Other than the small addition of the Tourism update and premium DLC that came with that, it’s been absolutely ages since we saw any further expansion to the world of Surviving Mars. But now it’s finally time for us to go Below & Beyond. Will you?
Surviving Mars was last expanded upon properly way back in 2019 when the Green Planet DLC launched, bringing with it grass and shrubbery in good measure. Today though it’s time to go deep with the Below & Beyond expansion, building underground bases, mining asteroids and gathering up the most rare of resources as we look to push the limits of what is entirely possible on the Red Planet.
Surviving Mars Below & Beyond is available to purchase and download into your Surviving Mars base game from today, with it costing you £16.74 for the privilege. It’s present on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4 and PC as players tunnel beneath the surface of the planet in order to discover the riches that lay in wait.
There are a host of options and opportunities opening themselves up here and for that asking price, what’s included seems to be the real deal. For instance, you’ll be able to expand into a cave system, you’ll be able to knock out some of exotic minerals and data samples, and will find new unlocks to the research tree, ass you work the Recon and Expansion angle.
As they behind Surviving Mars explain, the possibilities are pretty endless…
“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.”
The key features of this expansion sit at…
- 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.
But it’s not just about going Below & Beyond and there’s also the chance to involve yourself with a new Radio pack too. The Mars Lifestyle pack includes no less than 16 original tunes from 4 different artists, bringing about more than 70 minutes of some chill tunes. It’s pretty cheap too and so if you’re already opening the wallet in order to find access to the bigger expansion, you may as well pay the few extra quid for this as well. £3.29 certainly isn’t going to break the bank.
Obviously, as with all DLC and expansions, you’ll need a copy of the Surviving Mars base game to hand prior to even worrying about all this other stuff.
DLC Description:
The era of colonization is over and a new age of exploration has begun. You’ve just scratched the surface of Mars, now get ready to go below and beyond!
