You’ve got a hefty variety of gadgets and weaponry to outfit yourself with such as a robotic cat that chases enemies before exploding or my personal favorite, the hyper rifter, which allows you to remove an enemy from their current location and move them somewhere else like inside an airlock hatch that you’re about to open for example. If you’ve played Bioshock or System Shock the weighty gunplay will feel immediately familiar to you, as will the feeling of creeping through dark hallways as you listen for enemies around a corner. Many times I found myself having to miss the part because I took a path that wouldn’t let me reach the part when it eventually came into my view on the map. The game goes so far as to allow you to pinpoint exactly where a crafting part you need is on the map, but it’s more often than not far outside from what you can currently see. It’s a really neat system with my only complaint being that I wish you could see a bit further down the map. It’s a severe level of transparency that helps define the game’s main hook: plan a route focusing on hitting locations with the loot you need, board whatever ships you want on the path, get said loot, and move on to the next ship. Unlike FTL where there’s an air of uncertainty of what you’ll encounter when you land on a spot, Void Bastards allows you to click ahead to see exactly what sort of ship will be on that spot, what enemies are onboard, how many of them are there, what sort of loot you’ll find, and even any special events like the power being out. If I were to compare this game to anything, it’d be the weird baby of Bioshock and FTL, the former because of how similarly the gameplay feels (no surprise considering the team is made up of former Irrational devs) and the latter due to its strategy elements.Ĭircling back to the FTL comparisons, the world map in Void Bastards is almost exactly the same as FTL, as you move your ship through a grid, carefully choosing the path you want to take to your destination. So while yes, it does share the same “new character every time you die” element of the genre, it’s not based around “runs” and there is a definite hard end to the game. Your story progress, upgrades, and collected crafting materials all stay with the only thing being lost is your fuel, food, and ammo. Upon death you’ll be issued a new prisoner with a fresh set of randomly generated traits like “chain-smoker” wherein your character will occasionally cough, alerting nearby enemies of your location or one that hilariously causes you to scream every time you pick up loot. Sure, when you die you’ll start a character anew, but you don’t actually lose any progress or have to restart your run. I’ve seen a lot of people call this game a rogue-like which is an incredibly deceptive descriptor. The premise is silly, and the entire thing has an air of absurdity that really works thanks to its absolutely gorgeous comic book inspired aesthetic that has just a hint of classic Guy Ritchie flair to it. To do that you’ll travel across a map that’s very reminiscent of FTL, collecting parts to rebuild parts of your ship as a Stephen Fry-esque character over sees your progress. Void Bastards begins by setting up your goal: you’re a prisoner who’s been recently released with the objective of piloting a ship out of the Sargasso Nebula in exchange for your freedom. MonsterVine was supplied with a PC code for review The final result is a game that shakes up the genre a bit while harkening back to their roots. Void Bastards made some waves last year with its reveal, thanks in part to its stylistic visuals and the pedigree of being from former Irrational Games developers.
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