Taking the wheel of futuristic, ultra-rugged JCB vehicles, players must explore the alien landscape, mine precious materials, construct large-scale buildings and research new technologies to ensure humanity’s future lies beyond planet Earth. Esteemed astrophysicist, Dr Maggie Lieu, provided advice to Atomicom during the development process, as well as making an in game cameo appearance.

JCB Pioneer: Mars begins as the player awakes from a crash, surrounded by the wreckage of their Lander vehicle amidst falling debris and hurtling winds. Survival is the first goal–the location of oxygen and the establishment of an outpost. As the player slowly begins to establish themselves on Mars, learning to combat the planets fierce and hostile weather patterns, they’ll begin a larger operation of colonisation. Life-support infrastructure is crucial but so to is the mining of natural resources, part of a broader mission to save an ailing Earth.

JCB Pioneer: Mars is a hardcore blend of survival and construction gameplay set on the hostile, alien planet. Meteor strikes, dust clouds and electrical storms all threaten the player’s survival and chances of a successful colonisation effort. But equipped with the futuristic, heavy-duty construction and mining vehicles specifically designed by JCB Engineers, every would be astronaut has a chance of surviving and thriving in the face of extreme planetary challenges.

“We want to give players a hardcore survival experience, one based based on what an early human colonisation of Mars may actually look like,” said Andy Santos, Design Director of Atomicom. “We’ve gone to great lengths to ensure that the game is as realistic as possible while retaining the sense of adventure an early explorer of Mars would feel.”

“We are hugely excited to partner with Atomicom and GamesCo on JCB Pioneer: Mars,” said Worldwide Marketing Director, Michael Plummer. “It’s been a wonderful experience to see our visionary design and engineering team craft vehicles for future space colonisation. We are delighted that this will bring JCB to the attention of a future generation of potential customers, enabling them to use machinery on Mars before using them on earth."

JCB Pioneer: Mars will launch on Steam Early Access this summer.