When it was released five years ago, Journey to the Savage Planet won us over with its crazy, colorful universe and its effective, if very classic, formula. Our review didn't get much of a reaction at the time, but with the one we've prepared for Revenge of the Savage Planet, we hope you'll be able to right that monumental wrong. Even more so as the studio behind the first opus (Typhoon Studios) is no more, having been bought out by Google before being definitively closed down following Stadia's death. Fortunately, Raccoon Logic rose from the ashes of this unfortunate episode, and it was with great pleasure that we immersed ourselves in the unique universe invented by this funny team from Montreal.
Five years to wait for a sequel is quite a long time in the world of independent games, but given the studio's history, it's actually quite understandable. That said, the good thing about this article is that even if you enjoyed the game from Canadian-based team Typhoon Studios back in 2020, you've had plenty of time to forget why. So let us remind you, because at first glance, what you'll probably notice very quickly is that the formula doesn't really seem to have evolved much in all these years. Some could even go so far as to say that this sequel doesn't take many risks compared to the first episode. The game's structure and mechanics are very much the same, and we're obviously going to mention them again to give a fitting welcome to those of you who never had a chance to explore the Savage Planet in the past. Perhaps the two most obvious changes relate to two minor shortcomings that some may have pointed out in the previous episode. From a first-person shooter, we've moved to a third-person view, which actually works very well in the platforming sequences, but is also just fine with the numerous shooting passages present in Revenge of the Savage Planet. Some might add that third-person can also make exploration more pleasant and enjoyable, and they won't necessarily be wrong. The second change will undoubtedly be more minor for some of today's players, but it should nonetheless please all those who look back with a certain nostalgia to their younger days, back when multiplayer could only be done at home with friends. While Journey to the Savage Planet only allowed two players to share the adventure online, it is now possible to do so on the same couch, thanks to split-screen mode. The icing on the cake is that if you prefer to play cooperatively with a distant friend, you can share the experience with any of them, whatever their gaming system. This sequel leans even toward multiplayer fun, which will come as no surprise given the fact that it seems to be the perfect match with the zany, fun-loving world depicted in the game.
However, though on the surface, the rest of the experience doesn't seem very different from that of its predecessor, it would be going too far to label this new opus as a lazy sequel. Yes, Revenge of the Savage Planet works on more or less the same basis, starting with the way the story begins. After a crash-landing on an unknown planet, the hapless hero relies on a chatty drone/robot to survive in this unfamiliar world. To get out of the predicament he got himself into when he agreed to work for Alta, the large corporation that bought Kindred, the one the player worked for in the first installment, he'll have to explore and analyze four new planets. Along the way, he'll once again have to collect almost all his equipment, upgrade it, obtain new tools (most new, of course) and, at the same time, learn additional moves that will make traversal faster and smoother. As in the first installment, scanning the flora and fauna will be essential to progress and learning more about the world around you, but fans of the first episode need rest assured that the creatures encountered will obviously not be the same as five years ago. As wacky as ever, you'll even be able to capture all these little/big animals to study them, provided you manage to stun them by aiming at precise part of their bodies. Each species collected will be automatically returned to the buildings/enclosures provided by Alta and you'll be able to visit them (and cuddle) at your leisure. Customization of your Habitat (the hero's base) will also be on the agenda, with money gleaned from Alta chests giving you the funds you need to add furniture, sofas, arcade games, various and sundry knick-knacks, even pool tables or hug dispensers. Most of these decorative objects will trigger specific short animations as soon as you interact with them, and all will be great fun to watch. As the adventure progresses and the main plot unravels, Alta's planned colonial city will appear around your HQ, adding to the sense of progression. That being said, don't expect to gain access to any new buildings, apart from those housing the species you've captured.
As mentioned above, at first glance, some may feel that this sequel is a very similar experience to the first opus. The humor is the same, and on our side, it continues to hit the nail on the head, and the Québécois dubbing really adds a lot of personality to this unique universe (the English version, also dubbed by Canadian actors, is also excellent). We're well aware that not all players will appreciate the regular interventions of our cybernetic companion, so it's once again possible to make them less systematic. For our part, we've opted to keep them all, so as to take full advantage of our insatiable sidekick's colorful personality. Moving around the various planets will once again be done on foot, with the hero's evolving skills enabling him to move faster and faster. The orange fruits scattered everywhere gradually give him more stamina (to sprint longer) and more life (to better face hostile creatures), while the upgrades to his equipment allow him to dash (on the ground or in the air, like Ratchet), to double (then triple) jump, and his whip will eventually be used as a grappling hook. The aerial rails on which you can grind are also reminiscent of Insomniac Games' iconic series, but we won't say more to leave you with as many surprises as possible. What's important to remember is that the four planets are packed with areas to explore: the level design is brilliantly done and exploration is always rewarded. So don't be fooled into thinking that everything will always take place on a single plane. The various locations you'll be passing through extend both vertically and horizontally, and the four planets are truly big considering the hero is always on foot. Fortunately, several teleporters (to be discovered) will enable you to travel very quickly (within the same environment, or to another planet - or your base). The exploration aspect is therefore excellent, with this sequel proving far more ambitious than the original in this respect.
Revenge of the Savage Planet's unlucky hero isn't just a highly skilled athlete, however; he's also going to have to use his strength, using his movement skills to evade enemy attacks. While he can martyrise the most innocent creatures on these four planets for no reason at all, and sometimes also because he has no choice, he'll mostly have to deal with the most aggressive ones. As the world is rather vast, escaping is always a viable option when you're just breezing through, but sometimes, often even, you have to clean up your surroundings. After the game starts, you'll quickly get your hands on a laser pistol, whose effectiveness will increase as you upgrade it. As it's not a machine gun, its fire rate is fairly slow, and you'll need to keep a close eye on its gauge, as it overheats very quickly at first. You can unlock a cooling tool to prevent this from happening (a mechanic similar to reloading in Gears of War), as well as a devastating charged shot, among other things. Enemies (including bosses) are not all approached in the same way, so you first need to understand how to defeat them, bearing in mind that it's sometimes necessary to use the whip to rid some of their gelatinous protection, for example. You'll also have a sort of sprayer which, at the start, will only be equipped with a water tank. Handy, because some opponents are precisely insensitive to the gun and must therefore be sprayed to beat them. Of course, we won't reveal everything, but there's a welcome variety of enemies to face, forcing you to adapt your tactics, even if you'll recognize certain archetypes from planet to planet. During combat, you'll also be able to rely on projectiles that you pick up from the scenery to begin with, before being able to carry a certain quantity with you. From explosive or acid grenades to blob balls, Raccoon Logic gives you the chance to get creative. Thanks to the sprayer, you can also collect other elements, to set fire to spider webs for example, which means that the tools you use to defend yourself are also useful for progressing through the world, giving the game, with the addition of new regular moves, a very pleasant Metroidvania feel. Nothing too surprising when you're familiar with the first game, but here it's sometimes possible to obtain certain bonuses without necessarily possessing the gadget that's supposed to facilitate their retrieval. Skill, speed and even cheating cleverness can help.
Visually, Raccoon Logic's game is truly superb, with colors exploding in all four corners of the screen and backgrounds rich in detail. We start on a fairly lush planet, but the next three are just as pretty, in quite different styles. Some might criticize their classicism to a certain extent (yes, there's a desert planet and an ice one), but they're nonetheless very well done graphically. The same can be said about the different creatures and bosses encountered, some are totally original, others vaguely inspired by home-grown fur balls. Imagine No Man's Sky but with handcrafted creatures and landscapes rather than created procedurally. The fauna may be very funny in their design, but you'll never find anything as bizarre (and therefore as out of place) as in Hello Games studio's game. The hero's animations are also very cartoonish, and therefore inevitably hilarious. Whether you're watching him run like a madman to escape danger, raise his thighs high to cross bodies of water, jump on his mattress like a kid or skate clumsily on a slippery surface, it's a lot of fun and it contributes to the ambient good humor exuded by the title. As we've already said, the voice-acting is also excellent, and as this sequel is just as generous with video content (parody ads are still legion in this episode), the dialogues we get to hear are not limited to the main characters. An almost idyllic picture if it weren't marred by a single point, which will have more or less importance depending on the player. While the PC experience is perfectly satisfactory, with a host of customizable graphics options and four classic upscaling tools (DLSS, TSR, FSR and XeSS), PS5 players will have to make do with a thirty-frames-per-second Performance mode. We don't know if the studio plans to add one later, even if only on PlayStation 5 Pro, but for the moment, Revenge of the Savage Planet is a game played at thirty frames per second only. As you know, we're not the type to be picky about this, and there are many big titles we've played at such frame rates, but there's something here that doesn't work as well as in a Forza Horizon 5 or Spider-Man 2. The framerate is generally stable (we just noticed a few slowdowns at times), but when moving the camera around, it doesn't feel as smooth as it should. We also found aiming far less pleasant and precise than on PC at sixty frames per second, forcing us more systematically to resort to the semi-automatic lock activated via the left trigger. Is this due to the fact that LFC has not been implemented? Does it feel better on Xbox consoles? It's impossible to give you an answer at the moment, but it's worth noting that if you can play it on PC and are hesitating about the PS5 version. You should also know that the specific features of the DualSense have not been taken advantage of.
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