The following is a guest review from DrXan.
Release Date: May 28, 2019
Version Played: PC (Epic) in 2023
The currently only game from Canberran indie devs Blue Manchu, Void Bastards is a rogue-lite first person shooter (FPS) about overcoming space horrors and bureaucracy. You play as a random rehydrated prisoner tasked by your transport ship’s AI to reactivate the FTL drive following a pirate attack. Sadly with the ship almost neutered of all useful tech you’ll have to scavenge the other ships in the Sargasso Nebula by boarding them, searching for parts and overcoming the twisted creatures that used to be their crews.
+ the meat of the game in is the FPS combat against 2D sprite based enemies. Enemy types vary from turrets and robots through to twisted humans and deformed tourists changed in the miasma of the nebula. Enemy toughness can vary with some being near invincible against your starting pistol only to have them become pushovers later in the game
+ being a rogue-lite the individuals ships/maps are randomly generated with resources, hazards and enemies scattered throughout. The type of ship can also effect the types of rooms on offer; luxury cruisers have casinos and dining rooms, where as salvage ships have recyclers and prison ships allow you to conduct gene therapy on your character to change their traits
+ randomised character traits in this game range from the useful, to liabilities and just plain weird; extra health, dropping items randomly, consuming oxygen quicker and being short are all traits your random criminal can spawn with or acquire during the run
+ the ability to hold onto any resources gained from successful runs means success is more an eventuality than an impossibility. Random scraps of resources will award you 4 ‘currencies’ you can use to craft items for upgrading your guns, armour, and even making pot-important loot, reducing the reliance on tracking down items in the map itself
– the curse of roguelikes is they can get repetitive. Here even with 5 primary, secondary and tertiary weapons it can often feel like you’re playing the same ships with the same enemies over and over again. The game isn’t particularly difficult (I got about 50% of the way through the story with a single character) so perhaps more deaths could have helped to mix up a formula that was getting stale quickly
– even with the large number of weapons on offer many felt like a ‘try once and never again’ option. Why would I shoot a cloud of radioactivity that can also hurt me when the weapon I unlocked before this shot a dart that poisoned just the enemy? Why do I need what amounts to three types of grenades? Why would I ever bring anything other than the tazer that stuns robotic enemies given enemy turrets can shred you faster than anything else?
– certain conditions on ships can get incredibly annoying; run into pirates early game? You’re pretty much dead. Board a ship where the power turns off at random? You can’t leave the ship without it being powered. Or maybe you just board a ship with no oxygen refilling station resulting in a surprise speed run before you suffocate
– the story pulls the ‘just one more thing…’ joke a few too many times. If the point was supposed to show the inefficiency of bureaucracy it works but that doesn’t mean it’s fun or engaging as a story point
Should you play this game: Having received Void Bastards for free on Epic it’s hard to say whether it’s a ‘value for money’ rogue-lite. I finished the game’s story and unlocked all gear/upgrades in 19 hours of playtime, which then unlocks optional challenges to complete. I don’t think Void Bastards immediately grabs you the way other roguelikes like Enter the Gungeon or Hades do, but if you’re looking for something a bit different and see it on sale then support an Aussie dev and give it a try.
MoshFish Reviews 