Space games have been making a comeback in a big way. With the success of “The Outer Worlds” in recent memory, other producers have stepped up to create games that allow players to explore the galaxy and see things that don’t need to conform to Earths rules. “Journey to the Savage Planet” is one of these games, drawing heavy inspiration from games like “Dark Souls,” “Doom” and even “Cuphead.” It certainly has a pedigree but lacks some of the finer things that would give it the strength of its predecessors.
The game drops the player into the shoes of a space explorer on an unknown planet to the benefit of “Kindred,” a space company seeking to colonize new planets. It has the player and a friend being cast to scan and catalogue every piece of wildlife, explore a mysterious tower and hopefully get enough fuel to come back home. The story itself has a very bleak tone, often showing the player advertisements of things like playsets that feature miniature living people, where the child with the toy will act as their god. It’s clever, but all of the game’s best ideas are seemingly hidden here and don’t ever bleed into the actual story beats.
The comedy is in the vein of other space genre games but lacks subtlety to the point of irritation. Often cramming jokes into every possible situation, none of them being funny. This can be dedicated to the ship’s AI constantly quipping into the players’ ears and trying to be sarcastic rather than helpful. The only real chuckles to be found are in the visual comedy, specifically the main character’s jazz hands.
Combat is less than exciting. Players have one weapon that feels wonky and does not grow in options until very late in the game. While the player can manage several upgrades from the planet’s resources, they’re seldom helpful. Most of them simply make the gun do more damage, which is silly when most enemies go down in one shot, or reduce the reload speed.
There are also a variety of gadgets and tricks but they lack anything more than arbitrary uses. Most of the various bombs the player can carry seem to pose a larger threat to the pitcher rather than the receiver, often causing several chain explosions that will end up sending the spaceman straight back to his respawn room.
This issue can be tied to the co-op focus that would probably be the game’s best-selling point. As having a friend along for the action can distract from the obnoxious writing and weaker gameplay sections, leaving only the platforming sections to be enjoyable, often evoking the spirit of older PlayStation 2 games and ancient PC shooters.
Enemies lack the exciting or otherworldly traits of more exciting space stories. With most of the threats being little bird creatures that nibble on the players ankles and flying squids that shoot ink. Even boss type enemies consist of very basic baddies that sit in on specific place and attack with very rudimentary blasts.
The world as a whole is a bit of a wash, without any game-changing creatures and lacking shock value, it feels less like a planet to be discovered and more like a video game level. While that’s not the worst thing, it certainly feels like it lacks the “other-worldly” vibe it was trying to capture.
The game also ruins whatever wonder could have been found with a waypoint system that ensures the player will always be following a map rather than their own curiosity. This is a pretty big gash against the intended feel of the gameplay.
On the brighter side, the game is only $30. For what it’s worth, players get a fairly large amount of content, unbroken by the allure of microtransactions or live service wizardry. For some the spirit of the game will be larger as a whole than the individual mistakes that bog it down.
Image from PlayStation via YouTube
