Infested Planet - Planetary Campaign Review Summary

Adds welcome variety and strategy with tough challenges, but punishing morale, unwinnable missions, and bugs or crashes frustrate.

High difficulty and challenge: The DLC offers a high level of challenge, with difficulties that test knowledge of every system. Beating it is rewarding, and even a single map can be tough.

New content and variety: The DLC adds a ton of content, including new weapon classes, enemy types, missions, and upgrades. This increases variety and extends the game's lifespan.

Adds strategic layer: A new strategic layer is added, where players command armies on a conquest map with turn-based mechanics. This layer synergizes with the tactical battles and adds depth.

Highly praised DLC: Many reviewers consider the DLC to be excellent, with some calling it one of the best DLCs ever. It adds significant fun and value to the base game.

Procedurally generated campaigns: The DLC introduces procedurally generated or randomized campaigns that increase replayability and make each playthrough unique. This feature is frequently highlighted as a major strength.

Morale system overly punishing: The morale system drains morale with every marine death and cannot be regained during missions, making losses snowball into inevitable defeat. Many players find it excludes certain tactics and creates uncounterable difficulty spikes.

Unwinnable missions frustrate players: Players report missions that are impossible to win due to lack of protections, especially when random mutations appear before sufficient tech is available. This leads to hours of futile attempts and ragequits, particularly on higher difficulties.

Game-breaking bugs and crashes: Players encounter severe bugs such as the game not working after purchase, Ethereal Hives being immune to damage due to bullets phasing through, and map-specific bugs. These issues can make areas unplayable and prevent recommendations.

DLC overpriced and low value: Multiple reviewers feel the DLC is a waste of money, overpriced for adding minimal content like a single game mode or few weapons. Some believe it should have been a free update.

Excessive randomness reduces strategy: Random mutations and RNG-heavy campaign elements create harsh combinations and unwinnable situations, making the game feel more random than strategic. Players report that success often depends on luck rather than tactics.

Procedurally generated tech tree: The technology tree is procedurally generated, with persistent upgrades that vary each campaign. Available technologies are randomized and limited, adding replayability and requiring adaptation.

Turn-based strategic campaign layer: A turn-based strategic overmap where players move armies, capture territories, and manage resources. Missions are randomly generated and connect to an overarching dynamic experience.

Morale system affects gameplay: A morale system penalizes losses and limits army lives; morale drains when units die and cannot be regained during missions. If morale reaches zero, the mission fails, encouraging players to avoid reckless attacks.

Randomized enemy mutations and adaptation: Aliens gain random mutations and adapt to player tactics by changing world mutators. Mutations include armored, fast, poisonous, shooting, clone attacks, burrowing attacks, minefields, calcification, and more, with up to 10 combinations at once.

Elite and Veteran difficulties: The expansion adds Elite and Veteran difficulty levels, along with other harder difficulties like hard and expert. These test knowledge of every game system and require tactical adaptation.

DLC introduced two unpatch bugs: Players report that the DLC introduced two bugs that have not been patched. These bugs are impacting the gameplay experience and remain unaddressed.

Recommended for base game fans: Reviewers suggest this DLC is worthwhile if you already enjoy the base game, and it enhances the experience for fans of the original.

Overpriced and not recommended: A notable number of reviews criticize the expansion as overpriced and not worth the asking price, with some strongly advising against buying it.

Worth the price: A number of reviewers find the DLC well worth its price, with some considering it reasonably priced or definitely worth the default cost.

Recommended for difficulty seekers: The DLC is recommended for players who enjoy high difficulty and unreasonable challenges, though some note that higher difficulties may require save scumming.

Must-have DLC: Many reviewers enthusiastically recommend the DLC, calling it a must-have and essential for a complete experience. Some say the base game without it is only half a game.

Community fair range: $10.00 - $20.00.

Session length: 3.0h.

The DLC appears enjoyable at first, especially for casual short-burst play, but becomes repetitive and mildly tedious over time. No explicit timing or unlock event for fun is reported.

Friction: High-difficulty RNG can create tedious alien perk combinations; Repetitive hive layouts; Low-pressure gameplay that feels slightly tedious; Shallow map-overlay progression.

Infested Planet Base-Game Loyalist: Uses established Infested Planet tactics and wants additional maps, research, or progression. Motivation: Continue playing more of the base game through new content. Stance: buy.

Hardcore Challenge Seeker: Pushes high difficulty, adapts to alien AI responses, and seeks punishing tactical scenarios. Motivation: Overcome brutal, adaptive challenges and prove mastery. Stance: buy.

Disappointed Expansion Critic: Likely experienced with strategy games but desires less pure strategy and more RPG or small-scale multiplayer elements. Motivation: Find substantial, polished new content or a different style of play; current DLC fails to satisfy. Stance: no buy.

Monetization: The dataset contains only feedback on paid DLC and expansion content. Reviewers debate whether the $8 extra mode is worth it, mention bugs, and praise the DLC when they enjoy it. No review describes in-game real-money purchases, gacha, loot boxes, paid power, convenience items, currency obfuscation, battle passes, or a cash shop. The monetization model appears to be base game plus traditional paid DLC, which falls in the Fair range.

Adds new campaign mode: The DLC introduces a completely new campaign, specifically a randomly generated planetary campaign that players select separately from the base campaign. It is described as an expansion that adds a new game mode.

Great value for price: The DLC is worth the default price and is considered a great addition. Bundle discounts make it even more attractive as an impulse buy.

Developer support and community engagement: The developer, Rocket Bear Games, supports the game with content years later and consistently communicates with the community on Steam forums, showing attention to fan feedback.

Platform and genre details: The game is available on PC and Mac and belongs to the strategy, indie, and action genres. Developed by Rocket Bear Games and released on 10 October 2016.

Comparison to Dark Crusade: The strategic overmap in the planetary campaign is compared to Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, suggesting a similar style of strategic layer. This comparison highlights the game's appeal to fans of that classic RTS.