Surviving Mars Reviews
________________________ “Every action needs to be carefully considered in Surviving Mars
I'm in a weird place because I know that Surviving Mars is probably excellent for someone who is not me. If you enjoy Paradox games like Crusader Kings II but not city builders, then this is probably a great bridge for you to relax and play. If you like managing numbers, resources, and people, then this is the game for you. What I wanted was a more freeform experience that allowed me to design and fiddle with Martian landscapes to my heart's content, and this is not the game for that.
Surviving Mars is a solid city-builder, but some areas of the game require too much micromanagement and some critical information is either inaccurate or not presented in a useful way.
Surviving Mars does not speak to the casual gamer, but it's also a good city-builder. Its creators Haemimont Games deeply love science-fiction, and they demonstrated it by giving their game a variety of scenarios together with its citybuilder nature. It deserves time to be appreciated, but seeing your colony become operative is always a satisfaction. Veterans could find a relatively new way to see science-fiction on their genre. Due to rigid gamepad controls, newcomers may consider the PC.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Surviving Mars combines so many interesting mechanics and genres but seems to lack the overall depth that defines more specialized titles. Nevertheless, it's an entertaining romp in exploration, survival and colonization that's good for a couple dozen hours or so.
Surviving Mars has a lot of interface annoyances and other small issues, but its blend of optimism and dread makes a compelling foundation for a city/colony builder.
Overall, Surviving Mars is a solid building simulator. Its numerous options for gameplay leave room for all kinds of play styles. Player choices maintain key roles in how they wish to shape their societies. A vast array of technology makes room for endless infrastructure combinations with a wonderful level of detail. A lack of content really brings down the game a few notches because the gameplay begins to feel repetitive after a while. Although the title has a lot of awesome details with science fiction flair, it doesn't bring any new surprises after a single playthrough. Whether players are seeking a challenging simulation or a chill Martian sandbox, Surviving Mars is a title that is worth a try.
The first few hours of Surviving Mars are frustrating and the game can come across a bit disappointing; stick with it though and once you have figured out what to do all by yourself – due to the ineffective tutorial tips – the game opens up and almost becomes a completely different experience.
Underneath the lack of a proper tutorial and some odd interface decisions, there’s a neat game with an almost puzzle-like feel to it that hits some sweets spots when it comes to optimizing a colony for long-term survival. Shame the same cant be said about its colonists’ management / interaction.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
I can say that Surviving Mars should be expressing itself more clearly in the beginning since it is already a hard experience. If you are up to a high-pressure experience on the Red Planet, I recommend you to take a look at Surviving Mars.
Surviving Mars, is competent but dried up fairly quickly. The systems in place work well and it accomplishes all it wants to do effectively. It has a good natural difficulty and good variation between plays. For those who are comforted by grid lined paper, this is probably a cathartic managerial experience. I am not in that group however. Like the planet itself, the whole experience felt a bit one note and bare. To me, there needed to be something else, another angle or facet to the game to give it the life that it desperately needed.
Playing Surviving Mars is like watching someone put a kitten in a plastic bubble. It's cute for a while, wobbling around in its new environment. But then you realize that the kitten is going to suffocate, and you are going to spend hours watching it slowly run out of air and die. Trying to get the kitten out of the bubble is hopeless. You don't know anything about bubbles, and the kitten isn't telling you. Have fun, kids!
Colonization of Mars according to the concepts from the late 20th century. Retro-futuristic graphics and outdated ideas mix into an engaging game, although there is a lot of room for improvement.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Surviving Mars has the interplanetary foundations of a good strategy game, but it gets bogged down in its own complexity, micromanagement, and a surprisingly bland setting.
Surviving Mars isn't bad, but it's not as good as it could have been. Too much micromanagement, bad UI and missing QoL features suggest that the game needed more time in development. If you don't mind issues like that or if your ego can handle playing on lower difficulty levels, where they're not as pressing, you might get some enjoyment out of seeing your colony grow.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
PS4 version of Surviving Mars is flawed and can only be recommended to the most dedicated fans of Mars colonization theme. If you play on PC, you can raise the score by one point.
Review in Russian | Read full review
The Tropico team plays it relatively straight on the red planet - but trouble is never far away.
All Surviving Mars' interlocking systems make for an arresting time-sink that merges logic, forethought, psychology and experimentation. If you're the sort of person who enjoys losing yourself in high stakes strategy, building and planning, Surviving Mars is worth a look.
Though I sometimes grew weary of the donkey-work of cables and repairs, I definitely relish the new state of sustained fear Surviving Mars brings to city sims. It means that even small accomplishments feel so much bigger.