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The biggest issue with sci-fi sequel Revenge of the Savage Planet is that, despite subjecting you to a barrage of offbeat humor, it’s just not particularly entertaining. There’s not a lot here that’s necessarily bad per se, but I would describe my journey through its five alien worlds as merely “good enough” at best.
Review info
Platform reviewed: PC
Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S, PC
Release date: May 8, 2025
This mainly stems from the fact that none of its constituent elements are anything that I haven’t already experienced in countless other games. It’s a third-person 3D Metroidvania action-adventure title, where all the trappings of the genre are present and accounted for.
It’s got an open world that you progress through in a steady, linear fashion by unlocking new abilities that grant access to new areas, platforming challenges that see you zipping between high up ledges, and basic puzzles where you need to mess with the environment to open up doors or reveal hidden passageways.
Even its predecessor, 2020’s Journey to the Savage Planet, seemed a little bit more unique despite following a similar formula, thanks to the use of the more uncommon first-person perspective.
Planet hopper
Revenge of the Savage Planet kicks off with the protagonist, an unnamed employee of a recently bought out space colonization firm Kindred Aerospace, getting unceremoniously laid off mere moments after setting foot on a previously uncharted planet. To make matters worse, a rocky landing has damaged your ship and strewn capsules containing some of your valuable equipment across the world. Stranded with no support on the way, it’s up to you to recover your gear and escape.
You’re joined by Eko, a floating AI companion that loosely guides your progress and dispenses a near-constant stream of quips. These, in addition to plenty of full-motion video (FMV) cutscenes, comprise the bulk of the humor here. The jokes are often passé, with dated jabs at everything from consumer culture and the world of cryptocurrency to the infamous Call of Duty ‘press F to pay respects’ blunder that occurred more than a decade ago, but aren’t impossible to sit through like the agonizingly unfunny monologues of a game like High on Life.
I may not have laughed, but I did at least find the high degree of effort evident in some of the wacky props and costumes from the FMV scenes quite charming. I never felt the need to use it, but you do also get the option to reduce (or even entirely disable) chatter from Eko if you wish. I could see this coming in handy if you intend to play lots in co-op, which lets one other player accompany you at any point in the campaign.
Despite the strong co-op focus of much of the marketing, the mode honestly seems like a bit of an afterthought. I played it for a few hours and the experience was ruined as it’s practically impossible to talk to your partner while any dialogue is occurring, which is most of the time. You either have to speak over the non-playable characters (NPCs), which is inevitably going to impact your ability to follow objectives and understand the already somewhat forgettable overarching narrative, or just awkwardly play in silence.
Many of the missions are clearly not designed for co-op either, practically requiring one player to take the lead while the other sits back and tries not to get in the way. In fact, it was often more effective for my partner to run off to the other side of the map to complete other tasks and, at that point, why would you even want to play with someone else at all?
Odd jobs
As for what you’ll be doing most of the time, the core of Revenge of the Savage Planet follows a fairly predictable loop. You arrive in an environment that requires a new ability to progress, for example a respirator to protect from toxic gases or a powerful ground pound to smash through fragile surfaces.
The materials needed to obtain this are located in another area of the map, so you follow an objective marker and complete a fun platforming segment and puzzle or two using your handy power hose (which can harvest a range of goos from the environment and spew them out to create conductive surfaces for makeshift circuits or burn through flammable barriers), to get them.
You then head back to the hub area, your spawn point and home to a few amenities like a 3D printer for creating upgrades and an outfit cupboard to customize the look of your explorer, to craft the ability using resources harvested from glowing ore veins littered throughout the map.
Some abilities also require research to obtain, which is accomplished by stunning and capturing a creature with your sci-fi lasso and then waiting around at the base for a few minutes while a progress bar fills up in real time.
Best bit
The hub area is home to your living quarters, a few rooms that can be extensively customized by spending a currency obtained on your travels. Placing objects to make the space your own is quite satisfying. Most can also be interacted with to see unique animations.
Pokémon, this is not, but die-hard completionists will probably get a kick out of hoovering up one of every possible creature or pursuing the many side objectives and collectibles on offer to pad out the runtime.
For others, it might begin to feel like a lot of busywork at times, especially if you go after those optional missions, which I would recommend given the substantial upgrades that some of them reward, but the modest length of about 12-15 hours means that it never becomes too monotonous.
It’s broken up by combat sections, too, which are unfortunately nothing to write home about. You’re equipped with a basic laser blaster, which you can outfit with engaging upgrades like a powerful charged shot or active reloading, but most fights simply involve strafing around foes and peppering them with shots until they explode into a pool of brightly colored goo.
Violently reducing some of the cuter critters that litter the brightly colored worlds into a pile of slime is actually quite funny, though, as is watching your character slide around on it, which does add to the overall enjoyment at least.
This cycle repeats itself across five total planets, each with its own unique look, population of creatures, and distinctly middle-of-the-road boss fights to round things off. A little more variety in how everything plays out would have gone a long way, but as it stands, while Revenge of the Savage Planet isn’t going to blow your socks off, I can definitely think of worse ways to spend an afternoon or two.
Should I play Revenge of the Savage Planet?
Play it if…
Don’t play it if…
Accessibility
The build of Revenge of the Savage Planet that I played has a disappointingly barren accessibility menu. It offers the option to disable controller vibration and motion blur, but that’s literally it.
Subtitles are enabled by default, though there is no way to adjust their size or presentation. There are no dedicated options for colorblind players and very limited customization when it comes to the control scheme.
How I reviewed Revenge of the Savage Planet
I played Revenge of the Savage Planet for just under 15 hours on PC before hitting the credits. I predominantly experienced the game in its solo mode, though I also endeavored to test out the co-op features for a few hours.
In addition to completing the main story, I was careful to experience plenty of the side content on offer, taking the time to pursue collectibles and try out the majority of the available upgrades.
First reviewed May 2025
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dash.wood@futurenet.com (Dashiell Wood)
