Revenge of the Savage Planet Sneak Peek

Just over four years ago, Journey to the Savage Planet was released and introduced us to the humorous and bleak future of humanity. As an employee of Kindred Aerospace, the "4th Best Interstellar Exploration Company", we were tasked with exploring a faraway planet in hopes of finding humanity a new home. Now, years later, much has changed as the Kindred Aerospace company has been bought out by an even bigger conglomerate! But as in many corporate buyouts, the logos change and everything else is just about the same, as we saw in the Revenge of the Savage Planet sneak peek event!

Set on a new planet and featuring a new employee, the sequel has set its sights on bringing back the iconic humour and gameplay of the first entry, whilst also making it bigger and better. To start off, series veterans may be shocked to see... themselves! Transitioning from a first-person view to a third-person perspective may be jarring at first, but Revenge of the Savage Planet’s more platform-oriented and sprawling design makes this an obvious move. Additionally, you can now customise your corporate-mandated living quarters with multiple cosmetic items. Some with fun interactions, such as the High-Five-o-Matic. You can also find and craft new duds to keep your adventuring gear up to the standards of fashion! Oh, and don’t worry, the ads are back.

Whilst our peek into the world was short, we were shown how the newer areas are much more cohesive and whole compared to the somewhat floating-island-centred design of the prequel. Not all is new and strange, however, as you may recognise, some of the local fauna is scampering around, begging to be both scanned and punted into the distance (though we’re sure you’d never). Your base of operations also has a pen to hold any animals you decide to capture for further study, deconstruction, and inevitable (and mostly similar) reconstruction!

One of the more impressive features we were shown was the dynamic nature of the planet: when a monster is slain, a pod is burst, or a trap is sprung, you’ll see viscous goop cover everything (and everyone) around. While fun in its own right, the various colours and types of sludge have differing effects! Red slime, for example, is very flammable and can help you clear out an area of any nasty native creatures, whereas green fluids can be very slippery, causing enemies to trip and unwary explorers to tumble! Luckily, one of the many tools you have to explore is a water gun, with which you can clear off any unwanted mess.

Revenge of the Savage Planet is a metroidvania title and one of its core tenets is celebrating backtracking. Each new tool and upgrade has multiple uses, with new routes or areas opening up for the eager explorer. If you’d rather stick to the critical path and ignore everything else, that's completely fine, but if you’d rather look under every nook and cranny, you’ll find the game eager to reciprocate. You can even freely swim underwater, which is the ultimate sign of a sequel.

Estimated to take about 15-20 hours to complete, Revenge of the Savage Planet invites you to explore its wacky, playground-esque planets at your own pace and in your own style. With the drop-in drop-out co-op, you can also get into countless shenanigans with your friends. And yes, I did say planets! With a total of four planets to explore and an additional fifth one hidden, the many ambient puzzles and mandatory ad breaks are sure to keep you coming back again and again. Oh, and you can pet the… uh… weird little fluff-squirrel-things. And you can play as a raccoon or even an anime character.

Revenge of the Savage Planet is set to release May 2025.