Surviving Mars cover art

Surviving Mars

2018Haemimont GamesPlayStation 4, Linux, PC (Microsoft Windows), Mac, Xbox One

Surviving Mars is a sci-fi city builder all about colonizing Mars and surviving the process. Choose a space agency for resources and financial support before determining a location for your colony. Build domes and infrastructure, research new possibilities and utilize drones to unlock more elaborate ways to shape and expand your settlement. Cultivate your own food, mine minerals or just relax by the bar after a hard day’s work. Most important of all, though, is keeping your colonists alive. Not an easy task on a strange new planet.

What it feels like

The slow burn of building a civilization invites strategic thinking and long-term planning reflection. The game treats colonization and survival sincerely without irony, grounding emotional investment in the endeavor.

Contemplative40%
Earnest25%

What it's about

A near-future Mars colonization setting is the foundational premise driving all systems and narrative. Enduring the hostile Martian environment and its challenges is a constant central struggle. Questions about humanity's place on an alien world and the meaning of settling Mars permeate the experience.

Science Fiction95%
Survival Against Nature50%
Existential30%

How it plays

Building and expanding a functional Martian settlement through dome construction, infrastructure, and zoning is the core loop. Managing scarce resources like power, water, minerals, and food under constant pressure is essential to survival. Managing autonomous colonist needs, jobs, morale, and crises with emergent social systems is central to gameplay.

City Building90%
Resource Management85%
Colony Sim80%
Deep Simulation75%
Survival Needs70%
Base Building60%
Automation55%
Crafting45%

How it's structured

Players largely set their own goals and strategies within the Martian environment with minimal imposed narrative. A sprawling game expecting tens of hours to establish a thriving, stable colony. Designed as a solo experience with no multiplayer component.

Sandbox70%
Long-Haul Scope65%
Single-Player65%
Handcrafted World35%
Planetbase82% match

Shares Science Fiction, Colony Sim, Resource Management, Base Building.

Both lean into Science Fiction, Colony Sim, Resource Management, Single-Player.

Science Fiction80%Colony Sim90%Resource Management85%Single-Player95%
Banished74% match

Shares City Building, Resource Management, Colony Sim, Sandbox.

Both lean into City Building, Resource Management, Colony Sim, Single-Player.

City Building90%Resource Management85%Colony Sim85%Single-Player95%

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Both lean into City Building, Resource Management, Colony Sim, Single-Player.

City Building95%Resource Management90%Colony Sim80%Single-Player90%

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