TIGER STYLE’S WAKING MARS ‘DIRECTOR’S CUT’ ADDS VOICE ACTING, MORE FOR PC/MAC RELEASE

Here’s the lede buried in that last post: alongside the new Android release of Waking Mars, Austin indies Tiger Style have also launched a brand new and greatly enhanced Windows, Mac and Linux version of the game. The new version (which has also just gone live on the App Store as a ‘Director’s Cut’ update) smooths over some of the rough patches on the the original iOS release, and adds full, professionally acted voice work to the game’s cut scenes.

If you haven’t yet played the game, a brief introduction: coming from the same team that brought you the recently-mentioned Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor, Tiger Style’s taken that same approach to incredibly intuitive and approachable touch mechanics (or, in the PC/Mac case, mouse/keyboard & new controller support) and created a complex adventure that takes place under the surface of Mars, where protagonist Liang has just discovered new life.

Your goal in the game is to continue to restore that life to the cave system, in effect, well, “waking” the planet, by creating biological/botanical “machines” that self-sustain its areas: plants watering and seeding new life, and its fauna feeding off of and reproducing based on those flora.

Waking Mars is at its best when it gives you just enough control to creatively construct those “machines”, engendering a strange sense of personal pride, and while its story isn’t as playfully subversive & “below the surface” as in Spider, it’s still an incredibly compelling ride throughout.

Pick up the new Director’s Cut edition of the game on the App Store here, or buy the new PC/Mac version direct from Tiger Style here.