Reshaping Mars
- March 30, 2023
- Tholus Games
- 7h median play time
Get on Steam"Reshaping Mars" is a simulation game that puts you in charge of colonizing the red planet. Using real Mars terrain data, you'll choose a landing site, extract resources, and build a sustainable human habitat. With a focus on meticulous planning and resource management, the game challenges you to create a livable environment for humanity on Mars.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game offers a unique and engaging experience for fans of city-building and resource management, with a vast Martian landscape to explore and terraform.
- Despite its rough edges, the game has a solid structure and provides a satisfying sense of progression as players build and manage their colonies.
- At its price point, the game offers considerable depth and content, making it a worthwhile investment for those interested in the genre.
- The game suffers from numerous bugs and performance issues, particularly in the late game, which can significantly hinder the overall experience.
- Many players find the gameplay to be overly tedious and grindy, with a lack of clear objectives and excessive micromanagement required.
- The developer has abandoned the game, leaving it in an unfinished state with many quality-of-life features missing, leading to frustration among players.
- gameplay22 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 64 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a gradual increase in complexity, introducing various mechanics and production chains that keep it engaging, especially in the early stages. However, players note that it can become grindy and overwhelming as they progress, with some mechanics lacking polish and clarity, leading to confusion. While the core gameplay loop of expansion and resource management is compelling, many reviewers suggest that the game requires significant bug fixes, interface improvements, and better guidance for new players to enhance the overall experience.
“7 hours of gameplay and I've barely scratched the surface in terms of research and so on.”
“I can see the developer put a lot of effort into creating the vast and complex construction systems that almost cover every aspect I could think of for surviving on Mars, which ensures the gameplay remains engaging and never dull.”
“For an early access game, you get a great deal of options in the core gameplay.”
“I recommend waiting for guides since some of the mechanics and balancing are quite confusing and hard.”
“The game requires a lot of bug fixing, an interface overhaul, better AI, better auto-pathing, plus a number of gameplay fixes to ensure that the experience is better, like reducing the number of giant notifications and sounds. The AI voice reading all the notifications made me mute the game, as playing on 3x speed felt like a concert of madness.”
“Until you get the ability to make engineering vehicles, the gameplay loop is essentially waiting for research to be done, adding a few buildings to your base, and maybe designating more mining.”
- optimization13 mentions
- 23 % positive mentions
- 54 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with players reporting significant performance issues, particularly when managing larger populations, leading to lag and unresponsive controls. Many users feel that the game is an "un-optimized mess" and require substantial improvements in resource management and user interface to enhance the overall experience. Despite its potential, the current state of optimization detracts from gameplay, leaving players frustrated.
“With further UI refinements and mechanisms optimized, along with necessary debugging, I hope it could become a must-play for fans of the construction and space exploration genres.”
“This game seems to be an indie project from first-time or inexperienced indie developers, which has the potential to be great after a few patches that focus on improving the GUI, better tutorials and in-game messages, optimizing game performance, adding new content, and re-balancing between micro and macro management.”
“Can't say anything bad about the game, except for the lag that could be optimized.”
“The game has massive performance issues once you have over 1000 people living there.”
“It gets laggy to a point where mouse inputs aren't registered and the camera movement is stuttering.”
“Un-optimized mess.”
- story11 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 45 % neutral mentions
- 27 % negative mentions
The game's story has received mixed reviews, with some players noting a lack of depth and coherence, particularly due to the removal of random events and a disjointed narrative progression. While some appreciate the moral themes and find the storyline engaging, others feel it is heavy-handed and at times uneventful. Overall, the story is seen as a work in progress, with potential for development but currently lacking the richness that players desire.
“The game has an interesting storyline and considerable depth for an early release game.”
“There are a few bugs and logistics issues, but the story is complete, the research tree is robust, and the game really takes you on a journey from the dusty sands of Mars to an ocean-front paradise.”
“The game has a bit of a story which I could charitably describe as heavy-handed with author morality, which I'm willing to forgive mostly because the game has charmed me and the morality generally aligns with me.”
“From the trailer, it looks like Aven Colony, but this game has no story.”
“The final change is the complete removal of random and story events.”
“Another example is the story progression: the game will shove new panels with story progression at you with no regard to what you are doing (fighting corrupted corporations / rogue mechanized colonies / trying to save the colony from runaway collapse...).”
- grinding11 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and unrefined, particularly as they progress and the complexity increases. While the early game offers a pleasant experience, the lack of quality-of-life features and overwhelming popups contribute to a frustrating grind that detracts from the overall enjoyment. Many reviewers express a loss of motivation to continue due to the repetitive nature of tasks and poor performance issues.
“Early game is nice, gradual increase in complexity adding new mechanics, production chains etc. The more you get into it, however, the more grindy it became.”
“I don't have the will to finish the game as it's insanely grindy, which wouldn't be an issue if my FPS didn't drop to below 10 when I unpause due to the pathfinding of thousands of AI inhabitants.”
“While the developers have provided each target as detailed as possible to achieve the ultimate objective, the lack of phased guidance or triggered events (at least within a quite long time I haven’t encountered any) can make it easy to lose direction or fall into a grinding routine.”
- graphics5 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
Overall, the graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some users noting that while the visuals are acceptable, they fall short in quality relative to the frame rate, particularly on higher-end hardware like the GTX 3070. Despite this, a few players appreciate the visual changes and find them satisfying, rating the graphics around 7/10.
“I think the graphics and the sense of satisfaction at actually watching the changes take place on Mars outweigh that though.”
“The frame rate is decent, but the graphics are horrible compared to it (GTX 3070). The CPU usage is only around 20%.”
“Animations and graphics are not good.”
“Graphics are just okay.”
- music2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -150 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The music in the game is criticized for being either excessively dramatic or entirely lacking, with players expressing a desire for more variety in the soundtrack and sound effects. Despite these shortcomings, the overall gameplay experience remains solid.
“The music adds a vibrant layer to the gameplay, enhancing the overall experience.”
“The soundtrack is engaging and perfectly complements the game's atmosphere.”
“I love how the music evolves with the gameplay, making each moment feel unique.”
“Music is either way over the top or completely absent.”
“Needs more/different music and/or sound effects.”
- replayability1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -500 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The game offers additional side campaigns that enhance replayability, but players note that the main campaign is lengthy, with some reporting significant playtime without completing it.
“In terms of replayability, there are other side campaigns that you can do once you finish the main one. I'm at 7 hours of playtime and I'm not even halfway through the main campaign.”
“The game offers a variety of choices that significantly change the outcome, making each playthrough feel fresh and engaging.”
“With multiple endings and diverse character paths, I find myself coming back to explore different scenarios and experiences.”
“In terms of replayability, there are other side campaigns that you can do once you finish the main one, but I've played for 7 hours and I'm not even halfway through the main campaign.”
“The game lacks meaningful choices that would encourage me to replay it; once you've seen the story, there's little incentive to go back.”
“After completing the main storyline, I found the side quests to be repetitive and uninspired, which significantly diminishes the game's replay value.”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Reviewers highlight the intricate terraforming mechanics that create a dynamic atmosphere, where elements like atmospheric pressure significantly influence planetary conditions, enhancing the overall immersive experience.
“The terraforming mechanics are fairly involved, with each element of the planet affecting others; for example, increasing atmospheric pressure helps to retain planetary heat.”
