Surviving Mars: Relaunched is a solid but inessential remaster for one of the best city builders around, but I'm extremely excited about what comes next

Surviving Mars: Relaunched is an unusual remaster, though this is not particularly clear at a glance. Remasters tend to fall into two categories: gussied up classics that take advantage of technological improvements, new consoles and a new audience, or cynical attempts at double dipping. Surviving Mars comfortably slots into the first group, but given the original's relative youth, you could be forgiven for assuming it's part of the latter.

Haemimont Games and Paradox Interactive released the original Surviving Mars back in 2018. In my Surviving Mars review, I said it was "a lot of hard work, but managing a burgeoning colony never stops being compelling", and then slapped an 80% on it. Thanks to the DLC, we were then able to keep expanding our colonies with new features all the way up to 2022.

This is not an ageing classic, then. Nor has its relevance diminished. Survival city builders are even more popular than they were when Surviving Mars first launched, and the fantasy of colonising Mars is as zeitgeisty as ever. It largely feels as fresh as it did back in 2018. Yes, it launched during a previous console generation, but it's compatible with PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

But Haemimont's reasons for this remaster are still pretty compelling. The studio stopped working on Surviving Mars back in 2019, with Abstraction Studios taking over update and DLC duties. The most notable additions during this era were the Below and Beyond expansion and the tiny Martian Express pack (which was actually designed by modders). These represented a significant drop off in terms of quality, despite the features themselves being very welcome.

With Haemimont back at the helm, it had the opportunity to tweak the work of its successors, adjusting things like the underground maps for Below and Beyond, which is now more spacious, and significantly polishing the train system from Martian Express in direct response to player complaints. Tracks now have fewer placement limitations, and you can make a proper network with the trainline running through multiple stations before looping back to its point of origin.

Essentially, Haemimont has made the game it would have, had it not left for greener pastures.

These are likely the most highly-anticipated changes, but there are little tweaks and quality of life improvements filtered throughout, as well as enhanced lighting and textures that bring the game up to modern standards.

Side by side, these changes are absolutely noticeable, but I confess I still had to compare screenshots before I realised how much had been improved. OG Surviving Mars already looked great and was blessed with a strong aesthetic, so this doesn't feel like a significant upgrade.

See, the most significant changes are under the hood. Haemimont has developed a new engine, which along with bringing in these improved visuals, means better performance and more tools for further development, including mods. Less important for us, it also means a native PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions are coming.

Porting the game to this new engine means that Haemimont can start working on new DLC that's not held back by OG Surviving Mars's limitations. Next year, we'll be getting Feeding the Future, an expansion focused on grub, and the more scintillating Machine Utopia, which will let you create fully automated colonies.

That's the exciting bit. The game is being revitalised, and while you can argue that these things should have just been added to the original game, the relaunch is what's justifying it from both a business and technical standpoint. This is how we get a bigger, more ambitious Surviving Mars, which I hope will carry on for several more years.

Haemimont smartly included a new expansion right from the get-go, too, likely realising it needed something new to tempt the old guard to slap down some cash again. This comes in the form of the Martian Assembly, which like all the previous DLC, is fully integrated into the new version of the game.

I never really cared for the rivals system, which filled Mars with other organisations looking to exploit the planet. They just kinda annoyed me. The Martian Assembly, though, mostly just makes them a bit more helpful. The Assembly adds the Earth Council to Surviving Mars, through which you can pass laws, with support from other mission sponsors, that give you some pretty huge boons, like speeding up your rockets or increasing the capacity of residential buildings.

I was able to push through everything I wanted without any conflict, so there wasn't really any downside. I did find the interruptions a bit irritating though. Look, guys, I'm trying to make the Red Planet green, I don't have time to come to your meeting.

Things do get a bit more interesting once all these laws have been exhausted, though, because that's when the titular Martian Assembly comes into play. You plonk down the Martian Assembly spire, and then you can start getting into the nitty gritty of colonial governance, picking the flavour of your government, from zealous theocracies to communist communes, and watching as various factions fill it up.

Here, you'll find a greater abundance of laws waiting to be passed, but also a lot more pushback, as competing ideologies spark political crises. Or you can just go full dictator mode and force everyone to follow your will (until the rebels come for your head).

It's by far the most substantial addition to the new version, and while I'm still really just digging into it, it's absolutely proved to be valuable, throwing lots of wrinkles and avenues for roleplaying into the mix.

Surviving Mars: Relaunched is demonstrably the best version of Surviving Mars. It's prettier, more polished, and fixes some long-standing problems. If you never dipped into the original game, or never checked out any of the DLC, then I'm pretty confident that you'll have a great time with it and never look back.

The value proposition is less obvious for veteran players. I have no doubt that the improvements will be well received, but even with the discount everyone with the original base game will receive, it's still $20 for the upgrade. Granted, that's only a bit pricier than some of the meatier bits of DLC, and you're effectively getting some DLC with it, in the form of the Martian Assembly.

But while this is a solid upgrade, it's not a transformative one. Yet. If you've played the game to death, I'm not entirely convinced it's worth shelling out another $20 for—though I don't think that the price is exploitative or greedy. The work that's been done does justify it, but it was always going to be a harder sell for experienced players. That said, if you want to continue on this journey and see where Haemimont's future DLCs and updates might take you, you'll need to pay for your ticket.