Frostpunk: PC requirements and the PC you need

About Frostpunk

Frostpunk is a city-building survival game from 11 bit studios, set in a frozen world where a sudden winter has struck. You lead the last group of survivors around a giant heat generator, gathering coal and wood, building homes and workshops, and keeping people warm and fed as temperatures fall. You must also pass laws, some of them harsh, and deal with the hope and anger of your citizens. It is single player and rated PEGI 16. The makers recommend a GTX 970 or RX 580 and 8 GB of memory, so a mid-range gaming PC runs it well.

What Frostpunk needs

In plain words: to play at all it needs basic graphics: built-in graphics on a modern processor, or an old entry-level card, and to play it well the makers suggest an entry-level graphics card, with 8GB of memory.

A low-spec PC or a high-spec PC?

The gap between the minimum and recommended spec is modest, so a mid-range gaming PC gives a good experience.

On a PC that only just meets the minimum, the game will start and play, but on low settings: simpler shadows and textures, shorter view distances and fewer frames each second, so fast moments can feel less smooth. A 1080p screen is the sensible match.

On a PC that meets or beats the recommended spec, you can turn the settings up: sharper textures, proper shadows and lighting, more detail in the distance, and a smoother picture. A stronger PC also lets you use a sharper 1440p or high-refresh screen.

Questions about Frostpunk on PC

How we match: we compare the graphics card and the memory in each PC with the makers' spec, because those decide most of how a game runs. For very new or demanding games, ask us and we will check the processor too. More help: graphics cards explained, how much RAM, which screen.