Big titles like Atomic Heart and Hogwarts Legacy have stolen the show in February, leaving very little room for smaller games to receive attention. The situation has been made worse by the upcoming release of the PS VR2, which is highly anticipated. As a result, games such as Deliver Us Mars haven't made as much of an impact as they should have.

Deliver Us the Moon is a sci-fi game developed by the Dutch studio KeokeN Interactive. Though it didn’t receive too much fan fair, it was an immersive game with a satisfying narrative. The sequel, Deliver Us Mars, was released in early February, and it brings many improvements over its predecessor. Unfortunately, many gamers may not get the chance to appreciate these improvements, as February has been an exceedingly eventful month in gaming.

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Deliver Us Mars Is a Stellar Sequel

deliver us mars

Deliver Us Mars takes place ten years after Deliver Us the Moon. Once again, players are in outer space, though the stakes are much higher this time around. Players are tasked with recovering the ARK colony ships that have been stolen by the Outward, and it is far from an easy job. It brings several improvements, and this is seen with the environments which are far more colorful compared to the dreary, gray lunar setting of Deliver Us the Moon. The game also features far more verticality, allowing players to use climbing axes to explore Mars’ terrain. In any other situation, Deliver Us Mars would have been a standout title drawing plenty of gamers to itself. However, it may have come at a time when there is too much going on.

February 2023 Is a Big Month for Gaming

Hogwarts Legacy Flying Class Broom

In part because of the several delays in 2022, this year is packed with major releases. Gamers don’t have to wait too long for these triple-A titles, as they have been coming since January. February also has plenty of headlining titles, including Atomic Heart, which is an FPS by Mundfish. Taking place in a Soviet Hub in 1955, the game has players fighting through enemies both biological and mechanical using a litany of improvised weapons. Atomic Heart is set to release on February 21 on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.

The main game turning heads in February is Hogwarts Legacy, though this shouldn’t be entirely unexpected, as the Harry Potter franchise has always been wildly popular. The game has been lauded for offering a stunningly accurate rendition of Hogwarts castle, allowing players to immerse themselves into the life of a magical student. Since its release, the game has been breaking sales records. Hogwarts Legacy has topped Japan’s sales charts and sold more copies than Elden Ring in Europe, which is notable as FromSoftware’s game was released on more platforms.

As if that wasn’t enough, February has also brought the release of the PS VR2. The next generation of Sony’s virtual reality gaming comes with several improvements, including a 110-degree field-of-view OLED panel, mounted cameras that do away with external cameras, and eye-tracking that will enable foveated rendering, a trick used to reduce resolution in areas where players aren’t looking. With the launch of the PS VR2, players can enjoy several headlining games including Horizon Call of the Mountain, Tetris Effect, Resident Evil Village, Gran Turismo 7, and more. This is good news for VR fans, but the hype may have drawn attention away from smaller games in February such Deliver Us Mars.

KeokeN may be a relatively small studio, but it is proving that it is capable of big things. Through its games, it has been telling stories that touch on questions concerning humanity and its place in the universe. While these games may not be bestsellers, they are still special titles worth experiencing, and hopefully Deliver Us Mars is not completely lost in the sea of major releases.

Deliver Us Mars is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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