Title: Project Planet
Developer: Fifth Harbour Studios
Release Date: September 25, 2023
Platform: Steam
Reviewed On: PC
Price: $24.99

Plague Inc. meets Jackbox Party Pack in this apocalyptic multiplayer strategy game. Players must collaborate to prevent Planet Earth from destroying humanity, but if humanity survives, only one wins. Can World Leaders prevent Industry from serving themselves first? Or will false news by Media undo the Scientists’ hard work? Can the Public discern who to listen to? Or will all five serve only themselves leading to their own undoing?

With multiple apocalyptic situations and tight turn timetables, players need to be quick on the draw, but even if you make all the right decisions, you have not idea whether another player will undermine your efforts, revealing how fragile and flawed humanity can be.

Synopsis

The story changes every time. Even if you start with the same event, there’s no guarantee how anything will play out. You can have upward of six players with five playing humanity and the sixth taking the reins of the disaster itself, but for better or worse, every decision matters.

Analysis 

Gameplay

At the start of each game, a room code is offered, which players can join either on their computers or through their phones. Everything is point and click or tap/touch. Each player picks a role: World Leaders, Industry, Media, Scientists, Public, or Earth. If you have less than six players, an AI will take over whichever roles are left open, but forewarning, if anyone takes Earth, they’ll be in for the easier route despite it seeming like multiple against one. If you’re worried about fighting about who is what, you can also have the game assign your roles randomly.

The game has four major phases for earth disaster, ramping up to the event and then following the aftermath. The sooner things are addressed, the better the outcome in some circumstances, but depending on how Earth plays, Humanity never knows which of the four phases will hit the hardest.

Humanity

The more you play, the easier it is to see the complexities of the game. After the pandemic, it hits a bit close to home. Every player on the Humanity side can take actions which are hostile to one another or they can work together. Their actions can be self-serving or self-destructive. Surprisingly, the two mainly overlap if Humanity loses. Self-serving actions will provide more power, allowing players to gain points and influence to be used down the line.

Each of the five Humanity roles has different actions they can take each time their turn comes around. At points, Scientists will have to rush though a multi-choice research scenario, and if you don’t pick quickly enough, you won’t complete the research at all, so sometimes an okay choice becomes the best solution rather than thorough research. Similarly, Media’s influence will go down if news becomes too slow even if their reporting is factual. World Leaders risk inspiring revolts from the Public, and often, they must pick how much funding to give Scientists versus Industry, debating how best to balance short-term interests versus long-term success.

On the whole, the game has educational elements, but sometimes, it does seem to teach the wrong lessons even if it feels a little too real. Unlike reality, during the Impending Crisis event of each phase when all players put in points to try to avert the worst that could happen, anyone labeled a slacker can end up the worse for it. That being said, if Humanity succeeds, being the one to give the least pays off.

Earth

For Earth, the player who controls the disaster, you can throw out the moral implications. You’re just a planet with disaster on the mind. Sometimes that involves tech-destroying solar flares or asteroids, bringing in the wider solar system. Other times a pandemic, pests, and a hurricane brings the destruction closer to home. Fifth Harbor Studios also promises a sixth possibility coming soon – Volcanic Eruption.

Earth starts with 100 Force points, and depending on which one you pick, you’ll only have so many left to spend. Hurricane and Locust Plague are cheaper at just 40 Force with Influenza Virus at 50 while Solar Flare and Asteroid Impact are 60 Force. During each phase, you’ll have opportunities to ramp up the disaster by spending Force. While your main focus will be on the crisis event, you’ll have the chance to trigger other incidents that alter Earth’s ecosystems and pollution. Sometimes helping ecosystems or reduce pollution actually helps destroy humanity.

Earth’s end goal is the total obliteration of Humanity. It doesn’t matter what phase this happens in, but if you still have a good number left by the fourth phase, don’t worry about saving Force.

Generally, you are encouraged to play as Earth when going it alone, and it is significantly more difficult to win against the AIs otherwise, but just because you aren’t on Humanity’s side doesn’t mean what they do doesn’t affect you, and it always pays when playing with others to keep in mind that they aren’t just collaborators. At the end of the day, anyone on Humanity’s side needs to remember that there’s only one winner, so keeping an eye on who is in the lead with the golden icon is helpful no matter which side you’re playing.

Art and Storytelling

The base art of Earth itself is beautiful. The movement and background of stars would make a fantastic screensaver. While the overlay is a bit rough in comparison, its simplicity makes gameplay easier as you can clearly read the board. The ever rotating newsfeed at the bottom is also a nice touch.

The Nemesis and Ally pop-ups each turn can be helpful, but they are disruptive during playing phases on mobile. Sometimes the overlay glitches, making it difficult to click out, and as time is key for many events, it can completely sabotage a player’s success.

Videos pop up associated with the Media’s turn. Some of the video of natural events is interesting to see, but there are also social media pop-ups as well as news articles with blurbs that could easily cover the more detailed elements. Making the videos skippable would help smooth gameplay for those less impressed by stock footage.

Scandal?

A few reviews from closer to the release date spoke of questionable practices, including a separation of premium or priority content being given to streamers well before it was released for those who had bought the game. My free copy included five of the six disasters. I haven’t seen anyone streaming Volcanic Eruption, which is the sixth, so I can’t confirm anything one way or another at this point.

Final Score (4 out of 5 Stars)

When the biggest negatives in a game are the developers but in too much and sometimes a glitch happens on one particular screen, I start to feel like I’m nitpicking. Project Planet is a fun, fast-paced multiplayer game that can be played from the same couch or online from across the globe. That being said, it can get frustrating that the winner when Humanity survives is often the person who sabotaged that survival the most.

Did Plague Inc. do pandemics better? Yes. The nuances of plague development were definitely more accurate and involved in that, but Project Planet isn’t about microbial evolution alone. Instead, Project Planet aims and succeeds in exploring the interconnectivity of disasters and their responses.

I’m excited for the visuals when Volcanic Eruption come out, and I’d love if the devs would release a few screensavers based on their Earth background, especially for Solar Flares.

Disclosure: Boss Rush Network received a review code for the PC version of Project Planet. Fifth Harbour Studios made no stipulations upon this review, nor did they or any representatives read it prior to publication. 

Featured Image:  Fifth Harbour Studios

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