It’s October! Truly... what a month it has been. As mentioned in our previous developer letter, we participated in the Steam Next Fest with the Frostrain 2 demo and received a wide range of feedback from players. To be honest—yes, not all of it was positive. After all, no one gets it perfect on the first try. We’ll take all the feedback we’ve received during the demo period to heart, polish the game with diligence, and continue striving to present a more complete, refined version of Frostrain 2!
Oh, and—our team has finally opened a Discord server! Until now, our only ways of communicating with you were through the Steam Discussion board and X (formerly Twitter). With the Discord server, we hope to connect more directly with you, gather feedback efficiently, and create a closer community together. Here’s the invite link: https://discord.gg/CJrENcMXqh
Wait, it says “nemonan” instead of “Frostrain 2”? Yes, that’s us—nemonan! Nothing to worry about!
Direction of Improvement
So, what’s the most notable difference between Frostrain 2 and its predecessor? The answer is Artifacts. Artifacts are powerful items that greatly enhance your train—and while playing the demo, I’ve often found myself in the following situation:
There were about 70–80 artifacts available in the demo, and somehow… I managed to collect all of them. Of course, this was mainly due to the limited pool of available artifacts in the demo. However, for the Shadow Merchant Guild, this kind of situation was particularly easy to achieve. Unlike the Children of the Engine, they could simply skip any undesirable artifacts—building a fleet of powerful relics without any penalty.
To address this, we’re making a change: The Shadow Merchant Guild will now have increased reroll opportunities, but the price of items will rise with each purchase. In other words, it’s time to shop a little more wisely.
Similarly, the Children of the Engine were forced to accept every artifact—whether useful or not—and bear the penalties that came with them. That was, admittedly, part of the design philosophy: an abundance of blessings balanced by accompanying risks. However, being forced to accept an unwanted gift can indeed feel unpleasant. Based on your feedback, we’ve now added a “Refuse Gift” button.
But beware—refusing a divine gift from the Engine is an act of blasphemy. Those who reject a gift will need to accumulate even more Faith before they can receive the next one.
Now, what’s the biggest difference between the images above and below? Yes—the number of Contaminated Zones has been significantly reduced. If you can avoid them, you should. But sometimes, what lies beyond the contamination is too valuable to ignore—and so, you must decide whether to break through or bypass the danger. Previously, the zones were too vast, making meaningful decisions impossible and reducing their overall significance. We’ve now reduced their number but increased their intensity, encouraging more deliberate route planning.
Of course, as you approach the Promised Land, the contamination will once again spread widely. As the temperature rises, so too does the pollution—it’s an observable phenomenon.
We’ve listened carefully to your feedback, and we’ve decided to remove all AI-generated art from our game. It wasn’t an easy choice for us—a decision that could bring uncertainty to our small team’s future. Still, we believe it’s the right step forward. Even so, we believe it’s the right step forward, and we want to stay true to the trust and expectations you’ve placed in us.
We hope this decision will give you confidence in our direction. Your continued encouragement and positive support mean the world to us, and they truly help us keep moving forward.
We’re also working on numerous other updates:
Decision Rework (More than half of all decisions are being rewritten to better fit Choi Soon-ja’s story! You’ll now be able to make use of—or even discard—the Shanty Carriage.)
Knights of the Red Frost rework
Guild of Explorers rework
Neutral train expansion
Artifact mechanic updates (e.g., Sadism, Power Cycle Amplifier, etc.)
etc…
There’s a lot in motion, and we plan to showcase these improvements in the next developer letter—so please stay tuned!
Oh—and one more thing! In the demo, the playable character Choi Soon-ja features her own exclusive scenario. It’s designed more like a campaign, so the Shanty Carriages will not appear in Im Seok-dae or Jo Mimi’s scenarios as they do now. So, don’t worry— if you’ve thought, “Even with two extra train cars, Soon-ja’s train feels cramped—what about the others?”, rest assured—each character will have their own unique story events and decision sets.
Closing Thoughts
Perhaps it’s because we’ve been so deep in post-demo improvements, but this letter feels like it’s been a long time coming. Unlike our previous monthly letters, this one feels like it’s been three months in the making.
To every player who shared feedback during the demo period—thank you, truly. Because of you, we’ve been able to better understand how to make this game more enjoyable, and your support keeps our train moving forward. This game is, in every sense, one we are building together with you. We’ll continue to work tirelessly so that when you next see Frostrain 2,
it will be far more polished and evolved—something truly worthy of your time. Thank you for staying with us on this journey.