Tharsis Critic Reviews

Tharsis is FTL for real cosmonauts who know problems are solved by random dice throw and by marginal ability to strategize in unclear situations. And it's funny!

Tharsis is an harsh and unforgiving game which can make you feel miserable and alone, just like an astronaut on a derelict spaceship. The dice mechanics are nice, but sometimes it's too random to be engaging.

Tharsis offers some interesting mechanics, a story with little innovation but plenty of space for the player to create his narrative, and a lot of replayability, but all of that comes at a price: the difficulty level that can make players abandon the title before they see everything it has to offer.

A tense, challenging, and addictive strategy game with strong atmosphere, weakened by excessive randomness that too often pushes things past "hard" into "hopeless."

Tharsis is a game for those who love tabletop gaming and a challenging experience. At its heart Tharsis is as unforgiving as it is entertaining, but it offers very little variety in terms of the overall game.

For those looking for something unique and original, Tharsis definitely offers that up in spades. It’s not a game that can be played for hours on end, but you’ll certainly return to it time and again should you fall for its clever blend of roguelike and strategy board games.

Despite thoroughly grasping of the rules of Tharsis and even being able to offer advice on how to be more successful to others, my winning runs were due entirely to luck. Sheer chance might be a solid basis for gambling or having a good time with friends, but when it comes to single player games, I should have a bit more say in whether my crew survives or not.

Right now Tharsis provides a few hours of fun, but there's not much to go back to after finishing the game on both difficulty settings. Choice Provisions' game is ingenious, evoking a lot of emotions, though at times it's a bit unfair.

Tharsis isn't a game for everyone. Strategy may be an important factor in determining how long you'll survive, but luck plays a much bigger role in things toward the end. The game is punishingly difficult early on, but it throws you a bone every now and then with character unlocks that can make things feel different.

It could've been a sleeper hit, a small masterpiece in the strategic genre. It's a shame that the dice system doesn't work well when combined with the choices given to the player. It's still an enjoyable experience, but not an unforgettable one.

With a few tweaks and maybe a more casual-friendly difficulty level, Tharsis could be a fun strategy alternative for those who don’t enjoy building large kingdoms or waging wars that take hours to complete. In its current state however, Tharsis is little more than a sadistically cruel game of digital roulette.

If you're a fan of constant raising stakes with no reprieve, then this is certainly the sort of thing that will appeal to you. Even if not, it will still appeal, but in smaller doses. Either way, Tharsis is a compelling, but polarizing, game.

Tharsis is a good way to spend 10-30 minutes to see what happens on the next journey. It's a very harsh battle against the unknown, and can be utterly soul-crushing. Perhaps too soul-crushing, actually. Players will, at times, feel so defeated and useless that playing again seems pointless. And maybe that's the point, considering the circumstances.

While ultimately not a disaster; Tharsis compares to getting to the final round and failing due to a slight miscalculation.

Its simple rules coupled with the brief length of its rounds make Tharsis very easy to pick up and get addicted to...for a few hours. Unfortunately, so much of its gameplay is reliant on luck, which can make for an incredibly frustrating and unforgiving experience.

Tharsis feels like a sadistic game of chance that makes all my decisions feel completely meaningless.

Tharsis is a well constructed dice-game with an interesting theme. Too bad that luck has too much a say in the player’s destiny; this can inflict frustration and anger which, in my book, are the opposite of entertainment.

There's simply too much luck and not enough player influence to get a whole lot out of it.

A tiny drop of satisfaction provided by a happy ending does not compensate for the frustration brought by earlier failures.

An interesting but frustrating space oddity.