JOURNEY TO THE SAVAGE PLANET

One giant bounce pad for mankind

Format PS4 ETA 28 Jan Pub Typhoon Studios Dev Typhoon Studios

Work can be a slog, but at least it doesn’t usually involve trying to survive on an alien planet. That’s the task you’ve got in Journey To The Savage Planet, after you’re unceremoniously booted onto AR-Y 26 by your employer Kindred Aerospace, which is the proud holder of the title of ‘fourth best interstellar exploration company’.

“Exploration is my personal favourite thing in a videogame,” says creative director Alex

“EVERY PLACE YOU VISIT HAS BEEN CAREFULLY CONSTRUCTED.”

Hutchinson. “The feeling of a door opening on a new place and you as a player being able to go anywhere is so exciting. It never gets old.”

AR-Y 26 is a dense environment filled with places to discover, wildlife to catalogue, and dangers to avoid, but it’s not infinite. Rather than being procedurally generated, it’s been handcrafted by Typhoon Studios, and that thoughtful act of creation reflects how the team has approached putting the whole game together.

A CUNNING PLANET

Grapple seeds, bounce pads, a solar-powered gun – there’s plenty to aid in your exploration. Every place you uncover and creature you list has been carefully constructed and positioned. “Hand-crafting was uberimportant to us from the beginning,” says Reid Schneider, head of Typhoon Studios. “Alex [Hutchinson] often equates procedural content to ‘infinite oatmeal, where everything is basically the same.’”

There’s going to be a whole lot to see and just as much to do as we explore this vibrant yet dangerous planet one Puffer Bird at a time.

THE INSIDE VIEW NAME ALEX HUTCHINSON CREATIVE DIRECTOR, JOURNEY TO THE SAVAGE PLANET “As a player I want to explore a world that was built with a specific purpose in mind that is a direct line from the creators to me: I don’t want to find meaning in something built by a machine as it has none. The down side, of course, is that it’s a direct line between content and work: you can’t take shortcuts and you have to build it all yourself, which takes time.”