Tharsis is a turn-based space strategy game. With dice and cannibalism. It puts you in control of humanity's first manned mission to Mars, just as it's struck by a micrometeoroid storm. You must guide your crew through disasters, food shortages, and the unforgiving nature of space - all while maintaining your sanity amidst cryptic signals and warnings from Mars.
Defy the odds, make the difficult decisions, and embark on the most important mission in human history.
It’s a great concept for a turn-based strategy game but be prepared for its unforgiving nature because you’re definitely going to die more than you survive.
Tharsis is a captivating but sadistic game of chance that puts your fate at the mercy of dice.
With a few tweaks and maybe a more casual-friendly difficulty level, Tharsis could be a fun strategy alternative for those who don't enjoy building large kingdoms or waging wars that take hours to complete. In its current state however, Tharsis is little more than a sadistically cruel game of digital roulette.
If you're a fan of constant raising stakes with no reprieve, then this is certainly the sort of thing that will appeal to you. Even if not, it will still appeal, but in smaller doses. Either way, Tharsis is a compelling, but polarizing, game.
Tharsis can never stop reminding you that you don't have control over its interstellar disaster, just the illusion of it. Every time I watched my ship fall apart, and every time I watched new events propagate across the ship that were completely impossible to stop, I felt like, win-or-lose, Tharsis was having all the fun.