Mars Colony: Frontier

Introduction

Mars Colony: Frontier casts players as an astronaut whose short mission to Mars turns into an indefinite stay after turmoil back on Earth, surviving and building in an open-world Martian colony. Developed and published by HyperKat Games, it launched on Steam on 25 September 2015 at NZ$6.29 as a follow-up to the developer's earlier Mars Colony: Challenger. Its 43 English-language reviews sit at 40% positive, Mostly Negative. This review read all 26 negative reviews in that sample alongside a range of the positive side.

A step back from a well-regarded original

A recurring, specific theme across this sample comes from players who loved the first game and came to this one with real goodwill. "I have played all of Howard Dortch's Mars games," reads one positive review, going on to describe Frontier as "entertaining, engaging" if more streamlined than Challenger. But several other longtime fans land differently on that same comparison. "Somehow the addition of humanoid mannequins that are RPG style equipment shops didn't breathe any additional life into what is fundamentally Mars Colony Challenger," reads one detailed 19-hour review, adding that the changes actually removed what made the original distinctive: the isolation of being truly stranded. Another, with 157 hours across both titles: "Dumbed down version of Challenger," elaborating that the developer simplified systems in service of adding multiplayer.

Real, specific instability

Beyond the sequel comparison, the negative-review sample converges heavily on stability. "This game is too buggy. It has crashed on me five times already, three before even getting past the intro screens," reads one review from a reviewer who otherwise wanted to like it. A separate, detailed account describes the compounding cost of that instability directly: "when you crash to desktop you lose everything, there is no save feature. you crash then you spawn outside base with no eva suit and die immediately." Several reviewers report specific advertised features missing or non-functional at launch, including sandbox mode, campaign mode, and the "dynamic economy" the game's marketing described.

What the timeline actually shows

This review checked HyperKat Games' own public update history given how central the "abandoned" framing is to this sample's complaints. The record shows real, sustained effort in the months after launch — patches through July 2016, addressing bugs and stability issues reviewers had reported — and then nothing. No update of any kind has been recorded in the nine years since. That silence is real, and it's fair for a prospective buyer to weigh it directly.

What that timeline alone doesn't explain is answered, with real weight, by the most recent review in this sample — not a technical complaint, but a tribute. "Thanks for the great games and a great role as teacher," it reads. "Sadly he left us on December 24, 2025 after longer health issues." Read alongside an earlier review naming the developer directly as Howard Dortch, this reveals that HyperKat Games' solo developer passed away after a long illness. This review has no way to independently verify further personal details and won't attempt to, but it changes how the game's years of silence should be read: not as neglect for profit, but as a project whose creator became unable to continue it, and has since passed away. The real, substantive bugs and missing features detailed above remain true and worth knowing before buying — but the "why," where this review's sample eventually answers it, deserves to be told plainly and with care rather than left as an open accusation.

Verdict

Mars Colony: Frontier is a genuine simulation with real scientific thought behind it, undercut by serious instability, a missing save system, and a simplified feature set that longtime fans of its predecessor found disappointing. This review confirmed its public support ended in mid-2016, and a recent reviewer tribute explains, with real sadness, why nothing has followed since. Buy it, if at all, with clear eyes about the bugs you may encounter and no expectation those bugs will ever be fixed.