Kindred Aerospace has lured its unsuspecting employees to a newly acquired planet, DL-C1. Featuring new varieties of familiar wildlife and flora, Journey to the Savage Planet‘s “Hot Garbage” DLC tasks you with clearing squatters off of the old Boomerdale development site.
Not So Secret of the Ooze
You may recall that I loved this game when it launched. The game is vibrant, full of inappropriate adult humor, and challenging. Which makes it rather unfortunate that this first real expansion to the story truly is hot garbage. The additional story is flimsy. You’re here to clear out this truly annoying Vyper employee by collecting evidence of wrongdoing. The best joke I’ve encountered the entire time was exploding the totally “not” Toucan Sam birds and watching their insides of Fruit Loops and milk splatter everywhere.
The Hot Garbage DLC does provide a couple of new gadgets you can unlock if you have the patience to find them all. One of these is a health booster that allows those healing plants to produce more nectar for you. The mod I would love to get someday is Infinite Stamina, which does just that. You’ll find a couple more as you push through the story, and EKO is just as anxious as ever to devour any new technology you can feed her.
The Honeymoon’s Over
It’s not often that I get so frustrated with a game that I have to put it down before my temper gets the better of me. Hot Garbage triggered that rage with its new fuel vapor mechanic. You are supposed to be able to increase your boost capabilities when you stand/fly through these pockets of gas. In a lot of cases, this is the only way to reach new teleport locations and blueprints. When I found myself stuck in a valley and unable to get back up to a ledge for the umpteenth time, it was time to stop playing. Games should be fun, even when they challenge us. This was very much not fun. I wound up with a stress headache that lasted for three days.
For $8, a couple of new upgrades, dull storytelling, and three new zany commercials doesn’t cut it. There are also postcards strewn about DL-C1, but after getting that horrible stress headache I just can’t seem to care about going back to find them all. Sadly, I am not having fun at all with the “Hot Garbage” DLC. I thought returning to my job working for Kindred would be just as much of a trip as the first go-around. But this vacation was a real stinker.
Journey to the Savage Planet: Hot Garbage DLC review code provided by publisher. Reviewed on a PlayStation 4. For more information, please read our Review Policy.
