Surviving mars

The red planet. Setting foot on the red planet has long been a subject of science fiction for humanity, but plans to "get it over with" are well underway.

In the game Surviving Mars, you play as the leader of this colonization project. Decisions will vary on expanding, what colonists to bring, resource management and much more. You're a handful of snowflakes in a desert full of dangers, both internal and external.

The game

Your goal is to create a self sufficient settlement. Initially you can request extra settlers and resources from earth, but that well will dry up eventually. You'll have to mine, research and expand your base. Much like any city builder, except with added resource management and more disasters.

Disaster!

Depending on the area and "difficulty" of the spot you plant your initial base in, you will be faced with various dangers. Extreme cold, Dust and electrical storms, meteor storms and rebellion from within. Not to mention certain resources simply running out.

Sightseeing

The world is immersive, you can do a full 360 degree rotation, zoom in and our etc. You can get super close to even the individual colonists within your base. You can't really make out face details, but from a size perspective that's pretty up close and personal. Just remember to take a few minutes every so and then to really enjoy the reddish scenery of this game. Even just take a second to enjoy the sunrise.

Every problem has a solution however, and it's up to you to figure out how to handle each of them in a timely manner, before your colonists die - and they will. Hopefully for them it's of old age and not a meteor to the head, starvation or asphyxiation.

Keep your people happy (and alive)

Colonists are a picky bunch. You'd think just being kept alive and fed would be enough for a settler but no,. they want to socialize, gamble, shop, exercise. Honestly, they have high expectations for your base. If their expectations are not met their morale may drop and become renegades. Prepare to deal with some sincerely awful effects if that problem grows. Rockets may fail to lift off and explode - causing millions worth of damage. Hostile takeovers and earth-military incursions are also among the possible threats. Don't think for a second this is a simple city builder sim, you'll have politics to deal with as well.

But, you can shape the world to your liking. Giant domes, beautiful scenery. And since the game is released by Paradox you can place a sure bet on a lot of DLCs coming your way to further improve the game's options.

You can find Surviving mars on the humble store, steam and various consoles.

Release date: 15 Mar, 2018

Minimum system requirements: Windows 7 - 64 bit or newer, 4th gen intel i3 CPU or equivalent, 4 GB Ram, HD 4600/Geforce 620, Radeon 6450 or equivalent GPUs with 1 GB of Video ram, 6 GB available Hard disk space.

Moonlighter - Capitalism, Ho!

Ever played Recettear?

Inherit an item shop, and a basic weapon. Go into the dungeon, kill monsters to get items and then sell those items in your shop. That's the basic summary for Recettear - and the basics for Moonlighter are very similar.

Moonlighter takes place in a town once bustling with activity, now mostly in ruins. You're one of the last few merchants left in this town and it's your unspoken task to restore it to it's former glory. Meet Will, son of a merchant family. Take a broom and start bashing monsters to get items to sell in your shop.

Two jobs

The name Moonlighter comes from the fact that you're running two jobs. Shopkeeper by day, adventurer by night. Will does not sleep - sleep is for the weak. Moonlighter appears to be mainly inspired by Recettear, but the camera viewpoint is very Zelda-like (A Link to the Past). This gives it a classic, but still modern feel.

Most of the dungeons will have three floors, each with stronger enemies and a big end boss. The third floor will have significantly better loot for your shop. Also note which items can be used to upgrade your armor and weapons as you won't want to keep using that broom forever.

Build your empire

You sell your junk precious loot at the price you want. If you're cheap - people will empty your shop quick. If you're expensive then most of your items won't sell. The key here is finding the right balance with quantity and cost to ensure people will make you rich quick. In no time you'll be able to call yourself a millionaire. Until you need to upgrade something that is,. The blacksmith and enchanter certainly aren't cheap either.

Your shop starts with 4 simple tables. You can upgrade this to 8, 10 onward to 18 and space for various decorations to increase sale value.

A boss and a half

Each of the 4 (5) dungeons has a big "souls like" boss to defeat, but depending on your gear they're not quite that hard. You even have some healing potions. The main challenge is to beat the game within a certain number of days, but this is only encouraged in the form of an achievement. In recettear you had to pay off your million gold debt. You have no such thing to worry about here.

For weapons you may bring your broom / spear, a sword and shield, knuckle weapon, great sword or bow and arrow. Aside that you can equip 3 pieces of armor and two rings so there's not a huge lot of variety in gear. Each gear piece does have two or three different builds (more armor, less movement speed) as well as upgrades based on materials found in each dungeon.

Kill certain enemies often enough and they may drop an egg which you can hatch at your store. Once hatched the little pet will help you on your adventures deeper into the dungeon.

You can find Moonlighter on Humble Bundle as a steam key, and various other stores. It was recently in a bundle and well, this game needed playing! There is also a DLC available for it - but the reception on that has been sort of mixed.

Release date: 29 May, 2018

Minimum system requirements: Windows 7, Intel Core 2 Quad 2.7 Ghz or AMD Phenom 2 3 Ghz, 4 GB ram, Geforce GTX 260, Radeon HD 5770 with Shader model 3.0, 4 GB disk space and DirectX compatible sound card.

Stardew Valley

Stressed with your boring day job? Rich uncle about to kick the bucket? Single? You just ticked all the boxes for starring in your very own farm RPG!

Stardew valley is a chill and casual RPG made by a single dedicated developer named Eric Barone. That's right, how many "good" games do you know that have been made by a single developer?

Harvest Moon

Stardew valley started as a fan project inspired by Harvest Moon. A game originally released on Super nintendo where you basically worked the field and grew crops. Work all day, sleep all night - and take trips to town in between. SV operates on the same principle. Clear the field, plant seeds, give them water daily, and reap the rewards. There's a town nearby, and you can socialize with the locals just like in HM.

But SV goes beyond where the original game just had you going back and forth between your farm and the town. SV also has a mine to fight monsters, sewers, and a MUCH bigger farm. Best of all - it has multiplayer! (Oh, and a horse to ride)

My potatoes!

Multiplayer is great, and you can fight with your friends over who gets to take care of the potatoes while the rest waters the plants or cops trees. There's a lot to do and explore, houses to build, different plants to grow, animals to keep and much more. It's a very wholesome game that is excellent for young and old alike.

If at any point you've only got 15-30 minutes to spend in a day for a game, play Stardew Valley. Water some plants, put your character to bed (save the game) and continue again the next day.

Good value

The main "goal" of the game is to reach a certain number of achievements (Find love, expand the farm, explore the mines, rebuild the town community hall). Once you complete a few years on the farm your grandfather's ghost will visit you and evaluate your performance. After that, the game is open ended and you can continue to do whatever you please for however long you want.

It's almost ridiculous how cheap this game is compared to the amount of time you can spend in it. If at any point in time you feel "done" with the base game, you will be delighted to find out it has full mod support!

Mods will allow you to change the appearance of many things to give them a fresh look and feel. Not only that, you can add extra features or increase the difficulty of the game to spice it up.

Stardew valley is available at humble bundle and steam at around 14$, or less during a sale ;) If you can find it in a trade, I highly recommend you get it.

Release date: 26 Feb, 2016

Minimum system requirements: Windows Vista or greater, 2 Ghz processor, 2 GB ram, 256 video memory, DirectX 10 and up, 500 MB disk space. MacOS and Linux also supported.