# Mars - the Arrival — user reviews > 32 indexed App Store user reviews of Mars by Stefan Nyul, rated 4.10/5 from 26 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mars-the-arrival/id1458927524/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mars-the-arrival/id1458927524.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 16 · 4★ 2 · 3★ 4 · 2★ 2 · 1★ 2 ## Newest reviews (11 of 32) ### 3/5 — App crashes if your colony gets too big *2023-03-16* Loved playing this game, but eventually my colony got too large causing the app to crash crash while loading - on launch I get the “loading height maps…” progress bar, and when it gets to 100% the app just crashes. Repeated attempts produce identical results. I haven’t been able to figure out a way to recover it. Devs need to fix this or all my buildings will deteriorate and my colonists will die. :( ### 5/5 — N o I c e *2022-02-26* Nice game keeps me calm. ### 5/5 — Entertaining and surprisingly enduring *2021-08-18, version 1.2.2* Slow and steady, but a very entertaining game. I hope that continual refinement and building of the game is planned, there is a nice diamond in the rough here. Thoroughly recommend. ### 5/5 — Hard but fun *2021-01-28* I have some suggestions for this amazing game please don’t waste a good game and improve it 1). Should have a button where should you allow or not allow any more people to your city 2). Should have somewhere to request what you want (note this one is like you will get more of the resource you want and less of other) That all I have for now but please don’t abandon this game like many other great game Edit: Idk why my name is that my account name is VIKKstarship123 but it fine that ninjahaveligma ### 5/5 — go with Elon and settle Mars *2021-01-27* Games provides my IT brain with endless play strategies. Wish I could select a cool blue for the UI. To the developers how’s about you let us start building deep space stations. ### 5/5 — A Slow Paced but Fun Game *2020-12-12* Genuinely enjoying this game. The only thing I dislike is that certain things can take so long. But I’m an impatient person. Other than that, I love trying to study what building I need next and how to keep my astronauts happy and healthy. ### 5/5 — Hardcore-Simulation ... *2020-11-14, version 1.0.4* ... der Besiedelung des Mars durch die Menschen. Wer ein Spiel mit state-of-the-art grafischen Effekten erwartet, wird wahrscheinlich enttäuscht werden, obgleich das Intro hier durchaus überzeugen kann. Das eigentliche Spiel - oder besser die Simulation - beginnt jedoch danach und der Spieler muss sich mit einer beständig an Komplexität zunehmenden Simulationsumgebung zurecht finden. Auch wenn die Simulation anfangs vielleicht einen gemütlichen Eindruck erweckt, zeigt sich bald das Tücken und zu überwindende Probleme in der Dynamik der sich gegenseitig beeinflussenden und immer mehr werdenden Simulationsparamter stecken. Frustrierende Rückschläge sind keine Seltenheit - kontinuierliche Überwachung und vorausschauende Planung sind ein Muss, will man die eigenen Siedler nicht dem Untergang ausliefern. Auch wenn jeder Spieler für sich allein kämpft, ist das vergleichende Ranking mit anderen dennoch Ansporn. Insgesamt eine komplexe sehr detaillierte Simulation mit zahlreichen zu lösenden Aufgaben. Mir macht es immer noch Spass - selbst nachdem ich das Spielende erreicht habe - den Status Quo durch einmal am Tag „nach dem Rechten schauen“ zu erhalten. Das Konzept ist unterhaltsam, gut gemacht und schreit nach einer Fortsetzung. Allen Spielern viel Spass und Haiwa viel Erfolg! ### 5/5 — Genuine Honest Review (Update) *2020-11-07, version 1.0.4* Ok, firstly, this is not a standard colony builder. If you want that, go elsewhere. This is a long term game. Nothing happens quickly, just like real life. The devs have totally wiped out speed of play to adopt more realism. And that’s basically what this game amounts to. Realism. Despite, or maybe due to, the fact that it’s on Mars. There are NO SPEED UPS! EVER! At the beginning, this game is sloooooow. I am patient, and love diverse games, but it did try my patience to begin with. The first stage can take weeks....second months....I am now on stage 3, attempting to become a self reliant society....it is apparently going to take a long time lol. However! It is strangely addictive. The feeling you get when things run smooth is undeniable. On the flip side, when things go wrong, and they WILL, it angers you. Materials must come from earth. These take 3 days. Real time. I recommend the tiny IAP, one 99p, the other 1.99. The first allow a reshuffle of items coming. The second gets rid of ads for bonus items. ( This can be more than the original shipment, making it super for building and for ppl, also from earth). The devs listen, and reply when mailing support. Even explained points I was unsure of. Have made some suggestions and hope to see some implemented, but we shall see. I actually HIGHLY RECOMMEND this game to any strategy lover, or even idle player. Once or twice a day is really all you can do anything due to wait times, but as things grow and progress, you won’t mind so much. Quick hint....explorations (phase2) give samples, the better the sample, the more you can learn from it. The ideas used for some of these are simply amazing. Download this if you love strategy, or space, or just if you fancy something different. Stick with it for a few weeks and you’ll soon start to look forward to every login to see what is happening. The problems become challenges, the perfection becomes a win. Try it. Actual score 4.2. Would be 5, just a cpl of things to change. *****UPDATE7Nov20***** If you love a challenge, you MUST dl this game! Every progression adds more and more to this “game”. In reality, it’s more of a sim than I’ve ever seen. Want to see what happens when you have to settle a planet.....FROM NOTHING!? Then get this. It takes time, patience, determination (cos you lose everything often, but builds back fast, not from other ppl, just from reality. Not enough water? Ugh. Two weeks to recover. Worth it!!) and special “dog-with-a-bone” attitude. But seeing stuff work...just gives me an OCD org*sm lol **side note** devs listened, implemented changes I suggested, me! Can’t say more really. Give it a try. It’s free, why not? Also rating changed to full. Well deserved imo ### 4/5 — Guter Ansatz *2020-07-25, version 1.0.3* Ich finde die Idee von dem Spiel super es ist allerdings noch ausbaufähig ich bin gespannt was in Zukunft noch kommt weil Potenzial für mehr ist da ### 5/5 — Best game *2020-07-22, version 1.0.3* This is the best game!!! ### 4/5 — Schönes Spielkonzept, gute Umsetzung *2020-07-11, version 1.0.3* 11.07.2020: Durch Zufall entdeckt - und jetzt voll dabei, aktuell in der Industriephase. Mir gefällt die nachvollziehbare technische/wissenschaftliche Forschung und Entwicklung sowie der daraus resultierende Bau. Auch ohne viel Grafik durchaus fesselnd. Am Anfang geht es sehr schnell, jedoch fehlen einem da noch trotz Erläuterungen einige Zusammenhänge. Danach dauern Entwicklung und Bau zwar etwas länger, aber bisher nicht störend lang. Es wird zwar vieles erklärt, mir fehlt jedoch eine Art Techtree für den Gesamtüberblick. Über die Hilfe gibt es aber Tipps für das weitere Vorgehen. Das Spiel scheint kein Pay2Win zu sein, ich komme bisher völlig ohne Käufe aus. Die Werbung lässt sich für 2,99 € verhindern, ein Ranking/Vergleich mit anderen Siedlungen ist für 0,99 € möglich. Diese freiwilligen Kaufmöglichkeiten für jeweils ca. 36 Tage finde ich jedoch etwas zu teuer, hier wäre mir ein Einmalbetrag lieber. Besonders positiv möchte ich die schnellen Antworten bei meinen Anfragen und Bugmeldungen per Mail (kleine Textfehler, schneller Energieverlust und fehlende Reparaturmöglichkeiten) hervorheben. Die Übermittlung der Log-Dateien an die Entwickler zur Fehleranalyse funktioniert mittlerweile. Bei ungewöhnlichem Verhalten des Spiels hilft es, die App einfach komplett zu schließen und neu zu starten, und das Spiel läuft wieder normal. Textfehler wurden schnell ausgebessert. Bin auf die weitere Entwicklung gespannt und gebe diesem Spiel sehr gern noch die Chance auf 5*. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Takes ages , life is short *2023-12-06, version 1.5.0* Takes ages to build , life is to short to wait for so long , if for a construction will take 5 minutes I’ll give you 5 stars , should be a fun game not to wait for a building hours ### 1/5 — Time is money people *2022-10-25* Things take way to long to research. And then you need to build them! AND YOU CANT DO THEM ALL AT ONCE ### 1/5 — Schlechtes Spiel *2020-07-21, version 1.0.3* Selten ein so langweiliges und zeitverschwendestes Spiel gehabt. Einfach nur Beschäftigungstherapie. ### 1/5 — Textbasierendes Strategiespiel ohne aktivem Support *2020-07-02, version 1.0.3* Also wenn man ein Spiel rausbringt sollte man auch oder grade in der Anfangsphase das Game auch supporten. Hier leider nicht ... es werden weder Foreneinträge kommentiert noch Emails beantwortet. Wenn dann Probleme im Spielablauf in Form von Bugs entstehen und das Ganze dann zahlenden Kunden passiert, ist dies nicht zu entschuldigen! Ansonsten ein Game was zumindest nach den verschiedenen Aufbauphasen sicher schnell langweilig wird. Resüme: Auf keinen Fall Geld investieren solange niemand das Spiel supportet, dann ist jedoch ein Weiterkommen sehr schwierig! ### 2/5 — Great Time Management, Poor OPTIMIZATION! *2025-11-23* First I will say the game is good and the prices you pay for the few option is reasonable. I have been playing for 6 plus months and enjoyed the daily activities of managing the settlement. As of now I would not suggest making any ingame purchasing due to the game not being optimized. It's a text based type game with no high demand for graphics yet when I play I get error message that it's low on memory. So recently I purchased a new, best iPad with twice the ram. It's the best you can get yet I'm still getting the memory error. The game either lacks optimization or has a memory leak, I'm not sure. Either way once you spend much time, advance, maybe spend money on purchases you will find yourself not being able to play even with best tablet or phone. So play free and don't spend money. I'm all done due to my new iPad can no longer support this app. Please fix memory issues. ### 2/5 — Bezahldruck zu hoch *2022-07-28, version 1.4.2* Eigentlich ein schönes Spiel auch wenn die Darstellung der Basis eher schematisch bleibt. Der Druck zu bezahlen ist allerdings zu hoch. Früher oder später kann man seine Basis nicht mehr warten ohne zu bezahlen. Man wird einfach nie mit den richten Ressourcen beliefert. Das kann man nur durch bezahlen ändern. Schade ### 2/5 — Entertaining *2022-07-07, version 1.4.2* Was a great game overall for the last 6 months. Yes it’s a slow long process game. But highly entertaining. That all changed a few days ago when travelling lack of internet meant no contact. This has caused me to jo be able to fix an issue my colony had. To make matters worse If you are in the progress of upgrading or building you can only pause not cancel it. So now my colony will die out due to a small change I think needs to be done. I don’t mind loosing the resources for said upgrades, but to loose the entire colony 6 months down the drain. So overall I enjoyed it up until my recent error don’t forget to check in. Daily. ### 2/5 — Don’t waste your time... *2021-02-03* This game is about as exciting as watching paint dry. Glaciers move at a quicker pace. ### 3/5 — Having issues *2026-07-07* Need a fix the application is no longer function after launch it just goes dark ### 3/5 — Great Potential, but… *2024-05-18* The fact you get nonstop increases in colonists with no way to reject them and it feels impossible to actually stay ahead of habitat needs cause you run out of construction supplies constantly is frustrating. I’ve tried 3 different runs and they all end in failure cause I can’t build faster than the colonist population increases. I think with the ability to stop them from coming and get extra supplies as a result would be nice. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Peak however *2026-02-12, version 1.5.0* this game needs an IKEA R&D so the settlers can carry blåhaj ### 5/5 — Great Time Management, Very Challenging! *2025-11-09* First I will say after reviewing other's reviews the game does work fine and the issues people are having with the game freezing or running low in memory is due to using an older device that doesn't have enough memory. This happened to me recently with most of the games I was playing, including this game. I had an old 8th gen iPad and had to replace, game works fine now. I like this game, it's very challenging and pushes you to tightly manage your colony, it will test your skills and there is always a way to work through the toughest situation. I have been playing now for 8 months and just yesterday achieved the construction of a nuclear reactor, this will change everything and greatly increase my advancement. Doing so wasn't easy, and I found managing my people by sending them out on exploration greatly helped to manage resources, collect samples which in turn I sent back to earth for credit towards more needed resources. I will leave you with one thought, using your imagination, trying different things and never giving up is key in this game. You need to manage your colony everyday to be successful. One mistake I now see that I made is I put my colony near the North Pole where the water ice is. Primarily it's a good idea but I'm now thinking if the ice all melts my colony may be destroyed. It's a possible costly over sight on my part, I didn't catch that when starting but I will have to wait and see. I can always start over if need be. ### 5/5 — Great game and support *2025-05-18* I really enjoy the game and its dynamics. When I had an issue with the purchase the developers were quick to respond and resolve my issue which is rare these days. ### 5/5 — Sigh *2025-03-20* I hope you added Venus to colonize ;) ### 5/5 — . *2024-06-16* Recommended!!! ### 5/5 — Wow, this is amazing! Part 1 *2023-06-18, version 1.5.0* Wow, I’m surprised, only by one developer, but still good, but could you lower the time, you aren’t giving us micro transactions, but if you won’t lower the time, could you implement ways we could lower the time, like the more population we have, the more you get of a special point that you earn when you increase in population, or something? But truly, this game’s positives are great! You get to place yourself anywhere, even the mountains, the valleys, craters, anywhere and there’s even height! I don’t know much about the game as of now because I’ve just started my journey, but this games still great! Will edit or write more once I figure out more about this. ### 5/5 — Simulation *2023-05-18, version 1.5.0* Das Spiel ist nichts für Leute, die ständig Action brauchen, da man sehr viel Geduld braucht, bis alles gebaut wird. Aber gleichzeitig ist es eine tolle Herausforderung, mit sehr knappen Ressourcen zu überleben. Es ist durchaus hilfreich, die Werbung zu nutzen, aber es geht auch ohne. Mir gefällt die Art, wie man sich gut einen Überblick über seine Siedlung verschaffen kann. Was man auf keinen Fall machen darf, ist einfach drauf los bauen, dafür hat man einfach zu wenig Rohstoffe. ### 5/5 — Fantastic *2023-04-05, version 1.5.0* Absolutely loving this game, there’s not much else out there like this, it’s a bit of slow burn brilliance. Hoping the dev team continue to add more to this, its fantastic. ### 5/5 — Wow *2022-12-14, version 1.4.2* This game really impressed me, was a whole lot of fun ### 5/5 — Each iPhone issue had a setting for it. *2022-06-22* Great detail and so far they have adapted to the iPhone 12 well. Even font size adjustment setting (a little bigger range would be freat)! --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-01.*