My shuttle touched down in a relatively flat piece of Martian ground with a concrete reserve and a few rock formations spread around it, but there was no water anywhere close. Just a few sols later, my power grid was struggling to maintain the few buildings that I had then a dust storm hit and wiped me out. This is the risky and terrifying reality of colonizing space, and Surviving Mars by developer Haemimont Games and publisher Paradox Interactive managed to pack all of that uncertainty into a truly unique strategy game.
From the time you first land to the point where your first colonists move into the society you’ve built on the little red planet, Surviving Mars immerses you in the experience of starting a new world from scratch in the unforgiving environment of space. The beautifully rendered surface of the planet shows the hours that went into development as no part of the surface is repeated a huge map and comes complete with the natural resources needed to build a colony.
Surviving Mars perfectly sums up the game in both objective and difficulty. With just the resources packed into your space shuttle and the funding received from the country that sponsors the mission, the goal is to establish a colony capable of sustaining life on Mars. On my first attempt to establish a colony on Mars, I got the basic infrastructure of producing concrete and refueling the rocket for supplies. It went smoothly at first, and I was able to start researching technology to progress my colony but the harsh environment of space stopped my colony before it even got started. A meteor shower hit my power lines and was followed up by a dust storm that destroyed my string generator leaving me without a colony and headed back to the drawing board.
I was much more successful with my second colony, and I was able to really get into what makes this game so unique in the strategy genre. With my supply chain bringing water and oxygen to my domes, my colonists flew in and I began to build a colony. The game offers a lot of freedom in who you decide to bring to Mars. I decided to go with a relatively calm population that made for a smooth establishment of society, but Surviving Mars allows you to pick colonists with issues like being anti-social if you want to bring an additional level of difficulty to the game.
Once the city is established and running smoothly, strategy games often lose the difficulty that made them interesting at the beginning. There is often a formula that guarantees long term success every time, but Surviving Mars just doesn’t let up. In addition to the weather that killed my first colony, the came also incorporates the psychological toll of living in space into their colonists. After establishing the basics for human survival (water, oxygen, and food), your colonists still need something to keep them sane while trying to survive the unforgiving Martian landscape. You need to build the comforts for your colonists that would have on Earth such as an infirmary and social activities that keep the mini society running smoothly. The game also features a long arc storyline such as a corporation attempting to take Mars’ resources for themselves that keeps the game interesting in the long run and adds to the list of game features that keep Surviving Mars fresh and very replayable.
The learning curve on the game is steep taking some time and patience to get through, but Surviving Mars really sets itself apart from other strategy games in every way. Every new colony feels fresh by boasting so many different obstacles that can derail a colony in addition to offering an objective based challenge mode to offer a change of pace from the main game mode and a free building mode to test out potential strategies to take colonies to the next level with less of a time commitment than the main game demands. Overall, this game offers a unique and challenging strategy game experience that keeps you on your toes every step of the way and establishes itself as a game you can play for a long time.
8.5/10
Check Out the Surviving Mars Trailer:
Xbox One Review
My first console was the original Playstation and I would play Twisted Metal every now and then but games didn't hook me until I played the original Halo at my friend's house. As soon as I picked up that controller, I knew I needed an Xbox and I had to have that game. Since those early Halo days, I've branched out and played any game I could find with a great story and memorable characters but Master Chief is still my favorite. @thenotoriousTGT on Twitter
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