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Permafrost capsule

Permafrost

Permafrost is a story-driven survival sandbox set in a frozen, post-apocalyptic world. Discover a vast lore-rich open world, alone or in co-op with up to 4 players. Explore, scavenge, craft, and build a network of shelters to outlast the cold.

Early AccessOnline Co-OpOpen World Survival Craft
SpaceRocket GamesAug 21, 2026

Permafrost scores 73/100 — better than 56% of Steam capsules we've analysed (n=22,658).

Released Aug 21, 2026 · By SpaceRocket Games

Explore:Steam page optimisationCapsule design best practices

Quick text summary

Permafrost scored 73/100 on Steam Analyzer — Good for a Steam capsule. Top priority fix: [title_readability] Simplify the PERMAFROST logotype at small sizes by reducing the distress texture and adding a subtle dark drop shadow or outline to improve legibility at 120x45.

Capsule scores by dimension

  • Genre Clarity: 8/10 — Post-apocalyptic survival open world. The frozen cityscape ruins, blizzard atmosphere, character with backpack and survival gear, and accompanying dog strongly communicate open-world survival. Even at tiny size, the snow-buried urban environment and lone survivor silhouette read as a post-apocalyptic survival game. The genre iconography aligns well with craft-and-survive expectations without confusion.
  • Title Readability: 7/10 — Readable at full, strained at tiny. The PERMAFROST logo sits in the lower-right region in bold white capital letters with a slightly distressed treatment, which reads clearly at full and small sizes. At tiny size (120x45) the text becomes quite small and the distressed texture can cause slight legibility strain, though the bold caps font helps. The placement on a lighter snow ground region aids contrast versus a noisier sky zone.
  • Contrast & Color: 7/10 — Cool palette pops on dark Steam background. The dominant ice-blue and white tones create strong separation against Steam's dark #1b2838 background, especially the bright snow foreground and icy sky. The yellow hazmat suit on the center character is a smart warm accent that creates immediate silhouette separation and eye-catch. In grayscale the character silhouette reads clearly against the lighter background, though the dog and some ruin details merge into midtones at tiny size.
  • Uniqueness & Polish: 7/10 — Polished survivor scene, genre familiar. The composition feels cinematic and professionally rendered with strong environmental storytelling — frozen skyscrapers, blowing snow particles, and the human-dog survival duo create emotional resonance. However, the frozen post-apocalypse aesthetic is a well-trodden visual space and doesn't carve out a strongly unique identity versus other survival titles. The yellow suit is a memorable detail that elevates it slightly above generic.
  • Brand Consistency: 7/10 — Cohesive frozen-world identity. The ice-blue and white palette with warm yellow accent feels internally consistent and would be recognizable across store assets. The distressed logotype treatment matches the rugged survival theme and the environmental art style feels cohesive. The human-dog duo could serve as a recurring brand motif, providing a recognizable identity anchor for the game's marketing.
  • Composition: 8/10 — Strong focal hierarchy, good depth layering. The composition uses clear foreground (snow ground with characters), midground (destroyed urban structures), and background (icy sky and blizzard) layering that reads well at all sizes. The character and dog serve as a clear primary focal point positioned at the visual golden ratio area, with the title anchored safely in the lower right avoiding busy texture zones. At small size the human silhouette remains the dominant read with no competing elements stealing attention.

What works

  • Yellow suit accent color. The warm yellow hazmat suit creates instant warm-cold contrast that makes the lead character pop even at tiny thumbnail size.
  • Clear survival genre cues. Backpack, dog companion, frozen ruins, and blizzard particles together communicate open-world survival without ambiguity.
  • Strong depth layering. Three distinct depth planes keep the composition readable and cinematic at all display sizes.
  • Logo placement on controlled background. The PERMAFROST title sits over the lighter snow foreground, ensuring consistent contrast without competing with busy mid-background detail.

What hurts the capsule

  • Generic frozen apocalypse aesthetic. The visual language closely resembles other post-apocalyptic survival titles and does not establish a strongly unique visual hook beyond the yellow suit.
  • Dog silhouette merges at tiny size. The dog companion, despite being a key brand element, blends into the dark snow foreground at 120x45 and is effectively invisible.
  • Distressed title texture hurts tiny readability. The weathered treatment on the PERMAFROST lettering reduces crispness at very small sizes where clean letterforms would hold better.
  • Mid-toned ruin details create muddy center band. The destroyed buildings in the midground occupy a similar value range and can compress into a grey band reducing perceived depth at small sizes.

Priority fixes

  1. [title_readability] Simplify the PERMAFROST logotype at small sizes by reducing the distress texture and adding a subtle dark drop shadow or outline to improve legibility at 120x45.
  2. [uniqueness_polish] Introduce one more visually distinctive design element — such as a unique environmental motif or a more graphic stylized sky treatment — to separate it from generic frozen survival titles.
  3. [contrast_color] Slightly brighten or silhouette-boost the dog figure with a subtle rim light or color accent so the human-dog duo reads as a unit at tiny size.
  4. [brand_consistency] Ensure the yellow suit and dog duo appear consistently across all store screenshots to build a recognizable recurring brand identity.

Store copy priority fixes

  1. [feature_communication] Add a bulleted list of core mechanics after the first paragraph: e.g., 'Hunt and trap wildlife for food • Craft tools and weapons • Build shelters or massive bases • Survive environmental hazards (blizzards, hunger, cold) • Explore abandoned structures for loot and technology'
  2. [uniqueness] Rewrite the dog companion description to immediately follow the shelter paragraph and emphasize how it changes survival strategy compared to solo play.
  3. [audience_targeting] Add a sentence clarifying the intended difficulty/grind level and whether this appeals to casual survival fans or hardcore survival veterans, e.g., 'Designed for players who want exploration and base-building without extreme permadeath pressure' or vice versa.
  4. [hook_strength] Strengthen the opening by leading with 'The world froze overnight—now survive the frozen apocalypse' instead of the lore-first approach, moving the 'moon shattered' detail into narrative context.

Related guides

Steam app ID: 2254990