The last time we looked at farming on Mars, it was in a movie about Matt Damon shoving potatoes in poop. In Red Planet Farming, you play as an agricultural director on Mars, and you get to grow a lot of potatoes. Not just potatoes, but spinach, corn, onions, lettuce, peppers, and many other crops you can grow, starting with a small colony of five brave colonists who must grow enough food to feed a growing population, and keep it going.

The biggest news: Red Planet Farming is completely free on Steam, not because of microtransactions, but because the developers, who are NYU Game Center alumni, received a grant to fund the game. The developers (Nina Demirjian, Sean Porio, Sean Park, and Noah Lee) are offering the game for free. There is no better deal than free.

And you should give it a try! I'm playing today and am enjoying growing happy little crops and feeding my ever-growing collection of settlers.

This is Mars, not Iowa, so there are challenges to overcome, not just sticking seeds in the soil and waiting. The plants need irrigation, plus protection from dust storms, radiation, and severe cold weather. Therefore, when planting seeds in a hex, upgrades must be made to protect the crops from wind and rain within the budget. Once the crop is planted and protected, the crop should be checked a year ahead of time to see how well it does.

Even if the harvest is successful, the challenge will increase. The more food there is, the more hungry settlers (and sometimes their pets) will come from the earth. This not only means more mouths to feed, but also the need to expand the colony itself. A few years into the game, the colony built a school in a hex where I was growing arugula. You son of a bitch! I mean... Education is important. Children of Mars, go to school. But at the same time, so do these motherfuckers!

One year I got my revenge when I accidentally didn't grow enough crops to feed everyone and some settlers died. But then they got their revenge by building a cemetery over my spinach fields. (Even after they died, these settlers were a real nuisance and forced me to adjust my farm.

As they grew more crops to feed more astronauts, they would eventually expand to different areas of Mars and face new challenges. I may also be asked by Martian scientists to help with research, which will be accomplished by achieving some milestones related to crops. My food helped the science team find the old Curiosity rover, and I helped with research on carbohydrate intake on Mars. Basically, I'm running NASA because of potatoes and corn. You're welcome, NASA.

As you expand your farm, you unlock dozens of structures that make your farm more efficient and capable, such as solar panels and water towers. Small news articles also pop up from time to time, suggesting how your crop cultivation is changing the planet and allowing colonies to grow. The art is also fascinating.

Then again, Red Planet Farming is 100% free on Steam. You should download it and get planting.