As I look out over the side of a massive Antenna Dish at the desert wasteland devoid of any fauna that is the Planet Earth, I can’t help but wonder what drove our once beautiful planet to this point. Even if we could save it, Is it worth saving? Such is one of many questions Deliver Us Mars asks throughout its adventure to the Red Planet.
KeokeN Interactive has crafted a pretty wonderful story that is of both a planetary scale and deeply personal. It is let down only by some slightly underdeveloped gameplay elements and a runtime that stretches out just a little too long.
Deliver Us Mars’ Story
Deliver Us Mars takes place ten years after Deliver Us The Moon. The game thoughtfully fills in the gaps between Deliver Us The Moon that fans of the original will enjoy, but as a newcomer to the series, I didn’t feel lost at all, which will make players looking to pick up and play this adventure sigh in relief.
Ten years after the ARKs, large-scale colony ships capable of sustaining life on new planets were stolen from the moon by Outward; Earth receives a mysterious distress call from Mars. And so your story begins. You play as Kathy Johanson, a 2nd generation astronaut who is beyond eager to advance through the ranks to join your sister (and father, depending on who you ask) as one of the great pioneers of WSA, the World Space Agency. The WSA’s mission is to stop Earth’s ongoing energy crisis. Kathy is eager to join this mission not only in the hope of saving humanity on Earth but also to find the answers to what happened to her father, Issac.
Kathy is part of a four personal team sent to Mars to track down that signal. The team is led by her sister, Claire, and the couple, Sarah and Ryan. You may remember Sarah from Deliver Us the Moon, and her actions in this game are very much shaped by those of the first. They embark on their mission in the Zephyr, a barely space-worthy ship that we are assured will get them to Mars. What follows is a touching story with universe-wide implications and a deeply personal touch. Deliver Us Mars story is easily its strongest element, made all the better by its characters.
Both Kathy and Isaac are wonderfully voice acted by Ellise Chappell and Neil Newbon, respectively. I fully believed both of their motives based on how good their line deliveries were. They are supported by a small but likable cast of characters, and even though they aren’t quite as strong of performances, they are compelling nonetheless. Kathy’s sister Claire, voiced by Bryony Tebbutt, stands out among the supporting characters.
Lots of backstories are delivered through flashback sequences to when Kathy was a kid and loving on Earth with her father, Isaac, and her sister, Claire. These segments provided quite a bit of weight to all characters in the story and add to the motivations of Kathy and Claire, specifically while fleshing out Isaac.
Gameplay in Deliver Us Mars
When you aren’t in cinematics being engulfed in the excellent story, you are taking part in both first-person and third-person adventuring. This consists of puzzles, plenty of exploration, and some mild platforming. My favorite segments involved the Zephyr, your ship. One has you prepping all systems for launch as you leave Earth. I’ve not flown a spaceship before so I’m entirely sure it’s accurate, but it felt satisfying and realistic nonetheless. Another excellent first-person section has you floating through space to make repairs on your ship with quite a bit of precision.
Once you arrive on Mars, there are plenty of platforming and puzzles between story beats. Most involve shooting power rays from base stations to receivers to route power to doors. Most of these didn’t provide much of a challenge, but some later ones required some thought, and they were quickly my favorite of the adventure. When you succeed in finding the solution to a puzzle, the orchestral score swells to a pleasing climax signifying a job well done.
Kathy is equipped with a pair of climbing axes to navigate the rugged terrain of the Red Planet, Mars. The unique gameplay twist here is that you must manually aim and dig in each ax swing. Your triggers (or mouse buttons) control each ax, and you must alternate between them to reach your destination. I wish there was a bit more urgency or other factors, such as a stamina meter to make these sections a bit more intense, but the way it is implemented makes it more engaging than holding a direction to scale up the terrain.
Throughout Deliver Us Mars, you have a trusty robot companion named Ayla that you can take control of and fly a first person to get a better vantage point, help you solve puzzles, and unlock holograms. These holograms are crucial to moving the story forward and are played out in a sort of stop motion low res fashion that gives you enough of a clue of what was happening while leaving some mystery. I dug them, I wish I didn’t have to solve their puzzle to see the story play out every time.
Shortcomings in Deliver Us Mars
Deliver Us Mars nails its story and characters but is slightly disappointed by a few shortcomings. The aforementioned hologram puzzle is a small gameplay hurdle that by the end of my 6 & ½ hour playthrough I grew increasingly annoyed with. They aren’t complicated, they just aren’t fun either. So by the 15th time, you unlocked a hologram, I dreaded them. Luckily, the story elements they introduce are always worth it and don’t leave too sour a taste. Unfortunately, I felt similarly about even its better gameplay elements, such as ax climbing, by the end of my time with Deliver Us Mars. They are fun enough on their own, but they never developed in a super meaningful way by the end of the game, which made its runtime feel just a hair too long.
Lastly, the performances from its leads are really great and believable but are let down by their motion & facial capture. I’m sure if KeokeN Interactive had a larger budget, this wouldn’t be an issue, but it is a bit of a letdown after the vocal performances are so high quality.
Final Thoughts
I enjoyed my time with Deliver Us Mars. It told a strong narrative with just enough mystery to keep me fully invested while also pulling at your heartstrings with its complicated family at its center. The gameplay around the story was great to start, but it didn’t progress much throughout the game, leaving me wishing there was a bit more challenge or variety, but never enough for me to be bored. I hope we get a third game in the series to keep refining and iterating, as so far I think KeokeN Interactive is 2 for 2 with their Deliver Us Universe.
