Revenge of the Savage Planet Review (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, & PC)

Raccoon Logic didn’t squander the opportunity for a sequel to Journey to the Savage Planet (2020) –far from it. They took the bull by the horns, creating one of the year’s most memorable action platformers. Despite the hiccup at Google Stadia’s Typhoon Studios, the team of AAA developers rose from the ashes to form  Raccoon Logic, and we’re more than grateful that they’ve finally been able to follow up on the humorous FPS adventure Journey to the Savage Planet was. 

While there have been subtle and more audible changes and updates in the sequel, I’d say the overall package sticks its landing. It just might have certain areas that might hold it back from hitting perfectionism. So, what can you expect from the sequel? Let’s find out in our review of the Revenge of the Savage Planet.

All By Myself

Being a sequel, some of you may already know what you’re in for: utterly hilarious creature designs and blastful gameplay. You’ll take down corporate culture in the brightest, cheeriest ways, surprisingly littered with lots of ways to die. But that’s all in the name of a carefree adventure; you’ll find it hard to find pleasing. And Revenge of the Savage Planet, well, it’s just doubles down on all that goodiness: Miss Goody Two-Shoes still murdering gooey aliens and pushing back on corporate colonialism. 

You’ve been frozen in time and shipped into the future on a mission by your employer, Alta Interglobal, the parent company that bought out Kindred Aerospace from the first game. However, due to financial difficulties, Alta abandoned the project sometime before your mission began. When you crash land into a swampy desert, it doesn’t take long to realize that you’ve been left utterly and surely alone. 

So, where to begin? A sandbox open-world stands before you. But you need structure, and that’s where the three main storylines come in. The first focuses on collecting the spare parts, equipment, and gear scattered throughout the game’s four planets during your crash. Next, you’ll investigate Alto’s corrupt doings; your revenge mission, as it were, for abandoning you. And the last is fixing and assembling your ship to fly back home. Easy and straightforward, yes? That would be a hard no because Revenge of the Savage Planet is a Metroidvania, and you know how distracting those can be. 

Wait, What About…

Well, in truth, the Metroidvania aspect of Revenge of the Savage Planet is only one half of the story. The other half is just how distracting the alien worlds and things you can do in them can be. Immediately, you forge out into the colorful and zany planets, calling out to you, lots of alluring creatures and sounds will latch their tentacles onto your skin. This is a curious world that feels easy to explore, double jumping from one mushroom-like platform to the next. Blobs of orange goo hang above you that emit the resources you need to buff your health and stamina. 

In fact, splattering goo is the order of the day here, splurging out of the color-coded plants. And they’re not just for show. Green goo, for instance, is slippery, while red goo is flammable, and gray goo is electrocutable, and so on and so forth. These make them the perfect accomplices during combat and exploration. They spice up combat, unleashing red goo on fire-susceptible enemies or solving puzzles by conducting electric currents via gray goo. You can even goof around with your co-op partner in split-screen or online crossplay, sliming them down cliffs and gorges. And of course, the visuals and animations for all these are beyond words; simply hilarious and stunning. 

Animations, in fact, scream cartoony and never waste an opportunity to be dorky like your character, who’s now in full view in the transition from the predecessor’s first-person to third-person perspective. They prance around in delight with a bounce in their step. Sprinting is even more hilarious; never, at any point, growing on you. Perhaps the thing that might grow on you is combat and platforming, and here’s why. 

Boots on the Ground

You’re given a plasma pistol as your starting weapon. And, I’m afraid, it just is imprecise and barely packs a punch. You’re often emptying rounds into enemies, draining their health, and getting absolutely no satisfaction in taking them down. It just is the execution that feels a lot to be desired; the imprecision that takes away any sort of mastery of skill, and generally, how easy enemies are to beat. Despite relatively diverse enemy types, they ultimately are altered versions of themselves, and worse, they attack in the same ways. And more often than not, your pistol’s shots fired a couple of times at their wacky selves eventually burst them into sticky goo.

Now, you do unlock upgrades over time, like the Supernova Charge Shot that unleases a more powerful shot. But without the weight, without the punch, it just never quite reaches the level of satisfying. Since your pistol has a cooldown, it’s appreciated that you have your whip as an alternative melee weapon. While it’s frustrating that you don’t automatically turn toward the enemy to thrash them down, the energy whip does feel a touch bit more satisfying to use. It’s made especially so, thanks to using it as a lasso for capturing creatures to send back to your base for “research” purposes. Your research is primal as it helps unlock new abilities, but it also retains the creatures as pets. And finally, future upgrades can level the energy whip to use as a grappling hook that makes all the difference in platforming. 

Slide, Whip, and Grapple

Overall, you’ll be running and jumping over gaps, shooting, dodging, stomping on enemies, grinding for resources, and platforming. The platforming bit has gone a notch higher in Revenge of the Savage Planet, allowing you to slide, whip, and grapple through the alien planets. This is where the Metroidvania mishaps come in, though, because as much as it should feel carefree to explore all the wondrous biomes and colorful areas ahead of you, you’re often held back by your current level.

Some areas aren’t fully explorable until you backtrack to unlock a specific ability. Just like a Metroidvania, Revenge of the Savage Planet gives you the most basic tools and abilities to begin your journey. And while following the path of completing the main quests, you will be drip-fed new abilities to access new areas.  

Now, this may work for you quite nicely, supplemented by Revenge of the Savage Planet’s tongue-in-cheek humor and hilarious satirical jokes. But I suspect the humor here won’t always land with every gamer. It’s simply how comedy is that not everyone will find some jokes particularly funny.

Your companion robot, for certain, will annoy most folk with their persistent chattering about the obvious: no wonder there’s an option to switch them off. However, do so at your own risk, as they can often reveal new story beats and help you navigate the world. Anyway, all of the engagement factors that Revenge of the Savage Planet provides may not sit well with you: the humor, the combat, the platforming, heck, even the world itself can begin to feel bland, especially when the abilities you need to explore it fully are held back from you. 

Hope Still

Toward the final laps is when things really pick up pace. You have a more wholesome package of abilities and tools to conquer Revenge of the Savage Planet. But by then, your patience may have worn thin. I have to say, though, that for the most part, Revenge of the Savage Planet is genuinely a fun time.

Despite the annoyance here and there of aspects I’m sure the developers can easily fix, the overall package is a delight, and honestly, one of the most memorable adventures I’ll hold close to my heart.

Verdict

At the credits roll, Revenge of the Savage Planet proves yet again that taking yourself not too seriously is the way to go to truly enjoy a great time. Every moment exploring the Savage Planet feels well worth your time. You’re constantly wandering off into curious nature, scanning alien flora and fauna to learn delightful lore. And you can always bring back your findings and captured creatures and plants for further research back at base. 

Whether heading out to explore or returning to fix your ship, you’re often pulled into yet another buttock-faced creature to fight or satirical joke to belly-laugh at. Every moment is undeniably a good time. Yet, Revenge of the Savage Planet is certainly far from perfect. It still implements a few questionable features, like the drip-feeding of crucial combat and traversal abilities that you’re forced to backtrack to. 

The combat itself is a little too easy, with little enemy variety or weapons. It lacks the satisfaction of taking down a humongous sandworm, even after strategically maneuvering the battlefield. In any case, with a co-op partner in tow, Revenge of the Savage Planet remains assuredly on the bright side of gaming, both literally and figuratively.