Time to Terraform: Turn Mars From Red Planet to Green Planet in ‘Per Aspera,’ Out Today on Meta Quest 2 + Pro

Mars, the red planet. Dusty and cold and lifeless. Inhospitable to human life. But could we change that? Could humanity one day transform Mars into a lush paradise?

It’s the plot of many a science fiction novel, and the idea behind city-builder (or maybe planet-builder) Per Aspera as well. Released in 2020 on Steam, today Tlön Industries and Raw Fury bring Per Aspera to Meta Quest 2 + Pro for $24.99 USD. Check out the launch trailer below:

In Per Aspera you’ll take control of the AI in charge of terraforming Mars. Build what you can and import what you can’t as you work to make the planet habitable for humanity. Use ice from Europa, greenhouse gasses from Earth, and so on to help turn Mars into a new home, dotted with domed living spaces, water extractors, power plants, and more. Per Aspera is an intricately detailed builder at massive scale, informed by real-world science and even geographical data direct from leading space agencies.

We sat down with Game Director Javier Otaegui to explore how Per Aspera came about, the reality behind the science fiction, and what went into bringing this planet-sized city builder to VR. Read on for more details.

Javier Otaegui: When we started envisioning Per Aspera, we knew that one of the key pillars would be to convey the grandiosity of the mission at hand, which is to terraform an entire planet. We soon realized that dividing the experience into discrete levels would undermine this premise, so we started imagining what a city builder that spanned an entire planet would look like.

It was not an easy design choice, but in hindsight I’m very happy with the direction we took—being able to build practically anywhere on the planet and start transforming the environment in just a few clicks.

Of course, managing at planetary scale brought up many challenges, both technical and design-wise. It was very important to pace the progress of players without taking away the freedom of building everywhere. In order to do this we tied the story to unlocking the different planetary sectors, and also to the different technologies that allow the player to perform space missions and terraform the planet. It’s an experience that starts with a single worker drone, and ends with a whole planet brought to life.

JO: It’s all speculative science for the time being, but in general we need to heat up the planet so that the additional heat can release the frozen CO2 that is trapped in the poles. This, in turn, creates a greenhouse gas effect that further increases the temperature.

Once the temperature is high enough we’ll start seeing some puddles of water, and if we kickstart the generation of oxygen—including the introduction of bioengineered life forms like lichen, moss, and certain other plants—we can further the conversion of CO2 to O2, being careful not to make the atmosphere inflammable in the process.

Eventually we will need to either import or find subterranean Nitrogen to pump into the atmosphere, in order to achieve the right mix of O2 and N2. And as the final grand act, we need to protect it all from solar radiation by building a Magnetic Dipole Shield.

In Per Aspera, we propose five stages. The game explains all the different subtleties in each of these stages, so that players can feel the achievement of terraforming a planet while simultaneously understanding what is really happening.

JO: Being as scientifically accurate as possible is one of our North Stars in Per Aspera. Of course, this is still a game so many compromises were made—but in essence we feel like Per Aspera takes a “hard” approach to science fiction as we tried to model everything on real science papers and theories.

We were inspired by shows like The Expanse, which thrive for realism while keeping a magical touch. Science-wise, we were inspired by the many terraforming books and papers that have been published, especially by [Robert] Zubrin and [Martyn J.] Fogg. The game that inspired the main resource mechanic may seem a bit odd, but it was the German series The Settlers (originally known as Serf City in the US).

JO: Yes, Per Aspera is (in a nutshell) a big thesis about how narrative and gameplay can be both sides of the same coin. We believe that narrative design is game design, and we face the design of our games as holistic experiences.

In Per Aspera the players play as AMI, an Artificial Consciousness that was designed and deployed specifically for a set mission. How would it feel to be awakened with a consciousness, but with a single purpose? The game also features several characters, and you explore the relationships between AMI and each of them.

As the story unfolds, many mysteries are discovered and things start getting a little bit weird on the Red Planet.

JO: Our main challenge was redesigning the experience for VR. We wanted to make it feel like an experience designed for VR, and that is why the core team of the game was directly involved in bringing the experience over. The grand scale of the simulation was our biggest challenge, we needed to account not only for changes in performance but also for shorter play sessions.

We factored in everything and thought “What would be the best possible version of Per Aspera in VR?” and we went for that. We also worked a lot on making the controls feel as efficient and comfortable as possible, while still feeling like you are playing an Artificial Consciousness controlling a vast network of components. We did several playtesting sessions in order to gather feedback and be sure that everything was in the right place.

JO: Well, what I can say is that controlling a whole planet while immersed in VR feels totally natural for a game like Per Aspera. It’s like it is a meant-to-be VR title. The controls adapted amazingly well and it really feels as if you are in control of the mission. Per Aspera is novel in the sense that we are bringing the total city building experience with total immersion on a real, spherical planet. It’s different and we hope it brings new ways of thinking about VR.

JO: We are currently focused on making a great VR launch, but we have myriad plans for the future, as we want to continue expanding the Per Aspera universe in many directions.

JO: Yes, we are very excited about developing this game for Meta Quest 2. We had a lot of fun while working on Per Aspera, and we hope many people will enjoy it around the world.

We are avid readers of feedback, and would love to hear your thoughts on Per Aspera for Meta Quest 2!

Feeling confident in your green thumb? Ready to make humanity a new home? Pick up Per Aspera today on the Meta Quest Store for $24.99 USD.