The world's most stressful city builder is now even more stressful thanks to Frostpunk 2's new voting system

Frostpunk 2 looks like it's even more stressful than the original city-builder.

11-bit Studios just put out a new trailer for Frostpunk 2 earlier today, January 16. In short, the whole great storm might've passed some 30 years ago in the original game, but the sequel looks just as stressful as the first outing, and with some changes like voting, it could be even tougher to manage this time around.

In the second half of the trailer above, there's a system for voting on laws, whereby a law is rejected since it doesn't have a majority of votes. The original Frostpunk had you declaring laws and immediately signing them into power, consequences be damned, but it seems like we'll have to court people for our cause in the sequel.

It also seems like the player character, who takes on the title of 'Steward' for Frostpunk 2, will have plenty of difficulty decisions to make. In the first half of the trailer there's an angry doctor telling the player that a hospital is "no place for experimentations." Sounds gnarly.

The Frostpunk 2 trailer makes it seem like feeding your population will be a big focus. If humanity is still in the recovery phase after the great storm of the first city-builder, then we shouldn't be surprised - it might be 30 years later, but there's still plenty of hungry mouths to feed.

Finally, Frostpunk 2 will be coming to PC Game Pass on day one when it launches sometime in the first half of 2024. It'll also be available on Xbox Game Pass for consoles when the Xbox Series X/S version launches later on.

Read up on our upcoming Xbox Series X/S games guide for a look at some of the other titles coming to Xbox's subscription service.

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.