Tharsis

Tharsis is a 2016 strategy video game developed and published by Choice Provisions. It was released worldwide in January 2016 for Windows and Mac OS X through the download service Steam, as well as for PlayStation 4, and later in April 2020 for the Nintendo Switch. The game follows a team of astronauts on the first crewed mission to Mars, in order to track down a signal that is apparently extraterrestrial in origin. After being hit by a micrometeorite storm, they must resort to desperate measures to survive the trip. A turn-based game played using simulated virtual dice, the player controls four characters, attempting to fix problems with the ship and keep the crew alive each turn by managing their dice cache, health, and stress level. Developed by designer Zach Gage and the indie development studio Choice Provisions, the game was created to mimic a board game experience. Critics were polarized on whether the gameplay was deeply strategic or overly dependent on random chance, and the game was more poorly received by video game reviewers than streamers, board game players or other developers. Gameplay Tharsis allows players to control four astronauts with unique jobs and abilities inside a heavily damaged spacecraft, the Iktomi. The game lasts for 10 in-game weeks, during which time the player must attempt to reach Mars without any of the crew perishing. At the start of each week, at least two parts of the ship will have a problem in need of repair, and which, if left alone, can damage the ship's hull integrity or crewmember health. The player can click each astronaut to deploy them to a certain module for that turn and repair them using the astronaut's dice. If a problem is not repaired after all crew members move, the negative effect will trigger.