The art direction of this game is actually beautiful.

A hilarious and inventive roguelike shooter that boldly ventures into the depths of space. With its unique comic book art style, strategic decision-making, and clever humor, Void Bastards delivers a fresh and enjoyable experience for fans of the genre.

While some players may find the repetitive nature of the missions and the trial-and-error gameplay to be a drawback, the game's overall charm, humor, and strategic elements make up for these minor flaws. Void Bastards is a refreshing take on the roguelike genre that brings laughter and enjoyment to your intergalactic escapades.

Void Bastards advertises itself as a System Shock 2 roguelike but it's more like a first person Rogue Legacy collectathon with guns. You're trapped in a nebula and you go on derelict ships to collect food, fuel, and resources to build things that either upgrade your arsenal or advance the game's plot. Along the way you'll fight enemies that have unique personalities and attack patterns, along with dealing with pirates that will make mincemeat of you if you're not prepared. Rinse and repeat until you build the final plot device.

The roguelike portions come from your characters being generated after your current one dies, and they're all basically prisoners that have been sentenced for humorous crimes. These crimes affect their traits which either help or hamper you, and include various assortment of abilities including being able to pick up loot just by approaching them, being able to move silently while sprinting, or something negative like having PTSD and combat music starts playing when you're not actually aggroing an enemy. You are able to change your traits if you find ships that have a gene therapy kiosk.

The game presents you with a variety of weapons and gadgets to take on the ships, but as you upgrade, you're pretty much going to stick with three weapons - at least I did - which were the staple gun (basically an automatic shotgun), the bushwhacker (a proximity explosive, very useful for the enemies that try to attack you from behind), and the upgraded kitty bot that releases explosives upon exploding, effectively clearing out a room full of enemies. Enemies almost always prioritize attacking the kitty bot over you unless you attack them, so it's almost a no brainer to take with you unless you absolutely can't. The only times I've used other weapons were when I was forced to after dying, as the game randomizes the ammo your character starts out with once they've regenerated.

Graphically the game looks good. It's a comic book styled 3D game with 2D billboards for weapons and enemies, basically a prettier Doom. They all work with the game's artstyle so I'm not at all complaining.

Difficulty scales the deeper you go into the nebula, as such the resource yield also increases. However despite this, the game pretty much remains the same all throughout its session and the only thing that really keeps it afloat is its comedy. Once the novelty of its comedic tone wears off, the game becomes extremely repetitive.

Iba con ganas de que me gustase, y las primeras 3 h son perfectas. El juego es bonito, me voy encontrando nuevos enemigos, las naves son casi todas diferentes, las armas son interesantes.... Pero poco después los nuevos enemigos se acaban y se dedican a recolorear a los que ya hay. Empiezan a ser esponjas de balas en un juego donde no sobran y las armas no se sienten super cómodas. Empiezan a aparecer enemigos con muchísima vida a puñaos que le quitan cualquier atisbo de diversión. Y mil cosas así.

Personalmente que a las 3 h un roguelike se me empiece a hacer tan repetitivo me sorprende para mal. Una pena, al principio me veía echándole decenas de horas.

I think the ultimate problem with Void Bastards is that while it has tons of options, only a select few of those options are actually worthwhile. There are at least 5 options for every slot you could possibly use a weapon or tool in, but out of all of them, only about 1 or 2 each were worthwhile.

The design of incentivizing you to spend as little time as possible and waste as little resources as possible because you're supposed to just find parts and leave means that guns that just let you avoid combat altogether are objectively the most powerful ones. Sure, you could upgrade your pistol to max and be able to one shot maybe 60% of the enemies, wasting tons of bullets and time and risking your own health; but you could also just explore around a bit and make a gun that allows you to lock them in rooms they can't get out of which doesn't even let them respawn so you could explore in peace.

That, plus how quickly you snowball into being overpowered, splits the game in half right down the middle from being engaging and tactical to being a boring collect-a-thon where you clean house nearly every time. The style and music is pretty good, though.

A fun action roguelike, with a smart amount of strategy that involves moving from ship to ship in search of what you need most at the time. All pulled together with a neon-punky British sci-fi aesthetic that wouldn't look out of place on British snacks from the 80s and 90s.

A variety of hazards and character quirks inject some much-needed variety into the stages. A dash through oil spills to make it to a healing machine can be equal parts hilarious and frustrating, and it was fun to dash to the exit with bullets trailing after me.

It's deeply saturated with anti-corporate humour. Anti-climatic conclusions serve as both the punchline but also an unsatisfying ending to many things. Don't expect dramatic boss fights or plot twists.

Wholly recommended to sci-fi fans and those looking for a quirky FPS rogue-like that relies more on motion than stats.

A fun first person-shooter roguelike, Void Bastards is a very silly tongue-in-cheek game where you play multiple "Clients" (Prisoners) who are on a ship that can't be moved due to administrative hell. To get the ship moving, you're required to scavenge nearby ships in an FTL-like grid to find items needed to try and rebuild the systems.

The combat is solid, but some later weapons and gadgets aren't nearly as useful as earlier equipment. The game also becomes a bit long in the tooth towards the end of a campaign, as you become familiar with the specific layouts and hazards.

All in all, it's a really fun experience, and the writing is top notch. I'm definitely looking forward to the spiritual successor "Wild Bastards" that's currently in development.

Void Bastards, a game that even transcends Smartypants' trans sonic stabbings to deliver an unparalleled masterpiece. This is not just a game; it's a life-changing experience that deserves nothing less than a perfect 10. The cosmic wasteland becomes a canvas for innovative gameplay, strategic decision-making, and unexpected challenges that keep the thrill alive.

Void Bastards isn't just a game; it's a work of art in the gaming world. Every element, from the captivating artistry to the immersive narrative, contributes to an experience that goes beyond ordinary gaming. This is a testament to the pinnacle of game design and storytelling.

Score: 10/10