It feels like only yesterday that we were rushing to put out the May Developer Letter, but somehow, June is already coming to an end. Time really does fly. Half of 2026 has already passed. How is everyone doing with the goals you set for the new year? At this point, it feels like the long journey of Frostrain 2 is finally nearing its end. We expect to be able to present the full version to you sometime in July. And when that happens… this Developer Letter may very well be the last one!
For reference, the public beta test for version 0.9.0 is scheduled to begin sometime this week. As with the previous public beta test for version 0.8.0, there may be many rough edges during the early stages of release. We plan to keep improving these areas through continued patches, so we hope many of you will participate!
Progress
Do you remember the “-%” shown on the profile button on the title screen? Some of you actually asked us what it was supposed to mean. Now it can finally serve its purpose! This will become the Progress indicator, showing how much of the game you have completed.
I usually use “Player 2” for testing. Hmm, 23%! Still a long way to go. Still… I think it will feel really satisfying to reach 100%!
Ruler and Stability
As mentioned in the previous Developer Letter, Jo Mimi will begin the game with three types of Stability. When Economic Stability reaches 0, the “Livelihood Collapse” event will occur, forcing you to spend a large amount of Happiness to stabilize society and restore Economic Stability.
However, because this action demands more and more Happiness each time it repeats, it is important to prevent these incidents before they happen. Use Decisions, Pledges, and Events to do your best to keep society from falling apart!
In the same way, Political Stability and Military Stability must also be managed carefully. If Political Stability reaches 0, an opposing government will be established, preventing you from carrying out Decisions. If Military Stability reaches 0, the engine room will be seized, preventing you from setting the train’s route. Look at poor Mimi. At this rate, she might be expelled before she even gets a chance to do anything 🥹
Acts of Governance
Once certain Decisions are completed, “Acts of Governance” become available. Acts of Governance are added to the “Status” list at the top of the screen, and you can access the Act of Governance event window by clicking the icon. This interaction may feel somewhat unfamiliar, so we may revise it later. For now, however, we have decided to proceed with it as-is because there is simply a mountain of work piled up. We will try to gather as much feedback as possible through the upcoming public beta test! We hope many of you will participate ☺️
At first, only “Purchase Artifact,” which lets you spend Supplies to purchase a random Artifact, will be available. However, by completing follow-up Decisions later on, you will be able to add more options here. That’s right! You will now be able to respond to situations more actively. You can spend Stability to purchase Artifacts, or spend Economic Stability to gain Political Stability or Military Stability.
These kinds of “active” mechanics are something we have always wanted to add. What kinds of features would make the game richer? Now that we have another tool to work with, we will continue improving it through feedback and data collection.
Im Seokdae Scenario Adjustments
One of the most common pieces of feedback we received about the Lim Seokdae scenario was that it depended too heavily on Mimi. Of course, since I personally love Mimi very much, her importance was intentional to some extent. However, outcomes that feel like “it has to be Mimi or nothing” are not ideal.
In addition, compared to Choi Soonja’s scenario, it was difficult to gain Backlash, which made it harder than expected to make use of the “Dominion” Decision. Because of this, when Lim Seokdae takes direct action, we plan to reduce the amount of Tension gained while adjusting the number of passengers lost or the amount of Backlash gained to balance things out.
The following is one example of this type of change. In the “Escalating Protests” event, the result of Lim Seokdae’s option will be changed as follows.
Gain Tension x4, lose 2 passengers, gain Backlash → Gain Tension x3, lose 3 passengers, gain Backlash x2
The amount of Tension gained has been reduced by one, while the number of passengers lost and the amount of Backlash gained have each increased by one. Losing one passenger and gaining one additional Backlash are certainly not minor changes, but since this event appears in the mid-to-late game, we expect them to be easier to manage than Tension if you have prepared properly.
Artifact Rework!
Do you know which Artifact among the many Artifacts in Frostrain 2 was the least popular? It was our poor Philosopher. Its original effect reduced the Supplies consumed when gaining Experience by 1, but increased the Supplies consumed when performing train drone resupply by 1. Yes… and across every stage of the game, it achieved the truly impressive record of sitting near the very bottom in both win rate and pick rate. Because of that, we wanted to make it a little easier to use. Please keep in mind that all numbers are temporary and may be changed! Still, it should become much more tempting to pick than before.
There was also another Artifact with a very powerful effect that was extremely difficult to use: the “Time Stop Watch”! Its effect was certainly strong, but because time began counting down from the moment you obtained the Artifact, you had no choice but to simply wait and hope that the Stopwatch would appear at the right moment. As a result, the Stopwatch often ended up being a throwaway pick. Because of this, we have changed how it works. Now, when you obtain the Artifact, you will also receive a card that allows you to use the Stopwatch. When that card is used, changes to Happiness will stop. This means you can now pick it in advance and use it when you actually need it!
And… beyond that, over 120 Artifacts will be added, including story Artifacts! Around 20 Artifacts will also be added to the base pool without requiring any unlocks, so the game should feel even richer!
Prestige Rework
As mentioned earlier, the number of Artifacts has continued to grow, making it gradually harder than before to obtain the Artifact you want. In fact, every time you unlocked another Artifact through the shop, it became even harder to find the specific Artifact you were looking for. Because of this, we have decided to remove the old “Blank Die” and instead integrate its function into Prestige.
In other words, once you reach Prestige Level 5, you will now be able to spend Supplies to reroll Artifacts at any time! We expect this to serve as a suitable compensation for the increasingly crowded Artifact pool, while also raising the value of Supplies, which had become somewhat awkward to use in the mid-to-late game. The transport boom… is coming!
New Trailer Released!
Have you seen the new trailer that was recently updated on the store page?
As with the previous trailer, we made this one ourselves, piece by piece. Hmm, the more we do this, the more it feels like we are getting better at it! Doesn’t it look much more… “proper” than before? To be honest, after making this trailer, I felt a little proud and ended up watching it over and over again. Haha. Hopefully, we will be able to make an even better trailer next time. We will continue working to show you steady improvement. Thank you, everyone 😆
Public Beta Test
As mentioned at the beginning, the public beta test for version 0.9.0 is scheduled to begin sometime this week. We are currently expecting it to begin around Thursday or Friday. Many of you participated last time and left us a lot of valuable feedback, and we hope many of you will participate again this time!
We read each and every one of your comments carefully! Feedback on balance or game structure, suggestions for improvements, bug reports, and even pure criticism! We read all of it closely, so please feel free to share your thoughts at any time. Every message you send helps us improve the game.
Closing
I still remember the day we first began development on Frostrain 2 in January of last year. Haha, back then, I thought, “Surely six months will be enough to make a demo, and one year should be enough to reach full release!” But somehow, a year and a half has already passed. It has been an eventful 18 months, with plenty of ups and downs, but being able to meet all of you through this game has made it a truly rewarding and enjoyable time. We will continue focusing on development for the time we have left, and we will do our best to make Frostrain 2 an even more complete and enjoyable game.
We at nemonan will keep working hard and return with a better game. Thank you!