Residual is an indie space survival game developed by Orangepixel and published by Apogee Entertainment for the PC and Nintendo Switch. Similar to Terraria and Minecraft, Residual places players in a harsh, procedurally generated world, where survival is determined based on how quickly they can obtain needed natural resources and food. Residual also employs puzzle game concepts, requiring certain terrain puzzles to be solved before unlocking new regions in the world. While the game offers fast-paced exploration and challenging survival elements, a lack of variety in both crafting and building limits replayability and occasionally creates boring gameplay progression.
Residual begins with the player crash landing on the surface of an alien planet where, with the help of their Personal Disaster Bot, they must repair the ship's computer and begin scouring the planet's surface for supplies. Every adventure in Residual will appear slightly different thanks to the procedurally generated planets that are determined at the start of the game. Much like seeds in Minecraft, each of these worlds possesses a basic set of similar resources, but the appearance of the world and the availability of the resources will change depending on the world's type and location in the solar system.
With visuals similar to Terraria, players will explore a side-scrolling, pixelated map with a day and night cycle that changes based on how far the planet is from the sun. On hot, sunny planets, stamina will deplete quickly during exploration, requiring players to return to their ship and sleep. Worlds with longer night cycles are less draining on stamina, but alternately have less food growing, and less availability to gather solar energy. Players will scour the surface of the world for resources like Metal, Deuterium, Coal, Water, Tech, and Graphite, which can be found scattered throughout the world's map or can be mined using the mining devices built at the ship's computer. By placing the devices in the correct areas, they can gain access to a limited vein of the resource, speeding up repairs.
Players won't have access to the entire world when starting in Residual, and tools like shovels, pickaxes, and hammers aren't present to dig down into the surface. Instead, they must solve puzzles created by ancient alien technology embedded into the surface of the planet. The locations must first be discovered while exploring, and then will require craftable items like batteries and levers to be functional. While these puzzles offer a short, difficult challenge when attempting to access the resources buried under the planet's surface, they actually feel less immersive than survival titles like Terraria, as players can't engage or change the world's physical makeup. This makes Residual's lower levels feel more like an RPG dungeon than a survival experience, but without the difficult enemies to battle.
The biggest setback for Residual is the limited crafting menu and lack of base building. While the primary goal of the game is to repair the ship and leave the alien planet, players are limited to sleeping in their small, broken-down spacecraft. There is also no way to build homes or other buildings, which is a driving mechanic in most survival genre games. These struggles are compounded by a limited, basic crafting menu that can be accessed alongside the inventory. While things like ladders, batteries, campfires, and fishing rods can be built, the menu lacks the more complex progression of tool upgrades and object building present in similar survival titles.
Players may also find that visibility can be poor when attempting to explore Residual's underground maps. A mixture of retro-style textures, dark lighting, and pixelated graphics can make terrain difficult to understand. What could be a patch of sticky tar could be missed entirely, and important terrain like vines for climbing, or spikes to avoid stepping on, can blend in with grass and other blocks. Because of this, Residual may benefit from a patch to improve lighting and make obstacles and important terrain stand out against other objects.
Residual is great for a quick survival experience, with less in-depth gameplay than other survival titles. Those who like Minecraft's Vanilla mode will likely enjoy the unique worlds, goal-oriented exploration, and resources collection. However, gamers looking for a complex survival experience like Terraria or Valheim may find the lack of standard survival mechanics frustrating and limiting while exploring.
Residual is available now on the PC and Nintendo Switch. A Nintendo Switch code was provided to Screen Rant for the purposes of this review.