Caught by MP1st, a trademark registration for a game called Revenge of the Savage Planet was filed with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office earlier this year. That is in addition to a casting call made on Actors Access for a game under the codename Project Lodestar, which, according to the casting call, is “a follow-up to Journey to the Savage Planet“.

The role itself was for “a sci-fi formally dressed spokesperson”, while the casting call also mentioned roles for other characters with names such as Slappi Xtreme Smartbot, Smile Syndicate, and Chisler Financial, all of which sounds very Savage Planet. Interestingly the most recent casting call for the project came in March, which suggests that work on it has continued at a steady pace behind the scenes.

How long it’ll be before the sequel gets officially announced is anyone’s guess, but fans of the original definitely seem to have that to look forward to.

For starters, July 3 will bring Typhoon Studios’ first-person sci-fi action-adventure game Journey to the Savage Planet, and it will be joined by crossover platform fighter Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, with both games being available to subscribers on PC, console, and cloud.

July 9 will bring another couple of games in the form of Big Ant Studios’ Cricket 24 and Color Gray Games’ acclaimed adventure title The Case of the Golden Idol, both on PC, console, and cloud. They will be followed on July 11 by Tchia coming to PC, Xbox Series X/S, and cloud, and by Neon White coming to those same platforms in addition to Xbox One.

Finally, July 16 will bring Skaule’s 2D platformer Magical Delicacy, while co-op multiplayer flight game Flock will also get a day one release on Game Pass on the same day.

Raccoon Logic and publisher 505 Games have announced that Journey to the Savage Planet will launch for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on February 14. It will feature support for 4K resolution, and will cost $29.99, though existing owners on PS4 and Xbox One will be able to upgrade for free.

Interestingly, the current-gen version launch will be for the game’s Employee of the Month Edition, which also includes the Hot Garbage DLC, multiple graphics modes, bonus chats with Martin Tweed, an enhanced photo mode, and more.

In our review of Journey to the Savage Planet when it first launched, we awarded it a score of 8/10, saying, “Journey to the Savage Planet combines a hilarious and upbeat tone with a constant sense of discovery and progression to make for a fantastic explorative experience.” Read the full review through here.

Journey to the Savage Planet is currently available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

It’s a solid lineup, by and large. Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is perhaps the one blotch, but other games in the lineup more than make up for that, with Mobius Digital’s seminal Outer Wilds being the highlight. Another sci-fi adventure, Journey to the Savage Planet, is also offered, while WRC 10 also joins the list.

All of these games will be available to stream and download for PlayStation Now subscribers starting tomorrow, April 5, so if you’re subscribed, you’ll soon have plenty of great games to dive into.

Among Raccoon Logic’s founders are Alex Hutchinson who co-founded Typhoon Studios and worked as its creative director; Reid Schneider who was the studio head and takes up the same role here (along with executive producer); technical director Yannick Simard who now works as CTO; former Typhoon Studios art head Erick Bilodeau who is now art director; and former principal technical designer Marc-Antoine Lussier, now technical design director. Hutchinson noted that the team was “excited to be back in the indie space, making the games we truly believe in with an amazing new team.”

“The early investment from Tencent is a huge boost, meaning we can do significant work on our own before we start talking to publishers. We love systemic games, games with a sense of humor and a big heart, and games with strong flavors that get reactions from players. We’re going to keep pushing on those ideas and we’ll have something to show soon!”

Schneider added that, “We’re super excited to continue the work we started at Typhoon Studios, and build upon the Journey to the Savage Planet franchise in the future. We would like to thank our partners at Tencent, Google, and 505 for their support. We’re fortunate to have put together an amazing team, many of whom helped build Savage Planet, and we’ve added some great new talent as well.”

Though its next project isn’t confirmed, Raccoon Logic is keen on providing “new adventures” in the action adventure space. This could mean a direct sequel to Journey of the Savage Planet or even a follow-up in the same vein. Time will tell so stay tuned for more details.

Journey to the Savage Planet is currently available for Xbox One, PS4, PC, Nintendo Switch and Google Stadia. Check out our review here.

Typhoon Studios’ sci-fi adventure title Journey to the Savage Planet launched on Stadia earlier this month, but the game isn’t exactly in the best state on the cloud platform right now. From crashes to freezing issues, playing the game on Google’s service hasn’t exactly been easy- but fixing it is looking like it’s going to be an even more complicated task.

Recently, Reddit user BansRuns made a thread about their troubles with the games, and how any and all entities attached to the game seem to have no idea what’s going on with it. Upon being notified of the issues, Google said at first that they were working with “a publishing partner”, though further communication asked the player to get in touch with the publisher instead.

505 Games, who published the game on PC and consoles, pointed out that they are not the game’s publisher on Stadia. Google acquired Journey to the Savage Planet developer Typhoon Studios back in December 2019, and they themselves published the game on Stadia. That, of course, throws another wrench into the works, given that Typhoon Studios and Google’s Stadia Games and Entertainment label were both recently shut down. Which means there’s no one left to fix the game, even though it launched on Stadia on the same exact day that Google announced the closure of its first parties. As 505 Games points out, the game’s code and its data are owned by Google.

It’s a complete mess alright, and goes to show once again how short-sighted Google have been on multiple fronts, and how horribly they’ve mismanaged their exit from the industry as a first party developer. Let’s just hope they can figure out a way to fix a game made by a studio they owned, and that they published as recently as less than a month ago.

Typhoon Studios’ first person sci-fi adventure Journey to the Savage Planet launched last month, bringing with it its charming humour and exploration-focused gameplay. Like with most games that launch these days – especially indies – one question that’s been levelled at its developers quite regularly is- will it come to the Switch? And it’s looking likelier and likelier that it might.

Two retailers have listed a Switch release for Journey to the Savage Planet- Deep Discount and Amazon Japan, both of them mentioning a placeholder release date of June 30th. In the absence of an official announcement, it’s best to take this with a grain of salt for now, but it’s worth noting that retailer listings do tend to be early indicators of announcements in some cases.

Recently, Journey to the Savage Planet creative director and co-creator of Typhoon Studios Alex Hutchinson told us a Switch port of the game is something they’re “looking into”, and that it would be “a perfect fit”. Read more on that through here.

Journey to the Savage Planet is currently available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. You can get more info on the game via our recent interview with Hutchinson through here.

It’s only February but the hype around the Xbox Series X and PS5, the next generation of consoles, is palpable. Whether it’s waiting for prices or more details (especially from Sony who has yet to showcase their console), the cycle of hype is inextricably linked to how little we actually know. However, one topic that’s been discussed a bit more lately is backwards compatibility.

While Sony admitted that backwards compatibility was still in the works, Microsoft is committed to supporting a large number of Xbox One and Xbox 360 titles for its next-gen console. How much impact does the feature actually have though? We spoke to Typhoon Studios creative director and co-founder Alex Hutchinson, who recently released Journey to the Savage Planet, about the same.

Concerning the impact that backwards compatibility has on both developers and consumers, Hutchinson said, “Sony and Microsoft seem to be thinking about releasing more updated hardware more often, like phones, and so they need to make sure software can stick around or they’ll do terrible things to devs… but really, it just means we need to do more work supporting more platforms, which removes one of the best things about consoles: a reliable box with a long shelf life.”

While it sounds obvious, it’s still interesting to think about how a developer has to approach the issue. In the long run, instead of devoting resources to a new title or new content, a developer would have to focus on supporting more and more platforms for its existing titles. The benefits of working on consoles over PC begin to blur in that regard.

Hutchinson was also asked about the PS5’s haptic-enabled controller and whether it will be a significant addition or a novelty. He said, “Just a novelty to me, like the analog buttons of the past or a racing wheel.”

The PS5 and Xbox Series X are both slated to release this holiday season. As for Journey to the Savage Planet, it’s currently available for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. You can check out our review for the game here.

NOTE: This interview was conducted prior to the game’s launch.

"We wanted a beautiful, exotic, colorful alien world that is hand crafted and filled with secrets and surprises. If you didn’t feel good moving around in it, then players would just drop it and move on to the next game."

Journey to the Savage Planet definitely seems like a game that places an immense emphasis on exploration but how much of the experience is narratively driven?

I like to think of the narrative in Journey to the Savage Planet as something you can explore rather than something we use to drive the player. The story asks questions, your exploration generates quests, and then finishing those quests and exploring every nook and cranny will unlock various emails, videos, messages and more that can give you answers to those story questions.

Can you talk about the various tools players will acquire throughout the game, and how these will aid in and change traversal?

You find all kinds of weird objects you can carry and throw with your left hand to open doors, dissolve resin, blow things up and more. You will also build double, triple and quadruple jumps, boost jumps, the ability to stomp, a grapple gun and more!

How crucial to the overall experience was it to nail the alien aesthetic and atmosphere that players will be traversing?

It’s critical! We wanted a beautiful, exotic, colorful alien world that is hand crafted and filled with secrets and surprises. If you didn’t feel good moving around in it, then players would just drop it and move on to the next game.

How large are the game’s individual explorable environments?

Big! But not too big. We are only a small team, so we prioritized density over sheer scale: there’s lots to find packed into every nook and cranny.

How much diversity can players expect to see from the game’s unique biomes?

There are many little micro biomes packed into the big four! Snowy areas, forests, caves, lava zones, fungal forests! There’s lots to find.

Speaking of diversity, when it comes to the creatures players will encounter, how much do they differ from each other? Are some of them combat-oriented?

There are three basic archetypes: ambient creatures who’ll ignore you unless attacked, then prey who flee and predators who will indeed try to eat you! And there are flying and ground-based versions of each.

"It’s a deep game that respects your time and can be finished. 8-10 hours for a main run, then a few more hours if you want to scour it for secrets!"

How long will an average playthrough of Journey to the Savage Planet be?

It’s a deep game that respects your time and can be finished. 8-10 hours for a main run, then a few more hours if you want to scour it for secrets!

Will the game feature Xbox One X and PS4 Pro-specific enhancements? Is 4K/60 FPS on the cards?

Both are in 4K and running a stable 30 frames.

How is the game running on the original Xbox One and PS4, in terms of frame rate and resolution?

Both run great and target 30fps.

Do you have any plans to launch on the Switch?

We have nothing to announce yet, but we are looking into it indeed! It would be a perfect fit in our view.

There’s been a lot of talk of SSDs, which the PS5 and the Xbox Series X are both confirmed to feature. What’s the biggest impact it’s going to have on development, according to you?

Almost nothing!

Speaking of next-gen hardware, something else that the PS5 has is a Zen 2 CPU- how big of a leap is it over current-gen hardware in your view, and how is it going to help development?

It’s more power, but I think the cloud and being able to large scale simulations and persistence will be the big new things this generation, so not so much the boxes themselves but what they connect to when you’re not looking!

The Xbox Series X also features GDDR6 memory – what’s the impact it will have on games in conjunction with the other advancements we’re going to see in next-gen consoles?

Not much from a design perspective!

Are you looking into next-gen versions of the game as well, especially as you get closer to next-gen console releases?

We would love to see the game remain playable on next-gen, but we’ll assess as we move forward.

"We would love to see the game remain playable on next-gen, but we’ll assess as we move forward."

Backward compatibility is something else both new consoles are banking on quite heavily. How much of an impact do you think it will have from the perspective of both, developers and consumers?

Sony and Microsoft seem to be thinking about releasing more updated hardware more often, like phones, and so they need to make sure software can stick around or they’ll do terrible things to devs… but really it just means we need to do more work supporting more platforms, which removes one of the best things about consoles: a reliable box with a long shelf life.

What’s your take on the PS5’s haptic-enabled controller? Do you think it’s something that can significantly add to an experience, or is it just going to be a novelty?

Just a novelty to me, like the analog buttons of the past or a racing wheel.

The Nintendo Switch has become a haven for all indie developers in the industry in the (almost) three years that it’s been out, with many smaller productions enjoying massive success on Nintendo’s hybrid platform. However, there do come along a few major indie titles every now and then that remain conspicuous in their lack of support for the system- one such game is the recently first person action-adventure title Journey to the Savage Planet.

Seeing as it’s been receiving quite a bit of praise since it launched a couple weeks back, there are some who’re wondering whether the game will eventually be making its way to the Switch as well. It’s a question we asked when we recently interviewed industry vet Alex Hutchinson – co-creator of Typhoon Studios and creative director of the game.

Hutchinson told us that though the developers had nothing to announce when it came to a Switch port just yet, it is something that they are “looking into”, before commenting that the platform would be “a perfect fit” for the game. Here’s hoping that turns into something more concrete sooner rather than later, because Journey to the Savage Planet really is one of those (many) games that would be perfect for the Switch.

Our full interview with Hutchinson will be live soon, so stay tuned to read the entire thing. In the same interview, he also spoke to us about next-gen hardware, and why he feels cloud streaming will be much more exciting in terms of how it impacts development. Read more on that through here.

Journey to the Savage Planet is out now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.