Waking Mars

Waking Mars
79
Metacritic
89
Steam
83.237
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$4.99
Release date
13 December 2012
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
89 (622 votes)

In 2097, life is discovered on Mars. When your mission of first contact becomes trapped by a cave-in, you must master the alien ecosystem to survive. Soon you stumble upon more than anyone expected, and with time running out, you will make a decision that determines the fate of a lost planet.

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Waking Mars system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS:Windows XP
  • Processor:x86-compatible, 2-Ghz or faster
  • Memory:512 MB RAM
  • Graphics:OpenGL 3.0, or OpenGL 2.1 with framebuffer extensions
  • Hard Drive:400 MB HD space

Recommended:

Recommended requirements are not yet specified.
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brian.wisti
brian.wisti

Bought this game years ago as part of some Humble Bundle deal. Finally played through this week. Mostly thumbs up.

Good: the ecosystem puzzle-solving aspect is fun and occasionally aggravating as a good puzzle should be, but never overwhelmingly complex. The story kept my attention enough that at the end I reloaded my save game a couple times to check out the alternate endings.

Not so good: there are core plot conversations, and color conversations which *would* be a good thing except after a while they didn't match up story-wise, with color conversations pondering hypotheticals that we already established a few scenes back. Also a couple brief mouse-wiggling puzzles that are borderline seizure warning.

So yeah. I don't know that you need to rush out and buy Waking Mars in 2022, but I'm glad I got around to playing it.

Snoukoun
Snoukoun

I came to this game with negative expectations and it won me over.

I bought this severeal years ago and assumed it would be just a reflection of that time's 2D indie boom. I was wrong though. The gameplay is easy to understand and the game is sincere in it's core. It wants the player to have a sense of discovery and exploration of an alien world in a different planet. And it works.

The game is mostly simulation mixed with platforming. You investigate elements/creatures and their behaviors. Then you manipulate them to serve you and make the environment thriwe by making the elements relate with each other.

The game has metroidvania type elements where you are granted new tools to fix old areas and you are required to do purposeful work with the tools. You get to know the areas well. You are having some part in creating your own experience in the game and the game not forcing you to progress linearly.

There are certain parts though where the next steps aren't obvious and can cause some frustration. These were relatively short lived though and not really a big thing. I actually enjoyed it because it made me more attached to the puzzles the game had to offer and got to know the mechanics better.

Only negative parts for me were:
* Collision detection
--> Got stuck in ground once but just once

* Too much effort into making your robot companion ART funny
--> The game is self aware of it being tedious though

* Visuals look like cut & pasted jpegs
--> However the use of assets were good and created memorable events and rooms with the assets even though the style wasn't really up there with the rest of the game

* Achievement unlocking
--> I had troubles getting 0CT0 achievement even though I had gotten the upgrade from it

Overall I enjoyed what the game had to offer and was impressed how the game used it's mechanics and visual design. I didn't feel I wasted time while playing this game.

piconeeks
piconeeks

This is a fantastic gateway drug into gaming. It's intellectually stimulating, nonlinear, nonviolent, and rewarding.

The game has you traveling between chambers and establishing interactive ecosystems while negotiating emergent behaviours. Trying to raise the combined biomass of all your creatures is a delicate balancing act that has you weigh the utility of a given plant against its adverse or beneficial effects on the microcosmic chamber ecosystem. The challenges can be tackled nonlinearly, and while they can be cheesed—by taking resources from other chambers—the satisfaction of establishing a self-sustaining and propagating food web and growth pattern is pretty damn great.

The visuals are bright and fantastic, with it's parallax-heavy and vaguely paper-like aesthetic giving the whole experience a much cheerier tone than you'd expect from 'trapped underground on mars by yourself.'

The story is inspiring, if a bit slow. The AI companion is absolutely hilarious. It's a good way to spend an afternoon (or more, if you're interested in getting the special ending).

Drackbolt
Drackbolt

Don't let the "cheaper" animation fool you; this is well-developed game. I tried it out last night and found myself binge-playing to finish it (took about 8 hours). It may not be your cup of tea, but if the below sounds good to you, pick it up.

Pros:
* Tons of voice dialog (lead character is fantastic, supporting character is passable)
* Intelligent writing
* Graphics are minimalistic but have a good artistic quality
* Puzzles are interesting and force you to think a fair amount
* There is some scientific validity to most of the ideas here
* Soundtrack is quite good
* Overall atmosphere is intriguing with a great sense of scale

Cons:
* Some people might find the last parts of the game tough as it starts to lean more heavily on your memory of current objectives
* Animation of models could have been slightly better than just a few frames
* Possible to get caught and perma-killed by some situations or enemies
* Some menus can be difficult to navigate

Notes:
The game is a essentially a puzzle platformer, has a reasonably slow pace and it is not a shooter in any way, so if that's not your style of game (or your mood of the moment), don't try to like this game.

Pertel
Pertel

Love this game. The atmosphere, the gameplay, the storyline, all of it. There are MANY....M A N Y....2D platformers out there, but not many are fun to play for more than just a few minutes.

Waking Mars isn't one of them. You wanna see what's waiting in the next area!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8q96Arn218&list=PL-pfqbKB2d1sjZNIrzBJ5…

BaronessRomanova
BaronessRomanova

A sci-fi platformer set on Mars, you are part of a small team sent to a remote base there in order to begin research and uncover more about this alien species.

2097: Strange new life has been discovered on Mars and you, Liang, along with Amani, A.R.T and 0CT0 are exploring a couple of newly discovered lifeforms on the planet. Your robot 0CT0 has gone on ahead to scout out the cave system and has mysterious stopped transmitting information back to you, while Amani monitors your progress from the base. Armed only with your suit, the AI A.R.T recording what you find and your own wits, you venture into Mars' subterranean systems and become both the first human to encounter new life and person to find out what has happened to 0CT0.
However, the elation at the new scientific discoveries of the Cerebrane and Zoa are short lived due to an unexpected cave-in caused by slime dripping sulphuric acid all over the entire system. Now your mission has gone from making first contact, to surviving the cave systems whilst searching for a way back to base before your suit runs out of oxygen. Observing the ecosystem around you, you must use what you learn to survive and even create new ecosystems in your quest to both survive and uncover the secret buried deep within Mars.

The tutorial is cleverly built into the beginning of the first chapter, as you stand at the beginning of the cave the game will hint which controls to use based on the settings you have selected - either mouse and keyboard or gamepad. The controls are WASD to move, Q and E to select different 'seeds' and Esp to access the menu - Game Settings, Load/ New Game, Map, Research and Quit. Simple and it is easy to navigate around both in game (either walking, crawling or jetpacking) and the menu - my only gripe is the lack of a save function and you must quit the game in order to save your progress.
As you slowly make your way through and cave new bits on information are slowly fed to you as if you are discovering the planet for the first time, for example what the numbers mean in each section you visit and what Zoa give which Biomass numbers.
The Research tab is where the information is stored and you can see what you know and have yet to learn. A handy part of the Map is the ability to fast travel, enabling you to instantly visit a previous explored area to either collect 'seeds' (max capacity if 10 of each type) or to reset the Zoa as they only produce a limited number.

Writing wise, the character's personalities are distinct and amicable. Anami is playful and bounces of Liang's slightly more reserved manner of speaking, but it is clear they are close colleagues who highly respect each other and collaborate extremely well together. A.R.T has a personable, yet quirky manner of speaking to highlight it is an A.I - there is a certain charm to the enthusiasm A.R.T projects when chatting to you, which I find adorable. In terms of the accuracy of the scientific terms used, I am unable to say if they are, however the premise and internal logic of the game is solid and I personally found it to be plausible.
The voice acting is great, it really brings to life your characters - you can hear the familiarity between Amani and Liang, and there are distinct changes in vocal intonation depending on what is happening. For example, Anami expresses confusion when you find a detached part from 0CT0 and joy at the idea of needing to use digging tools. With Liang, you can hear the the pride at being on such an important mission, and the subtle affection he expresses for this companions - you can tell he cares and enjoys their company.

The art is a mix of styles which blend seamlessly together: the detailed and expressible faces of Anami and Liang are in a realistic style, with different images when they talk to convey their feelings mostly through their expressions and bit from their body language. The plain keyboard symbols to show A.R.T's feelings is a fantastic touch, how he easily moved between :) to :< or :C. The backgrounds, locations, various lifeforms and 'seeds' are also in a realistic style, drawing inspiration for various rock formations, rock types and each area has a set colour palette and ambient lighting.
This contrasts with the smallish male figure you control, which is slightly pixilated and is a more simplistic model. It works well to convery exactly how small you are in comparison to the cave system you are exploring and the various lifeforms you interact with.
The soundtrack is a fantastic and completely original electronic score composed by the studio. It is unique, lively and really captures the heart of this game. It generates a sense of wonderment and science, making it a highly listenable experience even outside of the game.

The one of the two main things which drew me to the game was you protagonists are an Asian man and a Black Woman (it is never specific where on Earth they are from), and I have to great respect for Tiger Style in both using minority characters. The other was the fact the developers chose to create a plant and animal mix when choosing what the new life of Mars would look like, it is a novel concept and I think they executed it in a believable manner.
A well written, non-violent sci-fi platformer with a good dollop of exploration. If you fancy trying an innovative game with a variety of difficulty options then this is a must!

fonky monky
fonky monky

I had a pretty fun time with this game althought I did get stuck on one level but really want to figure out what you discover later on in the game

Chris
Chris

Nice, lightweight, well executed indie game, with the time/effort spent in the right places.
Wish it had a way to remind me all the side-effects of all the seeds after I've been away for a while, but then again, I've got games three times or more in budget in my library that I'm never going back to, so they're doing something right with their story.

LibertyFires
LibertyFires

Waking Mars is a fun puzzle game. The description tries to sell it as a platform game, but I would not call it a platformer. You have a jetpack with infinite fuel. So you fly around, with no real danger to yourself.

The goal is to grow the ecosystem in each area of a cave. As the ecosystem grows, you unlock more rooms. Some rooms have new types of plants or creatures, so as you move forward in the game, the ecosystem changes slightly, but with the same goal. Grow Plants, and Unlock More Caves.

With basic gameplay, the story is actually what pushes this game over the edge. As you move forward into the cave you learn more and more about the cave itself, and it runs into a great Sci-Fi story. Nothing groundbreaking, but just a nice story.

Achievement Quest - This is an easy 100%. Most achievements are based upon learning about the different plants in the game. If you can't seem to find research about a plant, a quick google search will find what you are missing. Also, getting the largest ecosystem in each are is important, as it will unlock other achievements later.

E100
E100

A relaxing game with lots of fun ecosystem management. I feel a bit like a babysitter when being in the room and trying to make everything not kill themselves. Very interesting story, too. I grew attached to the characters over the course of the game.

Shaefurr
Shaefurr

A game where you get to "plant the seed". Highly recommend. Kinda cheesy and dumb though.

HolyFather
HolyFather

Relaxing game with sci-fi setting

Zortac
Zortac

The game is rather easy, but it's a cool story. I really liked Liang's character, however I found Amani to be very annoying. I would have preferred it if the chambers had more of a challenging puzzle aspect to them, but the game achieved what it set out to do and I really enjoyed it.

Mighty Pillow
Mighty Pillow

Waking Mars is a very relaxing and fulfilling experience.

I didn't have high hopes for Waking Mars going in. I didn't read too much about it, but from what I gathered it looked like your dime a dozen side scrolling platformer. After starting it initially, the game crashed. That was a bummer. Restarting it worked though. Initially the voices did not work, so I thought I was going to be reading the whole game. Another restart fixed that as well. I was happy to hear that the voice acting is this game was well done and not cheesy. I then realized that there is no combat in this game. I assumed all the creepy plants in the screenshots were enemies. The entire gameplay of Waking Mars consists of literally waking mars. You are planting seeds everywhere and starting life on the planet. Some of the plants hurt you though, and there are a few hazards to avoid. I found the simplistic gameplay fun and the biomass tasks rewarding. Character movement felt a little awkward at first, but I quickly adapted to it. Most of the areas you travel in look the same, but I appreciated the environments and ecology in game. The story is engaging as well. It isn't revolutionary by any means, but it kept my interest. The "I'm a funny robot" cliche is kind of tired. I completed all the endings (I think). I finished in about 9 hours, and I was surprised it lasted that long. I appreciate length in games like this.

I highly recommend if you enjoy a chill, not difficult game. The crashing and other bugs were annoying, but restarting seemed to fix them so I didn't mind it as much. There are no jump scares!

Acubens
Acubens

Become-a-Martian-Gardener simulator!

Slow start, but I slowly became awed by the atmosphere, voice acting, story, and overall interactions of the several species that can (must) be seeded on different isolated enviroments. I made the mistake of extinguishing one harmful species that is needed later on my first time playing.

Must play!

SmashTom
SmashTom

At first I was a bit skeptical about this game; not sure what to think...
But after only playing about 10 minutes I was hooked.
This game has:
- A great, interesting story
- Engaging exploration
- SCIENCE (figure out how all the organisms work; it's very intuitive)
- Loads of secret passages to discover
- Challenging puzzles
- Sweet controls
- Atmospheric soundtrack
Waking Mars is truly a game that won me over. Highly recommended to anyone who loves sci-fi, puzzles and good narrative storytelling.

Officer of Lies
Officer of Lies

I had a lot of fun with this game, its essentially just an exploration and gardening simulator game on mars but I enjoyed its story and gameplay.

7/10

Genghis Pawn
Genghis Pawn

Highly recommend to anyone looking for a unique, thoughtful, engaging sci fi adventure without all the heard-it-before hooplah (e.g., no freeze-rays, double-jumps, and big boss-fights here).

I actually wouldn't call it much of a "platformer," in the sense that the usual "jump here, dodge that" mechanics are not front-and-center. It's much more about exploration and, in a weird way, crafting the world around you (rather than crafting tools you carry with you).

fossar
fossar

Fun and suspenseful. Skillful level design and a decent feeling of exploration and discovery.

Atomic Element Zero
Atomic Element Zero

This one was quite enjoyable. It's somewhat like a resource management game. One I discovered the "Travel" option in the map, it became significantly easier to get stuff done.

The game certainly got more challenging with the introduction of the spores, which continuously kill your plants and change them to other things. That made it a bit of a race against the clock to protect your plants and try to prosper.

MastaJay
MastaJay

I just beat this game and got 100% completion (102.8%, apparently, according to the ingame statistics) with a little over 11 hours of gameplay. All in all, I have to say this is a delightful little game and I enjoyed it very much. The artwork is beautiful, the story is engaging, the voiceacting is excellent, and the cool electronic/ambient music sountrack is also very good.

In addition, and most importantly, the gameplay is fun. In fact, as good as the story is, it is the gameplay that ultimately makes this a good game, as you have to find out how the different plants/lifeforms interact and grow them in certain combinations. In essence, it's a 2D puzzle platformer, but I feel like the game is especially unique within the genre, with this scifi alien world exploring farmer/zookeeper idea.The feeling of growing the flora and fauna on mars and "bringing life back to the planet" is a rewarding one. There are some grindy elements to the game, as you have to periodically restock on the right items, especially fertilizer, but it doesn't take very long so I don't ultimately feel this detracts much from the experience, especially considering the map system which makes it very easy to teleport around to the parts of the map that give you the items you need. If I had to change anything, it would be that you should be able to carry 10 fertilizer total, not just 5.

Summary/TL DR:

Great game, 10/10 would recommend

filipkko
filipkko

Wonderful single player exploration of fauna under the surface of the Red Planet. It is pretty unusal puzzle platformer with a lot of scientific exploration, atmospheric ambient soundtrack and otherwordly enviroments. Highly recommended!

Ferada
Ferada

Strange to say, but this is the second gardening game that I enjoyed ... perhaps that's a good category of games to pursue then? Recommended if planting stuff sounds great to you.

Metallica93
Metallica93

8/10

In a market saturated with science fiction steeped in action and shooting, this game was a breath of fresh air for incorporating exploration, discovery, and hard science. Damn good job by the developers for reading up on their ecology.

A great "sit back, relax, and enjoy" type of game that can be finished in 2-3 days.

RulerOfNothing
RulerOfNothing

This game has a good setting and storyline, and the gameplay is certainly unique - I would describe it as mostly a 'gardening platformer' and I don't know any other game that could be described like that. Waking Mars does suffer from what I see as a somewhat clunky control system, and its storyline is also rather linear.

PRAVEMI
PRAVEMI

I must say that I really enjoyed this simple yet cool game!

Waking Mars is a logical platformer... can be said... more precisely "material distribution" strategy. : )
You are controlling the astronaut who is attempting to "awake" a Mars flora.
You are colleting sees of these plants and using them to create as much as possible of Mars biomass.
Working classically like for example: seed A can make plant B which can create C for plant D to create E to be eaten by F which make G, etc.
Good thing is that in a few minutes You will understand all of these mechanics.
Still... game keeps a pleasant difficulty when You have to figure how to create ballanced "biodomes".
(becuase of course some plants destroying /changing others, etc.)

So... I can recommend this game for everyone who like action / logic 2D platformers... with a little bit of strategy too.

Gentorm
Gentorm

good game but keeps crashing and can become a little annoying having to restart several times before you get to play properly.
What i have played is good graphically, bit overly responsive on controller but very nice game, would have loved to complete it.

calthaer
calthaer

A game of exploration and puzzle-solving - not about fighting and death (although it is about survival). The gradual unfolding of the story happens at just the right pace to keep one interested and engaged. Great visuals and engaging mechanics. Best of all, it delivers all of this in a tight ten-hour package. The only possible flaw is a little bit of broken story-sequence around the end of the game that I had to consult a guide for. Overall, though, a great game - probably in the top five I've played in the last two years.

Sushi_Rocks
Sushi_Rocks

A wonderful little game with working mechanics, a story and nice graphics. The price is way too high, but you can grab the game during a sale.

The game could be improved dramatically if we could chose the chapter in the Main Menu after finishing the game. Music could be more original.

Sirozha
Sirozha

Waking Mars is a rather unique game. Instead of fighting aliens, you grow them. The gameplay is a mix between metroidvania and farming simulator. You're exploring caverns on Mars and you have to plant stuff in each room in order to open paths to the other rooms. It makes you feel like an explorer, when you first encounter new lifeform or plant. You should also research those lifeforms, how they react to each other, how they reproduce, what are their weaknesses. The graphics are good, I really like the look of the alien lifeforms, they really look alien. Music is ok. The story is pretty simple, but there are different endings and optional storylines.

Pros:
- Interesting to explore
- Engaging story
- Good graphics
- Great voice acting

Cons:
- Gameplay gets boring at the end

Waking Mars offers an interesting exploration experience. I would definitely recommend this game to anyone who likes science fiction.

hilarious
hilarious

I enjoyed it so much, playing this game on PC, that I bought it on Google Play, but it has since disappeared from that store, making it unaccessible to me. The developer didn't respond to my inquiries.

Blünderboy
Blünderboy

Kinda torn on this,
A nice, non-violent, mostly hard scifi Metroidvania.
Not many of those around!

On the bright side, the gameplay is interestingly fresh (albeit repetitive). No bam-bam, swish, explosion, but careful tending of ET weirdo plants.
"Farming" takes on a different meaning altogether.
No monster hunting, grinding and fetishising various weapon loadouts for a change. That's the biggest strength of the game.

The amount of content and the whole endgame is great for a small studio game.
Finish all sublevels optimally (tedious) to unlock the real ending through a last ordeal.

There are uglier indies out there for sure. Controls aren't great but no dealbreaker.
Still, the whole technical package is very decent buuut...

...here comes the pain:
Even though voiceacting is competent, there's no spark to it at all. The game's rhythm is supported by lots of chitchat with your crew members. Since the art ist pretty uninteresting, even bleak, that was, in theory the right idea. However, the crew is a diversity caricature.
Comic relief robot went to Jarjar Binks' comedic academy.
Black science grrl is a disaster. We get it, blacks and girls need more representation because Marx. Just leave games alone. Besides, space broads are not twenty-two but rather unattractive middle age engineers and physicists.

The asian hero is more believable, but lacks, dunno, something. Action oriented games would have had an easy time painting at least some kind of adverserial backstory fighting demons or whatnot.

So why not come up with something? There's so much talking, frowning, briefing and so on.
It's neither dramatic, funny nor interesting. Think Metal Gear series radiochat without the good cringe and the lunacy.

And instead of first establishing Mars with its unique environment, your're nonstop in those extremely boring red caves. There's some slightly less boring caves hours into the game but generally it's red caves 80%. Two minutes after the game begins, you stumble unto alien life just so. All the jabbering between the crew does not give the player the idea about an awesome find being investigated. It's rather confusing.
These things kill the atmosphere which this spartan game with its tone of hard scifi is in dire need.

Also, for a game that comes across as sciency, there's practically zero edutainment but lots of "energy" this, "I'll upload an improved software code for your boosters" that.

The last straw was the unforgiving attitude of the gameplay. Mistakes can set the player back a long time without realizing it at first.

Rating: 2,5 out of 5 Martian Dreams were squashed.
Verdict: For Syfy Channel Enthusiasts.

[Doki²]Visuals
[Doki²]Visuals

Not very often do I find games that make you want to shut out all distractions, but this has an incredibly engaging story and rich eye pleasing design. It's creepy, it's beautiful, and tyhe story is so deep.

This is like a puzzle game, but not. Not really action, it's very casual. You make your own ecosystem in each "chamber" to move forward, it's explained very well in the story. I didn't see a character that I didn't enjoy and this game has some great voice acting as well!

The ending was not what I expected at all and yet it worked out very well for the story. It a short game (I beat it 100% in about 10 hours) but it is very much worth it.

mavpion
mavpion

Waking Mars is some combination of exploration, puzzle game, and simulation. It has a story and plot, and a number of different goals that you will have along the way. Most of the goals are either based on exploration, or increasing the number of life forms to unlock certain doors. The gameplay is largely exploration using your character (a human astronaut in a space suit with jetpack), and planty and tending to the "gardens" (essentially a series of isolated ecosystems).

This is a very unique concept, and definitely appeals to me on both the space storyline as well as the whole ecosystem angle. The artwork is gorgeous, and the soundtrack fitting. However, it's not a perfect game. The puzzles are weak (it would have been great to see them create more unique puzzles using this setup) and the dialogue is cheesy (think a cheesier version of character interaction on "The Martian"). However, neither of these two things is a deal killer, and in spite of these flaws it deserves the praise it has received. I think this game represents a considerable improvement over the Spider game (which had awesome puzzles, but was repetitive and lacked a a great story). So I'm a little disappointed to see the developer go back to the Spider series.

Pros:

    • Well-done ecosystem simulator and plant/animal interactions.
    • Imaginative idea and great mysterious storyline (reminescent of Clarke).
    • Beautiful artwork
    • It's just fun to explore
    • Great idea to combine goal-oriented gameplay and simulation.
    • Use of minority characters.

Cons:

    • Weak character dialogue. (Doesn't sound very authentic and like a way real people interact outside of low-budget sci-fi)
    • Puzzles pretty much 100% consist of "grow enough lifeforms". It would have been nicer to require certain lifeforms in various areas to solve puzzles, or more exploration puzzles centered around using explosives and other types of seed pods.

Crazyi
Crazyi

Not a bad game but way too simple for my tastes.

Smoke 'Em
Smoke 'Em

I don't even remember how I ended up buying this game as it sat in my library unplayed for a while. No doubt on some sale or package deal. It ended up being much more fun that I had anticipated. There were a few glitches that could happen, but for an independent game that is non-linear, it did an amazing job (and the design developer responded to my email within a day when I bumped into a glitch I couldn't fix without guidance). Depite beating every achievment, I still occasionally desire to jetpack around and plant. A nice little escape, well worth $5 or so. I hope they make more games.

MAKAIROSI
MAKAIROSI

This game is simply awesome. I had much fun with it and i would tell everyone to go buy it. It's very well thought of and, reading the other reviews, i thought i was getting something worse than what i got. This game is a gem, you should really go get it.

The only thing that's going to make you sad is that it's short - you can finish the 100% in one day. However i don't know if anything longer would work. It would have to become needlessly more complex (and it already is quite complex). So yeah, if you're worried just wait for sales. But i think the game's innovative nature is worth its price without a discount.

lornlynx
lornlynx

Neat nittle Jump'n Run like Puzzle game. You get to plant lifeforms of different kinds that create an ecosystem with each other which you slowly learn about and have to consider. The presentation is a bit mobile-game like, but the story is pretty interesting and sciency, the voiceover and the two characters are superb. The ending is a bit anti-climatic and I had some issues with my mouse but otherwise no problems.
Not much else to say, if you like Mars or games with that certain explorer-feeling which are not fully action-oriented this is a good pick.

Also the Soundtrack is really good! (You get it with the game I think)

Shadow B
Shadow B

Kinda easy and slow paced, but exploring the Mars caverns is actually pretty interesting. There isn't much action, but there is some, when you have to dodge acid or fireballs or prevent plants from killing each other. Death is a slap on the wrist, though; you just respawn at the start of the room, with all your progress kept. The game can drag on though, because growing the plants, and especially getting more fertilizer, can be pretty boring and/or annoying. Still, it was good enough for me to finish it. I'll recommend it for those who like exploration games or like other planets and wonder how it would be to discover life on Mars.

Skelter
Skelter

Simple, unique, doesn't last long.

Logixor
Logixor

Deserves to be bought!
You won't regret it if you like some adventure in a space environment, just right inside our beloved neighbour Mars.

For what it costs right now don't even bother to think of not buying this great peace.

tuxdelux
tuxdelux

Awesome adventure game. Worked fine on ubuntu linux 16.04 with intel drivers. Gamepad controller could have been better (menu screens, disconnects, map interface). Voice acting and story narrative was unexpectedly great. The graphics, animation, and sound all were effective in drawing me into the story.

Watch a gameplay video to make sure that you will enjoy the pacifistic gameplay, but otherwise I would wholeheartedly recommend this game for 2D adventure fans. Not a game to be replayed, but it provides a lot of entertainment, for the full price.

nightcat
nightcat

Ecosystem simulation + sci-fi story + nice graphics
What's not to like?

yökyöpeli
yökyöpeli

I bought this game a while ago, played through and enjoyed. This week I wanted to get all missing achievements, still enjoyed, just finished it.
Interesting. Build ecosystem ;)

PumpkinProphetess &lt;3
PumpkinProphet…

I used to love this a few years ago, tried to fire it up again today and found it was literally unplayable. the resolution starts far bigger than my screen's actualy resolution, so I can't see anything, and if I try to change the resolution the game refuse to register that my mouse is moving or clicking.

Galathea
Galathea

Highly recommended. You need to explore and understand the caves and living organisms inside to be able to advance trough the game. The story is a lot more engaging and intriguing than I thought. Learning about the ecosystem was fun. Difficulty is manageable, not frustrating. Jetpack is easy to move around. It has different endings and took about 8 -9 hs of gameplay to get them (not rushing). I wish it was longer because I honestly loved it.

OlórinNarya
OlórinNarya

Awesome and smart adventure, thank you the podcast about science that recomend this "science" game.

CLCasual
CLCasual

Interesting little game with a nice relaxed pace.

Gunnies
Gunnies

I beat this game long ago and it was really good. :) Both ending!

Fordo (7kb/s)
Fordo (7kb/s)

Waking Mars is a game about both worldbuilding and, well, building a world. Lethe Cavern's ecosystems are full of nuance that were so fun to learn about, explore, and manipulate. Dr. Liang, Amani, and ART have an excellent dynamic and pleasant voice-acting to boot. I highly recommend it to anyone who appreciates a good story, science, and has $10 to spare. It's like Metroid if your goal was to propagate alien life instead of destroying it.

sad comrade
sad comrade

A good metroidvania to explore during a couple of evenings. Enthralling story and believable lifeforms

A-Nukem
A-Nukem

Waking Mars is a scientific sci-fi explorer where you control an austronaut/researcher trying to unravel the mysteries of life in Mars.

You end up receiving interesting biological concepts that would be applied to any biome in the universe and also engage in some fine platforming and resource-based puzzle-like gameplay. Such game play tends to drag on in later levels and become repetitive, but the lingering mystery feeling always carries on and can keep players interested throughout.

Kasviel
Kasviel

This is a beautiful and thoughtful game that also happens to be fun to play! I first bought it on iPad and then bought it again on Steam to replay on PC. All versions are amazing (I personally prefer PC but I usually do). The challenges can be relatively tough (I'm a casual gamer) but nothing is impossible or too frustrating. Light puzzle elements. I loved the aesthetic, thought it really captured the Red Planet and possible mysterious lifeforms beneath the surface. Voice acting is great, characters are compelling, nice descriptions of enemies. One of my all-time favorite games, that hasn't changed since I first bought it so I'd say it has held up pretty well :)

skeyesogrey
skeyesogrey

An intrigueing story flows throughout this game. You fly around with your jetpack balancing simple ecosystems room by room to solve the mysteries of Mars. It's a short playthrough, little over seven hours, and there are some glitches. (You'll probably need to edit the .ini to turn lightmapping off or the game will crash on launch, and there are some early on audio glitches.) Overall though, an enjoyable little game.

ddd
ddd

This is one of the best games from its genre. It blends exploration with great story creating a compelling plot and walkthrough for the player. Game mechanics changes sort of over time (like when you get a permanent upgrade for your jetpack), game dynamics does not so much. Got this game for Android too. Overall: 10/10, a child-friendly walk in Mars caverns with possibility to encounter alien life forms. LOVELY!

science fiction is real
science fictio…

this game is good casual fun. It's nothing ground breaking or extrordinary but the art is beautiful and the game play is challenging withoug being rediculously hard. The characters are fun with banter and humor, though the voice actring is a bit hammy. The two human characters are an Asian man and Black woman so Bonus for representation.

Pixle hunter
Pixle hunter

a very good game in indie genre focused on more of a story aspect but still its gamplay is sound

Lime Cultivist
Lime Cultivist

Great game. Waking Mars could best be described as a gardening puzzler with some minor platforming. The whole game revolves around growing plantlike creatures called zoa on Mars as a scientist/spaceman with a jetpack. It follows a cycle of getting seeds from zoa and then planting those seeds (and possibly watering and fertilizing them) to grow more zoa. Different zoa add different amounts of biomass to the total, and certain biomass numbers are needed to open gates to continue.

Overall this game is rather repetitive. It follows the cycle mentioned above in almost every area, slowly adding more types of zoa and larger biomass goals as the story continues. As for that story, my favorite thing about this whole game is the biology behind it. Main character Qi and his station contact Amani go into great detail about the biology of these fictional zoa, and I found it genuinly fascinating. Qi and Amani are likeable characers, and they work well together. What's equally as impressive as the zoa biology is the voice acting, which is top notch for both characters. I found the endings (all of them) to be a bit lacking in finalizing the story, but the rest of the story was an intriguing idea about a Mars that used to house life and seems to be waking up again.

There are multiple endings to this story too. The hardest requires some grinding, but overall the game is not difficult. There are occasional obstacles to avoid, but with an infinite jetpack the main challenge is finding what zoa to plant, where to plant them, and when.

PROS:
-Great setting in the caves of Mars
-Interesting story and likable (if few) characters
-Fascinating zoa biology
-Simple but addictive zoa growing gameplay
-Multiple endings
-Surprisingly fantastic voice acting

MIXED:
- Graphics are decent and fit the setting, but some things don't have many animation frames and will 'stutter' (notably the Phyta zoa)
-Some grinding for max biomass
-Minor audio bugs

CONS:
-Endings don't feel very complete
-With two types of terrain: normal and acidic, both terrains should be a viable way to get biomass. But 95% of the time, normal is both safer and gets more biomass than acidic. Instead of having 2 different options, a full acidic room is almost never worth going for, and this leads to a linear approach especially in late-game.

I would definitely recommend it if you don't mind repetitive gameplay and like growing stuff, watching those things interact with you and each other, and learning about them and their environment in detail. I'd love to see a sequel.

Awpteamoose
Awpteamoose

Too limiting to be an emergent puzzle, too loose to be a regular puzzle, too boring to make you want to progress. If anything, it's similar to a dumbed down version of Toki Tori 2.

Dark_Eternal
Dark_Eternal

I really enjoyed this game. :)

I played it a few years ago when I was going through a rough time, and I found it so strangely soothing and mesmerising, and the main character so chilled and thoughtful, that I was able to forget my problems for a time, whenever I sat down at night to play it.

To me, Waking Mars is one of those obscure Steam gems that you stumble upon by accident, but which ends up being quite memorable. If you give it a go, I hope you enjoy exploring Mars and contemplating its weird ecology as much as I did.

ZachThePerson
ZachThePerson

Great game, glad I played it

This game isn't for everyone. It's mainly about farming and animal husbandry with a bit of sci-fi story to it. I had a lot of fun with it, but it isn't perfect.

The physics can be a little janky, which usually isn't that big of a deal, but in the few places where you have to throw seeds through narrow holes or bump balloon seeds around it can be a little tedious.

While I liked the tone of the story and the relationship between characters, I thought most of the endings were extremely lacking. In 3/4 of them it just feels like something semi-unexplained happens, and then the credits role. Literally one or two extra lines of dialog would have saved them, but instead the credits role and it's kind of a letdown.

Yendor
Yendor

Let's get the bad part out of the way first: The graphics are uninspiring.

Other than that, Waking Mars is a fun game. You progress by finding and planting seeds in a way that boosts biodensity (for example, one type of plant is extremely hefty, but spits lava balls that might damage/destroy other life). The game has a verisimilitude in that the pieces fit together -- discovering the ecology and cave system is satisfying. One of the parts that's very well done is the conversation cut scene system. I saw something interesting, stopped to look, and triggered a natural conversation about it. As I write it down it doesn't seem that special but in so many other games the dialog is stilted or is obviously a game instruction rather than "genuine" dialog. And now I'm second guessing about if I'm hyping it too much so I'll shut up now.

The "indle" label is right. Towards the end I was getting tired of the game mechanics and looking at red cave walls, but I enjoyed the majority of my time, and I like games that try something new

mtemp2006
mtemp2006

This caught me off guard, I just got 10+ hours from a game that was on sale for 2 bucks. It is played simliar to a metroidvania in the sense you go back between the map a lot, but not in the sense of weapon collecting. Even with that let down I found myself striving to what to know was there an advanced life on this planet.

I have to say, I highly recommend this game over all its got a good ambient sound to it, a lengthy play considering the price, responsive control scheme and it just entertains, I don't think you can ask for much else.

hydrowindandsolar
hydrowindandsolar

Wow! This is a great game! Very well designed, with a great story-line and narrative. It's laid back and easy in that it pretty well walks you through how to play, while still having plenty of challenge and tons of freedom as to what route you want to take and how you will progress. Definitely worth the purchase!

fitzroy_doll
fitzroy_doll

A well-written, well-acted sci fi game that contains no guns or violence (though plenty of deaths). The game is at its best when a chamber starts to get out of hand, with seeds creating zoa and creatures running around being consumed and it all has a life of its own.

There were problems, however. The game had trouble running until I moved it to an SSD. The signal puzzles are just about the worst thing I’ve ever seen in a game, and are a very unwelcome surprise. Batting the floating seed pods that for some reason you can’t pick up is also extremely annoying, but gets a bit easier after you complete a certain objective in the game (do this as early as possible). But the ending (the true ending) is great, and this is, overall, one of the more optimistic sci-fi games available.

CarVeR
CarVeR

A great little game! It's a refreshing change from the usual murderous shoot'em up's. It's nice to play such a relaxing game that's about creating life rather than destroying it.

TalonIzGaming
TalonIzGaming

I really don't know what to think of this game... it's enjoyable...

Vec Chromatron
Vec Chromatron

Very chill planetary/ecology exploration game, comes highly recommended if you like this sort of thing.

2nd Class Janitor - Wilco
2nd Class Jani…

Tags: Adventure - Sidescroll
Additional Tags: Delete Local Content & Remove from Library

TLDR: Lunar lander adventure game hybrid in which you seed hotspots with plants to open biomass doors. Short and not very engaging on a narrative level. Feels tabletported.

brutaldeluxe09
brutaldeluxe09

this game has a very nice audio/visual direction to it and the gameplay mechanics are embedded nicely into the storyline however there is a little bit too much dialogue for me.

dekaholis
dekaholis

Some time ago I made a promise to my friend to review this game. How long ago was that? Let’s just say I have a very good memory and I don’t even remember why I made this promise. But better late than never, right? So, there will be the following sections: art, story, gameplay and immersion, or, what I like to call it, -- semechki factor.

Art is an IOS-like simplistic, with pleasant colors and lighting. Design of the creatures looks like as if they were ripped off of biology schoolbook, and bacteria replaced mammals in size and habitat. Nothing to brag about too much.

Story is enjoyable in many ways and reminds me of Jules Verne and ancient science fiction. It definitely provides a sense of discovery. Сonversations are full of excruciating details, and the tone goes back to life-affirming and poignant curiosity of young adult material. It’s possible that you have to make a real effort to like it.

Gameplay is essentially a sandbox. You discover new species, you mix them, you build up a working eco system to go forward. The later part makes the game look like action puzzle, quite an enjoyable one at times. There is actually a little to discover by messing around, although you can do it to some extent.

Immersion in this game is on a time-killer level. Once you start going, hours dissolve like salt in the water. Semechki factor is definitely high (pile) on that one.

I give this game 6/10, although I enjoyed it more than that. By the way, my friend is actually a sweet, smart girl.

myrrth.sicopath
myrrth.sicopath

Good storytelling. Might be better on a tablet. You're underground a lot, I'd like to have seen more of Mars, but fun gameplay loops. Sort of like tower defense meets roguelike

dhiyaltushar
dhiyaltushar

A game where you create life. Beautiful! I highly recommend playing this game.

Lunakri
Lunakri

I enjoyed exploring, bringing life to and especially solving the mystery of Lethe Cavern. The rooms branch and meet again several places, which probably created a better feeling of exploration, but it also made me miss several rooms, and the lore they contained, by the time I got to the ending. When you enter the Core, just check the map to make sure you got everything.

NIK
NIK

This was a great game with at least 6 hours of gameplay, it is one of the best games that have been made and it has one of the most important game values which is replayability and it never lacks entertainment as right when it starts to get repetitive, new concepts or events happen, the story was extremely good and it's unbelievable that it was written by only two people.
The Art style is pure gold and i have to thank the artists for making this game just so beautiful. Any section of the game looks amazing and you can take a screenshot of anything.
Of course i have to thank everyone in the technical field as well since this game is so polished, it is one of the most polished games in this century so far
In conclusion literally everything about this game is fantastic and it is a pure gem not only for it's time but for the time of computer games. If they had added some more aspects of sandbox/replayability, im sure that i would play this every day

Richie Radix
Richie Radix

Recommended, but only just.

This is a clever and original game, with pleasing graphics and tolerably good writing and voice acting. However, it is very unclear what you're meant to be doing to progress at times, which is super-frustrating.

Chip&quot;Spanky&quot;Holden
Chip&quot;Span…

I found Waking Mars neither compelling or interesting, and after only a couple of hours did not want to keep playing. It's unfortunate, because the idea of building an ecosystem on Mars sounds super cool. Sadly, the game hurts itself by trying to be a "game" in too many cases where it simply feels forced or unnecessary.

You play as an explorer on foot on Mars about 80 years in the future, after life has been discovered. Your job is to explore and, after an unexpected natural event, discover more about what is on the planet. To me, this is what first begins to make the game fail. The game has you get trapped in a cave with a limited amount of time to get back to camp. You have to figure out how to open these doorways that exist in the cave in order to make it back before running out of life support.

This immediately breaks immersion for me, as the game becomes less about discovering life and more about escaping the predicament in which you wind up. Learning about the life forms is cool, but it all becomes a means to an end for the purpose of the game. The idea of a disaster just so happening to trap you in a system of doorways that just so happen to open as you foster life feels completely contrived to me.

Furthermore, the game becomes more about solving "puzzles" in order to open these doors, rather than focusing on the life for the sake of the life itself. The life forms feel like a secondary objective here, rather than the main thing. Similarly, the cave is set up as a maze where you need to find your way out; while technically making sense within the confines of the scenario given you, it nevertheless takes even more away from what I had thought the purpose of the game was supposed to be. I didn't start playing Waking Mars because I wanted to play a platform/puzzle game to escape a dangerous circumstance: I played it because I wanted to be the scientist who helped grow the Martian biology.

Sadly, Waking Mars forces these constructs on the player. Rather than fostering life and playing the role of a scientist, you fly on a jet pack around a cave opening up biological doors because game reasons. Pass on this one: there are way better platforming games, as well as world building games.

smovser
smovser

First of all lets start with clarifying that my playtime reflects I fell asleep with the game paused :-)

As i started the game I found it casual and enjoyable and found the story intriguing. I played untill I found what I was searching for and then some terrible visuals came you should figure out with a lot of noise. After I very annoyed got through this I needed to get more power. At this time the game had outstayed its welcome as the story not really went anywhere. I just saw some endings and I was shocked the about the story really went nowhere and did not make any sense at all.

The Fifth Horseman
The Fifth Horseman

An unconventional science-fiction puzzle platformer (no, not really a Metroidvania the way some describe it - there's no real progression of abilities). Not very long but definitely enjoyable.

Arachin
Arachin

I think I'm now into gardening...

art.vandelay
art.vandelay

Woke some plants up, woke some creatures up, woke Mars up, and then guess what!

A woke game in a really good way.

yuvi3000
yuvi3000

While this game is obviously fictional, the amount of research, ideas and story that had to be put into it is astounding.

In addition to interesting ideas, a sense of wonder and overall excitement in progressing through the story, there are little bits of humour and just generally pleasant chats along the way as well which make for a nice break in the actual gameplay.

Some of the gameplay can become tricky and difficult, but I believe that it has been designed well enough that the average player should be able to successfully accomplish it.

The voice acting is quite good, the art style is pleasant and the amount of effort in general feels like a lot of love was put into this game.

I definitely recommend it to those players that are looking for an compelling sci-fi story that isn't afraid to get into actual research and information without going so far as to become boring.

Fira Arnithe
Fira Arnithe

Most of the game is fantastic. Controls are mostly fine, graphics are good if a little... mid-2010s-flash-esque (You can see the individual segments that were animated and most things other than the protagonist have 2-3 frames of animation. it's not jarring but it is rather unsophisticated.) There's no combat, and very little in the way of twitch reflexes. There's no death penalty besides being shuffled to the start of the room; any progress you made on planting stays.

Voice acting is rather good actually, and doesn't overstay its welcome. Character portraits are well-done, but a bit sparse (I'd be shocked if there were more than 20 frames collectively).

The lovingly rendered ass of the protagonist is a bit uncomfortable to view in crawlspace closeups, but that's probably just me.

HOWEVER, there are (as far as I could tell) completely un-warned-for segments with rapidly flashing colors and moving shapes and lines near the end of the game. These segments triggered migraines for me, would almost certainly trigger photosensitive epilepsy, and there is no way to skip them or turn off the flashing. Also, these segments have no gameplay benefit - it's just randomly waggling the analog stick while being visually assaulted until a shape or outline appears.

Thibaut
Thibaut

Memorable sci-fi adventure, original gameplay and style, great sountrack... Among other things. Really something to experience.

chesscougar736
chesscougar736

This is one of those games that has me really torn as to whether to give a positive or negative review. I ultimately went with positive because I think that there's virtue to making games that are interesting even if I'm not sure I'd call this one good. The basic concept is that your character is an explorer on mars, discovering that there's life hidden away in the deep caverns and some kind of ancient precursors trying to restore the planet. Gameplay is mostly about figuring out how to leverage the interactions between different lifeforms to get what you want, such as providing useful organic tools or populating areas with a stable ecosystem.
As for why I had a hard time recommending it, there's just a clumsy lack of polish and design to basically everything. The dialog feels stilted, the controls are clunky, the ending is poorly explained (and not in the Dark Souls way where the devs deliberately left confusing hints at a plot you're not supposed to understand easily, more like they weren't quite sure what happened or how to communicate it), the mechanics sometimes lead to really clunky and grindy interactions with a low skill ceiling, and the graphics are in a style that would look cool if they'd had the budget to give anything more than a two-frame cycle for sprites. To be clear, I'm not one of those idiots who thinks that high-fidelity graphics are everything, but there's a difference between good low-budget art and bad low-budget art and this is definitely the latter. I honestly think that it looks worse for being fancy art and half-assed animation than if it had been half-assed art and half-assed animation.
It's also short, which is both good and bad. It respects your time, but it doesn't really have a lot of content or replayability.
If you can look past all that, there is definitely an interesting artistic vision under the slipshod design, and you should check it out if you've got the money and want to see something interesting.

BigE21
BigE21

Great gameplay loop and fun to experiment with the mechanics

Anonymous
Anonymous

Great Game!Exploring the planet Mars is awesome!!

knight13
knight13

Short and simple, with an interesting mechanic.

kristof
kristof

A peaceful sci-fi game about reviving life on mars.

An alien gardening puzzlegame? It has a unique mechanic of planting the seeds of numerous life-forms, all of them affecting each-other in different ways. Basically you have to manage your way around mars's ecosystem. It's progression of complexity has an interesting result, as you will rethink each cave (puzzle room) upon revisiting them.

Occasionally, it can get a bit clunky, especially around 2/3 of the game, when the complexity is rising quite high but you do not have all the tools yet. A mistake can snowball into a whole 'cave infestation' which is really tedious to correct. The endgame is more managable though, and well worth pushing through.

The story and voice acting ties it all together nicely.

XxPhantomleoxX
XxPhantomleoxX

its a solid game would recommend it to those who like farming sim type games with an emphasis on adventure

kexx42
kexx42

one of the first exploration games i played that wasnt about exploiting resources. travel a martian underground and help the life you find flourish by carefully balancing the needs of the various inhabitants.

Magrok
Magrok

I quite enjoyed this experience.

All the mechanics, story, and worldbuilding / science fit together quite well, its focus and scope feel exactly right, and it's very well polished.

I was surprised by (and really liked) the voice acting; in most indie games I often find myself muting any voice-over. It's rather amazing to me just how much it enhances everything in this game: it's naturalistic, with not one line out of place or overblown, and is just... very fun to listen to. Liang's dialogue with ART is incredibly subtle - you can tell he would never verbalize anything impolite, but you can still infer the occasional frustration or annoyance. And appropriately for astronauts, everyone sounds highly educated and scientific, but enough information is rephrased that the player doesn't get lost.

A very pleasant find in my steam backlog.

Planet Drinker
Planet Drinker

A fun game with a well written story that took about 8 hours to get all achievements. Great music the suits the game well.. The movement in the game feels very fluid and enjoyable.

Fizzboks
Fizzboks

I have played this game before on mobile, and have completed it a few times before. I just wanted to leave a review, because I think this game is really special.

Tat45
Tat45

Tat45's Steam Deck verdict: Unplayable

- gamepad has to be enabled using Steam button Esc binding and touchscreen control
- game crashes at the same place consistently with no workaround

NyxNocturne
NyxNocturne

This is a great little puzzle platformer with competent voice acting and fun mechanics. Its not the longest game in the world and I found myself hankering for even more complex alien ecosystems and perhaps a more open world, but its a satisfying game nonetheless! :)