Enjoy Cities: Skylines? Paradox's 'Surviving Mars' will take city building to space
Paradox Interactive (Cities: Skylines, Stellaris) is taking their expertise for city builders into space.
Announced today on Xbox Wire, Paradox Interactive and Haemimont Games are working on an all-new city builder dubbed Surviving Mars, which revolves around establishing a colony in the harsh landscapes of the Red Planet.
Here is everything we know so far, including screenshots and the game's announcement trailer.
Main Features
Building a sustainable colony in space: 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.
Individually simulated colonists: 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.
Unlike Cities: Skylines, Surviving Mars has a "hardcore" designation. Your colonists will die if they're not adequately supplied. For example, power outages can lead to asphyxiation, Total Recall style.
Similarly to Paradox Interactive's Stellaris, it looks as though the personality of your inhabitants will have an affect on gameplay too. In Stellaris, your leaders can develop traits, both negative and positive, such as drug addiction, and the same is true in Surviving Mars.
When's it coming out?
Surviving Mars is coming to Xbox One, PC, and PS4 in 2018. It will be hitting Xbox under ID@Xbox, similarly to Paradox Interactive's Cities: Skylines.
Get the Windows Central Newsletter
All the latest news, reviews, and guides for Windows and Xbox diehards.
PC specs
Minimum: OS: Windows 7 64-bit or newer, Processor: Dual-core CPU, Memory: 4 GB RAM, Graphics: 1 GB video RAM, Intel integrated video HD 4000 or higher
Recommended: OS: Windows 7 64-bit or newer, Processor: Fast quad-core CPUs, Memory: 8 GB RAM, Graphics: 4 GB video RAM, GeForce 970-level GPU
Paradox Interactive are known for consistent quality and post-launch support across all of their games. Europa Universalis IV is still getting fresh expansion packs years after launch, with Stellaris and Cities: Skylines also seeing the same treatment. Cities: Skylines already has several expansions on PC, with a new one, "Mass Transit" planned for launch in the near future.
For more on our Paradox Interactive coverage, see the links below, and let us know if you're interested in Surviving Mars in the comments!
Jez Corden is a Managing Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by tea. Follow on Twitter (X) and Threads, and listen to his XB2 Podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!