Permafrost Review Summary

An enjoyable frozen-apocalypse survival open world with stable performance, though general bugs, crashes, and poor animation quality hold it back.

Positive Overall Impression: Many reviewers express a favorable overall opinion of the game, describing it as fun, enjoyable, and pleasant. The general sentiment is that the game is good and worth playing.

Stable Performance: The game runs smoothly without crashes, frame drops, or technical issues, providing a stable experience. Many note that it performs well even after extended play sessions.

Enjoyable Exploration: Exploration is frequently highlighted as a fun and engaging aspect, with a large open world that invites discovery. Players enjoy roaming the map and finding interesting locations.

Fun Cooperative Multiplayer: Playing with friends or a partner is enjoyable and not tedious, with co-op mode being a notable plus. The multiplayer experience is often described as fun and engaging.

Solid Early Access Foundation: For an Early Access title, the game offers a substantial amount of content and a good foundation for future development. Reviewers see it as a promising start.

General bugs and crashes: Players report various bugs and frequent crashes, including during world creation and cutscenes. The game often freezes at random moments.

Poor animation quality: Animations are poor, stiff, and janky, needing significant improvement. Motion quality is frequently criticized.

Poor optimization: The game is poorly optimized, requiring a high-end PC to run smoothly. Performance issues are common even on good hardware.

Incomplete localization: Localization is incomplete, with text remaining in English, untranslated quests, and inconsistent translations between languages.

Unfinished and unpolished game: The game is widely described as raw, unfinished, and unpolished, with incomplete features. This is a common complaint among players.

Frozen apocalypse survival setting: The game is set in a post-apocalyptic frozen wasteland where cold is a constant threat. Surviving in this icy world is central to the experience.

Solo and multiplayer modes: The game supports both single-player and multiplayer modes, including solo play and co-op. This provides flexibility for different player preferences.

Co-op mode supports multiplayer: The game features co-op mode for up to 4 players, as well as online and cooperative multiplayer. This allows players to team up in the survival experience.

Companion dog system: Players can have a dog companion with its own inventory, carrying supplies and loot. The dog can be commanded to wait or follow, adding gameplay value.

Crafting and building systems: Players can craft items, build bases, and construct houses. Crafting includes makeshift campfires and requires resources from inventory.

No crashes reported by many: Multiple players report the game runs without crashes across various sessions and durations. This indicates overall stability for a significant portion of users.

Poor optimization on some systems: Some users experience severe frame rate drops and poor performance even on good PCs. This suggests optimization issues that affect a subset of players.

Runs great overall: A number of players simply state the game runs well or has good optimization. This positive feedback contrasts with reports of poor performance.

Good performance on high-end PCs: Several reviewers achieve high frame rates such as 145 FPS at 4K epic settings or 100 FPS on ultra with max anti-aliasing. The game can perform excellently on capable hardware.

Crashes on boot or startup: Several reports mention crashes occurring during boot, startup, or before the first game. This prevents some players from even launching the game.

Positive recommendation for survival crafting: Many reviewers give a clear positive recommendation, often highlighting fun gameplay, rewarding progression, and enjoyment despite bugs. The game is praised for its survival mechanics and exploration.

Recommended for survival game fans: Reviewers frequently recommend the game to those who enjoy survival crafting titles, especially if they appreciate games like Rust or 7 Days to Die. The game offers a rewarding experience for fans of the genre.

Not recommended due to current state: Many reviewers advise against buying the game now, citing bugs, crashes, and lack of polish. They suggest waiting for updates or a more complete version before purchasing.

Wait for updates before buying: A common suggestion is to wait for updates, patches, or optimization before purchasing. Some plan to check back in a few months or after further development.

Refund due to crashes or issues: Several players requested refunds due to crashes, performance problems, or general dissatisfaction. Some advise refunding if problems occur within the first two hours.

Community fair range: $15.00 - $22.00.

Story completion: 7.0h.

Session length: 4.0h.

Reports mostly indicate the game is fun from the start, especially in single-player or co-op, though Early Access roughness, a long tutorial, and multiplayer dog/loot issues create friction for some players.

Friction: Bugs and rough Early Access state; Painfully long tutorial and poor menus; Jerky, not always intuitive controls and learning curve; Multiplayer crashes or instability when a co-op partner enters NPC areas; Only the host gets the dog in multiplayer; Shared loot causes competition for early-game resources.

Unlock drivers: Getting properly into the game; Playing multiplayer with a co-op partner.

Co-op Duo Survivalist: Coordinated co-op sessions focused on story and survival with a partner. Motivation: Sharing a story-driven winter survival adventure with a friend. Stance: buy.

Multiplayer Bug-Frustrated Player: Multiplayer co-op sessions expecting full feature parity for every player. Motivation: Playing the advertised cooperative mode properly with friends. Stance: no buy.

Solo Winter Immersionist: Solo exploration and resource survival with an atmospheric, deliberate pace. Motivation: An immersive, slow-paced solo winter survival experience. Stance: buy.

Across the returned cohorts, most mid-range and low-VRAM Windows users report playable to smooth performance despite occasional stuttering or crashes, while the 16GB+ VRAM cohort is more mixed because a notable subset reports severe crashes and frame drops.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: positive. Most reports describe smooth or playable high-settings performance with DLSS or FSR, though some users mention stuttering, frame drops, or isolated crashes.

Windows 8-11GB VRAM: positive. Most users report the game runs well without crashes, with only a few launch crashes or optimization complaints.

Windows <8GB VRAM: positive. Many users report smooth performance with DLSS and no crashes, but stuttering and widespread crash reports remain notable caveats.

Steam Deck: The audited feedback shows the game is playable on the Steam Deck and SteamOS/Linux but does not deliver an out-of-the-box seamless experience. Reviewers report inconsistent and unstable frame pacing on the Steam Deck OLED, built-in FSR and Frame Generation that either have no visible effect or must be replaced by additional third-party tooling installed on the Deck, and generally poor optimization that drops even capable desktops to around 30fps with stuttering. A notable number of players report frequent crashes, while others (particularly on Linux distributions) report flawless, crash-free performance, indicating the issue is configuration- and hardware-dependent. Additional friction comes from imprecise controls and a frustrating climbing mechanic. Overall the game requires tinkering and expectation-management rather than being broken or perfectly green-check compatible.

Linux and Proton: Linux/Proton evidence is mostly positive: users report smooth, crash-free Linux performance, including on CachyOS. Steam Deck-specific feedback introduces minor friction, with reports of inconsistent performance and built-in FSR/Frame Generation issues that may require extra tools. Generic Windows and GPU performance complaints were excluded because they lack Linux, Proton, SteamOS, Wine, or native Linux context. Overall, the game appears playable on Linux with minor Steam Deck caveats.

Early access with bugs: The game is in early access, so players expect some bugs and areas for improvement. Many reviews acknowledge the ongoing development and consider it a good foundation.

Compared to The Long Dark: The game is often compared to The Long Dark, with some saying it is less clumsy and slow, while others feel The Long Dark handles winter atmosphere better. Comparisons also include Stalker and other survival games.

Developers responsive to feedback: Reviewers note that developers are actively listening and fixing issues promptly. They appear to want to improve the game based on community feedback.

Demo available: There is a demo available, including a 2-hour trial run. This allows players to try before buying.

No Brazilian Portuguese support: Several reviews mention the lack of Brazilian Portuguese translation or subtitles. This localization gap is a common complaint.