Frostpunk introduces its awesome/terrifying automatons

In Frostpunk, what doesn't kill you definitely doesn't make you stronger. It probably makes your arm fall off, or convinces everyone that you're no longer a capable part of the workforce so that they feel compelled to save some power by cutting off the heat supply to your house. And, hey, if you're lucky, you might be able to contribute to the survival of your pals even if you do die because there are lots of hungry mouths to feed, and what's a little cannibalism between friends?

I've taken a good, long look at Frostpunk already and I liked what I saw. I'll admit, I did wonder why there were no towering quadrupedal automatons that filled me with equal parts awe and dread. Guess what just WHIRR-STOMPED into view...

Frostpunk is a strategic game about managing a settlement of people who have survived a global catastrophe. Terrible things happen. You will probably order people to do some of those terrible things, putting the needs of the many above the comfort/intactness of the few. As you rebuild, you'll discover new ways to automate labour and the automatons seem to be the pinnacle of that.

As soon as I heard that there would be giant machines in the game I was waiting for the other penny to drop. How will this go wrong? In the video below, everything seems to be fine. Positive even. Encouraging. Until the end.

They're going to step on people like big dozy dogs, aren't they? We'll find out when Frostpunk unleashes the chill factor later this year - by the end of March says my bestie Bertie over at Eurogamer.