Surviving Mars

Commander Clueless

Hiya, hiya. Pleased to meetcha.
Sep 10, 2008
15,237
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This looks like my kind of game. I'll be picking it up.

I don't know if I'll be getting it at launch because I'm still swamped with games, but I will likely be getting it at some point.
 

The Crypto Guy

Registered User
Jun 26, 2017
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Looks awesome. Sim City meets Mars?

I might have to pick this up unless the reviewers bomb it.
 

sa cyred

Running Data Models
Sep 11, 2007
20,843
3,111
SJ
Looks good. But definitely get that "will be super buggy in the beginning" vibe for some reason :laugh:. I'll hold off for alittle to see how it progresses.
ll
 

Osprey

Registered User
Feb 18, 2005
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From the videos, it looks like it's more like "The Sims on Mars" than a pure city-builder strategy game like Planetbase or Offworld Trading Company (or even SimCity). Is that the distinguishing characteristic and reason for the hype, that it's aimed more at the casual, The Sims crowd than serious strategy gamers? There's nothing wrong with that, especially since the latter crowd has those other games. I'm just curious if that's the case and will probably have interest either way.
 
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Blender

Registered User
Dec 2, 2009
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I Don't think I'll get it at launch, but like a lot of Paradox games, I'll grab it at some point.
 

ArchAngel55

Registered User
Nov 16, 2008
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543
Philadelphia, Pa
I plan on getting it at launch since there isn't anything out there right now until Far Cry 5 comes out. I'll let you guys know when I played it for a bit.
 

The Crypto Guy

Registered User
Jun 26, 2017
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Probably not a big enough game to warrant pre-release reviews. Lots of games don't get reviews at all nowadays. I'm also not sure if Paradox published games send out review copies.

This game is definitely big enough for that. Unless they didnt send out review copies like you said. But after released all the big sites will review it.
 

Bjorn Le

Hobocop
May 17, 2010
19,592
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Martinaise, Revachol
This game is definitely big enough for that. Unless they didnt send out review copies like you said. But after released all the big sites will review it.

Five years ago maybe, but so many games don’t get pre-release reviews anymore. If you’re not a AAA game it’s very much a toss up.

I agree it’s definitely getting reviews, I was just skeptical it was going to happen before release. I can’t honestly remember what Paradox does for reviews. Streamers get advance copies of games but I don’t know if the media does (and if they do they’re allowed to publish reviews early, it can be bad for business).
 

The Crypto Guy

Registered User
Jun 26, 2017
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Reviews are out, guess there was an embargo on them....roughly around 80% is the average score.
 

Osprey

Registered User
Feb 18, 2005
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It's not really from Paradox at all. It's only published by them. What we think of as "Paradox games" (EU4, CK2, HoI4, Stellaris, etc.) are games that are developed and also published by Paradox. Surviving Mars is being developed by Haemimont Games, and this appears to be the first game of theirs to be published by Paradox. Most of their previous games were published by Kalypso, including Tropico 4 & 5, as well as the Grand Ages: Rome games. I would expect Surviving Mars to be something along the quality of those: solid strategy games with personality, but not hardcore strategy like "Paradox games."
 

Bjorn Le

Hobocop
May 17, 2010
19,592
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Martinaise, Revachol
Seems to come from the Cities XL side of the company.

True but probably not in the sense you thought. Cities is developed by a Finnish studio who has a publishing relationship with Paradox (effectively making Colossal Order a second-party publisher for PDX). Haemimont is a Bulgarian developer and this is their first game to be published by PDX.

Paradox puts out podcasts on the business of video games and one of the guys that does it is part of the team that looks for games to publish. Essentially there's no sides of the Paradox business model, the first is to develop inhouse games, mostly grand strategy, and the second is to find and publish games from small to medium sized studios. Games like BattleTech (XCOM style game in the BattleTech universe, coming in April), Steel Division (from Eugen who makes Wargame), and Pillars of Eternity/Tyranny from Obsidian.
 

SeidoN

#OGOC #2018 HFW Predictions Champ
Aug 8, 2012
30,796
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AEF
I watched some gameplay. looks pretty fun but i dont see £35 worth yet. ill wait for sales
 

Blender

Registered User
Dec 2, 2009
51,305
45,253
It's not really from Paradox at all. It's only published by them. What we think of as "Paradox games" (EU4, CK2, HoI4, Stellaris, etc.) are games that are developed and also published by Paradox. Surviving Mars is being developed by Haemimont Games, and this appears to be the first game of theirs to be published by Paradox. Most of their previous games were published by Kalypso, including Tropico 4 & 5, as well as the Grand Ages: Rome games. I would expect Surviving Mars to be something along the quality of those: solid strategy games with personality, but not hardcore strategy like "Paradox games."
I think that's a bit of a narrow definition of a "Paradox game". Yes their core set of hardcore strategy games are all similar, but most of the games they publish follow similar themes as well. You can almost always expect long term support for the game with many expansions or DLC, and heavy mod support.
 

Osprey

Registered User
Feb 18, 2005
27,093
9,355
I think that's a bit of a narrow definition of a "Paradox game". Yes their core set of hardcore strategy games are all similar, but most of the games they publish follow similar themes as well. You can almost always expect long term support for the game with many expansions or DLC, and heavy mod support.

Games first have to be successful to receive long-term support, and being successful usually comes down more to how good of a game the developer made than who the publisher is. Paradox has published several games that weren't very successful and that they chose not to support for long. I think that it's perfectly valid to differentiate between games that Paradox developed and games that they only published. Looking at the reviews and gameplay of the last few games that Haemimont developed is likely to give you a better idea of Surviving Mars' quality, tone, style and polish than looking at the reviews and gameplay of the last few games that Paradox developed. That may not be important to you, but I suspect that it is for a lot of other people in determining whether they'll like a game enough to pay full price at launch for it.
 
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Harbinger

sing for absolution
Mar 8, 2008
11,726
191
Edmonton
Are there no tutorials in this game? I have no idea how to build a power source.

edit: figured it out.
 
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Bjorn Le

Hobocop
May 17, 2010
19,592
609
Martinaise, Revachol
Seems like mixed reviews so far?

78 on Metacritic, which I guess is mixed in a world where anything less than 85 is disappointing. User reviews are definitely mixed, but I think user reviews are trash (for too many reasons to list). A lot of the criticism seems to be levied at micromanagement issues, which is really hard to balance in city builders (either you don't have enough control, or people say it's too much, hard to win). And a lot of that criticism seems to be rooted in the games difficulty, which some accuse of being artificial. That is, the game isn't hard but lack of intuitiveness makes it hard. Most media reviews seem to call BS on that and say that the game is legitimately hard, and instead criticism of the difficulty should be based on how those difficult circumstances are managed (like having no access to money on the hardest difficulty and needing to thread a needle in order to not lose as a result).

I've been watching some streams and while it seems interesting, I want to upgrade my processor and then probably buy it on sale. If it's anything like Steel Division, it should be half price by the Fall.
 

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