"If there is an app for that"

The Room in Space

The Abandoned Planet follows a core formula that was largely popularized by The Room series of games. You play as a character who finds themselves under mysterious circumstances, and you wander around in first-person interacting with objects, combining items, and referencing clues to solve puzzles and move forward.

The way The Abandoned Planet sets itself apart is by changing the setting to outer space and then layering on a lot of other appealing adventure game bells and whistles--full voice acting, gorgeous pixel art, and a satisfying mystery.

Tight Space

InThe Abandoned Planet, you are an explorer who crash lands on an alien planet who is basically just looking for a way to leave. Along the way, you encounter a bunch of strange alien objects that take you to all sorts of locations across the planet as you search for some kind of useable vessel to return to earth.

What really gripped me in the opening moments ofThe Abandoned Planet is just how ready it seemed to have you rip through the entire experience. Puzzle solutions were somewhat apparent and locations really restricted the amount of different things to solve at once so you never wandered around aimlessly. On top of that, one of the first things the game teaches you is how to tap on your characters portrait to highlight interactive objects to make the prospect of pixel hunting totally irrelevant.

Uneven spacing

This approach might not appeal to everyone, but it is what fueled my interest in completingThe Abandoned Planet. I have played far too many meandering puzzle games with annoying logic gaps that something with a serviceable story and really straightforward puzzles that kept that story moving felt highly compelling.

That said,The Abandoned Planet strays from this design approach in the latter chapters of the game. Things become much more abstract and involve back-tracking through a ton of different areas, and--in addition to my own distaste for this change--the game's navigation system does not feel especially equipped to handle this broader scope. Luckily, The Abandoned Planet does not spend a ton of time in this more aimless mode before ending, though I will say that the game's conclusion feels like the beginning of a more intriguing story than the one told in the game itself.

The bottom line

All told The Abandoned Planet does a pretty good job of delaying the onset of some of the more irritating aspects of adventure games. Although they do emerge eventually, there is still enough to enjoy about what this game offers to make it worth your while.