So when i first heard about this game (about six months ago iirc), i was all ready to pick it up, but then found out it was Steam only or an I-phone game, which stopped me in my tracks.

I completely missed the announcement that is was now also available on GoG, and i'm picking it up asap. I've been to the main games site:

http://www.wakingmars.com/

I've not seen any forums there, or much discussion on the game, so i'll ask here, is the game as decent as it sounds (i like non violent type games and love sci-fi and Mars stuff in general)? It looks quite 'arcade' game like, more an action game than an adventure, but it seems to be deeper than that? Oh and how long does the game last (on average), for those that have finished it?

Thanks in advance.

I haven't played through the game yet, I'm 4 hours in and the game says I'm at 40% complete.

As for your concerns on it being too aciony: I'm acutally playing this together with my wive, who is an absolute non-gamer and generally can't handle controls too well. But with this game she manages quite well, the pace is very slow and there are only a few passages where you have to be careful of environmental dangers.

Flying around with the Jetpack, exploring the caves and planting your mars gardens along the way feels really relaxing and satisfying. Also the earnest and diligent main character is as likeable as he is amusing. I like the whole placid tone of the game.
Also the scientific backround on biology and geology is accurate for a game and if you are into these things a source for enjoyment by itself.

The only thing that irritates me is, that it doesn't seem to matter how you approach the planting of the seeds for achieving your biomass goals. I mean, there's more or less two ressources: seeds and soils. My wive kind of plants according to sympathy (I like these water plants, so I plant a big one over here - no those acid plants are mean, i don't want them to grow! :) and she never ran into trouble so far often even getting all five stars within one area most of the times. I expected a little more careful planning and using fauna-flora-dependancies would have been needed. Maybe this will change later in the game though (that's what I keep telling her anyway).

Great game, enjoy!

It's like a zen garden of a game. Light some candles, relax, and play some Waking Mars. I'll be in the other room playing Postal. :D

I just started playing this game yesterday. I could hardly stop. I love it. Going around collecting seeds and planting them and getting the biomass of that particular cavern you are in really works for me.

I am concerned I could get addicted to farmville...

Edit: Oh and I love the story and the voice acting.

This is a fantastic game, very subtle. All show, almost no tell. Worth at least two playthroughs, which is odd for an iOS-style casual game.

Not that it's hard. There's maybe one part that's tricky, but beyond that --- well, I think you can guess how hard it is by the number of topics here asking for help.

This game surprised me with how good it is. I found myself staying up all night playing it - I couldn't quit. I think I'm about 50-60% of the way through now but all I got to say is "Excellent Game so far".

It's more of a puzzle game - it's not really a platformer or arcadey - and that's a plus in my book. There are controls and you have to learn to fly your little guy around but rarely is skill in that department very difficult. I'm always banging my head on stuff, falling from too high - etc - but it rarely will kill you unless you're extremely careless, and that's not what the game is about anyway. There's this one dangerous plant that I sometimes get caught up in and it'll get me sometimes - but it's easily avoidable - I just get careless flying around looking at what's going on with all the plants/animals in the cave trying to figure out how to balance everything out properly -where to put things.

Very Fun Game - and I'm picky. In my mind it's a little bit similar to Unmechanical in my mind. Real engaging gameplay that's fun and engaging and not frustrating.

It's enjoyable. Much more a puzzle game than action though. If you want a little challenge, I highly suggest throwing it on hard difficulty (the only difference is the amount of damage the hazards do - two hits will kill you on hard). That way you have to be careful and might die a few times (not that death loses any progress).

Thanks for the reviews.

I just started playing this game last night and enjoyed it so much that I stayed up late tp keep playing it. :-)

Only thing that sucks is that it gets rather repetitive to do the same thing in every room, over and over.
This is only really noticeable by the time you get down around the power core.