Surviving Mars is getting penguins, llamas and terraforming in May

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.

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.

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.