Upon waking up, I notice two things: One, I am lying on the ground. Two, everything hurts. After dragging myself up, I take a look around. I’m on a platform adorned with crystals. With nowhere to go but forward, I begin my journey. I see curious landscapes and ruins, but no signs of life. After walking quite a while, I see a cave before me with a light, but tired as I am, I cannot go any further. I collapse at the mouth of the cave as consciousness slips from me once more. Again, I awake, but now I’m inside the cave, not its entrance where I passed out. Something else is here. With the path in front of me the only clear option, I make my way deeper into the cave. I quickly find the exit and find life! Not simple organisms, but complex flora and fauna. I am ready to explore the beautiful and mysterious Planet Alpha!

Planet Alpha encompasses several genres, but its key is exploration. You’ll solve puzzles, jump across platforms, and stealthily bypass enemies in your journey across the world. The key to much of your success is your ability to rotate the freakin’ planet at will. That is no hyperbole; it is literally your character’s primary ability. This influences the activity of the plants, animals, fungi, stars, artifacts, and rocks. For example, you can change whether or not a plant is flowering or alternate a rock between two positions. The logistics of this ability, how you got it, or if it is available to others is never explained, as there is not a single piece of dialogue in the game. The story of Planet Alpha is told entirely through the environment. While I found the storytelling better than the story itself, it is certainly a bold move on the developer’s part.

Your mission, if you choose to comprehend it, is this.

On the other hand, the developers made some undeniably good artistic decisions. Despite traveling in a 2D sidescrolling perspective, Planet Alpha is beautifully rendered in 3D. The colors are vibrant, and the creatures are fascinating. The rocks have an aesthetically low polygon count, which contrasts with much of the environment. This may seem odd to mention, but I’m trained as a geologist, so I pay a lot of attention to rocks. I have found many games try to represent rocks in a very detailed manner, yet fail to capture what a rock actually looks like. Planet Alpha gives you a taste and lets your imagination fill in the rest. The result is a game that is pleasing to the eye but easy on the console in terms of processing power. The whole world looks fascinating and alien, while the synthy soundtrack sets a mysterious tone. There’s no arguing that the game is a work of art, but that doesn’t mean it is particularly fun.

I like rocks. I don’t usually like rocks in video games, but I dig these rocks.

The best part of Planet Alpha is wandering forward, seeing what the world has to offer. However, you’ll find that it isn’t much. By the end of the first hour, you will have seen most of the variety in the environments and gameplay mechanics. The stealth and platforming elements predominantly require trial and error in order to understand how the environment is blocking your progression before making a simple tweak in order to continue. These tweaks typically involve timing a jump later than expected or altering the time of day to either create a platform or a place to hide from enemies. Meanwhile, the puzzles are either incredibly simple or rely on brute force to overcome. All in all, I simply did not enjoy actually playing the game, and opted to play in roughly one hour spurts.

Planet Alpha definitely has some beautiful sights to offer.

Planet Alpha brings nothing new to the table in terms of the puzzle, platform, or stealth genres. And as a jack of all trades, it is a master of none. While rotating the planet is unique, the concept of changing the environment to accomplish your goal is nothing new. I also was not sitting on the edge of my seat to meet new characters or discover more plot, as there were no characters to meet and the plot has little depth. I could be wrong, as the game has multiple endings and I have not yet achieved the “true ending”. However, there’s a limit to how much a good ending can make up for an otherwise average game.

Thanks for reading! While I may have ultimately felt indifferent about Planet Alpha, I cannot deny that it is unique! If you’re looking for something similarly atmospheric, check out our preview of The Gardens Between and keep an eye out for the full review coming soon! Meanwhile, you could always pop in our Discord and let us know how you feel about our new direction! Last, but not least, check out our giveaway for a Mario-themed gamecase!

