Steam reviews
17 of 26 Steam user reviews are positive (65.4%) and Steam's own label is “Mixed”, according to Steam's review summary for Planet in the Shadows at the last data refresh.
What Steam reviewers mention
8 of the 12 sampled reviews recommend it, though one positive review rates it only 5/10 and another is non-English. Supporters enjoy tough base-defence survival in an alien world; the main caveat, voiced in several most-helpful reviews, is forced autosaves and bugs that can ruin runs.
Sample: 12 reviews from Steam's English filter (10 most helpful, 2 most recent, ), 8 recommending · how Claude counts topics
- Bugs and Save System (praised in 1, criticised in 5 of 12): Several reviewers report forced autosaves and a single save slot that can lock runs into unwinnable states, plus unfixed bugs and gamepad trouble, while one review credits checkpoints with reducing frustration.
- Combat and Mines (praised in 2, criticised in 3 of 12): Reviewers are split on the mine-based defence: some enjoy planning around explosives and learning how to handle alien creatures, while others want proper weapons and call combat indirect or the wall slime frustrating.
- Base Building and Resource Gathering (praised in 2, criticised in 2 of 12): Reviewers enjoy planning and reworking a defensible base and find the building system easy to grasp, though one calls resource gathering tedious and another notes repetition in the building and exploration loops.
- Difficulty and Challenge (praised in 5 of 12): Reviewers describe a tough, far-from-casual challenge that keeps them coming back, with one noting an impossible mode for experienced players and another saying checkpoints keep frustration down.
- Alien World and Visuals (praised in 5, criticised in 2 of 12): Reviewers like the aesthetic, retro feel and hostile alien setting, but one finds the pixel art limited and the level design boring, and another calls the graphics modest.
- Progression and Value (praised in 4, criticised in 1 of 12): Reviewers say the full release adds layers of mechanics and better balance, and two call the price fair, though one notes that the systems are lightweight and may grow repetitive.
Games like Planet in the Shadows
- Outer Wilds
- Subnautica
- Kairo
Drafted by Claude; not individually verified.
Good for
- Players who enjoy atmospheric exploration with minimal hand-holding
- Fans of environmental storytelling where the world communicates its own history
- Short focused indie experiences rather than large open-ended sandboxes
Avoid if
- Absence of combat or progression mechanics limits engagement for action-oriented players
- Narrative is sparse — players who want explicit story beats will feel underserved
- Production values reflect indie budget in visual scope and audio quality
Is Planet in the Shadows an indie game?
Yes. Steam lists Planet in the Shadows under the "Indie" genre, and its publisher is not on this site's major-publisher list.
- Steam genre tags on record: Adventure, Indie — includes "Indie".
- Developer: Sergey Bobrov.
- Publisher: Sergey Bobrov — same as the developer, i.e. self-published; not on this site's major-publisher list.
The rubric, its limits and the publisher list: methodology.