Not all shooters are run and gun affairs. Why back in my day…
I love it when a title in a random email catches my eye. Yesterday, it was a game called Void Bastards, described as a mix between FTL and System Shock 2.
How could I possibly not check it out?
So have a look around I did, and I was met with this trailer:
So a lot of positives happened immediately to make me look forward to Void Bastards.
Firstly, the narrator is Kevan Brighting, the same wonderful voice that saw you through The Stanley Parable. That’s a giggle right there.
Secondly, when you met up with a bad guy and got blotted, the whole ‘Client Expired’ scenario definitely had me looking for even more of the humour in the trailer. And it’s there. This looks like a game that will be fun to watch being played at the very least.
But while there is a lot of humour evident, I can’t help but think that will be to offset the potential frustration of the game.
Cartoony graphics and jokes aside, this is a fully strategic, plan your attack style game like the old Rainbow Six games. The small amount of gameplay I have watched keeps the old adage alive – no plan survives contact with the enemy.
The impression I have so far is you will have to learn the rules and plan well for a variety of situations. A rougelike generation of ships and levels means you will need to learn what is happening for your particular game, and no two games should be the same.
Void Bastards is definitely a game I want to check out, but I was a little disappointed that Steam shows it as coming on the 29th of May (so not long to wait!) but no price.
Then I had a bit of good news – Void Bastards is coming to Game Pass on the same day! So tonight I will update my XBOX and prep for tomorrows release.
I am hoping this is going to be one of the Microsoft ‘Play Anywhere’ titles though – I have a feeling I will prefer playing this on PC, but a free game (with Game Pass) is nothing to complain about!
I don’t know if Void Bastards will be a nice diversion or a deceptive time sink, but I am expecting the latter. Either way, I am really looking forward to firing it up and giving it a good look.
It also doesn’t hurt that Blue Manchu games, the developers of Void Bastards, is headquartered in Australia. I always enjoy seeing our games industry make a splash big enough to come to my attention, especially when I am not looking for it.
Until next time,