Shattered Planet Review

Shattered Planet is a turn-based rpg that bears a slight resemblance to Bastion. In the game, players beam down to randomized environments and are asked to collect gear and survive as long as possible. Although the game incorporates quite a few trendy elements from popular and well-regarded games, Shattered Planet just doesn't manage to stand out as particularly special or worthwhile.

Players are introduced to the world of Shattered Planet through a lizard-like alien scientist who speaks to the player character, informing them that their job is to explore alien environments and collect data. These missions are extremely dangerous and almost certainly end in death, but luckily there is a bank of clones that let players infinitely explore planets, fight alien creatures, gather gear, and collect data.

After tapping around on the gridded out platforms of an alien planet, players are respawned inside a mothership in which they can spend money and crystals they've earned on previous runs to upgrade their character or craft gear before beaming down to another planet. This upgrade system certainly helps players progress further on each run, although players should be warned that any gear taken down onto a planet's surface dies with the clone wearing that gear, which makes for an interesting decision-making process before each run.

Despite being generally solid in a mechanical sense, Shattered Planet unfortunately feels a little rough around the edges. The game's animations seem stiff, the art a bit too "flash game-y," and I experienced occasional framerate drops that seemed to occur for no apparent reason. In addition, the game's free-to-play model doesn't quite feel like it strikes a fair balance for people who want to go the free route, which could be frustrating and generally takes away from the overall game experience.

At the end of the day, there are other turn-based dungeon-crawler roguelikes out there that feel less derivative, feel more fair, and perform better. Players that pick up Shattered Planet won't necessarily have a bad time with it, but they probably won't be particularly moved by it either.