Watch desperate people struggle and die in the new Frostpunk cinematic trailer

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This War of Mine developer 11 Bit Studios announced its next project, Frostpunk, last year with a brief but decidedly grim look at harsh, unforgiving life in an ice-encrusted world. The new "Whiteout" trailer is longer, and it doesn't dig down into gameplay, but it does very powerfully reinforce the notion that this is not a place for the weak.

Frostpunk will set players up as the ruler of "the last bastion of humanity," a steam-powered city located in the midst of a frozen wasteland where survival—of the city, not the individual—is the only thing that matters.

"Frostpunk takes on what people are capable of when pushed to the limits," 11 Bit said. "What interests us is what society [will] do to survive and how it changes in the process. How survival in the end leaves us different beings. If worse, better, stronger, weaker or, last but not least, more or less humane—that is debatable."

In case there was any doubt, lead designer Jakub Stokalski told Eurogamer that Frostpunk won't be like SimCity, "where you have a problem with crime and you build three police stations and that solves your problem." Its challenges will be complex, decisions will have consequences, and people are going to die.

"If you look at references for survival in extreme environments, things like Amazon expeditions and crashes of planes in deep mountains where people didn't have anything to eat and they have to eat something... It gets pretty grim," he said. "We don't shy away from that."

Frostpunk is expected to be out later this year.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.