Terraforming Mars is getting a second Prelude expansion

Terraforming Mars is getting a sequel to its best-regarded expansion, with publisher FryxGames confirming a Kickstarter campaign for Prelude 2 will launch “soon”.

FryxGames said the expansion would include five new corporations, cross-expansion effects for the Venus, Colonies and Turmoil expansions, and prelude cards with ongoing effects and actions, which differ from the existing ‘one-and-done’ variety from the original Prelude box.

Most of Terraforming Mars’ previous releases, including the 2016 original game, were straight-to-retail, although Stronghold Games ran a Kickstarter campaign for the Turmoil expansion in 2019, and the spin-off Ares Expedition and Dice Game releases and Big Box tiles and storage solution were also crowdfunded.

Terraforming Mars has sold more than 1.5 million copies, putting it in the same ballpark as Stonemaier Games’ Wingspan, which has sold about 1.7 million.

The game sees players acting as corporations trying to terraform the red planet, playing project cards to recreate events such as crashing an asteroid into the surface, introducing different plants and animals and establishing industries on Mars.

Prelude, released in 2018, provides new corporations and extra starting cards to help players kickstart the terraforming process. It currently holds an 8.8 rating on BoardGameGeek, higher than the base game’s already impressive 8.4.

Prelude is an expansion to Terraforming Mars, and can be combined with any other Terraforming Mars expansions or variants.

Last November the screen rights to Terraforming Mars were picked up by production company Cobalt Knight. Deadline reported the company was leaning towards a series, but was open to making a feature film based on the game.