- September 9, 2021
- Orangepixel
Residual
Residual has a good main idea, but I found that there’s too little around it to make the experience compelling in the long run. I liked the world and the exploration, but I was less impressed with the crafting or the puzzle design. I wished for a stronger narrative hook to give me a clear reason to get somewhere or mine minerals or find more vines. Orange Pixel has been engaging with players in the Steam forums and patches quickly arrive to eliminate bugs and add functionality. A healthy community and more content are signs that the game is finding an audience that finds its mix of mechanics attractive. Residual is a great example of what a carefully crafted indie title can offer to fans. Review code provided by the publisher.
Platforms
PC
Windows
Nintendo Switch
Linux
Mac OS
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About
"Residual is a survival platformer set in a procedurally generated, alien world. Crash-landed and alone, you must harvest food, craft tools, and unearth alien technology to repair your ship. Brave hunger, cosmic storms, and hostile plant life with the help of your snarky assistant PDB, as you uncover the planet's mysterious past."
- The game features gorgeous pixel art and an intriguing story that keeps players engaged.
- Exploration and crafting elements provide a fun and relaxing gameplay experience without combat.
- The developer is communicative with the community and actively works on improving the game.
- The game is plagued with bugs, crashes, and a lack of polish, making it feel unfinished.
- The controls and inventory management are clunky and unintuitive, leading to a frustrating user experience.
- Key gameplay mechanics, such as the energy and hunger bars, are poorly implemented and add unnecessary complexity.
- gameplay8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
Gameplay reviews highlight a mix of frustration and intrigue; while the quick access inventory mechanic is appreciated for its relevance to nearby objects, many find the overall controls unintuitive. Players can customize controls, and the story is engaging, but technical issues, including frequent crashes, detract from the experience.
“Your inventory has a quick access mechanic which is quite nice. When you are standing next to something, it will give you easy access to things that are relevant to that object - raw quartz for the quartz processor, sticks for lever slots, etc. Yet still, it somehow manages to feel unintuitive as a whole.”
“You can customize the controls to your liking, and the story is intriguing. I am still learning the different mechanics and secrets the game is throwing at me.”
“I do not know what moron would suggest this as a game mechanic, but they should be fired.”
“Ok, so I've played an additional 30 minutes and the game crashed 3 times due to something that should be considered regular gameplay.”
“I do not know what moron would suggest this as a game mechanic, but they should be fired.”
Residual Review (PC)
Residual has a good main idea, but I found that there’s too little around it to make the experience compelling in the long run. I liked the world and the exploration, but I was less impressed with the crafting or the puzzle design. I wished for a stronger narrative hook to give me a clear reason to get somewhere or mine minerals or find more vines. Orange Pixel has been engaging with players in the Steam forums and patches quickly arrive to eliminate bugs and add functionality. A healthy community and more content are signs that the game is finding an audience that finds its mix of mechanics attractive. Residual is a great example of what a carefully crafted indie title can offer to fans. Review code provided by the publisher.
85%Residual Review
Residual is a comprehensive survival experience that fans of the genre will absolutely adore. Exploring the procedurally generated planets feels a bit daunting at first, but when the game opens up and starts dishing out essential resources, it becomes a lot more manageable. There are a few teething issues that we hope will be ironed out in time, like the confusing inventory UI, overly frequent need to eat/sleep, and the slightly dodgy navigation controls, but overall Residual is a fun, engaging 2D survival game that can sit proud alongside genre heavies like Minecraft and Don’t Starve.
80%Down the Hatch - KeenGamer
60%
Buy Residual
