Fakefish founder Aku Jauhiainen gave us an in-depth look at Frostrail, the next big survival game on a train

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During last week’s Gamescom, we met with FakeFish founder and CEO Aku Jauhiainen, who gave us an in-depth look at Frostrail. This open-world survival first-person shooter is set to launch on Steam Early Access in 2026 for PC. In fact, the development team is comprised of many creators from Barotrauma and new talent hired specifically for this project. To date, Frostrail has been wishlisted over 200,000 times on Steam.

Frostrail centers on the Eden Engine, a steam-powered train that serves as your mobile base, refuge, and lifeline in a frozen, post-apocalyptic wasteland. You must fuel, maintain, and defend this train, as its destruction means game over. This innovative mechanic, blending classic survival elements with a dynamic, moving hub, gives the game a fresh feel that evokes titles like Snowpiercer and Metro Exodus.

The game supports both solo play and online co-op for up to four players, and it’s built with teamwork in mind. Co-op allows you to divide tasks like scavenging for resources and defending the train, which improves survival odds and creates memorable moments.

What can you tell us about Frostrail?

It’s a survival first-person shooter with crafting and that kind of stuff. Frostrail is built around five core pillars. The first is your moving base: an armored train that serves as your home, which you can build and upgrade. The second pillar is the combat, which is an action-oriented ranged weapon system. Finally, there’s the cold, which acts as a tethering mechanic and can kill the player if you’re not careful.

The fourth pillar is co-op. You can play solo, but the game is designed to be more fun with friends. The final pillar is the crafting system and it features refineries that let you convert raw materials into more refined versions. For example, you can turn metal scraps into slag metal and then into pure metal. The same process applies to wood and plastic.

What about the world map? Is everything happening in real time?

The basic idea is to travel north with your train. The world map is made up of different levels, and when you reach the end of one, you go through a tunnel to select the next. The further north you go, the colder the world gets and the harder the game becomes. You’ll travel through various levels and discover points of interest. These are the main spots where you should stop your train to hop off and start exploring. Everything happens in real time as you fight against revenant enemies and scavenge for loot.

The game uses a mix of hand-crafted and procedural generation. While the terrain is hand-made, natural assets are created using a PCG (procedural content generation) system. We’ve selected certain points for key locations in each level, but their placement is then determined by the PCG system, which greatly improves replayability. This system also handles the placement of loot and enemy spawns, ensuring each playthrough is a little different.

What can you do once you arrive at a point of interest?

In these points of interest you’ll find abandoned places and junk items. You can also find salvageable objects, which need a crowbar to scavenge for better materials.

You have a warmth bar that depletes the longer you stay outside and explore. If it hits zero, you’ll start to lose health. This interesting cold mechanic means that if you go too far from the train, you’ll get visual cues and eventually start freezing and dying. You can find branches, logs, charcoal, and other items in the forest to fuel your train’s Eden Engine, which provides both heat and power.

When you reach the end of a level, you can select a new one. The length of a level depends on your exploration; if you stop at every location, it could take two hours or even more to complete.

Can you upgrade your train?

You can build and upgrade your train by adding walls, hatches, and doors. You can also craft different stations, like a cooking station for food, which provides a significant health boost and helps you survive combat. For weapons, you can use modifying stations to craft new parts. When you craft a weapon like the bolt-action rifle, you can choose new parts to give it better stats. The ultimate goal is to progress from early-game weapons, like the pipe rifle, to more effective ones.

What’s the inspiration behind the game?

It kind of reminds me of Wolfenstein, which we know well and have even used as a reference. However, I think our game has more systems. Our first game, Barotrauma, is quite system-heavy, and that’s a key part of our studio’s DNA that we wanted to include here as well.

How long has the game been in development?

We partnered with our publisher Shiro Unlimited two years ago, but we were already working on the game for two years before that. In the first year, a smaller team built a prototype, and then we began to scale up. Currently, around 15 people are working on the game.

Do you have a roadmap right now for what you plan to add?

Not yet. It’s still a work in progress. But I’m pretty sure there will be more content: more points of interest, more levels, maybe a new biome, and, of course, more enemies. One of the bigger things we plan to add before early access is a train defense system. Revenants will be able to spawn waves and attack your train. You’ll be able to mount bigger machine guns or cannons to defend it. If the Eden Engine breaks, it’s game over.