March 15 saw the sudden release of an update to Paradox Interactive's micromanagement city building game Surviving Mars. Titled the Tourism Update, this free upgrade was announced along with the knowledge that the indie game has surpassed five million players. The update helps to enhance the way tourists work in Surviving Mars while adding a few fun, new features to accompany them.
Many updates come out too late, but this unexpected and welcome free DLC content was added not only to announce hitting five million players. It also marked a return to development of the game under new management at Abstraction. Magnus Lysell, the product manager for Surviving Mars, had a lot of good things to say about the change over. Lysell noted that "since the launch of Surviving Mars: Green Planet, our players have been asking what's next for Surviving Mars. The Tourism Update is just the beginning. The game is in good hands with Abstraction, they're a team of veteran developers with years of experience making AAA titles and are passionate about Surviving Mars." The Tourism Update is proof of this experience and passion.
The new update helps to enhance a pre-existing concept already found in the game, showing that the new developers are communicating with their fanbase and working on familiar ideas. Tourists used to be colonists that would come to Mars for a vacation (an out of this world experience!), then leave after a while. They would generate a little bit of revenue when they arrive, but after that they were simply taking up space. When they left they would generate two more tourist applicants. Now with the new update, tourists have a greater impact on the game. Tourists still travel to and from Mars and leave a paycheck behind, but now the amount left can be influenced by how much fun they had on their trip.
Tourists can now rate their stay between one to five stars, like an interstellar Yelp. Their enjoyment will be determined by how many amenities their dome has available to them. Just like regular colonists, tourists have a satisfaction meter that can be seen when viewing any dome. The meter will detail how satisfied (or unsatisfied) tourists are in that location.
In addition to the already established amenities and buildings, there are a few new exciting structures that this update introduces. The Olympus Hotel is a luxury housing building that can be used by either colonists or tourists. Hotels have a switch that can toggle whether it can be used by colonists or only tourists. On one hand, this would mean shipping a lot more tourists to the red planet to justify the space a whole hotel takes up. But on the other hand, it would keep those tourists and their pocket books happy.
Another addition to the game is a Zero-G amusement park. Titled Z-gravity, this building offers satisfaction to tourists and colonists alike. Play, socialization, relaxation, and exercise are all fulfilled by this immense structure but players will have to be careful when placing an amusement park since it takes up ten hex spaces inside the dome. Space inside the domes can be scarce, so it might be worth considering a large dome specializing in tourist amenities.
In-dome activates aren't the only things added in this update as a new rover is available. The RC Safari will allow tourists to go on a journey, stopping at set locations to show off the marvels of Mars. The player sets a course for the Rover to travel past, strategizing the best route that takes tourists past important buildings, like the moxie or other domes in the area. They are also fascinated by marvelous vistas and rock structures, giving new purpose to the terrain manipulation tab.
The Tourism Update brings new meaning to some dull and outdated concepts, and unlike most DLC, this update is absolutely free. Allowing players to influence how much enjoyment tourists have is just another layer to the multi-managing systems that many Surviving Mars fans love. This update seems to just be the start of good things to come out of Abstraction.
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