Some of the team members behind Bioshock bring us a new rouge-like title with great art and gameplay. Meet Void Bastards.

There’s a ton to do in this game. Void Bastards takes place in space as you explore countless space stations for goods and resources. You play prisoners working for an AI overlord with a British accent. It’s very dystopian, especially since each death leads you to play a new prisoner from the endless pool of convicts. Each space station is randomly generated, adding it a bit of fun and unpredictability. Every level layout forces you to take a different approach, as you can’t enter two places and expect the same experience. This is enough to keep you interested as you play through the game.

Between pots of radioactive acid, evil, angry robots, and turrets, there are a lot of foes against you. You can sneak past most of them, and it’s fun to go ahead and see if you can explore undetected. You know what’s more fun, though? Taking some of these guns to the tech bots and getting into some sneaky gunfights. Maneuver for angles, flanks, and other areas of advantage, and you’ll have a pretty easy time. The difficulty comes from decisions like turning power on in the stations, or flicking different lights or switches. This can attract enemies you didn’t even know were present.

Another wonderful thing about Void Bastards is the cell-shaded art style. It’s giving me a great little taste of the old Borderlands games. The art is fun, and does not feel to be a ripoff of other similarly designed games. In fact, everything about this title feels unique and different from other rogue likes and shooters. You don’t lose all progress when you die, and you don’t always have to reach for your gun when you see an enemy. It’s a good lesson in decision-making and seeing which situation calls for what approach. Sure, sometimes the randomness isn’t fair, but you move on. You’re a worthless convict, after all.

Despite being just another prisoner, each has different perks like guns, heavy weapons, and weaknesses, like speed or sneaking. This makes you rethink your style of theft each time you die. That, combined with the generated worlds, give the game a real mystery each round with every prisoner you play as. Even as you traverse scary new places as new characters, stronger heads prevail, making this game playable with just a hint of caution. It’s not hard to play at all, but I kind of wish it was.

If you’re into rogue-like games and shooters, give this one a try. It’s free now for Xbox Game Pass subscribers, and worth the money if you play on PC.

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Void Bastards

$29.99 USD

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Good gunplay and sneak mechanics
• Great art style
• Fun, random environments and characters to play as

Cons

• Random sometimes means unjust death
• A bit too easy to breeze through