Planet Alpha marks the 100th game release from Team17, arriving in style on the Nintendo Switch. Learn more about this one in our Planet Alpha review!

 

You move with the left analog stick and can walk by holding down the L button for when you need to sneak around. The right analog stick is used to move the camera as needed. The B button is for jumping, and you can crouch with the Y button. The Y button is also, for some reason, the button you press to interact with things. The ZL button is used to rotate the planet backwards, while the ZR button rotates it forward – more on that in a bit.

You start your adventure by limping around the surface of the planet. Since you can’t run or jump, slowly moving forward through a rock formation is the only available option. Unfortunately, the formation crumbles beneath you, and the fall damages you even more. As you try to keep yourself together, the credits begin to roll. You wander through a desert, becoming more and more tired as the sun begins to set. A cave with a peculiar face is within reach, and as you collapse in front of it, a light begins to shine from its mouth…

You somehow wake up inside the cave, fully recovered and ready to explore. The game will then teach you the basics for controlling your character, forcing you to crawl through a narrow space, placing a series of platforms and short gaps to make you instinctively jump to progress, climbing up a wall by making good use of the vegetation growing on said wall. After this you will interact with a couple of stone pieces you can move to help you reach some higher ledges. All of this sounds pretty normal for a 2.5D gorgeous platformer, right?

It is, but the ZL and ZR buttons are why this game is elevated to a whole new level. That whole “rotating the planet” gameplay mechanic? It means you’ll be able to change the time of day as needed, going from the darkest of nights to the brightest sunshine you’ve ever experienced. You can’t do this whenever you please (at least for a good part of the game), since changing the time of day affects everything around you, from structures in your path to the planet’s flora and fauna. Seeing the world around you change in a matter of seconds, going from a dark night with glowing plants and creatures to a bright morning with new flora and fauna coming to life… it’s definitely captivating.

If you die, which will happen every now and then as you make mistakes or meet the not so friendly creatures in the planet, you won’t lose much progress since the game is generous with its autosave feature, creating checkpoints as you go. Thanks to this you are free to explore at a steady pace without fear of having to redo big sections in the game, as you try to avoid the deadly robots that arrive on the planet and who love to shoot at you.

I need to go back and talk about the game’s art style. It uses a mix of a low poly presentation with some very colorful, often shiny and very dynamic set of creatures, and vegetation, with designs that help to make everything pop. The game, as expected, displays at a lower resolution when played in Portable or Tabletop mode, but when Docked, the system is pushed, displaying some very nice models, big and small, with great use of lighting and shadows.

Planet Alpha is a colorful, charming and relaxing puzzle/platformer adventure that feels right at home on the Nintendo Switch. Playing for short burst or diving in for an hour or more at a time, as you explore each area at your own pace, or trying to stay undetected so that you don’t alert any hostiles near you. It’s got some clever puzzles to solve, a great look and a relaxing soundtrack. What’s not to like?

Disclaimer
This Planet Alpha review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Team17.