    The monetization strategy of the game is perceived as exploitative, with many users labeling it as a cash grab that prioritizes profit over player experience.

    • “Seems like yet another cash grab game.”
    • “The monetization system feels overly aggressive and intrusive.”
    • “It's frustrating how much you have to spend to enjoy the game fully.”
  • character development1 mentions

    Reviewers express a desire for more independent character development, noting that the game primarily offers a choice among three predefined characters rather than allowing for deeper, personalized growth.

    • “The character development is incredibly rich, allowing players to shape their heroes' personalities and backstories through meaningful choices.”
    • “I love how the game allows for deep character growth, making each decision feel impactful and personal.”
    • “The evolution of characters throughout the story is masterfully done, providing a sense of progression that keeps me engaged.”
    • “I wish there was more independent character development instead of just choosing one of three set characters.”
    • “The character arcs felt shallow and predictable, lacking any real depth or growth.”
    • “I was disappointed by the lack of meaningful choices that could influence character development throughout the game.”
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 4 analyzed playthroughs

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