But it’s never this easy, as there will be many enemies to contend with. But there’s usually a pre-defined item on specific ships that’ll advance the story. The goal of raiding these ships is to restock on necessary things like fuel, food, and ammo. Other times, things are in your favor where enemies are not present, and/or security is disabled. Sometimes ships have annoyances like being really smokey, or power regularly goes out. You can refill your oxygen, but ships come with many hazards like nuclear waste or electrical wires down. While it is a race due to ever-decreasing oxygen, it’s not a marathon or sprint either. It should be noted that you can’t rush a ship run. In that though, you’ll always know whether a particular ship will have a helm to give you data about the loot on the ship, or whether it’ll have nuclear bays. It won’t be for a couple hours in, but you’ll see the ship types repeat. Before embarking onto these derelict ships, you’ll be given info about the ship such as the enemies onboard and what kind of loot you’ll find. While there is a story, some incredible and ingenious weapons to craft, the ships are the star of Void Bastards. In fact, I was always ready to get back in because of the progress I can make on any single run. Death never feels like the end, nor does it feel like a deterrent. This being a roguelike with randomly generated maps that the levels take place on, the RNG definitely gets you, and that’s the way it is. I liken this to Rogue Legacy, but it feels like it has a more tangible and attainable progression. You’ll get a supply drop that contains items necessary for a new run. The nebula has several depths, and when you die (because you will), you’ll restart at the depth you last made it to. The permanence of your crafting and story progression is retained, as well as items you’ve collected to advance the story. No matter who, the goals remain the same. This is where the roguelike element comes in, when you die, you will assume the role of a different prisoner. It’s things like this that make Void Bastards an immediate gem. These traits are what makes the game, because there’s nothing funnier than having playing a prisoner who has an incessant cough that keeps alerting enemies as you try to raid a ship, and you find yourself telling them to “shh”. Again, no real impact but it made hard to tell if a door was open or closed based on the red or green lights. Then there was the run where my character was colorblind, and could only see in monochrome. It had no real impact on gameplay, as I could still do everything as normal, it was just a hilarious and different perspective to have. For one run, my character trait was that I was short. Each prisoner comes with their own traits, both good and bad, similar to Rogue Legacy. Their convictions range from the timid to weird, but all incarcerated for various space crimes. You play as one of an endless stream of prisoners who are working to reduce their sentence, or die trying. For those curious, you can continue from before completing the final action to continue through the nebula and complete all research options. My initial run lasted 320 in-game days, or 8.5 hours in real-time on normal difficulty. Blue Manchu have stated a run can take anywhere from twelve to fifteen hours depending on difficulty selected. It never gets annoying because you come to expect it, it’s just hilarious when it does. There are points where you reach a story beat, but it’s a “two steps forward, one step back” kind of thing where you need to do another thing to move forward. This is a science fiction raiding game whereby you tether to ships within the nebula to steal anything and everything you can to help further your cause. The campaign guides you in specific goals in order to progress the story, but beyond that you’re free to go and do what you please. Playing the game, you have the choice of how difficult, or not difficult it is. You must fabricate a myriad of parts to restore the systems lost. Void Bastards takes place within the fictional Sargasso Nebula where you must rebuild the Void Ark, a ship severely crippled and set adrift. Void Bastards is one of the best roguelikes around, and the most fun game I’ve played all year. The gameplay is structured with a focus on the campaign that doesn’t feel like much of a roguelike, though it very much is one. Void Bastards is FTL meets System Shock while brimming with personality, dark humor, and a devilish charm by being equal parts entertaining and challenging throughout your journey. The final version has not been a disappointment in the slightest. Void Bastards came out of nowhere with its announcement back in November, and it looked very promising.
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