Take On Mars beta set to begin in July

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Bohemia Interactive's Take On Mars, a simulation of a real-life Martian colonization effort, was originally announced at E3 in 2013. Now it's 2015, E3 has rolled around once again, and Bohemia has released a new trailer (which premiered last night at the PC Gaming Show) and announced a (slightly) delayed start date for the beta.

Take On Mars was actually expected to come out of Early Access this month, but Bohemia said today that a number of factors led it to push things back a bit. A closer look at what's been changed can be found in the latest Steam update, in which the studio said it has grown into "a significantly larger game" than what was announced two years ago, with added features including a manned section, multiplayer support, and new locations like the Moon and Low Earth Orbit. Bohemia also wants to ensure that the beta is as stable as possible when it goes live so it can avoid having to push too many updates, "because this could make the odds of randomly messing things up quite high."

The beta is now scheduled to begin on July 3, and Bohemia said it will do its best to come across with the goods on time. "We really want to, because if all goes well, we should be able to treat you with a very exciting addition to the game sometime after beta," it wrote. "But let's just keep it a surprise feature for now on."

Details about Take On Mars are at Mars.Takeonthegame.com.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.