The Abandoned Planet is a point and click adventure game that was published by Snapbreak Games and created by solo developer Jeremy Fryc, and is a throw back to classic PC games. It features unique pixel art graphics, and focuses on a single main character who narrates the entire adventure. We here at Netto's Game Room were reached out to by Snapbreak Games, and were given a free review key to test the game out, and I have to say, it is a game that took me back to my childhood pretty quickly.
With that being said, how is the game really? Is it worth the time and effort? Or is this just an okay game that tries to play with our nostalgia? Well...
The Story:
Being a point and click adventure with a major focus on exploring, the story itself comes from the gameplay itself. The initial setup sees our protagonist crash her ship into an unknown planet, and she quickly realizes she needs to do whatever it takes to survive. Her first order of business is to escape the ship she crashed in, but once she gets outside an entire world is open to her. From here players get to interact with the world and listen to the protagonist's comments, and eventually start to piece together what this world exactly is. There seems to be civilized life here, but what that life is and what happened remains a mystery. This is The Abandoned Planet, and it is up to you to find a way off it.
The Gameplay:
As a point and click adventure, the gameplay fully consists of clicking on stuff, navigating to different screens, clicking on more stuff, and then attempting to figure out puzzles. The game actually has a button that displays what can be interacted with, so you do not have to click every inch of the screen, and the main character herself provides hints as you go along. A scanner is your only default piece of equipment to use, and sometimes scanning items will give you even more hints on what to do. There is a lot of picking up one item, using it somewhere to open up a new room, and then investigating said room to open up a new path, and this is the trend the game follows to its conclusion.
Initially puzzles are extremely easy and straight forward. Every room has a use, and with only a few interaction spots per room, it is pretty obvious that you need to do "something" to move on. Sometimes that something does require an item you do not have yet, but finding said item isn't too big of a deal. Some items do need to be put together to use however, and sometimes spots need to be scanned before you are allowed to actually interact with them. Our main character does alert us to this however, so it isn't too difficult to figure out.
The real challenge comes in beginning in chapter 2, where a journal is introduced. Instead of relying on visual clues in the environment, the journal is filled with alien language that guides you on how to advance. You cannot read this of course, so you have to rely on visual cues and pictures to make your way through the upcoming sections. This also leads to unlocking another "tool" to control outside of our protagonist, and some other unique puzzle elements that help change things up. Thanks to these changes, the initially easy game does pick up in the challenge department, but it never really evolves into anything too hard.
Thanks to the main character constantly telling us what she is thinking, the solution to some puzzles become a bit too obvious. At one point early on two levers are seen, and the game allows you to pull both. Do you need to pull them in a specific order? Do you need to pull the first one two times, and the second one five times? Nope. Our protagonist clearly says that we need to pull both at the same time, and need something to help do that. So you can just use that rope you just found to tie them together and take care of that no problem.
This is the only real downside to the gameplay, as it does a great job capturing the magic of classic PC games in the genre, but it can hold your hand a bit too much. This eliminates the countless hours you used to spend beating your head off of the wall, but that also used to be a part of the experience! A three hour game would take you months to beat, and we liked it! But that doesn't mean The Abandoned Planet is any less entertaining.
As the game goes on, the tips are toned back quite a bit, with the later acts of the game being pretty unique. Additional mechanics are mixed into the game, and the journal you find becomes even more important. Some of these puzzles do encourage you to take your own handwritten notes as well, as memorization might be a little beyond most people (unless you can recall over twenty steps perfectly). This isn't too big of a deal however, considering modern consoles also allow for screenshots, and simply saving an image of the required directions can be enough. Even so, some notes of your own can go a long way!
When everything is said and done, the game can be completed within a few hours (depending on how often you get stuck), and has an additional escape mode unlock as a bonus.
Should you play it?
The Abandoned Planet is a beautifully crafted pixel art adventure, that clearly had a lot of love poured into it. While the story doesn't evolve too much past "we crashed on a strange planet and now we must escape," it also really didn't need to. The main hook of these games is exploring, searching for clues, and eventually making your escape, and that is something the game does extremely well. It feels like a return to the days of games like The Mystery of Time and Space, and it is something that is rarely seen in today's market.
While the game is a bit on the easy side thanks to our main character constantly giving hints (this could've been avoided by providing a "Hint Button" instead), it doesn't stop it from being any less fun. I still enjoyed finding the items to actually progress, and solving the puzzles did become a bit more challenging in the final acts. The story isn't anything mind blowing, but it does its job setting up the situation, and gives you a reason to keep pushing forward.
Overall, The Abandoned Planet is a fun callback to classic PC adventure games, with a unique retro art style, and a variety of puzzles to solve. Each act throws something new into the mix, and by the end you will find yourself exploring larger areas with multi-step challenges to overcome. It is a little on the easy side, but it is entertaining from start to finish.
VERDICT: Recommended
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