Simulation · March 15, 2018
Surviving Mars (2018)
Colonize Mars and discover her secrets, with minimal casualties. Welcome Home! The time has come to stake your claim on the Red Planet and build the first functioning human colonies on Mars! All you need are supplies, oxygen, decades of training, experience with sandstorms, and a can-do attitude to discover the purpose of those weird black cubes that appeared out of nowhere. With a bit of sprucing up, this place is going to be awesome! 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. There will be challenges to overcome. Execute your strategy and improve your colony’s chances of survival while unlocking the mysteries of this alien world. Are you ready? Mars is waiting for you. Main Features: Building on a planet not fit for human life challenges you to build a smart, functional colony. Bad planning isn’t about traffic jams, it’s about survival of your colonists. You really don’t want rolling blackouts in a city constructed in a place without oxygen. Each colonist is a unique individual with problems and strengths that influence the needs and behavior of the other colonists. Things can get really interesting if your chief scientists develops alcoholism after one too many long nights in the lab. Retro-futuristic super structures housing colonists, factories and commercial buildings with their own “neighborhood personality.” Create colonies that value science over everything else, while tired workers drink their pay away at a local bar, or attempt a utopia among the stars. Inspired by the classic sci-fi of Asimov and Clarke, Surviving Mars holds many secrets. During each playthrough players may encounter one of Mars’ individually crafted mysteries. Uncovering these secrets might bring your colony great fortune, or terrible ruin. What is that sphere that manifested itself outside colony HUB B, and is it friendly? Combine static and random research through experimentation, which allows for a different experience for each journey through the game. Attain new scientific breakthroughs by exploring the uncharted terrain of Mars's surface. A sleek, modern take on the bright futurism of the 1960s. A time of exploration and adventure. Craft your own fantastic buildings, parks or even a mystery to share through Surviving Mars’s extensive and convenient modding tools. Share your finest creations with the community to build the perfect society.
Position in Simulation
| Metric | This title | Genre position |
|---|---|---|
| Review volume | 26.6k Steam reviews | Top 19% in Simulation |
| Positive rating | 85% positive | Genre average: 79% — this title sits in top 45% |
| Metacritic | 76/100 | Genre average 75 — top 56% of Simulation titles |
| Concurrent peak | 507 players | Top 27% in Simulation by live player count |
| Engagement hours | 20 h average | Top 53% for session depth among Simulation |
Community Tag Signals
Tag weights reflect how many Steam users voted each descriptor — larger pills = stronger consensus.
- Colony Sim · 718
- City Builder · 698
- Strategy · 667
- Survival · 553
- Space · 553
- Base-Building · 500
- Mars · 462
- Simulation · 416
- Sci-fi · 370
- Resource Management · 339
- Singleplayer · 292
- Building · 281
- Management · 263
- Sandbox · 186
- Space Sim · 181
Peer Simulation titles
Comparable titles in the same genre and review-volume band — ranked by Steam positive percentage.
Reception Metrics
Steam community
85%Very Positive · 26.6k reviews
22.6k positive · 4.0k negative
Metacritic
76/100 critic aggregate
Metacritic user score
7.0/10
Curator recommendations
16.8k
Peak concurrent players
507
Localization Coverage
Interface / Subtitles (9)
- English volume_up
- French
- German
- Spanish - Spain
- Polish
- Portuguese - Brazil
- Russian
- Simplified Chinese
- Turkish volume_up
Full audio (2)
- English
- Turkish
Simulation releases from 2018
9 Simulation titles launched in 2018 — top 6 by review volume.
Press Quotes
“Surviving Mars from Haemimont Games is a true triumph, and represents a game I've been yearning for for years.” 4.5/5 – Windows Central “Surviving Mars might be the most fun I've had with a city-building game since SimCity 2000” 8/10 – Destructoid “Nothing else marries survival and city-building so deftly” 8/10 – PC Gamer
Features & Capabilities
Community
- Steam Achievements
- Steam Trading Cards
- Steam Workshop
- Steam Cloud
- Remote Play on TV
Input & Comfort
- Full controller support
Other
- Single-player
- Family Sharing
Engagement Profile
All-time avg
20h
moderate (15–40 hours)
Median
3h
Typical completion time
2-week avg
4h
Current engagement
Achievements
80
Steam unlocks available
Release & Availability
| Release date | Mar 15, 2018 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Haemimont Games, Abstraction |
| Publisher | Paradox Interactive |
| Base price | Free-to-play |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Estimated owners | 1M–10M |
| External links | Metacritic page · Support |











