Revenge of the Savage Planet sneak preview - An upcoming must-play satirical Metroidvania

Revenge of the Savage Planet is the sequel to a game that I feel unjustly went under the radar - Journey to the Savage Planet. I recently had a chance to join other members of the press to take part in a hands-off preview of the upcoming game. Although unfinished, it looked incredibly polished, and there was an undeniable charm and humor to the game that hooked me immediately.

Raccoon Logic’s upcoming title is a co-op, open-world survival/Metroidvania-style title with lots of building and RPG elements. From experimenting on adorable creatures, solving puzzles, and exploring a series of cruel, harsh planets, there’s a whole lot on offer here in this beautiful Unreal Engine 5 game.

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Revenge of the Savage Planet dumps players onto harsh, unforgiving planets - but in a comical way

Revenge of the Savage Planet isn’t your average open-world survival game. It’s an incredibly funny, satirical take on the genre. As the player, you’ve been made redundant by the company you work for, in a future that has been overwhelmed by corporate greed and stupidity. Think Idiocracy but more animated, and with far less garbage everywhere.

They've got some wild, wildlife (Image via Raccoon Logic)

So you (and a partner if you wish) will travel from planet to planet, completing challenges, upgrading your technology, and capturing/experimenting on the various monsters and aliens you meet on your way. Your goal is to understand these planets and move on to the next one — preferably without dying along the way.

This is a game that will definitely try to drag you off the path of the main campaign missions, with tons of stuff to do, and I appreciate that. The worlds feel filled with activities and things to do — lots of great ways to explore, and creative ways to solve puzzles.

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Revenge of the Savage Planet is also a Metroidvania at heart

Why not take a little dive into the unknown? (Image via Raccoon Logic)

Honestly, they had me at Metroidvania — that’s honestly all you have to say to get my attention. The way it works is that players are dumped onto a planet, and one of the first, most important tasks is to get all your various tools back so you can resume your work.

Some of the upgrades and things you need to locate are optional, but there are also core upgrades — important features that you need to progress in the game. This means there are potentially lots of ways to solve problems and progress, and I love that idea. That sort of flexibility appeals to me.

There are definitely new things in the game compared to Journey to the Savage Planet — the Windows 95 computer is back, and with it a Research Tab, where you can use the new Lasso. Capturing creatures sends them back to be “studied”. It’s probably as grim as that sounds — but still in a very comical way.

Always remember, when exploring hostile terrains, take some time to chill out (Image via Raccoon Logic)

You’ve got lots of tools to use — a water cannon that can clean or rehydrate, and a Slime Gun that can … well, mostly be incredibly gross. But it also can highlight invisible things, to get you through puzzles.

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It’s a whole new world(s) we live on

These worlds are beautiful and vibrant, there's no doubt of that (Image via Raccoon Logic)

We got a sneak peek at some of the planets players will explore in Revenge of the Savage Planet, as well as some descriptions about others. I don’t want to spoil them, but they’re amazing. Traveling looked like a great deal of fun, the combat looked simple without being too easy, as well.

This is definitely a game built for co-op. Sorry, this isn’t a game with 4+ players on a server — just one or two. This was by design, though, and not a restriction or limitation put upon the developers at all. I like the choice, however. Games like this are so fun with just you and a partner, exploring the wilderness.

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Customize your look and your base in some fantastic ways

Even the default suit is pretty rad on its own (Image via Raccoon Logic)

You won’t always be running, jumping, swimming, and scanning, though. Revenge of the Savage Planet also allows you to customize your space suit, not to mention your base. You’ll have two empty rooms that you can fill with a wide assortment of great items — some examples we saw were the High Five Machine, Pinball Machine, Lava Lamp Fire Pit, and more. These don’t have a use for the most part but are decorative and fun.

You’ll need coupons scattered throughout the wilderness to buy them as well. However, what got me were the many designs you can customize your character’s suit into. They were a bunch of “Temu versions of various space tropes” and I absolutely love that energy.

Whether you want to have a Han Solo look, a Star Trek Red Shirt look or a Super Sentai/Power Rangers style look, this game has it for you. The suits looked incredible honestly, while still being “legally distinct”.

I’m a sucker for fun creative design choices, and being able to customize my living space. They also brought back some of the cringe-worthy/comical commercials from the previous game, along with some new ones, I imagine. There’s so much charm and heart poured into Revenge of the Savage Planet.

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In conclusion

Surely not everything out in the wild is out here to destroy us. Right...? (Image via Raccoon Logic)

I’m incredibly excited for Revenge of the Savage Planet. It’s got a lot of heart, it’s incredibly charming and funny. I think people who missed out on the previous game owe it to themselves to check this out on Steam.

While the game itself will run a decent time, according to the developers (~15-20 hours), I feel like doing everything and completing all the challenges will probably take a significantly longer amount of time. I appreciate a game that respects my time, and this one does just that. I haven’t been excited about an open-world survival game in a while, but this one has really got its hooks in me.