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Releasing on September 7, Surviving Mars: Below & Beyond is the brand new expansion for the Martian city-builder from Paradox Interactive and newer developer Abstraction (who took over from Haemimont Games).

Giving the relaxed building sim some much needed expansion into other areas, Below & Beyond enhances colony management by going below the surface and beyond the horizon to build underground bases, mine asteroids, and gather rare resources.

"When we started planning out what was next for Surviving Mars, we really wanted to dive deep into the parts of the Red Planet we had not already explored. We know we had to come out swinging and Surviving Mars: Below & Beyond expands gameplay in a meaningful way," says Magnus Lysell, Product Manager for Surviving Mars at Paradox Interactive. "The possibilities are endless and we’re eager to continue exploring the Red Planet with our players."

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Main Feature Additions:

  • Back to the Bases - Expand your colony into caves and lava tubes under the surface. Players can use existing structures, or underground-specific buildings to build a base for exploration. Expand with caution, potential cave-ins can destroy everything.
  • Mine Your Own Business - Players can now go below the surface and beyond the red planet for resource mining. Construct special rocket-propelled buildings to mine resources, including exotic minerals and Data Samples, on passing asteroids. Don’t stick around too long or else the Asteroid will drift away with your stuff!
  • Branching Paths - The Recon and Expansion research tree unlock additional buildings, vehicles, upgrades, and locales. They will also unlock asteroid mining and tunnel colonization.

At the same time the game will also be getting a new Radio Pack much like Paradox do with Cities: Skylines. The Mars Lifestyle Radio Pack including sixteen original tracks for an extra 70 minutes of chilled space tunes as an extra DLC.

Have to say - I'm real excited for this one. Despite some shortcomings and initial frustrations, Surviving Mars has turned out to be one of the better city-builders of modern times, especially when you add the greenery expansion. We're going to have to take a good look at it after release.

If you don't own Surviving Mars it's available for Linux from Humble Store, GOG, Paradox and Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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6 comments

Anza Aug 31, 2021
Damn, I haven't finished the playthrough with Green Planet enabled even yet
Nezchan Sep 1, 2021
Quoting: AnzaDamn, I haven't finished the playthrough with Green Planet enabled even yet

I consider finishing the Green Planet DLC to be basically the "end" of a run. It's a natural finishing point, since by then I've finished with the challenge and built what bases I want to. Pity getting the vegetation in place is such a grind though. Hopefully they'll overhaul that at some point.
UnixOutlaw Sep 1, 2021
Loved this game - except for the "let's get some humans here..." bit... I could colony build forever...

That bit bores me, and I don't care what happens to the humans, I don't care if they're bored - I wish the game had "evil genius" mode where I get to gas or space them all for being disobedient :D ... don't preach at me, they're not people... it's a game...

I might have to check out some of the DLC...


Last edited by UnixOutlaw on 1 September 2021 at 8:11 am UTC
Ehvis Sep 1, 2021
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Quoting: UnixOutlawI wish the game had "evil genius" mode where I get to gas or space them all for being disobedient :D

Ship them to a specific dome. Cut off the oxygen. Done!
Philadelphus Sep 1, 2021
Yeah, I'm looking forward to this—curious to see how these different "layers" interact with the main planet layer (and Green Planet).

Quoting: UnixOutlawLoved this game - except for the "let's get some humans here..." bit... I could colony build forever...

That bit bores me, and I don't care what happens to the humans, I don't care if they're bored - I wish the game had "evil genius" mode where I get to gas or space them all for being disobedient :D ... don't preach at me, they're not people... it's a game...

I might have to check out some of the DLC...
Just disable oxygen generation.

Or if you're interested in mods, there's a cool one that adds a starting profile that lets you build bio-robots from the beginning of the game without needing humans. I played a game where every colonist was an immortal bio-robot and the only humans on Mars were tourists coming to the tourism resort I set up.

Quoting: NezchanPity getting the vegetation in place is such a grind though. Hopefully they'll overhaul that at some point.
Yeah, the other three parameters work out pretty well, but despite being the first thing I start vegetation is always the last I finish, by, like, at least twice as long as any of the others. It's just bizarre how badly balanced it is. I use a few mods to speed it up, because the default is just ridiculous.
WorMzy Sep 1, 2021
This could be good, if it's done well. Z-level mechanics can really make a game shine. Take Dwarf Fortress for example -- it was a good game when you could interact with only one z-level, but adding the ability to dig down to the magma sea (and, uh, beyond really opened up the possibilities. Here's hoping it's done like that, and not say modern XCOM base-building mechanics.


Last edited by WorMzy on 1 September 2021 at 10:39 am UTC
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