Per Aspera

Per Aspera is a stunningly realistic "planet builder" in which you play as an AI tasked with terraforming Mars. Although its pace is sometimes slow, it is an extremely educational game with a surprisingly deep and touching story.

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 is an absolute feat of a game that will likely never be replicated. With phenomenal city building elements, an amazing story, fantastic visuals and themes that will keep you thinking for weeks after completing the game, there’s absolutely no reason not to purchase the game if you’re at all interested in anything pertaining to space or even the nature of mankind. While Kennedy may have overestimated our ability to conquer the stars, Per Aspera provides a glimpse into a more interesting and hopeful future while also being a lot of fun to play.

Per Aspera’s gameplay experience could be improved upon with a clearer tutorial, objectives, and less complicated data collection, but what's here is enough to make it a compelling experience nonetheless. Certainly, anyone with city building experience looking for more will be quite pleased, but those new to the genre still might find something of value in Per Aspera's take on a tried-and-true archetype.

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.

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.