DELIVER US MARS
Developer Keoken Interactive Publisher Frontier Foundry Format PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series Release September 27
Keoken Interactive’s followup to 2018’s Deliver Us The Moon – the studio might want to rethink that naming convention should the series extend to our solar system’s seventh planet – looks like a step up in ambition. Set ten years after the events of the first game, with humanity teetering on the brink of extinction, it follows the story of astronaut Kathy Johansson, whose mission to recover the stolen colony ships that would secure our continued existence goes awry. At a time when many developers are embracing procedurality, it’s refreshing to see a studio emphasising that every element of its game has been hand-crafted. And if the original is anything to go by, this sequel will offer something more cerebral than your typical science-fiction actioner – though there are a few platforming sequences that require Johansson to make the odd giant leap for mankind.