[4] The player chooses a sponsoring nation and a commander profile, each conferring slightly different benefits, a unique building and vehicle.

Possible sponsors include an International Mars Mission, the United States, Europe, India, China, Russia, and fictional organizations such as the Blue Sun Corporation, SpaceY, the Church of the New Ark, and even Paradox Interactive.

A rocket filled with resources, drones, prefabricated buildings, and Mars rovers lands on a selected location and prepare the basic infrastructure.

People may also live in the domes as tourists, who do not work and stay for a limited time, and pay money if their comfort is high enough.

The game also has storylines called mysteries, which add various events to the colony,[8] including plagues, war, rival corporations, AI revolt, alien contact, and others.

[7] Similarly, the game incorporates into its gameplay simplified versions of the problems an actual colonization effort would face, such as the Martian dust, the low temperatures and the constant need of food.

[14] Surviving Mars has several DLCs, available either separately or as part of the digital season pass available in the game's "First Colony Edition".

[18] In March 2021, Dutch studio Abstraction Games took over the development from Haemimont, and released a free update patch that expanded the gameplay options regarding tourism.

[13] On August 31, 2021, the paid expansion was announced as Below and Beyond, which includes underground facilities and the ability to build mining bases on asteroids.

[29] The city-builder game Cities: Skylines, also published by Paradox, received a free update themed around Surviving Mars.

He also pointed that, given the complexity and the random factors generated when starting a new map, game sessions are never the same, and even the basic survival of the colony is not guaranteed.

[27] Josh Tolentino from Destructoid praised the visual style of the game, with bright and colorful buildings and domes that contrast with the dull, even if realistic, desert landscape.