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The Review Geek

Revenge of the Savage Planet (2025) Game Review – A fun but frustrating sequel

A fun but frustrating sequel Revenge of the Savage Planet is a delightfully bonkers and satisfying sequel to the 2020 action adventure game, Journey to the Savage Planet. Developed by Typhoon Studios, Revenge takes the core elements of what made Journey so appealing and dials that up to eleven, complete with a changed third-person perspective, plenty of crude and satirical humour, and a simple but satisfying gameplay loop. This is, by all accounts, a metroidvania at its heart and the game takes all the usual machinations of that genre, spreads it across four big worlds and encourages players to put on their adventuring hats and go exploring. The hook works surprisingly well, playing out as a hybrid packaged blend of Journey to the Savage Planet's absurdity, Ori and the Will of the Wisps' visual flair and metroidvania structure, and No Man's Sky's freeform exploration. The ensuing result is a game that's a fun little sandbox but also held back by some frustrating inclusions that constantly feel like roadblocks to the core experience. Combat is clunky, stamina (or a lack thereof) is a constant hindrance and busywork collectathon missions feel a bit dull in such a colourful world. Whether you're familiar with the original game or not, Revenge of the Savage Planet is welcoming to newcomers and veteran players alike. Here, you take on the role of an explorer, set out on an interstellar exploration mission after being abandoned by the greedy Alta Global. A corporate take-over has left you in the dark, or more specifically, the dark void of space. So naturally, it's time to take revenge on the company that have abandoned you and expose Alta's dirty secrets along the way. There are themes of capitalism, globalisation and the sheer absurdity of extreme corporatism woven into the fabric of the story, mostly told with little cutscenes or voiced dialogue that chirps up on holograms or back at your Habitat base. The story is basically a footnote though compared to the main bulk of the game, which centers almost exclusively on the gameplay. Your task here is to scan, kill, explore and navigate through beautiful worlds, topped with huge mountains to scale, mysterious caves to traverse and lush fields full of flora and fauna. The world is beautifully realized, with a great use of colour throughout. Everything feels vibrant and alive, with the level design feeding directly into everything. You have the obligatory 'desert world' and 'ice world' but within those footnotes are secret locales and surprises that will catch you off-guard. Whether it be a neon-lit, beautiful cave full of mushrooms deep underground, or a lush area full of rolling hills and a beautiful watering lake, the visuals in Revenge are easily the best parts of the game. You can tell a lot of thought has gone into the design of the worlds and that definitely shows as you play through this one. As I mentioned before, there are four worlds in total and each have individual regions that have their own unique design quirks. In some Worlds, there's an emphasis on exploring vertically, up mountains or floating platforms. Other times, it's a case of moving through lush jungles and avoiding sticky tar lakes. There's a lot to see here, but the general gameplay loop is largely the same across the 15 or so hours you'll spend with this one (more if you intend to get all the achievements!) The main mission involves collecting your gear, which has been scattered across the system. Along the way, you beef out your arsenal so you can progress to different areas, which in turn then allow you to obtain even more tools to aid you on your adventure. This is essentially one big fetch quest, but the game does well to disguise this around the usual metroidvania blockades. Some areas will require backtracking, and there's a keen sense of progression that definitely makes you feel like you're gaining momentum as you play. Alongside this are a number of different missions which all involve collecting items or capturing creatures. If you've ever played a Lego game, the concept feels very similar, but it's hard to shake the feeling that this is just busywork to pad out the run-time. To be fair to Revenge of the Savage Planet, the collectibles aren't just mindless pick-ups and they do help give your character more power. Printer Slurrys found in crates can be used toward upgrading your gear. Orange Goo helps to improve your Health and Stamina, while capturing creatures out in the wild helps to give more options for Upgrades. The weapons and tools you pick up make good use of the environment too, and whether it be a watering hose that extends bulbs into platforms to reach previously inaccessible areas, or a metal fork that doubles up as a tool to break into metallic doorways or extend out hidden platforms. All of these Upgrades are handled over at the Habitat, which is your de-facto base for the duration of the game's play time. You'll be constantly heading back here throughout the adventure, via teleporters found out in the world (and yes there is a mission for finding all of these). Given the amount of time you'll be spending at the Habitat, the game tries to mix things up by adding in a costume changer, a petting zoo and even a computer terminal with emails and the ability to add extra items to decorate your room using Alta Coupons (which are found in crates out in the world). The game keeps up the same comedic wit throughout the adventure, usually broadcast by a little drone computer joining you as you explore the world. However, despite the option to turn down the amount of chatter, it can become grating after a while. There are instances where it becomes completely overbearing, especially during key missions and explaining parts of the story, and the humour itself very much relies on silly slapstick and bathroom jokes. The end credits song, which is basically a satirical tune about using the toilet at work, only exemplifies the tone this one's gunning for. These bathroom jokes extend out to parts of the gameplay too, including monkeys with butts as faces, farting mushroom creatures and more. Some will have a blast with this but others will lean much closer to the satirical corporate humour and for that, we get a good deal of advertisements on the monitors back at the Habitat and a bit of environmental storytelling. Still, it would have been nice to see more of this. The one area that Revenge of the Savage Planet is really let down by though is in traversal and combat. I'm not sure who thought a stamina bar in this game was a good idea but given the vast lengths you'll be running across during your playtime, it constantly takes you out of the experience. You are basically forced into collecting as much Orange Goo as possible to make this bearable, but even then – and especially during the vast distances covered in the fourth world – you will run out of stamina and be forced to walk for a bit. In a sandbox adventure like this, you really want to get the sense of freedom and embrace the wacky zaniness of it all… but you can't do that because you constantly need to stop to catch your breath. The same can be said for combat too. Sure, you can upgrade your weapon to have better cooldown capabilities and more damage, but don't expect to just go in all guns blazing. Your weapon has an overheating mechanic, and you'll need to manage your shots carefully. In fact, early on the better option is just to melee the flying enemies and jump around, at least until you upgrade your weapon. Oh, and the pistol is your only gun in the game too. I can't help but feel the developers missed a trick by not adding more weapons and guns to the game. Having a big rocket launcher to explode parts of the world, or a machine gun that sprays bullets at enemies would have helped make this part of the game shine. As it stands, it's easily the weakest part of the whole experience. There's undoubtedly a lot of content squeezed into Revenge of the Savage Planet and for the most part, the game does a good job of keeping you entertained throughout The extra addition of couch co-op is very welcome and performance wise, the game plays great. I didn't experience any technical issues while playing, and the sound design is generally quite good across the board. The voice acting, for all its comedic highs and lows, remains solid throughout. Revenge of the Savage Planet is a worthy sequel — quirky, packed with content, and often a joy to explore. The colourful worlds and clever metroidvania level design are its biggest strengths, rewarding curiosity with satisfying upgrades and platforming challenges. Unfortunately, a frustrating stamina system and underwhelming combat hold it back from reaching its full potential. If you can look past those flaws, there's plenty of fun to be had here — just don't expect a giant leap forward from the original. 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