When launching the game in Steam a pop-up windows says: "Preparing to launch..". This window then disappear and nothing happens.
If one tries to launch the TKOM.exe in the Steam folder also nothing happens. Cannot see the TKOM.exe running in task manager either. It's as it never starts for an instance even.
After trying to move the game to another Steam installation I now get an error message compared to nothing earlier. When starting the game in Steam a pop-up window with "Take On Mars" in the header, says "Steam must be running to play this game.".
Well, Steam is running...
Ok, even weirder. When doing a new Steam install on my SSD (C:\) (not using it normally due to low space) then the game will start!
Can confirm the problem as well as the solution. Game only runs if installed using a Steam installation on C: drive.
Just installing the game in a C: drive library via a G: drive Steam installation did not help.
Things got even more interesting - I tested the game on my notebook as well and it worked out-of-the-box with neither Steam nor the game being installed on the C: drive.
The only significant difference between both machines that I can think of is the storage. The desktop system is running Steam from a Win8 storage space while the notebook has it running on a regular drive.
The OP is running Win 7 though, so Storage Spaces are an unlikely cause.
Anyway, if I happen to find anything else, I'll add another note so you guys can look into this issue.