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Summary
- Deliver Us Mars is the sequel to 2019’s Deliver Us The Moon, and it’s out now on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One.
- Join a desperate mission to Mars and uncover the mystery of an abandoned colony.
- Experience a rich narrative and all-new gameplay mechanics as you help save our planet.
In 2019’s Deliver Us The Moon, developer KeokeN Interactive sent players to the Moon to reactivate a vital energy source and pull Earth back from the brink of disaster. In its sequel Deliver Us Mars, out today on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, the goal is to give our planet a fighting chance at a bright future – and the only way to do that involves a small crew journeying to Mars on a do-or-die mission.
Developed by a core team of around 20 people, Deliver Us Mars takes their grand vision to an even bigger canvas. Where Deliver Us The Moon had a silent protagonist witnessing events from the past, Deliver Us Mars has a voiced lead who plays a key role in the story, as well as a full cast of supporting characters. New gameplay mechanics like a thrillingly realistic climbing system, first-person zero-G sections and challenging puzzles give that adventure even more variety this time around.
In the near future, Earth has been ravaged by terrible flooding and wild storms as a result of climate change. Only the ARKs – enormous ships with the power to restore plant life and the planet’s atmosphere – can give humanity a shot at safeguarding the world for future generations. Those ARKs, though, are currently in the possession of the shadowy group Outward, who fled with the vessels to Mars and deliberately left the rest of mankind behind to start anew. Discovering the fate of the Outward colonists and the whereabouts of the ARKs are what drive your journey across Mars in this sci-fi adventure.
But that larger save-the-world story is just one layer of Deliver Us Mars’ powerful and emotional narrative. At the heart of the game is the relationship between a father and a daughter. You take on the role of young astronaut Kathy Johanson, whose father, Isaac, abandoned her years earlier to join the Outward group as they escaped to Mars. In the present, a mysterious message suggests that Isaac may still be alive – and Kathy is determined to join the World Space Agency’s mission to the Red Planet and discover the truth, even though her father is a wanted fugitive on Earth.
“It was important to have the impact of that relationship bubbling underneath the surface the entire time,” says Ellise Chappell (‘Poldark’, ‘Young Wallander’), who plays Kathy and lends her likeness to the character. “Kathy has been living with unanswered questions for years which I think influences the way she carries herself. This broken relationship informs her interests, her drive, and even her sense of humor, which I think she uses to hide a deep sadness and insecurity. It also makes Kathy feel quite unpredictable as a character – where do her loyalties lie?”
That tension of Kathy’s true motivations will keep players guessing throughout the game: has she truly journeyed to Mars to find the ARKs and save humanity, or does she selfishly want to find her father, a goal not shared by her crewmates? Or does she want both at the same time, possibly jeopardizing the mission?
“Apart from being a grand space opera mixed with a psychological family drama, which is in itself and unusual combination – one that works brilliantly – Deliver Us Mars is a game of suspense and wonder and mystery exploring the Red Planet,” says actor and Performance Director Neil Newbon (Resident Evil Village, Baldur’s Gate 3), who plays Kathy’s father, Isaac, and helped bring the motion-captured cutscenes to life in collaboration with KeokeN Interactive. “It has violent undertones without being overtly violent. I think it makes it a thoughtful and well observed piece whilst still being thrilling and captivating as a piece of storytelling. The danger and threat of violence is ever present but not glorified – and that underlying current adds to the tense experience of Kathy’s journey.”
Newbon was such a huge fan of Deliver Us The Moon that he reached out to KeokeN Interactive after completing the game. “I emailed them shortly after its release to ask to work with them about 4 years ago,” he says. Now, he’s one of the sequel’s stars, bringing a great deal of inner conflict to the role of Isaac Johanson, who players will learn about in holographic diaries once they arrive on Mars. Isaac’s regret over leaving Kathy behind years before is a key piece of the overall narrative. “I charted his life and the events that brought him to this terrible decision. It was not an easy moment but as an actor I loved working on these scenes.”
Deliver Us Mars is a game that asks players to make their own minds up about the story, and what’s worth sacrificing for the greater good. While the Outward group initially seem like the villains of the piece, Kathy’s journey across their colonies on Mars exposes a faction that was fraught with infighting and conflict about what they’ve done. Players will experience this parallel story while recovering the ARKs, and retrace Outward’s steps as they endured the harsh realities of attempting to colonize Mars (which, even with the power of the ARKs, was far from easy).
“I think Kathy, like most of the characters in Deliver Us Mars, doesn’t fall into either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ archetypes,” says Chappell. “No one is a hero or a villain in this game; each character is a complex representation of what it means to be a human, flaws and all. Kathy is an anti-hero; despite being brave, determined and highly intelligent. She can also be deceptive, short-sighted and reckless. She’s a character who has to make difficult choices which will throw what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ into question for the player.”
Players will build a strong connection with Kathy as she endures immense odds to achieve her mission. KeokeN Interactive’s goal is to create a protagonist who feels like a real person, reflecting their grounded approach to sci-fi storytelling that is consistent with the style of the first game.
Today, they can take that journey to Mars themselves, experiencing gorgeous environments, a huge variety of gameplay types and a finale that’ll stay with them for years to come.
Newbon explains how he hopes players will feel about Deliver Us Mars once they’ve finished the game. “Transported. Moved and wanting to immediately call their closest human beings and tell them that they love them.”
Deliver Us Mars
Frontier Foundry
A BOLD NEW MISSION
Ten years after the Fortuna mission, humanity is closer than ever to extinction. After a mysterious distress call from Mars, Earth’s youngest astronaut Kathy Johanson joins the Zephyr and its crew on one last mission: to recover the ARK colony ships stolen by the mysterious Outward, and with them, ensure the survival of the human race.
OUT OF THIS WORLD GAMEPLAY
Board the Zephyr as you journey from Earth to the surface of Mars. Traverse and endure its harsh and unforgiving terrain as you quest to discover the secrets left behind by Outward. Use both brains and brawn to overcome mental and physical challenges, find the ARKs, and uncover the motivations of those behind the distress call that brought you here.
A HANDCRAFTED EXPERIENCE
Experience a highly polished and absorbing narrative experience packed with engaging gameplay. Every moment is handcrafted, delivering a suspense-filled, emotion-fuelled narrative alongside music from award-winning composer Sander Van Zanten, state-of-the-art motion capture, and stunning graphics, powered by Unreal Engine.
Deliver Us Mars © 2023 KeokeN Interactive B.V. All rights reserved. Published by Frontier Developments plc. ‘Frontier’ ‘Frontier Foundry’ and the Frontier logo are trademarks of Frontier Developments plc. All rights reserved. Deliver Us Mars uses the Unreal® Engine. Unreal® Engine © 1998-2023, Epic Games, Inc. All rights reserved. Unreal and its logo are Epic’s trademarks or registered trademarks in the US and elsewhere.