It’s been a little while since we heard anything new about Deliver Us Mars. Back in the summer, we learned that the sci-fi follow-up to the highly enjoyable Deliver Us The Moon had been delayed into next year. With the title’s new launch date of February 2 starting to gain on us, the team behind the title are giving eager fans another taste of the adventure to come.
The final Deliver Us Mars dev diary has just been published, with a focus from the team at developers KeokeN Interactive on the emotional themes woven into the game’s narrative. Described as a huge “space opera,” by managing director and studio co-founder Paul Deetman, the storyline focuses on the Johanson family and follows their journey both metaphorically and literally across the game.
As explained by the game’s narrative director Raynor Arkenbout, there’s an ongoing sibling power struggle set at the heart of Deliver Us Mars, which adds a complex dynamic between the sisters alongside an extra layer of depth and emotion to the protagonist Kathy Johanson’s search for her missing father. You can check out the latest dev diary for Deliver Us Mars right here if you want to dive deeper into the backstory of the Johanson family.
It’s explained in the new trailer how Kathy and Claire were abandoned by their father Isaac in the years prior to the events of Deliver Us Mars. With Earth dying, Isaac left the planet with the organisation known as Outward on their travels to Mars. Now, years later, his two daughters are about to set off on their own mission to the red planet, with two main objectives and a whole heap of emotional baggage.
Eager players are also given a bit more insight into the nature of the main character they’ll be playing in Deliver Us Mars. The actress who plays Kathy, Ellise Chappell describes her as “so funny, cheeky,” as well as remarking that she’s “got this rebellious streak.” This ties in well with the fact that she’s the younger of the siblings, who has been mothered by her older sister Claire pretty much their entire life. With that said, game director and studio co-founder Koen Deetman is keen to emphasise that Kathy’s character should feel relatable to players and should be “someone you can resonate with.”
While Deliver Us Mars is predominantly a spacefaring action-adventure game, it’s clear that there’s some highly compelling and emotive storytelling woven into the game’s overarching narrative. With both sisters seeking out their father for very different reasons, family issues will undoubtedly come to the surface in their pursuit of him. It’s certainly promising to be an exciting and dramatic ride when the game finally launches next year.
Deliver Us Mars is scheduled to launch on February 2. It will be available on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.
