The Void

[Copied and pasted from my Steam review] This is... a very strange game. And one you really should play, if only to say "I was there, I saw it. I have no idea what the hell it was about". It's profound, has the most original gameplay I've seen in years, is hard as nails, genuinely creepy, and beautiful in an often dark, morbid sort of way. The game's underlying rules are simple and yet incredibly challenging; your health is your ammunition, and if you run out... game over. To gain more, you must produce it. To produce it, you must spend it. You're only ever a moment of reckless consumption from death, and yet as the game progresses, you are forced to make greater and greater sacrifices. The level design is incredibly artistic, and the sound effects and music are truly haunting. Also, there are many boobs. Breasts all over the place. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but there it is.

I can't believe I'm finally seeing this title here! This game is an example of art in videogames so you should adjust your expectations accordingly. The story and setting are vague, and mostly expressed through poetry, which leaves a lot of room for interpretation. The mechanics are discovered through gameplay so it can be punishingly hard, requiring multiple restarts (there is fan made "easy mode" patches in ice-pick-lodge forums). The game is strongly concerned with aesthetics as evidenced in stunning visuals and beauty/colors standing in sharp contrast to the dark, dry land as well as beautiful sister to deformed brothers. I don't care much for naked women, but in this game the sexuality, nudity and beauty serve a purpose beyond enticing desire. All in all, I interpreted the game as a story about potential and sacrifice. It is a truly beautiful game on many levels and if you even for a second consider games as a potential art form, you MUST have this title in your collection.

Like Ice Pick Lodge's other games, this is a very unique and hard to describe experience. It feels like an entire game of the "nightmare worlds" from the Silent Hill games, only instead of rust and blood it's this stark, desolate, serenity. Very very much an "arty" game and anyone expecting a straight narrative will be disappointed. The game is divided into enjoying the weirdness and beauty, and resource management. If you run out of color you die, and you constantly consume it. "Digested" color must be used and you must exercise crop rotation of gardens to grow more while saving up enough to feed "sisters" (caretakers who unlock more areas) and defeat "brothers" (hostile guardians). The levels are haunting, the sisters alluring, and the brothers frightening. If you want to soak in a beautiful Silent Hill-ish art experience, then scoop this up. But their are some caveats: Some problems is that its arty vagueness spills over into the gameplay. Tutorials are vague. Quests can be unclear. Some tutorial tips are flat out incorrect (many mechanics were never programmed in). More than half of the spells are useless and the order you get them is random. I suggest looking up a guide after failing (and you will). I enjoy stories that don't spell everything out (Lynch and Bergman are two favorite directors), but The Void doesn't explain ANYTHING. There are hint that some revelation about your life will come up. Nope. Suggestion that reaching the most difficult sister will cause something to happen. Nope. Promises of hugely different endings based on an endgame choice. Nope (this rivals Mass Effect 3 for disappointing ending sameness syndrome). Any kind of narrative development at all. Nope. You'll end the game with just as much understanding as the first hour. Come for the weird haunting art show, creepy imagery, and steel yourself for a very unsatisfying ending.

'The Void' is made by the same guys who brought Pathologic to us (they also made Knock-knock, which I highly recommend), and it shows. It's very atmospheric, gloomy, creepy and dark, but also has a very dry sense of humor and quirkyness It also has a very unique, but very counter-intuitive gameplay. Just as with Pathologic, everything feels VERY different from anything you might have encountered within a game. When is comes to the world, which the game takes place in, it is a welcome change, since it really pulls you in, and doesn't let go. When it comes to quest objectives and controls it's just baffling. Everything is very cryptic. Basically it is a puzzle based adventure game with some action aspects, 'resources' to collect and foes to defeat. These parts never really stand apart though. It could be a good thing, since the game feels very coherent, but on the other hand, it just doesn't feel natural or intuitive. It's more like a strange experiment on gameplay, or a gameplay type invented by kind of an abnormal mind. Uniqe, of course, but also very alienating.