Revenge Of The Savage Planet review - the best 3D Metroidvania returns
2020's Journey To The Savage Planet was the epitome of a cult hit – a game that was little known before its release, yet was great to play and chock full of personality. In the interim, its developer has been on something of a rollercoaster ride, as demonstrated by the fact it is now called Raccoon Logic rather than Typhoon Studios. But its return for a second bite of savage planetary action shows little sign of that upheaval.
Like its predecessor, Revenge Of The Savage Planet is a Metroidvania disguised as a third person action adventure. Structurally, visually and story-wise, it's very much a sequel, progressing logically from the first game and endowed with the same cheery, hyper-colourful palette and endearingly goofy vibe. But it also feels much more polished and honed and considerably meatier, thanks to a welter of side missions and hidden activities – addressing criticisms that the first game was too short.
If you're in the mood for a game whose story is utterly frivolous and tongue-in-cheek, with a leavening of gentle satire that pokes fun at the likes of boneheaded influencers and excessive consumption, you'll love Revenge of the Savage Planet. Once again, you're unceremoniously dispatched to an uninhabited planet, where you must establish a base in anticipation of colonisation. But this time around, your deadbeat employer, Kindred Aerospace, has been acquired by the rapacious Alta Interglobal.
When you reach your base, you find two messages from Alta, one welcoming you and the next informing you that you've been fired. Most of your gear is scattered around the planet you land on and four neighbouring ones. Each world has a distinctive set of ecosystems, including flora, fauna, and climate.
You must explore to find items that will add new abilities and upgrade your attributes, as you return to previously inaccessible areas when you acquire things like a whip, a grapple hook, an underwater scooter, and helmet-filter that allows you to breathe in poison gas-filled areas.
Everything in each environment can be scanned and the whip lets you capture alien creatures (some of which must first be stunned) Pokémon-style, which can then be researched by your habitat's computer, often yielding crucial upgrades.
There's some varied and inventive puzzling to be done – for example, unlocking crates by spraying metallic goo to create connections between electrified mushrooms. Plus, there's some pretty challenging platforming involved, along with some memorable and challenging boss battles. Tinkerers can 3D print all manner of furniture and appliances to decorate their bases, while the whole game is playable in two-player co-op, either in split screen or online.
One of Revenge Of The Savage Planet's many strengths lies in its tactility. Hostile creatures explode in showers of colourful goo, while others detonate after you've aimed a hefty kick at them. Different enemies require wildly different strategies and equipment; for example, green balls of slime filled with eyes can only be defeated by a good spraying with a water gun, which turns them progressively bluer until they melt.
Tiny spiky balls are impervious to your blaster but susceptible to your whip. Others have armour which must be whipped or ground-pounded before they will take damage. As you progress, you acquire tanks of differently coloured goo to fire, which must be deployed both against specific enemies and in the cause of puzzle-solving.
In lesser hands, Revenge Of The Savage Planet's welter of liquid-shooting guns and gadgets could have ended up as a disjointed mess, but Raccoon Logic has integrated them into a coherent and logical whole – it's definitely one of those games which is way cleverer than it looks.
Whether dealing with waves of varied enemies, solving puzzles which can often be arcane but always seem to make a weird form of sense, or returning with a new gadget to a previously explored area and uncovering something new, its maps are packed with activities that are all very satisfying. More Trending
And while it's longer than Journey To The Savage Planet, you should still be able to finish it in 20 hours or so, so it isn't one of those games that is intimidatingly long. Its least impressive aspects don't seriously detract from the fun but we did have to undergo a period of grinding before taking down one of the later bosses and sometimes found our drone assistant both a tad annoying and not as helpful as they should have been. The parody adverts piped to your habitat's screen also grate after a while, but at least they can be switched off.
This is a well-constructed and cleverly designed game, that refuses to take itself at all seriously. It's genuinely funny, very distinctive in terms of both looks and atmosphere, and offers a pleasing amount of varied and satisfyingly gameplay. Metroidvanias may be a favourite of indie developers but there's still very few 3D examples of the concept, and Revenge Of The Savage Planet really makes you wonder why.
In Short: One of the best 3D Metroidvanias ever made, with the same endearing sense of humour as the original but several welcome improvements and a more substantial adventure.
Pros: Great gadgets and clever Metroidvania style puzzles and platforming. Genuinely funny at time, with some nicely distinctive visuals. Suite of two-player co-op options are very welcome.
Cons: Some forced level grinding and some of the wackier humour can grate after a while – especially the annoyingly unhelpful drone.
Score: 8/10
Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and PC*Price: TBAPublisher: Raccoon LogicDeveloper: Raccoon LogicRelease Date: 8th May 2025
Age Rating: 12
*available on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass from day one
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