What Is Revenge of the Savage Planet?

Revenge of the Savage Planet is a third-person action-adventure exploration game developed by Raccoon Logic — a studio founded by veterans of Typhoon Studios, who made the original Journey to the Savage Planet. Published by 505 Games and released on May 8, 2025, it is a spiritual successor that improves on its predecessor in nearly every dimension: larger world, deeper upgrade tree, better bosses, and meaningfully evolved co-op.

You play as an employee of Kindred Technologies, a subsidiary of mega-corporation Alta Interglobal, who has been made redundant and abandoned at the far edge of the galaxy. Armed with basic equipment and absolutely no safety net, you explore four alien planets, uncover what your former employer was actually doing out here, and take your revenge. The setup is a vehicle for sharp corporate satire delivered through in-game TV advertisements, employee training videos, and increasingly absurd Kindred Technologies internal memos.

Gameplay — The Exploration Loop

The core loop is elegant: explore to find Orange Goo, spend Goo at Upgrade-o-Rama terminals to unlock mobility and combat upgrades, use those upgrades to reach new areas with more Goo. It is the same virtuous cycle that drives the best Metroidvanias, executed with confident pacing.

The critical design choice that elevates the loop above genre peers is upgrade-gated environmental access rather than key-gated doors. There are no keycards, no story locks. When you unlock Jump Boost, you can physically see the upper ledges that were previously out of reach. When you get Grapple, the ceiling becomes your new floor. This makes upgrades feel like genuine world expansion rather than permission slips.

The scanner adds a second layer of engagement. Every creature and plant has a Kindex entry requiring specific scan conditions — some straightforward, many deliberately obscure. A creature that rolls into a ball when startled cannot be scanned while balled up. A flower that retreats under the ice after ten minutes must be scanned immediately on planet entry. The Kindex database documents every condition precisely, but discovering them yourself for the first time is one of the game's genuine pleasures.

Combat is functional without being the focus. The Binding Goo mechanic — immobilising enemies for critical-hit windows — rewards patience and positioning over button-mashing. The game never asks you to grind combat for progression. It's an option, not a requirement, and that restraint keeps the pacing clean.

Co-op — The Standout Feature

Revenge of the Savage Planet has some of the best 2-player co-op in the action-adventure genre. This is not hyperbole. It is specifically and deliberately designed for two players in ways that manifest in every system:

Two-player pressure plates exist across all planets, unlocking rooms and deposits inaccessible in solo. Boss fights have specific roles — the Binder and the Striker — that make the fights feel like coordinated encounters rather than two people doing the same thing simultaneously. The Glacial Warden Phase 3, where a continuous bind chain is only possible with alternating shots from two players, is the standout co-op encounter design.

Orange Goo and Kindex scans save for both players permanently, meaning co-op sessions have real mutual benefit beyond fun. Splitting up on each planet to cover different sectors simultaneously cuts exploration time by 40–50%. The game rewards collaborative strategy without requiring it.

The one limitation: online only. No local split-screen. This is a reasonable design decision given the scale of each planet, but it is worth noting for anyone planning couch co-op.

The Four Planets

Stellaris Prime (volcanic) is the starting world and the most forgiving introduction to the game's exploration philosophy. Dense Goo, accessible secrets, a manageable boss. Its four sectors make it the meatiest planet in raw area.

Xephyr (jungle canopy) is where the game reveals its ambition. The planet is almost entirely vertical — the jungle floor is irrelevant, the canopy is everything. Arriving without Grapple means seeing perhaps 40% of the planet. Arriving with full mobility is one of the best moments in the game as the tree canopy opens up into a multi-layered hidden world.

Cryo Station is the difficulty escalation point. The icy visual aesthetic washes out Orange Goo's colour, making deposits genuinely harder to spot. The Glacial Warden boss is the peak of the game's encounter design. Three deposits only unlock post-boss, which is an elegant incentive to revisit.

Noxious Ridge is a pressure test of everything the game has taught you. Arrive without Armour Plating and the passive damage is unforgiving. Every creature is aggressive on sight. Deposits are sparse but high-value. The Apex Predator fight is mechanically the most demanding encounter in the game, requiring strict role discipline in co-op and precise timing in solo. Some players will find it too steep; completionists will find it satisfying.

Story & Writing

The story is a vehicle for the game's real strength: its writing tone. The corporate satire — Alta Interglobal memos, Kindred Technologies training videos, employee performance reviews from space — is consistently funny in a way that few games sustain beyond the first few hours. It keeps its comedic voice without leaning into it so hard it becomes exhausting.

The central mystery of what Kindred Technologies was actually doing on these four planets is genuinely engaging. Four lore logs across the planets, each more revealing than the last, provide a propulsive narrative engine that motivates exploration beyond the collectibles.

The ending is where the game stumbles. It concludes abruptly in a way that clearly sets up a sequel rather than providing a satisfying standalone resolution. This is the single most common complaint in our community and in reviews across the board. It doesn't undermine the journey, but it does leave you with a faint sense of incompletion that the rest of the game doesn't earn.

Value & Replayability

At full price, the value proposition is strong. You get 12–16 hours of main story that doesn't drag, 20–28 hours of thorough exploration, and 35–45 hours of full completionist content. That is a generous range at standard AAA pricing. It's exceptional value if it goes on sale.

Replayability is moderate. The collectible-hunting has a natural second-pass loop — players who miss the Grapple-gated areas on their first pass through Stellaris Prime often do a dedicated revisit run. Co-op players frequently do a full second playthrough from the other player's perspective as host. There is no New Game Plus or difficulty modifier at launch.

Performance & Technical

At launch, stability was rough — patch v1.0 had a noticeable crash rate and some Kindex scan registration failures. By v1.4.0, the game is stable. The December 2025 QoL patch also addressed the most common balancing complaints (Stomp was overpriced, Scan Boost range was too short). We review this game on the current patch state, not its launch state.

On PS5 and Xbox Series X, the game targets 60fps at 4K and hits it consistently outside of Xephyr's densest canopy areas (30–45fps drops during Grapple chains through heavy foliage). PC performance scales cleanly with hardware. See the platform guide for technical specifics by platform.

Vs. Journey to the Savage Planet

You do not need to play Journey to the Savage Planet to understand or enjoy Revenge. The games share a universe and a tone but have completely separate stories.

Revenge is the better game in almost every measurable dimension: larger world, deeper upgrade system, stronger co-op, better bosses, and more polished moment-to-moment gameplay. Journey has a tighter, more focused story that reaches a more satisfying conclusion. If you had to play one, play Revenge. If you want the full tonal context, play Journey first — it is a 6–8 hour game.

Final Verdict

Revenge of the Savage Planet earns its 8.5 out of 10 by being exactly what it sets out to be, executed with confidence. It is a funny, well-paced exploration game with excellent co-op, a tactile upgrade loop, and four planets that are each genuinely distinct to explore. Its weaknesses — an abrupt ending, one steep difficulty spike, an incomplete cross-play roadmap — are real but don't undermine the experience.

If you enjoy exploration games, collectible hunting, or co-op action-adventures, this is a strong buy. If you're primarily a solo narrative player who doesn't engage with collectibles, you may feel underserved by a story that ends before it resolves.