Mission Control

Driving and the rover

My rover is stuck and will not move

Work down this list — each step is less drastic than the one after it, and most situations resolve at the first.

• Keep the throttle on for a few seconds. Traction assistance escalates quietly while you are genuinely stuck: more torque at a crawl, then wheelspin trimming, then help climbing off whatever the hull is resting on. Most bogging clears before you consciously notice it.
• Try reversing, then a different line. Backing off a metre or two and approaching at another angle solves most rock contact.
• Tap Unstuck Rover when it appears. This moves the rover two to four metres onto firmer ground it can drive away from, preferring ground you have already crossed. Everything else is untouched.
• Tap Recover Rover as a last resort, from the HUD or from the pause menu — where it is always available whether or not the game has noticed you are stuck. It rights the rover on stable ground nearby for a small power cost. Nothing else is lost.

The rover feels like it is fighting me

Steering authority deliberately falls away as you gain speed, so the rover is nimble while manoeuvring and refuses to be flicked sideways at pace. If it still feels wrong, Settings has steering sensitivity and dead-zone controls, and a choice between pedal and slider throttle. The Mars Proving Ground’s Hardpan surface is the best place to feel a change you have just made.

ARYA is not driving the way I expect

ARYA prices the ground ahead and will choose a longer firm route over a short soft one, so it does not always take the line you would. It slows for corners, descents and rough ground on purpose. If it stops making progress it works through a recovery sequence and will re-plan rather than grind. Touching either driving control returns the rover to you immediately.

Purchases

I paid but my content is locked

Open the Lifetime Access screen and tap Restore Purchases. This is the correct fix after reinstalling, changing device, or signing into a different Apple Account. Make sure you are signed in with the same Apple Account you bought with, and that you have a connection. If it still does not restore, email us with the date of purchase and we will help.

What exactly does Lifetime Access include?

Every region beyond the opening basin, the complete campaign, advanced mission types, severe dust storms, the deep geological scanner, the expanded sample catalog, tier-3 upgrades across every line, the advanced navigation suite, the ARYA copilot, full Photo Mode and the enhanced mast camera. It is a one-time purchase that never renews. The overview page lists it in full alongside what stays free.

My trial ended — did I lose anything?

No. The seven-day trial is granted locally at first launch, creates no subscription and takes no payment. When it ends you keep the free tier permanently, and every bit of progress you made during it — science, discoveries, upgrades, photos, missions — remains exactly as it was. Only the premium features become unavailable.

I want a refund

Refunds are handled by Apple, not by us, at reportaproblem.apple.com. If the reason is something broken in ARESYN, please tell us as well — we would rather fix it.

Saves and progress

Is my progress saved automatically?

Yes. Your expedition saves continuously and when you return to the main menu, and resumes exactly where you left off. There is nothing to save by hand.

Does the Proving Ground affect my campaign?

No, by design. Nothing on a test surface is written to your save: no science, no discoveries, no mission progress, no battery drain and no wear. Leaving returns you to your expedition in the state you left it, down to the rover’s position and the time of day.

I lost my progress

Progress lives on the device. Deleting the app removes it, and it is not currently synced through iCloud. If your save appears empty without the app having been deleted, please write in — include roughly how far you had got and we will look at whether something failed to load rather than something being lost.

Performance and display

The game runs hot or drops frames

Settings has a graphics quality control; lowering it reduces terrain detail and particle counts, which is where most of the cost is. Closing other apps helps on older devices. If a specific region or situation is consistently worse than the rest, that is worth reporting — it is usually something we can fix rather than something inherent.

The controls are hard to see

The driving controls fade back while you are not touching them, so Mars reads through them, and come up the instant a thumb arrives. They never fade far enough to be unfindable. Telemetry beyond the battery and clock is collapsed by default behind the Telemetry control at the top right, and stays open once you open it.

Motion sickness

The chase camera is deliberately damped and keeps the horizon level however the rover leans. Settings includes a camera shake control that can be turned off entirely, and the first-person and mast camera views are steadier still for long drives.

Accessibility

ARESYN respects the system Reduce Motion setting, supports Dynamic Type in its menus, and labels its controls for VoiceOver. Haptics can be switched off in Settings. If something specific is blocking you from playing, please write in and say what it is — that feedback is genuinely useful and gets acted on.

Still stuck?