Journey to the Savage Planet, a genuinely lighthearted action RPG that seamlessly blends beating up small animals, mocking mega-corporations, and "collecting" the heritage of alien locals, received countless positive reviews after its release.
If you haven't played it, why not give this dessert-like, absurd parody of "alien survival" a try.
Although Journey to the Savage Planet was beloved by the community, its developer Typhoon was dismantled by Google after the game's release, unexpectedly leaving the game's developers in the same plight as the unlucky protagonist in the game—thrown into isolation by mega-corporations.
That was until our "white knight angels from the investment world," Tencent, extended a helping hand—and then this group of regrouped veterans crafted their revenge piece, which is also the sequel.
Now, let parody and mutual trolling fly high, and let pranks and absurdity blend together—Wild Planet Revenge is here.
Thanks to the connections made by our Chinese partners, I got to preview Wild Planet Revenge early, enjoying myself thoroughly at the Wanke Playco console gaming station located two floors underground near Longhua Temple in Shanghai.
After spending over an hour happily kicking some "alien butts," I sat down with Alex Hutchinson, the Creative Director of Wild Planet Revenge, to chat about the series' various funny moments and get a good sense of this work.
At least for now, Wild Planet Revenge has definitely taken the parody and fun performance of its predecessor to another level.
Q: Why did you decide to change the game from a first-person perspective to a third-person perspective?
Alex Hutchinson: The person in our studio who finalized this perspective design was an energetic designer. He held the view that third-person perspective can showcase content and provide information to players in ways that first-person perspective simply cannot compare to.
In games like ours, many parodies and punchlines are conveyed through character body movements, interactions with the environment, and monster reactions—in short, visually rather than audibly, constituting a silent performance. Therefore, if players cannot see a lot of information and body language, the performance effect would be greatly diminished.
Another point is that Wild Planet Revenge will feature a customization function, allowing players to equip some interesting outerwear—so, a third-person perspective better suits our needs.
Q: This reminds me of the previous game—when we wanted to eat the alien orange gel, the previous game could only exaggerate by having the character slap the gel onto their face. But in this installment, players can act like a diver, scooping up a large handful of orange gel with both hands and tossing it into the air for an orange gel bath.
Alex Hutchinson: Regarding this, I'm happy to tell you—in Wild Planet Revenge, you can literally jump into a pool of orange gel just like a diver. You'll be able to experience this as you progress further into the story.
Q: That's really cool. Incidentally, you previously mentioned the second advantage of the third-person perspective—serving the new customization feature. And during my demo, I happened to find this outfit in the game—it looks very similar to a delivery guy's uniform. I assume this was an intentional design, right?
Alex Hutchinson: Hahaha, of course. Actually, this was an idea we discussed with some Chinese friends. They told us that Chinese players would definitely laugh hysterically when they see this outfit in the game. We also think this set of clothes fits well with the game's overall absurd style.
Moreover, when I came to Shanghai recently, accompanied by several Chinese friends, I even found their "spawn point" on the street and casually took some photos. Look. (Shows me)
In the distant third millennium, delivery guys active across the galaxy become the profession saving the entire universe (lol)
Q: This idea is definitely suitable for the domestic market; everyone will surely love it. However, will this customization system be opened to the community in the future? Will you provide some interfaces for community creators, giving players the opportunity to create custom outfits?
Alex Hutchinson: Man! I have to be honest with you. If this system and this game—Wild Planet Revenge—receives a positive response from the player community, we will definitely give it a try. But for now, I can only say there are no similar plans or intentions yet; ultimately, it depends on how the game performs after launch.
If the game doesn't perform well, we'll probably just have to move forward. After all, we're just a small studio.
Q: Did Wild Planet Revenge inherit any characteristics from the previous game in terms of monster design? Will we see some familiar faces in the game?
Alex Hutchinson: This is certain. During your demo, you should have noticed that the Parrot Bird has already appeared in the story of Wild Planet Revenge. We've also prepared many other variant species, and I look forward to seeing players' expressions when they encounter these strange creatures.
And, as you know, interacting with these little things is the core fun of the game. For instance, giving them a hard slap or kicking them right in the butt—doing this a few times in the summer heat is even more refreshing than eating a popsicle.
Q: Besides these animals, can we kick anything else? For example, barrels filled with synthetic food "Grob"? Or other hazardous materials?
Alex Hutchinson: Unfortunately, although we always try to make the game experience more nonsensical and freely absurd, these barrels... let me be honest with you, buddy, are like those mega-corporations that have survived from the previous game—they stand tall forever.
Also, I need to remind you—it's "Grob2" now.
Q: Haha, so it has already been updated? I indeed didn't notice that. Speaking of which, what about "Meaty Boy" from the previous game? Is the company behind them still alive in the backstory of this installment? Will we still see their advertisements?
Alex Hutchinson: Ah, here's some bad news: "Meaty Boy" didn't make it to this installment. But the good news is that we've packed over 20 new advertisements into Wild Planet Revenge—each one properly localized into Chinese. I hope these bits of fun can cross language barriers and successfully reach Chinese players.
Q: My favorite thing to do in the previous game was watching advertisements—to be honest, I'm very much looking forward to these new ads. Speaking of the previous game, one feature that pleasantly surprised me was how the AI assistant's tone would have noticeable emotional fluctuations and phased expressions when urging you to do something. It started with calm prompting, then moved to impatience, and finally to cold sarcasm. You prepared a vast amount of voice lines to aid the narrative performance, which I really liked.
Alex Hutchinson: You can rest assured on this point. Wild Planet Revenge has at least five times more text than its predecessor to meet our performance needs for this installment. So, if you pay attention while playing, you'll notice we've added many new definitions for "computers" and "files" (referring to how the AI assistant describes mission targets with a sarcastic tone, such as mocking you for not being able to distinguish between a computer and a file folder).
Q: By the way, are there any new weapons to choose from?
Alex Hutchinson: The weapon should still be that small pistol, but players will have many new tools. For instance, the grappling hook used for ziplines and rock climbing in the previous game can be used as a whip in Wild Planet Revenge. You can lash out at some "alien butts," or capture them and send them all back home. Then, you can build a small park at your base and display all the weird creatures you've caught in showcase cabinets.
You also have a glue gun that can spray green gel everywhere. You have a lava gun as well; I noticed you were figuring out how to use that lava plant during the demo earlier—that's for charging the lava gun.
To put it simply, players can enjoy over 50 new equipment upgrades in this installment.
Q: Do we also have to search for alien temples everywhere to unlock these new upgrades, just like in the previous game?
Alex Hutchinson: This time, we have to try something new. Remember the "Revenge" in our game's title? In Wild Planet Revenge, to unlock technology, players must resolve troubles caused by those mega-corporations in space—the player's main objective is to dismantle the evil plans of these corporations.
So, aliens have exited the stage in this installment—of course, unless you consider us players to be aliens.
Q: Will these "bad guys" from the big companies appear on the planet we are on? Will we have direct contact with the villains?
Alex Hutchinson: Unfortunately, no. You won't confront them directly in the game; you can only learn about their situation on Earth through intermediaries like news and advertisements. Moreover, you can see their actions and the damage they inflict on the alien planet where you are located.
Q: Do the small animals we capture have any deeper gameplay mechanics? For example, putting them on an assembly line like in Palworld?
Alex Hutchinson: Buddy, you're definitely skilled with a whip. However, for now, players can only catch these animals and study them to unlock new upgrades and items. Or you can simply place them in display cabinets as decorative props.
Q: That's such a pity. I actually think this kind of quirky assembly-line gameplay fits well with the game's absurd style. For example, we could supervise workers while fiercely whipping their "alien butts"?
Alex Hutchinson: Hahaha, next time for sure, next "game" for sure.
Q: Speaking of which, what about home base gameplay? Your trailers showcased quite a few segments of base building, and I found my own base during the demo just now. So, how deep does the home base and construction gameplay go? Does it reach the level of sandbox survival games?
Alex Hutchinson: The home base gameplay in Wild Planet Revenge is relatively standard; we hope the core of this gameplay focuses on decoration. You should have already seen many "vouchers" during the exploration phase. Once you accumulate enough vouchers, you can purchase furniture for your base to decorate your living space. You can also build a "Planet Cannon" that can shoot you to other planets for interplanetary travel within the star system. Additionally, you can construct research equipment to help you trap some animals for study.
We didn't intend to turn Wild Planet Revenge into that kind of sandbox building game, so the structures within the player's base are primarily decorative.
Q: Besides the display cabinets holding small animals, do we have any other interactive furniture?
Alex Hutchinson: Most of the furniture in your base is interactive, with many different efficient interaction animations—however, the main purpose is just to mess around and provoke laughter, nothing more.
Q: Let's get back to enemy design. When playing the previous game, I actually noticed that many monsters didn't have significant differences in their attack patterns and combat styles. For example, several elite enemies would dodge and then strike weak points from behind. Has this been changed in Wild Planet Revenge?
Alex Hutchinson: If I remember correctly, the previous title had only 28 types of monsters—including bosses and elites. But this installment features a whopping 70 types of monsters waiting for players to discover. Keep in mind that we've prepared five planets with distinct environmental styles for this game, so you don't need to worry too much about content depth; it's absolutely plentiful.
Q: During the demo, I noticed you also added a map—I recall that quite a few players complained about the "old-school" exploration mechanics in the previous game, as well as the head-up radar similar to The Elder Scrolls series. Could you share the thought process behind this?
Alex Hutchinson: Actually, when it comes to the map, I'm still a bit reluctant. Because once you add a map, players might just follow it to explore.
Q: Just like classic Ubisoft sandbox exploration?
Alex Hutchinson: Yes. To be honest, I've been involved in the development of so many Ubisoft games that I'm honestly a bit fed up with that map-based exploration style. But since there are still quite a few players who want a map, we eventually included one.
However, the mechanism for points of interest—or "secrets"—remains similar to the previous game. We'll indicate their general location on the map, but whether they're on this side of the mountain or that side is still up to the player to explore.
Q: That's really good news for old-school RPG players like me. However, will this installment include some crossover Easter eggs?
Alex Hutchinson: There are some, but not many. Many item Easter eggs are jokes paying homage to movies and TV shows.
Q: Finally, do you have any words for domestic players and fans of the series?
Alex Hutchinson: The purpose of Raccoon Logic Studios has actually never changed. Creating so much quirky content and dry humor is all just to bring players back to the good old days of the golden age—when you and your best friend sat on the couch, playing a game together, eating pizza, drinking cola, and laughing hysterically at a few funny ideas.
I think this is simply the best gaming experience.
I sincerely hope Chinese players agree with my viewpoint. I also hope they can sit down with a few friends and enjoy Wild Planet Revenge together.
Let me be honest with you, buddy, this work is absolutely fun.