Journey to the savage planet review upgrade#

Getting a rhythm going can be frustrating at first because your character is constantly hitting speed bumps to progression, like a wall that’s just too high or a jump that’s too far, meaning you have to follow the story long enough to unlock a particular item or resource that will allow you to get to those hard to reach places.

Journey to the savage planet review upgrade#

You can also of course find random resource deposits in the environment which be used to create and upgrade equipment, ranging from double jump boosters, jetpacks, an energy grappling hook, and others. You’ll scan for resources and catalogue flora and fauna to complete side quests that allot you resources. The exploration is pretty fun too, though it definitely starts out very slow. In fact, most creatures you encounter outside of bosses aren’t openly hostile unless provoked so your game time is less about survival and more about exploration. Savage Planet’s often adorable fauna mostly chirp and coo while they hop around the environment.

Further cementing its heritage, a smartass AI that accompanies you on your adventures is a clear spiritual descendant of Claptrap and Portal’s GLADOS. The look of the game’s world is very Borderlands adjacent, an amalgamation of the cartoonish and bubbly with some whacky and twisted undertones. Fortunately, the game only critiques the tropes of labor and natural habitat exploitation for dark comedic effect and has little to say beyond a surface level mockery of these problems. The game stars an unnamed explorer whose goal is to catalogue and collect resources on a hostile planet for your employer Kindred Aerospace, the “fourth best interstellar exploration company.” The not so profound commentary that’s hammered home is that you’re just a grunt exploited for maximum profit by your imperialistic employer. Savage Planet released in early 2020 and was developed by Typhoon Studios and published by the now infamous 505 Games (see Control on Xbox Series X and PS5).