Ignacy Trzewiczek’s sci-fi follow-up to Robinson Crusoe, First Martians, is almost finished

First Martians: Adventures on the Red Planet, a sci-fi spiritual successor to Ignacy Trzewiczek’s acclaimed Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island is nearly completed, the designer has announced.

Based on the foundational mechanics of Robinson Crusoe, First Martians allows up to four players to explore the surface of Mars, gathering research samples and developing their central base to complete series of missions for NASA, which can be linked together into a story-driven campaign or approached as an endurance mode.

The title’s physical components, including workers and decks of cards, are supplemented by an app which provides the event and adventure cards, helping to balance the difficulty of each game.

Long anticipated, Trzewiczek had previously provided an open-ended release period for the game, saying it would be available ‘when it’s done’.

This appears to be drawing closer and closer, as he has now confirmed that “we are in the final stage of developing First Martians” in the latest newsletter for publisher Portal Games, adding on Facebook that he is “much more confident about [the] final result” and will be discussing the game at greater length in the elad-up to release.

A release date remains unclear, but you can hold out hope for First Martians making contact with us earthlings sometime in 2017.