Lifeless Planet Reviews

Lifeless Planet is ranked in the 17th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
34 / 100
Jun 18, 2014

The great pity is that Lifeless Planet is not entirely without merit—Board has a good eye and ear for aesthetics. He'll make you trudge through a Mars-like landscape for five minutes and then have you turn a corner to find a 1970s-era Brutalist Soviet apartment block. Board loves this Duchamp readymade approach to level decoration, where mundane objects become striking by being dropped into an alien context. The Rich Douglas-composed soundtrack is majestic and mysterious, and Board uses it sparingly to preserve its power to move you. It is genuinely impressive to arrive at a Lifeless Planet vista, received by a stirring musical crescendo. It's a place that deserves a more compelling reason for you to visit it.

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Jul 28, 2016

Lifeless Planet: Premier Edition doesn't fix its issues on PlayStation 4, and instead adds new ones.

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4 / 10
Sep 10, 2018

Lifeless Planet: Premiere Edition may very well gain a few new fans based solely on its narrative. Unfortunately, the tedious ordeal of having to traipse around the planet for half a dozen hours like a clumsy jelly baby just doesn’t make the plot strong enough to be worth the hassle. While it may not sound like it, I do appreciate the hard work and effort it takes to independently craft an environment of such scale. However, it really doesn’t excuse the fact that this is an incredibly poorly made game, regardless of how interesting its premise may be.

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May 18, 2015

The intriguing world of Lifeless Planet can't quite make up for the shoddy gameplay and frustrating glitches that accompany it.

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4.5 / 10.0
May 22, 2015

Over ambition has killed what is a great premise for a story driven 3rd person game, regardless of it's humble beginnings.

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GameSpew
Top Critic
5 / 10
Jul 29, 2016

[Lifeless Planet] ultimately feels padded out and by the end of the game I couldn't wait for it to be over

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5 / 10.0
Sep 3, 2018

Unfortunately, doing so often feels more like a chore than a joy. The platforming here feels ancient The planet itself, while absolutely capturing the essence of it decaying, comes off as uninteresting to explore. Add in some monotonous puzzles, and what you're left with is a rather forgettable experience.

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5 / 10
Aug 30, 2018

While its crude looks and disparate gameplay elements can make for a spartan experience, there's still something bizarrely compelling about Lifeless Planet: Premiere Edition. There's nothing particularly remarkable about its occasional platforming and simple environmental puzzle solving - and its story never truly offers the payoff its mysteries set in place - but you'll still enjoy the short time you spend with it. An ambitious little curio, even four years after its original release, but one that sets its sights a little too high for its own good.

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May 11, 2015

'Lifeless Planet' seems to have the necessary ingredients for a successful indie exploration and discovery game, but ultimately falls short of its potential.

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VideoGamer
Top Critic
5 / 10
May 20, 2015

Lifeless Planet delivers a brief adventure just about worth taking, but it doesn't offer enough technically or say enough thematically, despite the odd flourish on both counts.

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5.3 / 10.0
May 21, 2015

Lifeless Planet could've been so much more had key decisions been made with less limited breathing, more intricate puzzles, environmental expansion and better gameplay. Instead, it feels more like a second rate space adventure rather than the equivalent of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Oh, what could've been in the stars.

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5.5 / 10.0
Sep 11, 2016

Even with all problems we mentioned, Lifeless Planet is a great achievement for its one-person-team, which, despite its technical problems and being monotony, should not be missed by the fans of the science fiction genre.

Review in Persian | Read full review

Nintendo Enthusiast
Chris Hinton
Top Critic
5.5 / 10.0
Aug 31, 2018

The question is whether that is enough for you to invest here. Otherwise, platformer fans should look elsewhere to satiate their genre needs.

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Geeks Under Grace
Drew Koehler
6 / 10.0
May 18, 2015

Lifeless Planet makes a great attempt to bring an original concept to life but fails to deliver in key areas.

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6 / 10
May 12, 2015

Lifeless Planet isn't a bad game, far from it, in fact, but it seems to slightly miss the mark in everything it tries to do. Whether this was due to the title being overly ambitious, or just needing a little more time to bake in the oven, we'll never know. That being said, the game offers a lot of memorable moments throughout its several hour journey. Even if it may be flawed, Lifeless Planet is a game that wanted to do something different and that desire should be celebrated.

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6 / 10.0
Jun 19, 2014

Lifeless Planet seems to have a ton of potential beneath its lackluster surface, always seeming like a better game is lurking in there, just beyond your grasp.

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PC Gamer
Top Critic
60 / 100
Jun 13, 2014

The previews looked fantastic, but the final release of Lifeless Planet fails to build that potential into a worthy game.

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6.3 / 10.0
Aug 2, 2016

Although Lifeless Planet has its fair share of faults, it's not a bad game.

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65 / 100
Sep 6, 2018

Lifeless Planet comes to Switch four years later with the same proposal, a proposal that can catch you or leave you mildly indifferent. Trying to cover several things, and it does not quite do it well, but at some point it succeeds, and together with a typical but effective mystery plot, it may have you glued to the screen for the five hours that the game can last, because the exploration is not awarded, and the development is more linear than it seems. However if this does not stop us and we know how to see its virtues, the game will be enjoyable.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

6.5 / 10.0
Jul 25, 2016

With No Man's Sky looming on the horizon, all other sci-fi games are about to lose a lot of relevancy. Lifeless Planet released at a time when the game has the biggest chance to make a name for itself. It's just a shame the end result feels more like a prototype than a fully fleshed-out game. There is fun to be had, however, and if you'd like to support an indie developer and are in the mood for a short sci-fi story you can finish in a sitting or two, then give Lifeless Planet a try.

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