Simulation · March 15, 2018

Surviving Mars (2018)

trophy80 achievementsgroup1M–10M ownerstrending_up507 peak concurrentrecommend16.8k recommendations
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

MetricThis titleGenre position
Review volume26.6k Steam reviewsTop 19% in Simulation
Positive rating85% positiveGenre average: 79% — this title sits in top 45%
Metacritic76/100Genre average 75 — top 56% of Simulation titles
Concurrent peak507 playersTop 27% in Simulation by live player count
Engagement hours20 h averageTop 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

Open Metacritic page

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 dateMar 15, 2018
DeveloperHaemimont Games, Abstraction
PublisherParadox Interactive
Base priceFree-to-play
PlatformsWindows, macOS, Linux
Estimated owners1M–10M
External linksMetacritic page · Support