As enticing as the idea of a strategy game in space sounds, the pacing in Tharsis tends to leave players in stasis.
Developed and published by Choice Divisions, Tharsis is a turn-based strategy game where players rely on dice to save their crew from the perils of space as humanity’s first manned expedition to Mars. These perils tend to include stray asteroid strikes, gas leaks, food shortages, and an endless amount of stress from not being able to roll high enough to solve any of these issues.
Tharsis is a mercilessly difficult game. I don’t mean difficult as in modern-day platformers that grant invincibility after dying a few times, but difficult as in the learning curve of classic 8-bit Mega Man games. The game begins with a simple tutorial of text block after text block after text block explaining the intricacies of the journey ahead. As a hazard effects the ship, players are tasked with rolling the die and properly allocating the results of the rolls to solve said crises. As stated before though, it feels nigh impossible to get the die rolls you need. It seems to me as if you have a better chance of winning the current billion-dollar Powerball drawing than making it to Mars in a game of Tharsis.
There are nine different characters in total to choose from in Tharsis, each with a range of abilities including buffs for fellow crew members and quite a few extra die to roll when selected on a player’s turn. I’m warning you now: the four crew members you have on board your ship are going to die quickly and often. If a character isn’t hurt from being left on a burning part of the ship (due to working towards repairing it on their last turn), they could get eaten up if the ship runs out of food… by their fellow crew members.
Tharsis isn’t beyond including cannibalism as part of the tactics needed to survive in dire times, but if your crew actually lasts enough turns to reach the point where food runs out, you might be gnawing your own arms to keep awake. I am an avid Dungeons and Dragons fan, so I’m used to reading and rolling die for hours on end, but the tepid presentation of Tharsis makes it hard to recommend to anyone but die hard (no pun intended) science fiction strategy game fans.
Space is often depicted as being dark, quiet, and bleak, which coincidentally sums up the experience of playing Tharsis perfectly. While methodical pacing is expected in a turn-based strategy games, the lack of thrills here is likely to leave you lost in space.