Surviving Mars

The starting options with different sponsors seemed very promising in regards to replayability. However if the hard one's were mastered in a couple of hours. The chance to pick a location seemed very promising. But then it turns out that the maps are all pre-created and there are a limited number. The research tree is different every playthrough. But then it turns out that most of the tree is just small optimizations until you don't have to do anything anymore. It's not like the things that are promised aren't there, they are. It has some fun ideas, it's nice to build on a beautiful red planet. The game is sleek. Good sound and music. It has some initial difficulty as you learn to manage resources and civilians. Not something you will remember in 2 years, but fun to play for a bit.

I feel like Surviving Mars has opted towards substance and "feeling" instead of pure gameplay; for the better. I feel things when playing this game, similar to some stories in Stellaris. Make no mistake, there is enough gameplay in this game to make it very interesting, but a lot of story too. Underlined by the excellent soundtrack, I have spent many good hours, feeling like I was building something substantial. Especially when interested in actual Mars colonisation or dealing with the ramifications on human life, I can't recommend this game enough.

I was hyped for this, so much so I got the First Colony Edition on Steam and paid full price for it. Then when it came out it felt rushed and ideas previewed were than paywalled for future DLC. I tried going back to it but basic things like modding they promised they would support, never really happened, it's limiting to the point you can't make changes to standard things like supply pads. The game is primarly on a x and y axis, with z being outrageously limited. I found that out when I was trying to do a mod to increase supply pad sizes by stacking things higher than the default, nope it was at the z maximum. Then I heard about other mods problems when the game updated so much so that mods were intentionally broken to put in things modders put in first but nerfed to an extreme. There has been a good deal of new items to increase happiness, it was terrible at initial release, but again that's behind dlc. I don't like the shady tactics this company practices and how it mislead the community. Sold pass do not buy. I would give it a 0 but GOG only allows for a 1 out of 5, so it's as low as it can go.

Clearly this game was designed to sell DLC. What a mess.

I wasn´t sure if I would like it. Never really heard of it right until the special sale (well, maybe I had seen the title somewhere). I was searching for a neat city-building game which offers more content in the sense that you really had to explore the game in order to "see it all". I dunno, Im about 80hrs? in right now and I´m only at the beginning of the terraforming process (other things seemed to be more "immediate" if you know what I`m sayin), 4 domes built ... It feels like that there is so much to explore and I´m getting, still, surprised by certain events, mechanics and in-game obstacles in general ... That it´s set on Mars is a gimmick, although a great one. Love the thought process which had been put into the game. It´s on the "more realistic" side of the genre I guess, which is brilliant. In contrast to Anno 1800 It´s even more satisfying, because its actually hard to get to your resources and to maintain what you have already built ... but one of the main things I like about it is the fact that it, still, keeps surprising me. I really hope they keep updating the game as well was working on new add-ons to add even more features and stuff. I can imagine if they do a part 2 of this franchise and enhance the experience on all fronts ... graphics, phsysics, effects, features etc. ... It would be a major hit. If you like games like Anno or the rather new frostpunk ... and if youre somewhat into sci-fi or space in general ... you will LOVE this game!