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Surviving Mars' terraforming expansion, Green Planet, will launch next month alongside Project Laika, a content pack that will let you introduce critters onto your increasingly verdant world. Pups, penguins, you'll even be able to bring a platypus to Mars. Some will be pets, but you'll also be able to raise livestock, too. Check out the feature breakdown of both DLCs above.
You'll be able to make Mars barely recognisable, seeding it with grass, lichen and trees, and you'll eventually have to melt the icecaps and capture ice asteroids to get all the water you'll need. It looks like it's pretty hands-on at first, but nature will start to take over, spreading organically across the planet. Once Mars has a breathable atmosphere, colonists and animals will finally be able to leave the domes without lugging around oxygen tanks.
Terraforming introduces new threats, however, including greenhouse gases and acid rain. Also, all these asteroids you'll be capturing? They can slam into the planet and cause a marsquake. Presumably it'll squash any buildings it lands on, too.
You can see how to start terraforming in the tutorial video below.
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With Green Planet, you'll get seven new terraforming buildings, while Project Laika will add animal farms that will let you breed eight different kinds of livestock, including cows, chickens and pigs. You'll get 25 different pets, too, from the mundane to the exotic.
I'm looking forward to finding out how penguins fare on an alien world. I've got a feeling they'll be running the place within a year.
Green Planet and Project Laika are due out on May 16. They're available separately for $19.99 and $5.99, but you can also pick them up together in Green Planet Plus bundle for $23.90.