BLESS THIS MESS

REVENGE OF THE SAVAGE PLANET is a Metroidvania designed for breezy co-op

- By Phil Iwaniuk

The first thing that hits you is the way your character walks. There you are, excreted out into the furthest reaches of the universe by an uncaring colonisation corporation, made redundant by said corporation immediately upon hitting terra firma and left to scrabble around for scattered survival packages that will allow you to just barely continue existing. And yet you're swaggering around your new home planet like you're the luckiest space pioneer ever to be laid off.

That bouncy walk cycle is a great marker of Revenge of the Savage Planet’s endearingly upbeat take on sci-fi and social commentary, and also a great marker of how well realised that tone is throughout each of the game’s component parts. Alex Hutchinson's Raccoon Logic studio seems to have diligently branded every wall texture, creature noise and item upgrade with the same unifying irreverence, creating a satisfying whole that feels a bit like stepping inside the writers’ minds to enjoy a kind of walk-in closet of a joke.

In more material terms, it’s also a very well constructed Metroidvania of the same calibre as its predecessor, featuring survival elements, a steady upgrade path, and a brilliant ecosystem of flora and fauna whom you can manipulate to get around, harvest resources and now, troll your co-op buddy relentlessly.

GOOBER