If you enjoy strategy games, you might find yourself revisiting some excellent franchises, especially those from Paradox Interactive. The minds behind series like Cities, Crusader Kings, and the very popular Stellaris have decided to turn their magic toward Mars, in a title called Surviving Mars. The idea is that, as a pioneer, you can construct an advanced colony on the planet's surface—but if we know Paradox well, it won't be easy.
Mars: A Fertile Ground for Games
Mars may be the dream of entrepreneurs with existential crises and budget-slave space agencies, but in recent years it has also been fertile ground for video games. Whether you want to explore its secrets in (Waking Mars), fend off demonic hordes in (Doom), fight a futuristic war in (CoD: Infinite Warfare), or endure a fate worse than Mark Watney's in (Take On Mars), the Red Planet has you covered. Yet what was missing was a game focused squarely on the colonization of Mars. Maxis canceled SimMars back in May 2000, and after the disastrous SimCity reboot, no one expects anything viable from Maxis-EA. That's where Paradox Interactive steps in. Following solid titles like Cities: Skylines and Stellaris, we now have Surviving Mars, developed by Haemimont Games, the studio behind the last three Tropico games.
Gameplay and Colony Management
The game is still some time away from its debut, but an official trailer is already available. The premise is intriguing: create a colony on Martian soil, gather resources, withstand the planet's hostility, research new technologies, and survive events that could either strengthen the colony or lead to its downfall. Every colony must be designed to be balanced and sustainable, or you'll be fighting for every unit of energy and oxygen. According to the official page, colonists have their own personalities and may even develop addictions.
Platforms and Release
Paradox Interactive has confirmed that Surviving Mars will be available on Windows (7 x64 minimum), Linux (Ubuntu 14 or later), macOS (10.9 and up), Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. The system requirements are quite reasonable, and the next generation of consoles should handle it without any trouble. As for when it launches? Sometime in 2018.
For more details, be sure to visit the official site.
