Raccoon Logic's debut is a game that builds on Revenge. Revealed at Gamescom's Opening Night Live, the surprise sequel to 2020's Journey to the Savage Planet drops players back into a colorful, alien-infested Metroidvania. But don't worry—Revenge of the Savage Planet isn't just a sloppy name, it's a statement of intent.
Sitting in a conference room in downtown Montreal, the team proudly shows me a demo version of their shiny new sequel. But in a wonderful example of environmental storytelling, old post-it notes on a side wall and half-erased whiteboards hint at the events that brought them here. Originally called Typhoon Studios, their pandemic release was a hit, attracting millions of players.
Sensing the excitement surrounding the studio before its release, the creators of Savage Planet promptly purchased it from Google in 2019. Ready to reap the rewards of the company's ownership, the team was excited to work on Google's ambitious Stadia project as a first-party studio. But the day Journey to the Savage Planet finally launched on Stadia, Typhoon Studios was unceremoniously shut down.
“Google wanted games that only work in the cloud – which don't exist,” explains Alex Hutchinson, co-founder and creative director. “They asked us to deliver games that are developed by 400 to 600 people, huge Marvel licensed games and Star Wars tie-ins. They said if you make the game and it's great with 25 people, Then We let you hire 500 artists, that is not how it works. Nobody spoke the same language.”
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Typhoon was unable to even set foot in a Google office before the company decided it was finished producing video games.
“It's telling that Google has booths that you book just for screaming,” Hutchinson adds. “We couldn't get into the screaming rooms – we didn't even get a chance to meet the on-site barista!”
Now these spurned Canadian developers want revenge. After Typhoon Studios was dissolved, they retained ownership of Savage Planet and from the remains, Racoon Logic was quickly formed. These Montreal misfits retained most of the core team and returned to their comedic Metroidvania to show the world who's boss. Enter Revenge of the Savage Planet.
Clad in a shiny new spacesuit, the sequel begins with an upbeat corporate message informing you that you're embarking on a mission to help humanity find a new home, funded by your new, wealthy employer, Alta Interglobal. But when you arrive at your deadly destination, you discover you've been fired and abandoned in the vastness of space with little equipment. Stop me if this sounds familiar.
As you may have noticed during Opening Night Live, Racoon Logic's corporate experience seems to have given them a new perspective. This sequel foregoes the first-person perspective of its predecessor and moves the camera behind players, allowing players to witness their strange little sci-fi colonization in all its silly glory.
“When you reach your deadly destination, you find that you have been rendered obsolete and left in the vastness of space with little equipment. Stop me if this sounds familiar.”
As our newly animated protagonist jumps, climbs, and shoots through a lush, deadly green world, curious creatures with wide, enthusiastic eyes wander about. They are, of course, quickly murdered, and the player is rewarded with some very, very precious slime. If you're feeling a bit more merciful, players can instead cage the native animal population and fly their captured animals into a portal, like a sci-fi twist on MGS 5's Fulcrum system.
Just like its predecessor, this game is all about exploration. It's all about discovering resources, mapping living planets, and crafting enough equipment to make the journey home – only this time you can take a buddy along for the ride.
As you attempt to build your new homestead, craft weapons, and map the weird and wonderful biomes hidden within each floating rock, you can do so either with an online buddy or with someone blasting alongside you in the same room. I vow not to have any in-game purchases, “the world needs fewer “Games as a Service” – says the team – it feels like what I’m being shown is a return to a simpler era of gaming.
There's also a pleasingly systems-based approach to each biome. As grass catches fire and well-aimed shots of slime create new pathways, the disparate game systems collide in satisfyingly immersive simulation fashion, allowing players to experiment with their approaches to interstellar exploration.
Whether it's the litany of corporate satire told over video calls on your crashed ship, the weird parodies of forgotten memes, or the hilarious email threads buried on your portable computer, Revenge is a game that doesn't take itself too seriously.
That philosophy applies to the weird and wonderful inhabitants of this universe. From a comically shrunken raccoon wiggling around pathetically to a series of endearingly silly animations, this Metroidvania-meets-survival game is full of refreshing silliness.
“The different game systems collide in a satisfyingly immersive simulation, allowing players to experiment with their approaches to interstellar exploration.”
I'm also briefly shown a boss fight against a gigantic cave monster, some suitably crazy upgradeable weapons, a Prey-like goo cannon, and even an Indiana Jones-like laser grapple.
The team is aiming to launch the game before the second quarter of next year. It will take at least 30 hours for players to see everything the base game has to offer, the team told me. There are four main planets to explore – and a fifth bonus planet that the studio is keeping quiet about. Racoon Logic says the goal of “Revenge” is to bring a dose of color, fun and playfulness back to Western video games.
At a time when story-based cooperative games are a rarity, this entertaining yet profound game has the potential to become a long-running multiplayer hit.
Although I haven't played Revenge of the Savage Planet yet, I'm in complete agreement with Racoon Logic's mission statement of a refreshingly old-fashioned co-op game. However, given the bumpy journey the studio has taken to get here, the very existence of this sequel feels like an act of resistance.
“Google asked us to make a game for everyone, something that was 'universally loved', like Google Maps,” says Hutchinson. “What does that even mean? If you tell me your favorite movie, I might hate it! People only use Maps to get home… Nobody likes Maps!”
While Revenge of the Savage Planet may not be the hard-to-find, universally loved game, with Racoon Logic self-publishing it – thanks to an investment from the ubiquitous Tencent – it is undeniably the game the developers wanted to make.
As the team laughs during our demo, proudly pointing out silly inside jokes and explaining meta-autobiographical references, it feels like a return to a simpler age of game development. In an era where rising costs and risk avoidance threaten to ruin mid-budget games forever, I leave Montreal feeling more hopeful about the state of this increasingly unpredictable industry.