Review of Deliver Us Mars – an impressive sci-fi story

It was clear at first glance that Deliver Us Mars had much greater narrative ambition than the creators’ previous game, Deliver Us The Moon (which it follows in terms of story, but you can easily enjoy the second game without knowing the first). ). The presence of multiple characters and distinctly cinematic scenes serve both to deepen the experience of traveling to the red planet, and mostly to deepen the experience of a complex father-daughter relationship that can be somewhat reminiscent of games like The Last of Us or Plague. A fairy tale (an important sibling also plays a role here). The result is a very rich science fiction that at the same time successfully works with the relationships and emotions of the protagonists – and the player. All this is backed up by absolutely amazing music. Unfortunately, you will have to put up with somewhat problematic gameplay in order to have more fun.

• Platform: PS5 (review) PS4, XSX|S, X1, PC
• Publication date: 02.02.2023
• Manufacturer: KeokeN Interactive (Netherlands)
• Genre: adventure movie
• Czech localization: No
• Multiplayer: No
• Data to download: 14 GB
• Game time: 10 hours
• Price: 710 CZK (couples)

Father and daughter

In the not-too-distant future, global warming, pollution, and overpopulation have all but wiped out planet Earth, which is now being ravaged by sandstorms that are gradually eating away the remaining fertile soil—if you’ve seen the movie Interstellar, you have a very good idea. . So humanity places its hopes on the stars, specifically on the moon of our planet and on the planet Mars. A trio of gigantic spaceships are being built, dubbed the “Ark” and equipped with the most advanced technology to fertilize and maintain alien soil. But a mysterious terrorist group called the Outward hijacks these Arks and delivers them to Mars without their intended crew, after which they sever their connection to Earth. Your father was also one of the kidnappers.

You go down in history ten years later as Cathy Johanson, who is following in her father’s footsteps and preparing to become an astronaut. When a mysterious recording from Mars arrives on Earth, you become part of a last-ditch expedition to the red planet in hopes of rescuing the stolen Arks and returning them to a dying Earth. But in fact, Katie has an additional incentive – part of this suspicious entry contained her own nickname given to her by her father. The daughter’s desperate attempt to reunite with her father and understand his motivation for an unthinkable act, for a change, is very similar to Ad Astra, which, in addition to the plot, great dialogues and great acting, is further enhanced by very similar music, which in this game, without exaggeration, belongs to the best that I have ever heard in games. It is brooding and mysterious, in addition to the soundtrack from the already mentioned film, its atmosphere is reminiscent of, for example, the music from the Blade Runner films.

The music is one of the best I’ve ever heard in a game.

What follows is also much like genre films – we see an emotional takeoff from Earth, an accident and a tense crisis during a journey in space, an emergency landing on Mars and a desperate struggle for survival on the red planet, followed by a breathtaking investigation into the wreckage of a previous expedition. There will also be the death of some key characters, and the overall development of the story of the Outworld expedition is depressing and gloomy. Just when you think the story couldn’t be more emotional or darker, the game offers some brutal ending twists that you probably won’t forget. So don’t be fooled by the relative simplicity of the character models, this is a very powerful human drama that will put you in very difficult dilemmas and reflections on family, values, or the worst human traits. The impression of the story can be spoiled only by some seemingly cloying or vulgar scenes in the introduction (or in episodes of memories), but more or less all these weaknesses can be attributed to the character of the father, who, quite possibly, does not know how to get along with his daughters – except for the obligatory a gift of a teddy “month-old bear”. However, this certain naivety of his relationship with his daughters will develop very dramatically in the later stages of the story.

History above all

While I have nothing but praise for the story (and music), unfortunately the rest of the game isn’t as good. The gameplay can be divided into two groups: the first is solving more or less repetitive puzzles related to connecting to the power grid, and the second is climbing walls with ice axes, whether they are rocks or the walls of a giant crashed spaceship. While the puzzles are relatively passable (it always takes a little time to find and line up all of their components correctly, but it’s never too frustrating), wall climbing is downright horrendous – mainly due to the control of jumps and bounces back and forth. the wall is very inaccurate, which is sure to kill you several times – and at the same time, the climb itself is very slow, which makes repeating it after falling even more unpleasant. This is a great shame, because some elements of climbing are successful in themselves and successfully evoke the feeling of a climber, who must carefully hold on and decide where to put his hand or foot next.

The plot of the game is full of contrasts, which is facilitated by the fact that you watch some episodes from the point of view of your own eyes, and others – from behind your heroine. While the spaceship shots or the Martian landscapes are mostly very impressive, the character models are much less successful – especially the eyebrows and beards look almost broken. This greatly spoils the impression of very emotional moments between the characters. On the other hand, it can be seen that the movements and facial expressions were filmed using full motion capture, and the acting of all the actors is top notch. On PS5, there are dips in smoothness in some of the expansive exteriors, but not too much throughout the game. In any case, the main motivation for the game is whether you are interested in a very well-thought-out story about the survival of the human council colonizing Mars, and whether the main character can win you over to root for her to the end. Both suited me (especially the English actress Ellis Chappell starring Katie Johansson is just great – inquisitive, playful, vulnerable and courageous), so despite the shortcomings, I enjoyed the game as an exciting trip in one sitting, although I cursed at some climbing passages looks like a starling. But by the end of the game, I was sure that the difficulties were worth it.