- Devlog: What Does Mars Sound Like? - 21 September 2026
Only 3 days to go until 1.0! 🤯After a full year in Early Access, the 1.0 version of Mars Attracts lands on Steam on September 24, 2026!We’ve spent the past year shaping our twisted alien park management sim around your feedback, and the full game is finally ready for its grand debut. One of our biggest focuses for 1.0 has been expanding the soundscape to make the red planet sound more alive than ever before.Here is a breakdown of what we’ve done to amplify things on the audio front: The Music of Mars Attracts Our composer, Haakon Davidsen, did a fantastic job capturing the retro sci-fi tone with our original, theremin-heavy soundtrack. However, one key piece of Early Access feedback was that the soundtrack could feel a bit too intense during long building sessions.For 1.0, Haakon added a new variety of laid-back, atmospheric tracks that sit comfortably in the background while you plan,…
- Devlog: Balancing Mars Attracts - 16 September 2026
The 1.0 release for Mars Attracts arrives on September 24, and with that big day only a week away, we’re taking a look back at some of the recent changes we’ve made following feedback we received during Early Access. Balance is Key Balancing a game like Mars Attracts is a little more complicated than making sure all the numbers add up. During Early Access, we have had plenty of opportunities to see how players actually behave in the park, where they get stuck, and where the game is not delivering the kind of chaos we intended.Here are some of the biggest balancing challenges we have tackled on the road to 1.0.Keeping guests happyOne of the biggest problems we saw with guests was that players simply could not keep them happy, no matter how hard they tried.At first, it looked like players just needed to build better parks. More toilets, more benches, more food stalls, more amenities. But…
- Mars Attracts 1.0 Launches On September 24th! - 9 September 2026
After a year of Early Access, the 1.0 version of Mars Attracts is hitting Steam on September 24, 2026! We’ve spent the last twelve months developing our twisted park management sim in response to fan feedback, and the full game is ready to make its grand entrance. The 1.0 version will see the addition of the much requested Sandbox mode, a new human enclosure, a new map and special Martian character, as well as significant overhauls to Martian guest and captive human AI to improve balance and deepen the simulation mechanics, and much more. What’s New in 1.0? Game Modes By far the biggest request we received was to add a full sandbox mode. In the 1.0 version of Mars Attracts players will have access to three gameplay modes: Story mode will see the player work through objectives and complete missions to unlock the next map. Once a player has completed story mode for a map, they will get ac…
- Sign Up For The Pre-Launch Playtest! - 21 August 2026
We've been working hard on lots of new features and improvements for the 1.0 launch of Mars Attracts! The next update is a big one, with a new map, the highly requested Sandbox mode, park marketing, performance and character AI improvements, balance changes, and lots more!Prior to launch, we'll be running one final playtest to get your feedback! Playtesters will get a chance to try the game before it is officially released and help us identify bugs or balance changes for the 1.0 version.In particular, if you'd like to play in another language (French, German, Portuguese, Chinese, or Spanish) we'd love to hear what you think!We'll be running the playtest through the game's Discord server, so if you're not a member already now is a great time to join! Drop a DM to Bernard @ Outlier in the server if you'd like to apply to the playtest.Join DiscordThe playtest will be opening over the next…
- Devblog: Overhauling How Staff Work In Your Park - 17 August 2026
When we started looking at how we could improve the behaviour of humans and guests during Early Access, we realised that our employees were still mostly just getting on with their jobs without much of an opportunity to develop their own personalities or abilities.So, as part of our work towards the 1.0 release, we made a number of changes to give staff more personality, more progression, and more useful things to do. Better Staff TraitsOne of the biggest changes was giving staff a more unique and well-rounded set of traits.Previously, staff traits were fairly limited in how much they could influence the way your park operated. We wanted to make them more meaningful, so we expanded the system with traits that have a much clearer impact on how individual staff members perform.And for those staff members who were hired despite a lack of useful traits? They can now be trained up to rival th…
- Mars Attracts Hotfix 5 - 9 July 2026
Small update to address some issues identified via player feedback: - Fix for humans escaping by walking through closed gates instead of destroying a wall - Fix for guests sometimes getting stuck in place with no task/state - Fix for USSR sauna having negative cleanliness - Various small performance improvements
- The BIG Early Access Update 4 – Research, Humans, and Guests Overhaul - 25 June 2026
It’s update time again for Mars Attracts, and this time we have a big one for you! This latest update makes significant changes to how research works, how humans and guests behave, as well as making tweaks to the elements of the game that players were struggling with. You can check out all of the details on the changes we’ve made below. To mark the occasion, Mars Attracts is now available at a 20% discount for the Steam Summer Sale. Research OverhaulPlayers have told us that research in Mars Attracts was a little too complex to perform, while not offering enough meaningful choice. To address this we have significantly overhauled how research works. We have removed the need for three separate Observation Posts for biology, physics and chemistry experiments, as this ended up being needlessly confusing. Now a single Observation Post is all that is required to perform any kind of experiment…
- How (And Why) We Landed The Mars Attacks IP - 7 May 2026
Maybe the biggest questions we get asked, aside from why we made a Mars Attacks game, is HOW did we manage to secure the licence to make an IP-based game as a small indie studio? We made a video all about this topic, in the hopes of explaining how and why an Indie studio might take on the task of making an IP-based game in the first place.The Mars Attacks IP has helped us develop our game in so many ways, from inspiring our retro-futuristic art style to giving us suggestions for gruesome and gory ways to torment your humans. We still have lots more new features to add into Mars Attracts, and our next content update will add an injection of that twisted B-movie sci-fi flavour to the game in the form of an upgraded experiments system. We will have more info on that to share very soon. If you want to be the first to hear about updates and help us decide what features to add to our game nex…
- Update Notes - March 31st - 31 March 2026
Disabled seasonal St Patrick's Day content (still accessible for owners of the Supporter's Edition via the game's Settings menu)
- EA Update 3 – Missions/Character Overhaul & Paddy's Day Surprises - 13 March 2026
The time has flown by, and it has been six months since Mars Attracts entered Early Access!To mark the occasion, we have a brand new trailer covering everything we have added to the game so far. In addition, the game is also now 20% off!Buy Mars Attracts - 20% OffBut that’s not all. We have lots more to come, starting with our latest update overhauling how optional missions and special character approvals work. What's New?Mission Overhaul We have added a much greater variety of optional missions. We have reworked those missions that players identified as uninteresting, or too much of a chore to complete Not only that, but we have greatly expanded the number of optional missions, with all new objectives that challenge the player to engage more fully with game systems, and provide guidance towards building the ultimate high-rated park. Improved Special Character Interaction Like optional…
- Introducing... KITMAN - 12 March 2026
The team that brought you Mars Attracts and This Means Warp have some big news: The announcement trailer for our brand new game just went live!Kitman is a soccer-themed, multiplayer job sim which sees the player take on the role of a cheerful little caretaker.Run the team by running the locker rooms. Polish boots, assign gear to players, and mend damaged kit, all while ensuring that the floors are clean and the bathrooms sparkle.Kitman will debut later this year, but we are now taking sign-ups for an Alpha Playtest! Join us by signing up on Steam and be the first to try Kitman for yourself.Player feedback has been so important for the development of Mars Attracts and This Means Warp, and with Kitman our approach will be no different.We’re very excited to share our latest project with the world! Let us know what you think!
- Devlog: Prototyping Mars Attracts - 24 February 2026
We often get asked what exactly inspired us to start making the game that would ultimately become Mars Attracts. The simple answer is that our game began with a simple idea - what if you were aliens building a theme park filled with human captives? Starting from this simple concept we built out a number of rapid prototypes. This process was so influential on the overall direction that we made a video all about it:Finding the Fun Through Rapid Prototypes Rather than chasing polish straight away, our small team prioritised testing whether the core ideas actually felt fun to interact with.While our early prototypes were intentionally rough, they established the foundations for deeper systems, more complex park management, and expanded interactions with both Martian guests and human exhibits.As Early Access continues, we were still working out the finer details of some of these systems, but…
- Mars Attracts Hotfix 4 & Upcoming Roadmap - 12 February 2026
The latest hotfix for Mars Attracts has just gone live. While this one contains mostly boring behind the scenes stuff, we thought this would be a good time to share our plans for the more exciting updates we have planned for the coming months!2026 RoadmapWe still have a number of big features we want to add to Mars Attracts over the coming months, as well as lots of smaller additions and tweaks based on your feedback. Our next two updates to existing systems are planned for March and April/May.Both of these updates will address frequent player concerns with elements of the game that just weren't that varied or interesting enough, adding deeper systems that should make Mars Attracts a lot more fun to play. Following that, we have plans for a major update later in the summer that will add requested new features like Sandbox mode, Staff Training and Park Marketing, as well as adding a new…
- Mars Attracts Hotfix 3 - Stability and Performance - 16 January 2026
The latest Mars Attracts update is now live! The focus over the last few weeks has been increasing stability and performance, and we have now (hopefully!) fixed all of the major issues reported since the Winter update. While this update is focussed on fixes, we still have a lot of new content to add as Early Access progresses. We teased a few details in our previous post, and we have even more ideas up our sleeves after that. But we really want to hear your suggestions for features you want to see in the game. Please do let us know, either here on Steam or on our friendly Discord. Some of our favourite features added to Mars Attracts since we entered Early Access have come about from user suggestions, and we want to add even more of the features that you - our players - want to see! Finally, a quick request – if you have been enjoying Mars Attracts, please consider leaving a positive re…
- Early Access Update 2 - New Map, Habitat, & Winter Surprises! - 18 December 2025
In the course of their studies of humanity, the Martians have discovered a fascinating new concept: Christmas! And in that festive spirit, we have an early gift for you: A brand new content update loaded with new features, content and gameplay tweaks, plus an all new seasonal decor set. And since we’re feeling generous, the game is also discounted by 10% for Steam’s Winter sale. New Map: Mall RatsThe Martians have recently constructed a shiny new shopping mall, but it still needs a human themed park to bring in the crowds. This latest map has an even greater financial challenge than any of the previous missions, so you’ll need your management skills on point to beat this one! New Human Enclosure: USSR A new map really needs a new set of humans to populate it, so we’ve added an all new enclosure type – The USSR. This human civilization was built on shared ideals, shared resources, and th…
- Looking Ahead To 2026 - 4 December 2025
It has been a frantic and exciting few months here in Outlier HQ since we launched Mars Attracts into Early Access back in September, but we still have a lot more we want to add to the game before we're ready for the 1.0 release! As we said in our previous post, we have a load of new content coming in our next update on December 18, but we’re not stopping there. We have a number of features that we’re still fine tuning, and we’ll be rolling these out over the course of the coming year. Here's a little peak of what to expect.Experiment Overhaul Right now we’re in the process of revamping our system for experimenting on your poor human captives. We have a range of gruesome new experiments (complete with all new animations), but we wanted to add these alongside additional functionality to make sure that they had a real impact on the way experiments work in Mars Attracts.With this revamp, h…
- November Development Update - 23 November 2025
We’ve been hard at work here at Mars Attracts HQ prepping our next update, and we’re delighted that we're now in the final stages of testing and can now announce a release date. The next big update for Mars Attracts will go live on December 18.This update will add a whole host of new features to the game, while also resolving a number of issues reported by players. New Map & Human HabitatThe next update will add a whole load of new content into the game, including:A brand map set in a cavernous Martian shopping mall – a very different setting to all of previous maps with its own unique gameplay challenges to overcome A USSR themed enclosure type, complete with new buildings, decorations and an all new special character Updated food and drink stall variants to provide more diversity and choice for your Martian guests, as well as improved control for managing and pricing the items soldNew…
- Early Access Update 1 - Halloween Treats and 10% Off! - 27 October 2025
Halloween is here, and with it a big update for Mars Attracts! In addition to some spooky surprises, we have introduced three of the most commonly requested features to the game - park inspections, editing enclosure footprints, and returning humans to inventory! As an added bonus, the game is also 10% off during the Steam Scream 4 Fest 🥳Park InspectionsBe prepared to meet the board! Characters can now propose special visits to the park, and will inspect the facilities based on their personalities. Improve your park to meet their standards and you'll be rewarded, but fail to impress them and your approval rating will fall.Enclosure FootprintsThe new "Reduce Footprint" toggle means you can both expand and shrink your enclosure footprints, allowing you to edit existing enclosures and create whatever shape and size fits your park.Returning HumansFinding a human particularly troublesome? Re…
- New Decorations & Launch Fixes - 7 October 2025
It has now been 3 weeks since the Early Access launch of Mars Attracts, and we wanted to thank everyone who picked up a copy (plus a special extra thankyou to those who bought the Supporter's Edition)!We hope you're enjoying the game, and have been hard at work integrating your feedback. We'll soon be shifting focus to concentrate on new content, however have just pushed the second hotfix patch to address the most common bugs and requests from launch. If you're jumping in for the first time since launch, here's what's new:New Features10+ new Martian decorationsNew enclosure demolition system to prevent accidental gaps in wallsAvailable staff now sorted by distanceAutosave during missionsMore music variationBug FixesResolution not setting correctly for some screens'Ghost' enclosures appearing on maps after autosaveCharacters getting stuck at park entranceLitter and bodies sometimes spawn…
- Mars Attracts Hotfix 1.1 - 26 September 2025
Fixed incorrect building localization for non-English in Hotfix 1
