Paradox's Surviving Mars is Free on Epic Games

[sherbz]

Another good one here. A free copy of surviving Mars on the Epic Games Store.

 

[Tinkerharrison]

I've seen this game floating around for a while, a couple of times on GamePass, but I've never picked it up. I'm quite the big fan of strategy games, so I'm curious if you'd recommend it...

 

[sherbz]

IMO its a bit slow. And not entirely gripping. Its a slow burn if you like that sort of thing. If you want a superb strategy game in a similar vein then i would go for Factorio. Its a steam only release (no game pass), but fairly priced at 20 bucks. And it is quite simply one of the best games i have ever played. It has the 2nd highest rating score on Steam and is currently the highest rated game on metacritic. And it really deserves it IMO. And its quite astonishing how long some people have played it. Just look at the user reviews and clock how many hours they have played. Well over a thousand is the norm.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/427520/Factorio/

I believe the current highest played in terms of hours sits at a mighty 24,000 hours or so. Which in laymans terms is 3 years worth of solid playtime

 

[Quintillus]

I agree with sherbz, I also found Surviving Mars a bit slow. Pretty, good mechanics, but it takes awhile for things to happen. One of the few games where I'd say it's a bit slow for my taste.

I also highly recommend Factorio (though the price in USD is $30 now; it's probably £20?). Also one of my all-time favorites - I'm at a couple hundred hours, but expect to be coming back to it for a long time - and it has a demo, and it doesn't require Steam if you buy it through their website, so there's little reason not to try it unless you have important things to do with your time.