One of the best roguelikes on Switch and PC keeps pulling me back in with each update, and the final one is no different
Jun. 10, 2024Opinion | Wildfrost update 1.2 is here, sending my summer into a snowstorm
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I’m not generally a completionist, often happy to drop games halfway through when I feel like they’ve run their course. But Wildfrost is a different beast. It’s been more than a year since it was released, and developers Deadpan Games and Gaziter have kept up a steady stream of 37 updates that continually threaten to pull me back to its icy wastes just when I think I’ve kicked the habit – and final update 1.2 is no different.
Rad to the (chilled) bone
As a roguelike card-battler in the vein of Slay the Spire, Wildfrost is a deceptively cute game. Sure it has cartoon polar bears, human berries, and so on, but it’s also packed with challenge, strategic depth and procedural variety, shuffling cards, items, locations, and upgrades with every run – plus an element of tactical positioning and per-card turn order that continually keeps me on my frostbitten toes. The game also comes with a number of challenges that need to be completed to unlock additional cards or charms to upgrade them, gradually expanding the variety and power of your possible deck with each new update.
I’ve never been one for Early Access games – I like to play something close to the finished product if I’m paying for it – but Wildfrost keeps exceeding my expectations in both its subtle and drastic gameplay changes. The latest ‘Friends & Foes’ update has landed on Steam, with a Nintendo Switch and mobile launch coming soon, so please pray for me as I gear up for update 1.2 and prepare to be dragged back all over again.
All of these changes have shaken up my expectations of what a Wildfrost playthrough looks like.
The 1.2 update, which is sadly the last the game will see, is a substantial swansong for the engaging roguelike. It introduces 13 new enemies, four new battles, 20 new player cards, 13 new companions, one new pet card, plus a medley of additional charms and reward bells.
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This marks the biggest addition of content I’ve seen since the game’s initial release, and it’s just the thing to re-engage lapsed players who foolishly thought their time with Wildfrost was over. According to a representative from publisher Chucklefish, “There have been smaller content updates over the past year. Extra cards and events etc, but nothing of this size.”
A big part of the draw is the new companion, Nova, who appeared in some of Wildfrost’s earliest promotional art and is only now joining the game as a playable card – “fans have been clamoring for her inclusion”, Chucklefish says – and a cheeky tie-in with the equally-addictive poker roguelike Balatro, which joins Cult of the Lamb in having an official in-game charm.
In a world where massive, AAA games can fail to grab their audience’s attention with successive updates, it’s heartening to see an indie game so thoroughly perfect its own formula over the last year. While much of the chatter around DLC this month will be dominated byElden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, please hold a thought for Wildfrost as it goes out with bang.
Check out some more of thebest roguelike gamesto play next, from Hades to Have a Nice Death
Henry St Leger is a freelance technology and entertainment reporter with bylines for The Times, GamesRadar, IGN, Edge, and Nintendo Life. He’s a former staffer at our sister site TechRadar, where he worked as the News & Features Editor, and he writes regularly about streaming, games, D&D, and a host of home technologies including smart speakers and TVs. He lives in London with his Nintendo Switch (OLED) and spouse (not OLED).
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