Revenge of the Savage Planet: The Music of its Secret…

Revenge of the Savage Planet's musical score immediately reminds players that they have been stranded on an alien planet. The sound is lush and earthy, filled with the twang of banjos and the thrum of acoustic guitars. But, as soon as players hit the bizarre interior world of Revenge of the Savage Planet's secret fifth planet, things change. The sound takes on more of an electric feel, as though the player is trapped inside a giant arcade or pinball machine. The choice is a deliberate and effective one, perfect for the setting.

The Best War Games recently spoke with Revenge of the Savage Planet audio director Cameron Jarvis about how the music was developed for the fifth planet, which was recently revealed to players via a brief teaser trailer. "It felt like a natural decision to do a pivot away from the rest of the games’ music to give it a really stark contrast," Jarvis revealed, describing the more harsh, electric sound.

The Music Contributes To The Planet's Artificial Feeling

The original Journey to the Savage Planet only featured one planet to explore, but Revenge has five. The first four are outdoors, lush and natural, with varying biomes including forests, hills, plains, and more. But the fifth planet has indoor areas, called "shrines" by the team, which are different from anything previously seen in Savage Planet.

Fittingly, they feature differing-sounding music as well, centered around electric rather than acoustic instruments to create an overall "artificial" feeling that persists throughout the "shrines."

"In the shrines, we let our composer cut loose with his walls of synths and brought a lot of harsh, bright sounding electric guitar sounds. This not only gave it a cool, unique vibe, but also meshed well with our idea of the shrines being a completely artificial addition to this (mostly) untouched alien star system.

The effect is a successful one. The music, which wouldn't feel out of place in a game like Cyberpunk 2077, leaves players feeling constantly on edge as they explore deeper and deeper. The fifth planet is filled with secrets, perhaps even containing the answers to all of Revenge of the Savage Planet's greatest mysteries—and a great deal of danger, as well. It is only right that a sometimes upbeat, sometimes jarring, sometimes sinister synth/electric-guitar-heavy soundtrack should accompany players on their journey.

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