Surviving Mars has a relatively good gameplay with decent graphics. The colony management style has some depth, but requires the player to learn from failure. The game has some differences from many of the past similar titles so I do not think all common strategies for colony management games are equally applicable here. Players really have to learn and adapt. I do not recommend to start the game with easy difficulty. One can only learn the critical management logics in this game under harder settings.

I am actually quite surprised by the amout of negative review this game received on Steam. For me the game has some flaws but the pleasure brought by the management is way more than the pains, and it definitely worths a thumb up. Many of the negative reviews compared it with some other past titles which I think is not necessary. This game is unique in many aspects and should not be simply compared in parallel. Maybe the sim players are way too harsh on it(and all other sim games). After all, this is the best new title in the category I have seen in the past half year.