Ever wonder what might be like to be the hero of the galaxy, saving countless life forms including you and for the future of science? Doing these tasks requires strength and tactical capabilities that only you can develop during this particular adventure. Most importantly, how much are you willing to sacrifice for the sake of other species? If you like punching, slashing, shooting and commanding then Kitfox Games brings to us their latest release on Steam; Shattered Planet.

The universe is on the brink of collapse, planets are getting… shattered. Humanity has discovered a disease that cannot be cured and is taking all the light into the darkness, this is… The Blight. You play as many different characters with different attributes with the support of a reptilian scientist who is constantly giving you objectives, tips and moral support (for the most part), he explains that the shattered planet ‘Earth’ emits a signal that rejects the horrible disease. It is your duty to explore deep into space and find more about it, fighting your way into it.

The dynamic of the game resolves in being with your friendly lizard with a PhD (in who knows what), living in a floating futuristic base where you can access many different stations such as character selection, choose a pet that you can tame during your explorations, equipment for offense and defense, leveling up your attributes and researching new gear with this highly advance system called R.O.S.A. (which is rose in Spanish). One of the main objectives of the game is to encounter different species, fight them or interact with them by studying or feeding them and earn research points which will advance your level. You earn credits by finding them in the shattered planet after defeating enemies, mining, or simply progressing through stages. One type of credits lets you advance in your skills (orange) while the other (light blue crystals) lets you feed them to R.O.S.A. for her to discover new weapons and armor that you will be able to use immediately, this is a rogue-like after all so you will lose them if you die on your next game, but you can always get them back. If that isn’t enough, you can add orange credits to the Crystalobot which sells different items every time, also works as a vending machine if you find it during your adventures in the ‘fog of war’.

Each adventure has a different objective, from simply exploring to discover what you may find all the way to hunting a rare species of alien. As you fight your way into the next teleporter you will encounter very pleasant ways of meeting your demise. These include burning, poisoning, exploding, disintegration, being eaten alive, knocked out and falling from the planet’s platforms thanks to the laws of gravity. Of course even after you set up your gear before a mission, you can always adapt your survivability while in the planet, to be more precise: You find a cute crab alien but he starts attacking you, fighting back kills it and grants you a helmet made of it. Other crab aliens won’t attack you anymore if you wear as they will see you as their own, also you might find a hive which will release a crab princess, and she will fall in love with you and be turned into your pet fighting alongside to save the universe! This demonstrates that at high risks there are good rewards, as well as having to deal with your new crab girlfriend.

Anywho! The game plays overall in a very smooth way; controls are simple as it is a turn base strategy genre mixed in the stew. Getting used to the mechanics does not take long which is a mayor plus for the rogue-like world of video games. Every tool is given to you and many more features granting a relaxing and fearsome experience for a casual gamer. The whole feeling of gearing up your character as an RPG will show constant progress as well as increasing your strength/evasion/health for each individual type of character. These characters will offer different experiences that will benefit or ruin your objectives, testing is a must.

Now mentioning the OST, it is a properly mixed sci-fi music and with very well implemented sound fx for each action or moment of the game, you will notice danger immediately with the change of music and you will find a relaxing tune when exploring and gathering resources.

As a last thought to add, remember this game is a trial and error type, you will spawn infinite amounts of clones of yourself and lose a lot of great gear even at the first 2 minutes of a run, but that is the whole idea, to survive and cure The Blight for the sake of all living organisms suffering from it, one punch at a time.

Shattered Planet is a survival space RPG, filled with amazing encounters and a strong motivational story decorated with sci-fi features. Try your best and never give up!