When I first saw that city-builder Surviving Mars is getting a remaster, my first thought was “Isn’t that a bit soon? It only launched recently.” It turns out ‘recently’ was seven flipping years ago. That’s a shorter period than between the original Resident Evil and its 2002 HD edition. Truly, my ability to measure the passage of time has been destroyed since 2020.
Anyhow, Surviving Mars: Relaunched goes a little further than your standard visual overhaul. It aims to upgrade the game’s tech and refresh the UI like most projects of its ilk, but it also introduces a whole new system to your Martian colony—politics.
Developer Haemimont Games outlined the political system in a Steam post a little over a week ago. What’s interesting is that your politicking starts not on Mars, but on Earth. While your colony is small, political decisions are largely conducted by an Earth-based council, convening every couple of years to vote on new laws that affect your colonial prospects. An example Haemimont cites is whether or not to deregulate rocket-speeds standard—which presumably will get resources to Mars faster, but increase the risk of the planet developing new craters.
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As your colony grows, you’ll eventually be able to form your own government by building a Martian Assembly. At this point, the Earth council dissolves while you pick a government type, with available options including theocracy, liberal democracy or anarchist commune. This structure will determine things like what role your assembly plays and how you deal with political opponents—whether they’re tolerated, outlawed, or exiled.
Your choice of government also affects the factions that will appear in your Assembly. There are over a dozen of these, though only a few will appear in any given game and they can evolve, radicalise, and even dissolve as your colony progresses. Ultimately, your goal is to achieve complete independence for Mars, both from Earth and the private sponsor who funded your initial mission.
That sounds…pretty great? The Relaunched edition also comes packaged with every DLC, which introduced mechanics like terraforming, animal farming, and rival colonies in the years since Surviving Mars originally launched. Haemimont’s plans for the Relaunched edition extend beyond the release on November 10, too. Future updates will expand upon food production systems and the ability to populate Mars with robots—just like in real life!