Residual Review

Game: Residual
Genre: 2D Platformer, Adventure, Puzzle
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on Steam, Windows, Linux and PS4)
Developer|Publisher: OrangePixel | Apogee Entertainment
Age Rating: EU 3+ | US Everyone
Price: US £19.99 | EU € 19,99 | UK £17.99
Release Date: September 9th, 2021

Review code provided with many thanks to Stride PR

From Small Beginnings

Orange Pixel is a solo developer that has come a very long way over the last 17 years. The developer has created a variety of titles in different genres with the familiar theme being the developers use of random generation and a pixel art style. Residual is Orange Pixels latest and most ambitious project yet.

Initially starting as a new project which got an extra bump thanks to a successful Kickstarter and even backing by publisher Apogee. A publisher best known for old PC classics like Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure which I played a lot as a kid. I actually didn’t know these guys were still in business so it was pretty cool to see their logo pop up. But enough nostalgia, let’s talk about Residual.

Survive on a Random Planet

Residual is a 2D survival game where you play as a space explorer who has crash landed on a randomly generated planet in an unknown galaxy. There’s no time to waste as you must hunt for resources, craft machines, scan everything and survive on this unknown world. In the midst of all this there is also an alien secret hidden within the surface of the planet. 

The game really does dump you into the deep end of the experience. As soon as you exit your broken spaceship your stamina and hunger meters are deteriorating and it’s not entirely clear what you’re supposed to do. In a way, I guess this level of heightened stress kinda mimics the anxiety you would feel if you found yourself stranded in an unknown place.

I actually ended up restarting the game three times before I finally got into the flow of things. Provided this initial blip doesn’t put you off there is a pretty enjoyable exploration game to sink your time into here. 

Objectives to follow

You are given small objectives to follow that pop up on the left of the screen. These include collecting certain materials and crafting machines. You have a handy menu that can bring up the local terrain to help you spot nearby resources and food. You can craft various tools like a fishing rod, an axe to chop things, batteries to power up doors as well as many more constructs. Some can be developed on the fly but machines need to be constructed back at the ship. These machines can then be placed and used to convert resources like metal into something new.

There is no traditional combat in the game. While there are dangerous animals on some planets you’re not really in too much danger. If you do pass out your robot pal plops you back at the ship with no progress lost, unless you decide to select permadeath in the options of course.

Your handy robot pal called PDB (Personal Disaster Bot) gives you handy tips as well as constantly reminding you of your stamina and hunger meters running low. The robot is fully voice acted and has a voice and wit that gave the odd grin initially.

After a lot of exploration and repetitiveness of the same lines, it did start to grate. It may please you to hear that you can turn the volume down in the options menu. 

Explore the Depths

Once you have fed yourself and mined some metal you soon find a way to crack deeper into the planet’s surface. You have a very useful teleporter that can help you zip back to the ship to rest or craft more items. This teleporter can then be packed up and moved to use again later.

Just try not to leave it behind like I did sometimes. As you explore further in the caverns you discover some simple puzzles as well as discover alien tech to help you repair the ship. 

Play for Hours

Residual is a game that can easily keep you busy for hundreds of hours if you choose. With a simple pick up and play control scheme this is a pretty easy game to dip in and out of between other game projects. It’s something I enjoyed most in small bursts between work.

The highlights of the experience were discovering new randomly generated planets and little things like eating suspicious mushrooms and discovering they give you perks or possibly make you pass out. Residual is a game with a lot of enjoyable secrets to discover. 

Pixel Look

Graphics feel like an upgrade compared to the developer’s prior works. This is still a pixel design but there’s a lot of attention to detail to the foliage and planet designs. If the aim of the game was to create a sense of mystery and intrigue then mission accomplished. There are a massive amount of animals to scan and learn about.

There’s a day and night cycle which is unique to the planet that has a direct impact on gameplay. A longer night means less time to charge your equipment via solar while closer to the sun means more problems with the weather and heat. I liked the lighting effects when you use a torch to light up the darker cave systems. It’s clear a lot of work went into the design of this game. My only niggle here was that often items were hard to see on the floor, particularly when there are a lot of animals or structures hiding them.

Space Niggles

Surviving in a new world does come with a few niggles. The further you progress in the game the more cluttered your inventory becomes. It feels like some sort of category system or shortcut menu would have assisted rather than hunting for the item you needed in a large list of pixel items.

The hunger and stamina meters deplete very quickly, which may really put off beginners new to this genre of game. You can reset in your ship or build a campfire but when you do this the bar takes a horribly long time to regenerate. The developer has recently stated this issue will be patched in the near future for Switch and PC.

Conclusion – StarStudded Adventure

Residual is another winner from Orange Pixel. An intriguing survival exploration game that will keep you busy for long or short bursts of gaming. If you’re not a fan of the genre I’m not sure there is anything here to win you over. In a way, it’s fitting Apogee published this game as it kinda did bring back some of that nostalgia of that era in gaming. A game that doesn’t totally hold you by the hand, but the more you invest in it, the more you discover. What started as a stressful experience became one of wonder and intrigue. If that sounds good to you I highly recommend venturing to the stars with Residual.

Final Verdict: I Like It a Lot

If you’re interested in game development I highly recommend following Orange Pixels blog. A testament to successful game development despite being a solo developer. The developer is also very receptive to feedback on his games so expect to see patches to Residual in the very near future.