Recent reviews by Altae

I loved it! Wonderful storytelling, and while I'd suggest playing Deliver Us The Moon first, Deliver Us Mars works well as a standalone game. 100% recommended! :)


Deliver Us Mars has become one of my favourite narrative adventure games in recent times. For context: I really enjoyed Deliver Us The Moon, and I love great visuals and writing, plus I'm a sucker for all things sci-fi. If those things don't really appeal to you, maybe try that little shooter series called 'Call of Duty' - it's supposedly quite popular! Anyway, I bought Deliver Us Mars on the day of release with my own money, so I will be as honest as I can be.

The game takes place a decade or so (I think) after the events of Deliver Us The Moon, and while those events are heavily referenced and gently explained to an extent throughout a good portion of Deliver Us Mars, I think players new to the series could safely play this game without feeling completely lost. In my opinion, the writers got the balance between 'over-explain everything!' and 'throw them in the deep end!' just right. There are a handful of recurring characters from Deliver Us The Moon, and the game even references the player's character from that game, too, which is a nice touch for continuity.

Deliver Us Mars is heavy on inter-personal drama (but not in a cheesy soap-opera sort of way), and touches on some emotional subjects as your character, Kathy, progresses through the story. I really felt engaged in it all, and I genuinely feel a bit sad now I'm finished the story!

Without giving away too much, I want to applaud the writers for putting so much thought into the story of Deliver Us Mars. It all seems fairly predictable at the start, but after a short while you'll find yourself questioning motives and intentions up until the very end. Even your opinions of characters may well fluctuate several times over the course of the story, which I think is a fantastic way of keeping you engaged and interested. They feel like complex, believable people in their own right, and I genuinely haven't had my judgement of a group of characters challenged so repeatedly in such a three-dimensional way since I watched Game of Thrones (nobody mention season eight, okay?)!

I've read one or two reviews which grumble about the game not giving answers when attempting to explore large, existential topics, or neatly tying-up every single element of the story, and... well, arguably one of the main themes in this game is subjectivity and the grey area that is the potential of humanity itself (on both an individual and societal level). There really isn't going to be a definitive answer to any of those gigantic philosophical questions (unless we all ascend into a higher plane of consciousness tomorrow), and I believe that is entirely intentional, valid, and thought-provoking writing (of course, this is just my opinion, so your thoughts may differ).

Be aware that this isn't a 'choices matter' game (in terms of player interaction), and that the narrative is controlled in a linear fashion. Linear storytelling in games sometimes feels like it's looked down upon, but it really works well in Deliver Us Mars, and isn't intrinsically bad whatsoever (in fact, as much as I love 'choices matter' games, I would encourage more game developers to tell more stories like this!).


The gameplay of Deliver Us Mars is good, if simple, fun, and has a non-intrusive objective system which you can activate by pressing 'T', or you can have permanently displayed via your game options. Navigating is your standard WASD affair, and the only controls that aren't displayed or hinted heavily towards are when trying to jump when climbing (hold A/S/D and space and wait a moment for the action to happen). Climbing with your picks is reminiscent of the rebooted Tomb Raider games and well-implemented, with an accessibility setting to toggle whether you should hold or single-click your mouse buttons to use your climbing picks. Depending on your environment, you will be forced into first-person perspective, but the majority of the game is in third-person perspective, which is a welcome difference from Deliver Us The Moon. One minor criticism is that Kathy's ability to jump is a bit powerful, but I found myself able to easily overlook that unbalanced mechanic.

Puzzles and interactions are reasonably simple, and I suspect this is a game design choice to place more emphasis on the brilliant narrative, rather than opting to use simulation-level gameplay that some might wish to see in a sci-fi scenario. It also, arguably, makes it more accessible and a more enjoyable experience for those who just want to play the game to enjoy and relax (we exist, believe it or not!). Part of me does wish there had been more realism in terms of the laser-esque puzzles, as it did seem very odd that all this wonderful technology was reliant on very chaotic line-of-sight power transmission!

There are a small variety of collectables for the completionists out there, and while I did detour to find them on occasion, I missed a good chunk of them... so happy exploring!

Visually, this game is a delight. It's a cutscene-heavy game, but not to the extent that you'll want to mash your keyboard in frustration. The level of detail throughout is great, and I was absolutely immersed with my time in orbit, and travelling through the Martian landscape. The lighting is especially spectacular (especially with ray-tracing enabled). There are a few character animations that were a little buggy (i.e. leg positioning when climbing and when strafing side-ways), characters and some objects can clip through other things (thankfully in a minor way), and the hair physics system did have a hiccup at times (in fact, the first time I met one character, her hair was standing on end as if she'd been mildly electrocuted!), but overall there was nothing game-breaking. Facial animations are okay, if a little limited, and I did note that in multiple dark scenes that many characters eyes were oddly bright and shiny. Creepy! My least favourite visuals are the holograms, which are intentionally basic and animated in an almost stop-motion fashion, but I understand that this is probably an intentional limit of that in-game-world technology and not a game-design fault.

Sound design in Deliver Us Mars was excellent. The voice-acting is absolutely fantastic for each character (Kathy and Claire, especially), atmospheric and environmental noises are good (although I'd have liked more intensity in some situations!), and the instrumental score is emotional, calm, or highly-strung when it needs to fit in-game events.

Performance-wise, it might be worth being a little cautious with your graphics settings. I played this game on a [at the time of writing] high-spec system with an RTX 3080 outputting to a 1440p monitor, with all settings set to maximum (including their hair physics system) and ray-tracing enabled, and a large portion of cutscenes were really quite choppy. I ended up turning on DLSS, and it did help reduce the choppiness, but it was still noticeable. Actual gameplay was absolutely fine, though, so whew! It's possible the cutscene choppiness could be mitigated with tweaking certain settings both in and out of game, or perhaps a future driver update, but for anyone who just wants to download and play Deliver Us Mars without spending time optimising their system... be prepared to turn down a few settings. Hopefully your experienced will be smoother, but I highly encourage you NOT to let this dissuade you from playing!

Overall, I enjoyed every single moment of Deliver Us Mars. I played a good 80% of the game in one go, and until I could next play it, I was preoccupied by what might happen. If you enjoy sci-fi and a good, thought-provoking, and dramatic story, seriously think about buying Deliver Us Mars.

I hope you enjoy the game as much as I did! :)

I knew buying this would be a gamble, but I really didn't expect it to be as unappealing as it was (for me)! I was hoping the dark humour would be a real feature alongside an interesting historical setting, but it's all just a bit... pitiful. Maybe I misunderstood the developer's intentions on this game.

It's a reasonably pretty game, but the lighting can be frustrating (the contrast on the shadows is so extreme that I could barely find my way around in the house or the barn). A lot of detail goes in to the surroundings, but less so into the NPCs; they look oddly clean and feel like afterthoughts.

The sound design is... interesting. Within a couple of minutes I went into the game options and selected the 'Silent Protagonist' feature, because the mumbling was incoherent (I imagine that's intentional), very similar, and overall very annoying. Fluffy the pig's high-pitched squealing (used to indicate the need for the player's attention in the tutorial) was irritating; perhaps low grunting would be a better choice!

I think that enjoyment of Farmer's Life is probably quite subjective, but honestly, I uninstalled and requested a refund within 20 minutes of starting the game.

One of the most delightfully wholesome games I've played this year! 'Lake' is a wonderfully human story about reconnecting (if you choose to) with your past and figuring out your future while enjoying the present. The characters are interesting and varied, the whole atmosphere is extremely relaxed, and it can be a wonderfully feel-good experience if you let it. It's probably not for everyone, but 'Lake' will no doubt be a pleasure to play for so many people.

'Lake' does have a few performance issues for me (stuttering) and glitches, but the whole experience is so lovely that it's easy to overlook it, especially when you consider this isn't an AAA production.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Superb story and lovely artwork! I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did, and I'm very happy that I bought this game. It's definitely opened up my eyes to this kind of story-driven genre!

I'm a big fan of the 2004 TV reboot and I was really excited to see this in the Steam summer sale. The trailer looked great, the premise excellent...

...and then I bought and played it. I was expecting something immersive, and to be fair to the developer, the music score and voice acting are very good, but that's where it ends for me. The visuals are alright, the interface okay (I can see what the developer wanted to do with the design, but it's a little harsh on the eyes after a while), but there's no sense of immediacy in combat. I turned on crew veterancy and persistent damage, but I didn't really feel like they had much effect, but maybe I haven't given it enough time.

I'm not out of the tutorial yet (I know, I know), but I'm bored already. This is a slow-paced game that needs a greater sense of urgency, punchier sound effects, and a feeling of accomplishment.

A disappointing 4/10 from me. Sorry!

Absolutely brilliant story-driven game, even surpassing (in my opinion) the numerous Telltale games on offer. Beautiful artistic direction, excellent voice-acting, interesting characters, and a compelling, emotional story that frankly brought me to tears. I'd recommend this to anyone.

Brilliant writing and heart-felt, ruthless drama make this one of the most enjoyable games I've played in 2012! I sincerely hope other game designers take note of the series' strengths, as it combines the best of quick decision-making, and the point-and-click games of the 90's.

Give it a go!

Skyrim carries on from the legacy of Morrowing and Oblivion, presenting the player with a dynamic, open world that will entirely consume you. The overall tone of the game is more serious than its predecessor, but still retains good portions of humour and a hugely enjoyable and immersive storyline.

Dungeons have been revamped brilliantly (no more same-y instances like in Oblivion), and the new game engine handles character interaction much more subtly.

If you can afford it, Skyrim will not disappoint!

A brilliantly addictive strategy game and an excellent introduction to the Civilization series! Great fun over multiplayer (if you have the bandwidth)!

Strangely enjoyable and endearing alternative to Minecraft. Great fun with friends! Get it while it's so cheap! :)