Per Aspera

It is truly impressive that you have the whole planet to explore and build over. What caught my attention in the first place, was the deep, realistic simulation of terraforming, but unfortunately the game turned out to be tedious and boring. I also wish I could manage my settlements better and plan their development in details, as the only decisions I got to make were where to place the structures and how to prioritize them. The rest is up to autonomous drones. [02/2021, p.34]

Per Aspera is a very interesting colony builder narrative game that has a stellar esthetic, a very engaging story and a super cast of actors. The gameplay is fluid, rewarding and rich of surprises and references to cool tech (both fictional and kinda realistic). If you like the genre and the setting you will have a blast.

Per Aspera has a bunch of good ideas in it. Adding a narrative element is a slam dunk, but the pacing of it hurts it in the long run, even as interesting as it is. Per Aspera also has a lot of solid gameplay elements, and evolves into a pretty complex package in the end. But a lack of explanation as to what you’re doing impairs the experience, and may cause newer players to give up before the enjoyable gameplay loop kicks in.

Per Aspera is a solid experience, with a promising narrative, a stratified gameplay and a charming setting.

Per Aspera is a haunting sci-fi simulation in which you play as a lone AI tasked with terraforming Mars for human colonization.

This hidden strategy gem with gorgeous graphics and convincing production value suffers from minor flaws and annoyances.

Per Aspera is a very good science fiction driven management and building game. The story will keep fans of the genre engaged and mixes well with the core mechanics. Once that’s no longer interesting a Sandbox mode introduces the freedom to build-up Mars however one wants. The twin challenges of expanding and re-building for greater efficiency are carefully balanced and truly engrossing. Just make sure to take tour time and explore as much as possible before moving through the checkpoints of the campaign. And spend as much time as possible running at the slowest speed, watching how mars can be changed from inhospitable wasteland to a new cradle of humanity. Just don’t forget to ponder whether it’s actually worth it, just as the protagonist A.I. does.

In the end, Per Aspera is not the deepest colony builder, nor the most challenging. But it is still a fun game to play, in a relaxing kind of way. And when you zoom out and see your bases stretch across the surface or the planet begin to irrevocably change, it delivers a feel-good gaming moment. Narrative and a sense of scale are ultimately what set Per Aspera apart from other games in the genre. If you are looking for a laid-back terraforming experience, combined with an interesting story, try out Per Aspera. If you want a more personal or detail focussed colony building experience (one where you feel like you are overseeing the human settlement of Mars), than you're better off playing Surviving Mars.

I will fully admit to getting stuck in a few places. On a few tries, I overextended too quickly or didn’t adapt well to the changing planet. I always mismanage my electrical grid, or my maintenance bots, and build my way into a corner. But I keep coming back. Never before has a strategy game offered me such an involved story in such a staid sandbox. I think I’ll be turning Mars green for a long time to come.

Hard science, harder simulation, and narrative innovation make Per Aspera a real gem.

Per Aspera reaches for lofty heights, but I could never shake the impression that the difficulties I encountered were more because of the game breaking down rather than Mars being a hostile place. But who knows, patches do wonders these days.

Per Aspera explores the cost of humans' need to conquer, all through the mind of an AI. A smart, sprawling city builder that requires a lot of patience and blurs the line between duty and morality.

Per Aspera is a one-of-a-kind entry in the genre. It engages the mind and soul in a way management simulators never achieve. This is a must-have for fans of the genre and fans of quality hard sci-fi.

It lays the existentialism on pretty thick at times, and it has the potential to thoroughly overwhelm you, but Per Aspera is an oddly intoxicating expedition into the colonisation of another world.

Per Aspera offers a surprisingly emotional narrative that explores the thought process of an evolving AI programmed to assist humans in colonizing Mars. The symbiotic gameloop of creating structures and growing your presence on the surface while hitting key milestones is cathartic. I was easily immersed in this experience, but only after some trial and error trying to understand how it all worked due to a limited tutorial.

A compelling take on a Martian colonisation and terraforming project, Per Aspera also comes with a gripping mystery to unravel as you fight to survive and thrive. There's some muddled pacing and it's not always how you can proceed, but this is a thoroughly enjoyable sci fi planetary sim.