Deliver Us Mars is a beautiful sci-fi game about saving our planet

Last October, “Star Trek” actor William Shatner went into space at the age of 90. In his autobiography, Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder, Shatner revealed his emotional response to being in space—not one of wonder, but one of immense sadness. “The contrast between the vicious cold of space and the warm, nurturing earth beneath me filled me with an overwhelming sadness.” he wrote

, discussion of the destruction of the animals, flora and fauna of the earth. “I’ve discovered that beauty isn’t out there, it’s down here, with all of us. Leaving that behind has made my connection to our tiny planet even deeper.”

Space travel and life beyond our planet remain an exciting, ambitious prospect. But by far the simplest solution for humanity’s future is to solve the problems we already have on Earth – rather than just chasing a dream of life elsewhere while conditions here become increasingly uninhabitable.

In the story of KeokeN Interactive’s upcoming sci-fi adventure game Deliver us Mars (Starting February 2, 2023), set in the near future where the earth is in an extremely precarious environmental state, this theme is key. The game’s broader story revolves around the back and forth between colonists with ambitions to start a new life on Mars (a group called the Outward) and those remaining on Earth trying to save their homeland. Those who tried settling on the red planet thought it would be easy – but it wasn’t. As the game begins, your protagonist, young astronaut Kathy Johanson, arrives on Mars and you journey through the colony of Outward, uncovering the struggles they faced in surviving in this harsh new world.

This difference in perspective between the colonists and the Earth’s populace is not so easily portrayed in our game: there are many different perspectives on the morality of the Outer’s decision to leave the rest of humanity behind, and the player is encouraged to make up their own minds about, who is right and wrong in history.

Kathy is at the heart of this conflict in many ways: her father joined Outward, abandoning her and the rest of his family years earlier. Kathy and her sister begin the game on Earth, now plagued by floods, storms, and other effects of climate change. They plan a desperate mission to Mars to recover the ARKs: these are giant space shuttles that have the power to reverse the effects of climate change and have allowed Outward to settle on the Red Planet.

For fun players Deliver us the moon, the first game in the series, this entry deepens the story’s environmental themes by linking the fate of Earth to a protagonist who has a personal motivation for a journey into space. Kathy wants to find the ARKs and save the planet – but she also wants to find her father. As she follows in his footsteps across the landscape of Mars in hopes of finding out what happened to him, she discovers evidence of the deep regret he felt at leaving her.

The ARKs are probably the most awesome part of the Deliver us Mars history – they stand for optimism about the future. One of these ARK ships contains a bioprinter, a fictional device containing a vast library of DNA for Earth’s flora and fauna, giving humanity the ability to recreate extinct plants. This represents KeokeN’s approach to sci-fi storytelling: we use sound ideas to add a dimension of reality to our game, but we want to stay hopeful. Retrieving the ARKs would allow humanity to may be

wipe clean the slate on earth – it’s a fantasy, sure, but it’s a sensible one.

How does telling this story affect the way you play? Deliver us Mars? Well, Kathy’s journey across Mars presents her with a whole host of challenges – and the mechanics in our game support how this story is told. You float through Zero-G to explore an abandoned space station. They dive underwater and cut through environmental hazards with a laser. Cross the red cliffs and icy tundra of Mars with Kathy’s climbing axes. You will use your cleverness to solve puzzles and reactivate parts of the Martian colony.

Kathy’s story is brought to life by a fully motion-captured cast that brings so much emotional depth and rich characterization to this game. All of this is wrapped in a beautiful looking visual and amazing sound design, all designed to get the most out of your Xbox Series X|S.

While the portrayal of humanity in our game is complex, the message about our planet is in Deliver us Mars is quite simple: Whatever we dream of, it’s out there in space, we only have one home.