''Wildfrost'' is a 2023

roguelike deck-building game A roguelike deck-building game is a hybrid genre of video games that combines the nature of deck-building card games with procedurally generated randomness from roguelike games. Gameplay aspects Most roguelike deck-building games present the pla ...

developed by Deadpan Games and Gaziter and published by

Chucklefish Chucklefish Limited is a British video game developer and publisher based in London. Founded in 2011 by Finn Brice, the company specialises in retro-styled games. Chucklefish is best known for developing '' Starbound'' and '' Wargroove'', as we ...

. It was originally released for the

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

and

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

and ported to

Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

, and

Xbox Series X/S The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are the fourth generation of consoles in the Xbox series, succeeding the previous generation's Xbox One. Released on November 10, 2020, the higher-end Xbox Series X and lower-end Xbox Series S are part o ...

in 2024.

Gameplay

Players attempt to stop an endless winter. They recruit randomly-generated adventurers and battle monsters in

turn-based Timekeeping is relevant to many types of games, including video games, tabletop role-playing games, board games, and sports. The passage of time must be handled in a way that players find fair and easy to understand. In many games, this is don ...

card battles. Up to six allied creatures called companions and six enemies fight in each battle. Depending on where characters are placed, they can be attacked by a different member of the opposing side. Characters also do not immediately attack but must wait their turn based on an

Initiative Popular initiative A popular initiative (also citizens' initiative) is a form of direct democracy by which a petition meeting certain hurdles can force a legal procedure on a proposition. In direct initiative, the proposition is put direct ...

system. The game ends if a character designated as a leader dies. Otherwise, adventurers suffer a penalty upon being defeated. Players retain some equipment permanently and can retrieve these items when starting over. The game has a cartoon-like art style, with various color palettes for each class of companion.

Development

''Wildfrost'' was developed by Deadpan Games and Gaziter and published by

. It was released for

and

on April 12, 2023, and for

and

on April 11, 2024. It also released on

and

on December 10, 2024. ''Wildfrost'' was developed using the

Unity engine Unity is a cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies, first announced and released in June 2005 at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference as a Mac OS X game engine. The engine has since been gradually extended to support a variet ...

Reception

''Wildfrost'' received positive reviews on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. ''

PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...

'' wrote that the game had a "perfect balance of accessibility and strategic depth" and praised the art style, which it said gives it "buckets of personality". Though ''

Rock Paper Shotgun ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' is a British video game journalism website. It was launched in July 2007 to focus on PC game, PC games and was acquired by Gamer Network, a network of sites led by ''Eurogamer'', in May 2017. History ''Rock Paper S ...

'' said luck sometimes seems to play too much of a role, they called it "a genuinely fun game, with charming details and rewarding tactical combat". ''

Siliconera The GAMURS Group, simply known as Gamurs, is an esports media and entertainment publisher. Established in 2014, the group operates multiple brands focusing on the esports and entertainment news markets, including the websites: ''Dot Esports'', '' ...

'' said it "suffers from some balance issues", but they said it is "a game as beautiful, cruel, and cold as its sunless environment".

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.wildfrostgame.com/ 2023 video games Windows games Nintendo Switch games Android (operating system) games IOS games Xbox One games Xbox Series X and Series S games Single-player video games Indie games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Digital deck-building card games Roguelike video games Chucklefish games Deadpan Games games