"Martian Isolation" is an upcoming single-player, first-person survival horror game that's just been revealed with a suitably creepy launch trailer. And yes, it does look an awful lot like "The Martian," doesn't it?
There's a lot of survival gameplay on display here that mirrors Mark Watney's tale of survival on the Red Planet, as your stranded protagonist is forced to explore the Martian surface to acquire resources, grow plants, and repair their base.
That comparison to Andy Weir's sci-fi masterpiece does fall away as you get further into the trailer, though, when the horror part of the game's description comes into play: Flickering lights, creepy figures stalking the halls of your Martian habitat, and blood dripping from the walls.
Oh yeah, that's some good creepy sci-fi horror right there. It's giving "Event Horizon", and that's always getting a thumbs-up from me.
There's no release date scheduled at this time, with the 'Martian Isolation' Steam page simply listing it as "coming soon," though the YouTube trailer description does say it "will be available on Steam in 2027".
You can't pre-order yet, but if this looks like your jam, you can add it to your wishlist.
Beyond that, we know shockingly little about this title. It's the debut game from Golden Milestone Studio, but there's very little information out there beyond a name. The latest blog post on the game's Steam page says that they're a "small team," but what we've seen so far is encouraging.
There seems to be a pronounced split between the survival and horror elements of the game along the day/night cycle. Daytime sees you exploring the Martian surface, smashing rocks, cleaning solar panels, and doing sick jumps on a quad bike.
The psychological torment only begins once the sun goes down (they mostly come out at night … mostly), as your character starts encountering cosmic horrors and weird naked zombie men.
Are they hallucinations, or is there some malevolent presence hiding in the blood-red sands of Mars?
I'm always looking for new ways to shatter my psyche and possibly soil my pants, so I'll be keeping a close eye on this one. In the meantime, I do need to get back and finish "Routine." I left my character hiding under a desk months ago, and I haven't been brave enough to go back. As Mama always said, you can't have any Martian horror until you finish your lunar horror first.
