Waking Mars

 PC
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 74 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 51 out of 74
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 74
  3. Negative: 6 out of 74

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  1. superecnate
    Jun 5, 2013
    10
    Waking Mars is a unique game. It's very diffrent from most games, because instead of killing, shooting, and destroying, your goal is to develop the devestated Martian ecosystem. It does not take long to become immersed, and it becomes difficult to leave the game. I found myself driven to explore, and solve the interesting mysteries that you begin to find. The dialoge is a bit long, but itWaking Mars is a unique game. It's very diffrent from most games, because instead of killing, shooting, and destroying, your goal is to develop the devestated Martian ecosystem. It does not take long to become immersed, and it becomes difficult to leave the game. I found myself driven to explore, and solve the interesting mysteries that you begin to find. The dialoge is a bit long, but it is very interesting, and I often find myself wishing there were more of it. The characters are very well written, and aren't the sterotypical cast of most games. The most fascinating aspect of the game is that you have to play the scientist, and learn about how the ecosystem interacts. An amazing thing about the development of the game is the effort that the developers went through to make it scientifically accurate. You simply do not find the mumbo-jumble found in other games. The developers spent a lot of effort in this, and it shows. Thus, as long as you immerse yourself (which isn't hard to do), you will love this game.… Expand
  2. lmorsino
    Dec 22, 2012
    8
    Its nice to play a platformer where you're not just shooting stuff up. I enjoyed the fact that it had a science theme. Waking Mars is a relaxing, not too difficult puzzle/mystery game. It took me less than 6 hours to finish. The music is quite good, and the story kept me interested. The graphics have a unique style but could have been better in places. My big complaint was that many of theIts nice to play a platformer where you're not just shooting stuff up. I enjoyed the fact that it had a science theme. Waking Mars is a relaxing, not too difficult puzzle/mystery game. It took me less than 6 hours to finish. The music is quite good, and the story kept me interested. The graphics have a unique style but could have been better in places. My big complaint was that many of the caverns looked similar and the animation could use help. Though for the price, the game is a good value and there's really not much to complain about. I would recommend it for someone who wants something a little more cerebral...… Expand
  3. fartheststar
    Jun 28, 2013
    8
    Very cool game. I'd classify it as a puzzle/simulation/sandbox/builder type game not a platformer in the typical understanding of the word. It's primarily an ecology puzzle sim where you're introduced into a foreign ecosystem and you have to figure out how all the pieces of life fit together. You grow plants, animals and they all interact in different ways and have differentVery cool game. I'd classify it as a puzzle/simulation/sandbox/builder type game not a platformer in the typical understanding of the word. It's primarily an ecology puzzle sim where you're introduced into a foreign ecosystem and you have to figure out how all the pieces of life fit together. You grow plants, animals and they all interact in different ways and have different properties and you're the farmer who has to figure out how to reintroduce life into the martian caves. The fun is building systems that work using the spores, seeds, biostock, etc that you have and maxing out system potential and seeing everything come to life. In the process you uncover a story of the history of life on mars. Beware: I found this game addictive it kept me up all night as I progressed. There's two endings be sure to google if you have trouble figuring one of them out it's probably worth seeing (the second alternate ending is more satisfying than the first imho).
    I almost didn't buy this because I don't care for platformers but I'm very glad I got it. This thankfully has very little to do with platforming. I don't give alot of 8s or higher, but this is one of the most fun games I've played in a while. I don't play quickly, but I got 17 hours of fun in my first play-through.    … Expand
  4. slushie7
    Jan 13, 2013
    10
    Waking Mars is an absolutely amazing game. This is definitely not an action game; the casual puzzle/platform mechanics simply serve as the driving for the incredible story line. This story line combines with a great soundtrack to create an incredible atmosphere that had me hooked from the start. If you like science fiction and still have an active imagination, I would highly recommend thisWaking Mars is an absolutely amazing game. This is definitely not an action game; the casual puzzle/platform mechanics simply serve as the driving for the incredible story line. This story line combines with a great soundtrack to create an incredible atmosphere that had me hooked from the start. If you like science fiction and still have an active imagination, I would highly recommend this game. The price tag is nice, too.… Expand
  5. hellznrg
    Jul 5, 2013
    9
    Similar to Aquaria, but much better. There are a few annoyances though... like the floaty seeds which are a pain to position properly. They could have made it less onerous.
  6. Raytings
    Aug 30, 2017
    9
    Mars is woke! Waking Mars: a spacey 2D exploration/puzzle game.
    You and your colleague are the first humans on Mars. Your mission: to explore the strange and wondrous Martian cave system that near the end of the 21st century, has been found to harbor life (plant looking, bioluminescent life)! In this 2D Side-scrolling exploration game, you’ll solve ecological puzzles, figure out if    Mars is woke! Waking Mars: a spacey 2D exploration/puzzle game.
    You and your colleague are the first humans on Mars. Your mission: to explore the strange and wondrous Martian cave system that near the end of the 21st century, has been found to harbor life (plant looking, bioluminescent life)! In this 2D Side-scrolling exploration game, you’ll solve ecological puzzles, figure out if humans are alone, and try to recover the lost artificial intelligence OCTO with the help of your own A.I., ART.

    So is Mars all that it’s hyped up to be?

    First off, I want to give a shout out to the developers of this game for choosing two people of color to represent their characters. It’s been rare (but increasingly less so), to see an asian male lead, and a supporting black female lead in any kind of media platform, especially video games. On that note, the characters are wonderfully voiced the whole time there is any dialogue (and there is a LOT of dialogue). The game does a great job connecting the dialogue with the 2D world in ways I hadn’t imaged possible for a 2D game; I was really tied down, playing a few days consecutively.

    In most cases the objective of Waking Mars was to raise the biomass levels of cave rooms with the different species of life you’d encounter inside the red planet. The biomass indicator is at the top right of screen, and has a 1-5 star rating, with 5 being the highest. The more lifeforms in one cave that you reproduced, the higher the mass. Towards the end of the game, the 5 star rating greatly helps you get to the end of the game. I found that after I finished most of the progression, and focused mostly on perfecting biomass throughout the whole map, I lost a bit of interest. It became a bit repetitive fast traveling through the cave systems, taking seeds from one area to another for transplant. Figuring out just which species would do the best in any given area could take a bit of thinking, and more than I’d want to devote in some sittings. Typically, Ledon Zoa create the most biomass (the tallest looking ones, with the floaty seeds).

    Tying it all together was a sense of peaceful exploration with no repercussions for death on normal mode, unlimited fuel for your jetpack, and aesthetically pleasing music that accompanied this “peaceful” feeling. There isn’t really much room for improvement because I think it’s the best game that it could be. If any request I have lingering, I hope a borderless window mode could be apart of a future patch, and a sequel!    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 5 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. PC Gamer
    Feb 8, 2013
    73
    A calming, likeable adventure with an engaging premise, but Waking Mars’s roots could go a little deeper.
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  2. PC PowerPlay
    Feb 6, 2013
    90
    A true exemplar of intelligent game design, Waking Mars is a compelling and imaginative masterpiece. An absolute must-play. [Feb 2013, p.74]
  3. CD-Action
    Feb 6, 2013
    65
    It worked much better as an iOS game than it does on PC. [CD-Action 02/2013, p.69]
See all critic reviews »