Winter never ended after the moon shattered, and the cold never lets up. You're the Rook, an engineer who followed a radio signal from a long-lost friend into the ice.
The loop from there is scavenging ruined cities, hunting, mining and crafting, then restoring abandoned shelters and repairing broken machines to push a little deeper. Your dog scouts ahead and carries supplies, and you can take the trip solo or with up to three friends.
- Developer
- SpaceRocket Games
- Publisher
- Toplitz Productions
- Release
- Early Access: 2026-10-09
- Platforms
- Windows
Game data
Weapons
Permafrost has bows, automatic and semi-automatic guns, bolt-action rifles and a flare gun, and every one of them fires a single kind of ammo. All but the flare gun share a cartridge with at least one other weapon, so the ammo in your pack decides which guns you can run together. Damage, magazine size and durability settle the rest.
Tools
Permafrost tools come as axes, pickaxes and knives, each climbing from Stone to Moonrock. Your pickaxe tier decides which resources you can mine, and each refined version upgrades a tool you already own.
Clothing
Permafrost clothing covers every slot from the head down to the tactical rig. Every card lists the stats that matter for its slot, like insulation on body pieces and carry slots on backpacks. Check the cards before you craft, because the numbers show which upgrade is worth the materials.
Consumables
Food, drink, alcohol and medicine in Permafrost restore hunger, energy or health, and some of them clear wounds, parasites and broken legs. Cooking turns canned and frozen food into meals that fill far more, so what you cook matters as much as what you find. Pick by the stat you need and the ailment you're treating.
Animals
Permafrost's wildlife runs from skittish rabbits and Red Deer to bears and wolves that attack on sight. You hunt them with firearms, bows or tools, then skin the carcass with a knife-type tool for Meat, Bones, Animal Fat and pelts. Those drops feed your clothing, lighting and trophies, so knowing what you're facing pays off twice.
Skills
Permafrost skills have no points to spend. Each one levels by doing the thing it names, and the gains range from faster crafting and less weapon wear to more damage, steadier aim and less damage taken. The specialization you pick at character creation starts some of them a level up.
Crafting Recipes
Permafrost recipes chain together. Wood becomes Coal, Coal and raw metal become ingots, and ingots become tools, while pelts become Treated Hide, then Cloth, then clothing. Recipes run at set stations, from your bare hands to the benches, the Tanning Rack and the furnaces, so check the station before you gather.
Blueprint Sets
Permafrost's recipes and build parts come bundled into blueprint sets, and each set unlocks everything in it at once. Check what a set holds before you spend your points.
Collectibles
Achievements
Permafrost's Steam achievements reward what you'd do anyway: crafting, looting, hunting and staying warm, plus finishing the story. Most unlock through normal play. A few need one specific trick, and some hide their goal on Steam, so don't plan a whole run around them.
Permafrost Controls
| Action | Desktop |
|---|---|
| Move | W, A, S, D |
| Jump | Space |
| Sprint | Left Shift |
| Crouch | Left Ctrl |
| Walk | Left Alt |
| Interact | F |
| Attack or use held item | Left Mouse Button |
| Aim | Right Mouse Button |
| Reload | R |
| Inventory and crafting | Tab |
| Blueprints | U |
| Journal | J |
| Skills | K |
| Map | M |
| Survival guide | H |
| Building Tool | B |
| Open build menu with the Building Tool | Right Mouse Button |
| Radial menu | Q |
| Flashlight | L |
| Command companion | E |
| Summon companion | / |
| Photo mode | P |
Permafrost gameplay tips
- Craft the Stone Axe, Stone Pickaxe and Stone Shiv by hand as soon as you have Stone and Wood. None of them needs a station. When one wears out, compare the next tools by tier and durability before you spend materials on a replacement.
- Carry a knife or shiv whenever you hunt, because an animal can't be skinned without one. Check an animal's health and damage in the animals list before you pick a fight, and give bears a wide berth unless you have no choice.
- Your Body Warmth starts to drop in a cold area, so check it before you leave a fire. Head back to a campfire or heater while you still have some left. If Bone-Chilling Cold or Deadly Cold Zone sets in, leave the Cold Zone first, because leaving is the remedy.
- Put a heater in the tactical rig slot for any long cold trip. The Chemical Heater, Makeshift Heater and Electric Heater all craft at the Crafting Bench. Clothing adds insulation on top, so cover your head, torso, legs, hands and feet before you cross open ground.
- Check what a gun fires before you craft it. Each gun takes one kind of ammo, so a rifle without its ammo is dead weight. The weapons list pairs every gun and bow with its ammo. Bows are the easy case: they fire Wooden Arrows, and you craft those by hand from Wood.
- Skills level up from what you do. Skinning grows when you skin animals, Sneaking when you slip past enemies unseen and Accuracy when you land hits on targets. Check what each skill gives per level before you lean on one.
- Bring the dog along. It scouts ahead, warns you about danger and carries supplies. Summon it with the / key, then press E to give it a command.
- Food, drink and medicine each restore a different mix of hunger, energy and health, so check the consumables before a long trip. Some items also cure wounds and parasites, which makes them worth carrying even when you're full.
- Crafting happens at several different stations, so look up a recipe's station in the recipes before you haul materials back to camp.
























































