Surviving Mars: Relaunched

“The sun is slowly rising over the horizon, its rays gently touching the glittering domes of glass and metal that protect the colonists from the thin and cold atmosphere of mars. The lights around the colony start to go out, and the first shift of workers leaves the protection of the domes. They go to work in the metal extractor where they mine precious rare metals from deep beneath the martian surface. It is hard work, but necessary to pay for all this. After all, we are not here on a research mandate, we are here to make money for the Blue Sun Cooperation. The initial funding for the endeavor has all been spent, so from now on we can only order more supplies from earth if we pay for them. I turn my view around, away from the domes, to the spaceport where two rockets, aptly named Horizon and Dawn, are just about ready to leave for earth. A few days ago, they brought 24 brave souls who left behind the comforts of earth to go on the greatest adventure on which mankind has ever embarked: The conquest of a new world. Drones are buzzing around, loading the last barrels of fuel needed for the return to earth, and also a few units of those rare metals that will pay for some desperately needed supplies. It’s not as much as I had hoped, but it will have to do. We are running low on machine parts that are critical for maintaining our wind turbines. The dome which will house the factory to produce those parts here on mars is under construction, and it will be finished soon. But we just don’t yet have the manpower to operate it efficiently enough to cover the demand. So we will need one last shipment. And more colonists. The two rockets hopefully will deliver just enough rare metals to pay for that shipment and then return with it as well as an additional 12 colonists. From then on it should be smooth sailing, or at least that’s the plan. The drones have finished, the last one just cleared the ramp as the rockets start closing their massive doors. Then, after a few seconds of almost complete silence, sparks begin to fly around the exhaust nozzles, and moments later the mighty engines roar to life. They are turning the spaceport into an inferno of fire, smoke and and dust. Slowly but steadily the two massive hulks lift themselves up into the martian sky, faster and faster until they disappear. I look after them, as I always do. It will be a long time before they come back. I just hope it will not be too late. There is nothing more I can do about that right now, so I turn my attention to other things. One of the concrete extractors has exhausted its deposit and needs relocation, the scan of a new sector has revealed an anomaly that begs for investigation and our wind turbines have to be upgraded with polymer blades so they can satisfy the power needs of the new dome. As the colonists labour away mining metals and growing food, and the drones are busy moving resources around, building things and doing maintenance, my day is also filled with various tasks to ensure the success of humanity’s first foothold on another world. The martian day may be longer than an earth day, but it still never seems long enough.” Yes, this game has captured my imagination like few others. When I’m playing it I am not sitting at my desk staring into my monitor. I am on Mars leaving footprints in the red soil as I’m wandering between majestic domes and busy drones. I’m sitting in my office on Mars, commanding rovers, issuing build orders and assigning work to colonists. I’m standing at the window of my martian apartment, watching great rockets land at the spaceport and take of again, back to earth that was once my home, a long time ago, in another life. Now I am a pioneer in a hostile yet beautiful world filled with challenge and wonder, staking a claim for mankind. I am a martian. Yes, I love this game, passionately! That much should be obvious by now. Heamimont really did an absolutely fantastic job with Surviving Mars. It manages to, in an astonishing way, transport the player to the red planet and instill a sense of pioneering and wonder. It does just about everything right, from the visual presentation, to the wonderful and relaxing soundtrack, to the gameplay, all is just one fantastic experience. It is a true gem of a game where you feel the love and dedication that went into it in every pixel and every line of code. It is a game in which to completely lose yourself, to reemerge only when exhaustion and/or bodily needs make themselves noticeable. Surviving Mars shines in just so many ways. The first thing you will notice is the many choices one can make before even starting the game. Between mission sponsors, commanders and the many available locations on mars one can create countless different challenges ranging from very easy to punishingly hard. This, along with other factors like the different mysteries you can choose from and the semi randomized tech tree, ensure great replayability. Now I will not say that every colony will play differently, but if you vary your starting choices enough, you will face many different challenges that call for different approaches to overcome them. There are no missions or scenarios however, just a few milestones to reach with each colony as well as whatever goals you set for yourself. It is basically just a sandbox where you can build the perfect colony, under whichever conditions and in whichever way you want. Where the game also shines is, as already mentioned, in its presentation. The art style is absolutely gorgeous and cute, with lots of attention to detail and beautifully done models and animations. The soundtrack fits the visuals and gameplay perfectly and is very relaxing. Again and again I catch myself just watching my colony and listening to the music, without doing anything. Sure, I could increase the game speed, but why would I? This is not a game to be rushed or to be “beaten” in the shortest time possible. It is a game to experience, a game that lets you relax and just enjoy it. It is perfect after a stressful day at work or for a lazy weekend. The gameplay is smooth and feels right for the most part. There are only a few hiccups here and there. For example distributing resources around the colony is somewhat tedious. Until you get shuttles you will have to do that manually and even afterwards, setting all the right filters and priorities on every storage and depot is quite a hassle. The biggest issue however is colonist management. It is very time consuming to ensure everyone works at the right job. Yes, you have tools like dome filters, workplace filters and so on, but I never manage to fill every worker slot with specialist colonists while not having unemployed of the same profession at the same time. Also of note may be that very little is explained about the gameplay and game mechanics, so it does take a few hours and failed colonies to learn how everything works. However, for experienced gamers this should not be a big problem, and for everyone else there are some very good video-tutorials on Youtube as well as lots of information on the official forums. Now these are all just minor annoyances, nothing that could really spoil the fun of the game. And the developers are very active improving the game, so hopefully these issues will be addressed down the line. So, do I recommend this game? Yes, wholeheartedly and without hesitation or reservation! If you like city building or colonization games, this is for you. If you, like me, dream about a future where mankind will colonize other worlds, this is for you. If you love science fiction, then just freaking buy it already, will you! ;-) I give it 8 out of 10 Positive: + many options for customization of gameplay + great replayability + great visual presentation + fantastic soundtrack + smooth gameplay Negative: - colonist management is a bit tedious