Journey to the Savage Planet vs. Revenge of the Savage Planet

Journey to the Savage Planet has a lot going for it. The game delivers a fun and unique adventure set in a vast, colourful, beautiful, and strange world. It also involves lots of scavenger hunting, puzzle solving, humorous dialogue, and brief action moments. However, while it is mostly enjoyable, it is also worth noting that the gameplay is not as well executed as the premise.

Revenge of the Savage Planet, the sequel, builds upon the first game’s premise and hopes to overcome its shortcomings. Here is a comprehensive comparison of the two games based on the original game’s actual gameplay and the sequel’s official announcement.

What is Journey to the Savage Planet?

Journey to the Savage Planet is an action-adventure game from developer Typhoon and publisher 505 Games. Set on a strange, alien planet, the game tasks players with exploring and studying the open world to determine whether it is suitable for colonization. Moreover, players must also unravel a perplexing mystery about the planet’s past civilization, which left massive, sophisticated structures.

Notably, humour is one of the game’s most prominent aspects, as the dialogue and characters’ actions are sometimes comedic. Interestingly, it shares a few notable similarities with Far Cry and No Man’s Sky.

What is Revenge of the Savage Planet?

Revenge of the Savage Planet is an action-adventure game and the sequel to Journey to the Savage Planet. Unlike the first game, this one is developed and published by Raccoon Logic Studios Inc.

Picking up where the first game left off, players must continue exploring and studying the first alien planet and three more planets. However, the goal of exploring and studying the planets is to find a way to escape and return to Earth, as the native creatures are on the offensive.

Story

Storytelling is an integral component of both games’ gameplay. Notably, the stories in each game unravel and take unexpected twists and turns as you progress. Moreover, both games’ stories are interrelated, with the story in Journey to the Savage Planet evolving in Revenge of the Savage Planet.

In Journey to the Savage Planet, you play the newest recruit of an interstellar space exploration company called Kindred Aerospace. Your first job takes you to a newly discovered planet called ARY-26. Your task is to study the planet to determine whether it can accommodate a human colony. As such, you must explore every inch of the planet as you scan and catalog animals, plants, and other objects. Scanning an object reveals important information, helping you decide whether it is valid, harmless, or dangerous.

Interestingly, you come across huge structures not detected in the company’s original scans. The structures appear to have been constructed by intelligent beings. This discovery means you are not the first intelligent being to visit the planet. As such, your mission’s priority changes from scanning and cataloging objects to unraveling the mystery surrounding the structures’ origins. Your new goal is discovering who built the structures and why they abandoned the planet.

The story evolves dramatically in Revenge of the Savage Planet. The company you work for abruptly abandons its space exploration projects because it is not profitable. It sends you your final check and a notification informing you that you are fired. Moreover, it abandons you on the alien planet with limited gear, leaving you to find your way home.

Naturally, you feel frustrated, considering you spent almost a century in cryosleep traveling through space to reach the planet. As such, you start plotting your revenge against the company. However, you must first find a way to escape the planet and return to Earth before you can get your vengeance.

Character

There is nothing unique or remarkable about the characters in Journey to the Savage Planet and Revenge of the Savage Planet. The characters are all dressed the same, making them indistinguishable. Moreover, their background stories are all the same.

Gameplay

Both games’ core gameplay involves exploration, adventure, action, puzzle-solving, and storytelling. Notably, most of the gameplay in Journey to the Savage Planet involves exploration and adventure, with brief action moments. In contrast, Revenge of the Savage Planet features more action in addition to lots of adventure. However, both games' gameplay aspects are similar, with the sequel featuring more versatile movements and a more fluid combat system.

In both games, you experience an epic adventure while exploring the strange alien planets. The planets are colorful and feature beautiful landscapes inhabited by strange creatures and plants. Interestingly, while Journey to the Savage Planet features one open world for you to explore, the sequel features four worlds, quadrupling the adventure. You can use various equipment to get around quickly and easily, such as your grappling hook and rocket backpack.

Moreover, you explore alien planets in both games by scanning various creatures, plants, and structures. The scanner reveals essential information about the objects, giving you a better understanding of the planet. Notably, you can use this information to piece together the story behind the mysterious structures abandoned on the planet.

Some of the animals and plants in both games are dangerous, and you must fight to survive. You can blow enemies away using your sole gun. Moreover, you can use the environment around you as a weapon. For example, you can kick enemy plants into carnivorous plants. Moreover, you can use seeds from various plants as weapons, as some seeds can explode, electrocute, and emit poisonous gasses. Notably, the action in Revenge of the Savage Planet is more intense than in Journey to the Savage Planet.

All gear and equipment in the game are upgradable. For example, you can upgrade the grappling hook to swing longer distances. You can also upgrade the gun to increase its ammo or make bullets ricochet off walls.

Both games support an online co-op mode, enabling you to play with friends worldwide. Moreover, Revenge of the Savage Planet also supports cross-platform multiplayer and local co-op modes.

Verdict

Revenge of the Savage Planet is still in development. However, it already sounds better than Journey to the Savage Planet, which is quite impressive. Both games are overall enjoyable, delivering exciting adventures, intriguing stories, and fun battles.

So, what’s your take on our comparison of Journey to the Savage Planet versus Revenge of the Savage Planet? Let us know on our socials here or in the comments below.