Sunday Spotlight: Residual
PAX West 2021 was its own adventure full of fun new games, exciting demos, and wonderful memories from Seattle. Among the dozens of games I previewed during the event, I was happily surprised about a totally unknown-to-me game that flew right under the radar.
Residual, developed by OrangePixel and Published by Apogee Entertainment, is a 2D survival platformer where players crash into a procedurally generated world and gradually uncover the remains of a lost civilization. The first few in-game days are dedicated towards exploring the surface level of the planet and getting used to crafting items; both very important for the majority of the game. I found myself a little lost quite a few times, but just opted to experiment with resources and see what I could craft with the recipes. Quickly though, I found myself dead in no time since I wasn’t keeping track of my health and other life meters. Luckily, I was brought right back to the ship and was ready to go for another run through the spooky planet.
Luckily, my Personal Disaster Bot, a constant companion, is able to appropriately nudge me along through the world and also lists out some possible objectives to complete to help me progress through the story. Plus, the bot is genuinely hilarious, with whimsical comments and some fantastic one-liners that had me quickly pressing the screenshot button on my Nintendo Switch.
The story, which is very much found through writings around the world and occasional relics, relies on players to explore and scan anything they find. As someone who enjoys this aspect of games, I just kept scanning everything as soon as I was able. Resources, creatures, among other items, were fun to read up on and see how they interacted on the planet I fell into.
After playing a little more than four hours of Residual, I’m still very much intrigued by the mystery and gameplay it has to offer. Residual keeps reminding me of a spooky version of No Man’s Sky with its unique planet individuality and survival elements, but within a much more intimate solitary world. I hope more people give this game a chance so we can swap Residual stories and compare notes on our adventure.
Recommendation by Harry Loizides
Code was provided by the publisher