Journey to the Savage Planet

Game Title: Journey to the Savage Planet
Released: January 28, 2020
Game Length: 7 Hours
Grade: A

Expectations: A lot of people don't like when games are exclusive to the Epic Games Store, but I couldn't wait around for this one to come onto Steam. It might look very strange while checking out their website, but there are a lot of positive reviews about this little game. Alright so not all the reviews are good, but they can't all be Far Cry shooters. It is also interesting to note that this game does support online co-op as well. If I had to guess, the game might be a cross-breed between No Man's Sky and Outer Worlds. It doesn't look like you visit multiple planets, but it does appear to have some sort of material and research gathering. I wonder how much combat is involved.

Reality: I did not foresee this game leaning so heavily into the platform and puzzle area mechanics. A large portion of the game involves surveying, scanning, and collecting data on your surroundings. That much is sure. But there is another side of it that reminds me of Metroid. While exploring the planet, you will come across sections that will be just out of your reach. One of the earliest obstacles that you will encounter will be an electric door that will not open until you gain the very last upgrade in the game. The AI will humorously direct you to your next destination as you gradually unlock more health, stamina, damage to your pistol, jump-jet capabilities, and the ability to utilize the flora around you. Contrary to my original assessment, the "world" around you is neither randomly-generated or vast to explore. It is more environmentally-controlled, like a small chunk of earth floating in the air.

Comedy: This game is booming with comedy from the beginning to the end. It certainly doesn't stretch the reality of space travel. You will be constantly reminded how insignificant you are and at the same time how much your contribution matters by the company that hired you to visit an unknown region of space. Every time you visit your ship, one of the wackiest ads will play on your monitor which thankfully can be immediately stopped with a press of a button. The ship's AI will blatantly point out how "teleporting" kills you and creates a copy elsewhere. If you die while exploring the planet, another "you" will materialize out of a jumbo-sized container of Grob, the substance Earth created that is used for a meat-substitute. It sort of makes you wonder what you really look like under that space suit. You then can "shamefully bury" your clone's body. A holographic tombstone with the numbered clone pops up from the ground. At one point I thought the lady voice in my head was truly warning me not to eat the orange goo with a big blue 'X' button in front of me, but that's just part of her personality. She will playfully reminisce how awesome it is to see things blow up or sarcastically remark how painful things will be to your body.

Parkour: I was amazed at how many times my adrenaline started pumping right before a jump. There is some heavy-duty parkour action going on. You will be hopping from falling platforms, avoiding hot lava, building hooks from the walls, and gliding from one tiny island to the next. There are certain areas over the sky where your cartographer buddy will come rescue you, but there are a lot of gaps where he doesn't appear at all. I died 5 times - all of which were stupid mistakes on my part. Things do get a lot easier when you gain the ability to super jump and use your jetpack three times in the air. Tracking down collectibles becomes easier when you finally upgrade your scanner, though it can still be difficult tracking down alien alloys buried deep inside the cliff-wall.

Hot Garbage DLC: The game is relatively short and the add-on does a fantastic job stretching a few more hours into your game. You visit another area, one that you can actually swim in, and encounter a sort-of rogue AI that is tearing apart the landscape. You track down proof of his operation, collect postcards, hack fun upgrades, and play with new purple floating circles that boost your jetpack mid-flight. Everything about this DLC is perfect, from the chatter you get between the two AIs to the new enemies you encounter. The research team recommends you get 90% in the core game before returning home, but I also made sure to get that here as well. This brought my total game time up to 12 hours, and I'm not afraid to admit that I enjoyed every bit of it.

 

12-10-2020