Colony builder Surviving Mars is back with dome DLC and free tourism update next week

Paradox Interactive's colony builder Surviving Mars has resumed development and will expand this Monday, 15th March, with a free new tourism update and the In-Dome Buildings Pack.

Surviving Mars - which challenges players to rejuvenate the wastes of the red planet, eventually transforming the world into a thriving colony of shimmering domes - initially launched in 2018, and received its last major expansion, Green Planet, the following year.

All's been quiet since then, but development has now resumed under the watchful eye of Abstraction, which is taking over from Surviving Mars' original creator Haemimont Games.

The first fruits of Abstraction's labours will arrive in the form a free new update for Xbox One, PS4, and PC this Monday, 15th March, which revamps Surviving Mars tourism systems. Now, tourists will rate their stay on a colony, with the resulting Holiday Experience Rating impacting the rewards, funds, and future tourist applicants players will receive.

New buildable hotels will help boost ratings by increasing tourists' comfort and satisfaction, while a new Low-G Amusement Park delivers an additional satisfaction increase. Lastly, there are new Rover Safaris that can be bought from Earth or printed on Mars, enabling players to set waypoints at places of interest so tourists can go sightseeing and gain yet more satisfaction.

Surviving Mars' free update will be accompanied by the new In-Dome Buildings Content Creator Pack, which includes eight new buildings alongside a "host of technical additions", and will be priced at £3.99/$4.99 USD. Additionally, a full-scale, although still-mysterious, Surviving Mars expansion is scheduled to arrive sometime later this year.

And if you've yet to experience Surviving Mars, it's currently available to download for free on the Epic Games Store, and will remain so until Thursday, 18th March.