There has been a lot of chatter over the years as to whether there is life on Mars, is it sustainable for human life, is there water, etc. but humans haven’t actually been on the surface of Mars yet.
Enter Surviving Mars.
Paradox Interactive and Haemimont Games constructed a martian city builder, basically Cities: Skylines but on another planet. The result is a solid game but with some caveats.
The first thing I noticed when I fired up Surviving Mars for the first time was the fact it wasn’t a very easy game to traverse. Much like the surface of Mars, the game can be a little uninviting as you have many options to choose from.
The options are largely straight forward but there’s also an option to opt for an Easy Start which pretty much picks all the options you’d otherwise have a chance to pick yourself such as your mission sponsor, commander profile, colony logo and your mystery.
While I appreciate the abundance of features in the game I’d appreciate a little easing into all of it and maybe a better explanation as to what all of this means. Surviving Mars is a game that will require a lot of trial and error. Once you realize you won’t win every match (or any) things will get a lot easier for you.
I’ve only spent a small handful of hours into the game and while it has me intrigued, it hasn’t grabbed me like other games have. Part of this might be due to me being bad at the game and part of it might just be me having no idea what to do.
Once you get into the world of Surviving Mars, you have to choose a spot for your rocket to land. This 09spot is important because you want to make sure you are near various supplies such as access to water. Water is very important in this game because you won’t be able to get a dome full of colonists without it.
There is some semblance of a tutorial once you actually get in game which is nice but I felt like it wasn’t enough. Instead you have to search things out on your own which can grow tiresome. Once you play enough you’ll learn things on your own and this can be appealing to many players.
The most important thing I can stress in Surviving Mars is mapping out the area around your initial rocket landing and gathering the most resource plots you can. The name of the game is gathering resources and building new structures to allow more gathering of resources.
Once you get more resources and have rockets coming in with supplies the game really kicks into high gear. If will probably take a few tries to figure out how to do all of this but it feels good once the game actually clicks. It is actually really cool to watch a little bustling city just moving around inside of a dome on the surface of Mars.
My one complaint is that it takes a while to click. I’m sure once I clock more hours and improve my skill I’ll find more to enjoy with Surviving Mars. In the meantime I’ll be on the surface trying to make is past the first few days.
If you’re reading this and trying to decide if it’s worth the money, that’s a hard question to answer at the moment. I was provided a complimentary copy so I can put as much time into as I want without having to fear about getting my money’s worth where that’s not the same with others.
My best suggestion is to try it out on Steam and take advantage of the two hour refund policy to test the waters. Admittedly, two hours isn’t a lot of time to see if you’ll like this game but you’ll certainly find out if you can see yourself putting time into this or not.