One of the standout features of Deliver Us Mars is its world building. Although Opera Team only sees the aftermath of the events on Outward Colony, the ARKs give the impression of having been inhabited by living, breathing people. It's entirely possible to go through the game only paying attention to the main storyline, but there are lots of tiny details for sharp-eyed players to spot.
Many of these hidden elements are small but lying in plain sight, or easily missed on account of being near larger, more impressive structures. How many did you catch?
Some of these details are only apparent to players who have completed the game's story. We recommend you finish the game before reading, to avoid spoilers.
8 ASE Of Hearts
The first chapter of the game showcases how grim the environmental situation has become on Earth. The main plaza in front of the WSA is sparsely populated, but employees have left some of their belongings lying around.
On a picnic table to the right of the globe, there's a deck of WSA playing cards. You'll only notice this if you walk right up to it, but the Ace of Hearts depicts an ASE unit, the spherical robots that serve as companions and de facto mascots for the Deliver Us franchise.
7 Last-Minute Cargo
Midway through the game, it's revealed that Claire and Sarah brought a case of guns on the mission. Their intention was to coerce any surviving members of the Lunar Council to return to Earth to face trial by any means necessary, a contingency plan that Ryan and Kathy abhor.
While you're boarding the Zephyr-3 rocket in Chapter One, you can see the red gun case as you step off the elevator. That early in the story, there's no way for first-time players to realize the significance of the bright red box, or what it contains, but on subsequent playthroughs it's a stark reminder of the mission's stakes.
6 Flooded Inbox
This Easter egg is easiest to spot if you're playing the game on PC. The icon for the Peruser Achievement / Trophy shows an email icon with 2054 unread messages.
2054 is the year that the previous game, Deliver Us The Moon, takes place, and is therefore an important date in the history of the setting.
5 Lifelong Crush
In the medical wing in Chapter Five, Kat can find an AstroTalk chat log between a pair of staffers. One seems to be infatuated with Isaac, admitting that they had a poster of him on their wall when they were younger.
As it turns out, the colonist still keeps reminders of their favorite engineer. In a nearby side room are a row of lockers. If you turn on your flashlight, you can see inside an open locker... where a poster of Isaac is prominently displayed.
4 Future Geography
Later in Chapter Five, Kat finds an unused nursery, built in anticipation of raising Mars-born humans. The colonists never had any children, so the nursery was never inhabited.
On a wall at the far end of the room, you can find maps of Earth and Mars. Take a close look at the Earth map - it shows much of the coastal landmass completely flooded, a chilling reminder of the climate-induced destruction we can expect over the next few decades.
3 Subtle Shade From Dad
When Kat finally finds Isaac alive at the Unison colony in Chapter Nine, they take a walk through the self-sustaining dome inhabited by Outward's survivors. It's the most open area in the entire game, and while there aren't many collectibles to find it provides a satisfying look at the lifestyle of the colonists.
If you wander too far away from Isaac, he'll stop talking and wait for you to return. The first time you do this, he comments on Kat not having lost her curious spirit. He clearly means it as a back-handed compliment, and if you keep leaving and coming back he's forced to hide his annoyance that Kat doesn't seem interested in what he has to say.
2 The Ballad Of Conrad And Amira
In both Deliver Us The Moon and Deliver Us Mars, players can find comic books whose plots loosely reflect the storyline of the game. Both the MoonMan and MarsMan comics are written by Conrad Van Schaijk and illustrated by Amira Torkar.
If you find all the MarsMan comics, starting in Chapter Three, you can see a subplot about the two authors. During the period of turmoil in the colony, Conrad uses the comic as a critique of McArthur's policies. Amira, fearing retaliation, refuses to continue working with him. Conrad attempts to continue the comic on his own, despite his rudimentary artistic ability, but eventually the two reconcile and complete the series.
If you listen closely during Chapter Nine, Isaac speaks with both Conrad and Amira over his radio, and in the epilogue it's revealed that the two are now expecting a child, the first person born on Mars. That would be a heartwarming ending to the subplot, except for the fact that...
1 Claire's Homework Foreshadows The Ending
In the prologue, you can find a tablet on Claire's desk. Her assignment for school is to write a paper about the Trolley Problem, a classic ethical dilemma. The Trolley Problem, essentially, asks whether it's better to kill a few people to save a greater number of lives, if the smaller group would have otherwise survived without your intervention.
At the end of the game, Isaac pleads with Kathy not to take the ARKs back to Earth, since the few dozen Martian colonists rely on them for survival. Kat and her teammates make their stance clear that the lives of the colonists are inconsequential compared to the rest of the human species living on Earth, who might be saved thanks to the ARK technology.
By taking the ARKs, Opera Team is condemning the colonists - including Conrad and Amira - to die for the sake of Earth. It's hardly a happy ending, but that's proving to be par for the course in the ongoing Deliver Us sage.