Saving Princess of Mars

Sha
Dec 30, 2025
4 min read

Factors	Rating	Description
🎮Gameplay	9	Old-school platformer with character-switching as core mechanic.
📷Graphics	9	Pixelated art-style with well-done level design.
🎧Narration	9	Fun dialogues and decent soundtracks.
😮Variety	9	Different character options, and a great difficulty curve- it stays fresh.
🎰Re-playability	3	Only for the achievements.
💲Price	5.5	Wait for a sale.

🎮 Gameplay Mechanics

🔶 Saving Princess of Mars is a laid-back platformer that follows the story of Jack, a lumberjack who suddenly gets teleported to Mars. There, he meets the Princess of Mars, who is locked inside a prison. Jack helps her escape using his strength, but just when he thinks everything is over, the princess asks for his help in reclaiming the throne. The game revolves around whether Jack, a simple lumberjack, can actually save Mars. 🔷 The game doesn’t have many mechanics or movement options- it’s the usual A and D keys to move and the space bar to jump. Even so, it often requires precise movement, and some jumps depend on well-timed inputs. The game showed a message recommending to play with a controller, which is what I did, and honestly, the experience was much better.

🔶 Coming to the level structure, it follows the classic old-school platformer style. Enemies move back and forth on flat surfaces, and if you’re on an elevated surface, you’re usually safe. Add in toxic water that kills you on contact, and you’ve got a standard platformer game- not a unique one. And to fulfil that requirement of uniqueness, the game uses its character-switching mechanic. Jack, being from Earth, can jump higher on Mars and can attack enemies. The Princess, on the other hand, can’t attack or jump very high, but she has access to security gates. As you progress, more characters are introduced, each with their own useful abilities beyond just opening doors. Levels also include temporary and permanent switches, keys, and other interactive elements. Properly coordinating between all the characters is important to proceed further, and that’s how the game adds variety in an otherwise linear level.

🔷 The game doesn’t really punish you for dying. You’re respawned at the last checkpoint, and checkpoints show up often. For majority of the game, dying isn’t a big problem- I even died on purpose a lot of times just to reach certain areas faster since the teleporter was closer. But yeah, as you progress further, checkpoints become less frequent and the levels start getting more complex.

🔶 In short, I’d say that Saving Princess of Mars feels like a game you’d want to finish in a single sitting because it keeps things fresh throughout. There are no weapons or any difficult parts, and the game focuses mainly on its core mechanic, character switching, which works quite well.

📷 Visuals and Audio

🔷 The game uses a pixelated art style that is very reminiscent of old-school platformers. Personally, I really like this kind of visual style because it brings a strong sense of nostalgia. There’s not much else to say- you either love pixel art or you don’t, and I’m definitely on the former's side. I also liked how the environments changed over time. Looking back at earlier levels and realizing I played all of that in the same game was quite amusing to me, so I’d say the visuals are a job well done.

🔶 Most of the time, it was very clear to me where I was supposed to go and which areas were accessible, since they were clearly marked. However, there was one moment where I got stuck- In the final level, where we need to activate hidden tiles by going to the left side of the map using a terminal. Unlike other switches or gates, this one wasn’t clearly marked, so I assumed it was inaccessible. I ended up spending around 20 minutes trying to make an impossible jump before finally interacting with the terminal. A signboard please guys!

🔷 If my ears didn’t deceive me, I believe that each of the seven chapters had a soundtrack of their own. It’s quite rare for small indie games to have more than a single soundtrack, so that was quite a surprise. Each track fits the mood of its level well and lasts a decent amount of time till it gets looped again.

📝Main Pros and Cons

Pros-

Great platformer with enough variety.
Decent dialogues and soundtracks.
Unique upgrades are available for each phase.
The pixelated art-style looks amazing.
Good difficulty curve.
Great level design.

Cons-

The amount of content doesn’t justify the price-tag. (The game is around 4-5 hours)

😇 Honest Rating

🔶 If you're a fan of platformers, you should definitely try saving the princess of Mars. But my only concern is the price. For about 4-5 hours of content, the ask is a bit too much. Because of that, I’d only recommend picking it up on a sale.

Rating: 8.5/10

What is wrong with Joo-Ro man.