The developer of Frostpunk 1886 talked about an important change in the game’s production – studio 11-bit abandoned its own Liquid engine and moved the project to Unreal Engine 5. Technical Director Alexander Kauch shared details of the transition.
According to him, after trying to simultaneously redesign the interface system, tools, serialization and object management, Liquid Engine no longer met the studio’s requirements. The engine became unstable, and the desire to make it universal across types proved too expensive. Recruiting experts has become another problem: developers prefer technology required by the industry rather than in-house solutions for specific studios.
Transitioning to Unreal Engine 5 will allow 11-bit studios to more easily engage staff and third-party teams without wasting resources on creating basic tools and modern graphics technologies. At the same time, “Frostpunk 1886” will have to reimplement key systems, including AI, interface, saving and ECS architecture. They will try to preserve the game logic of the economy, resident status, and plot events and adapt them to the new engine.
The developers’ main goal was to preserve the feel of the original Frostpunk through significant technological leaps. Additionally, the new version should be more extensible and support modifications. The studio expects to announce more details about the game’s mechanics and features in 2027.
