The Void – Review (PC)
I was surfing through Steam once again because of the holiday sale and I found the Void. I figured I should try it out and see exactly what this game was about. Developed by Ice-Pick Lodge, the Void is a survival horror adventure to where you are thrown into the abyss of Death with a dying soul and you have to find a way to keep surviving. Apparently, souls die whenever they’re stuck in the Void, which is known as an odd space between life and death.
In order to survive in the Void, you must feed off of The Color, which has been absent until your arrival. The Color not only feeds the souls and the creatures within the Void but it also gives power to the Void. The Void is overseen by the evil Brothers and manipulative Sisters, who are fighting for every drop of the Color. You meet one of the Sisters in her greenhouse and are introduced to the way of how to use the Color in order to fight and empower yourself. Each color has a certain perk or skill to where you can develop health, speed, defense or trust and it is also used to fight and travel.
You basically draw with your own blood, so to speak, which is stored within separate hearts and your palette, which is easily accessible by pressing CTRL. There are different symbols called Glyphs you could use to draw with the Color so nothing is wasted; however you can just draw normally and get a little lecture on using the displayed Glyph. I thought it was an interesting idea to have different hearts for different colors but it was hard to keep up with the maintenance of each heart. You have to keep harvesting color in order to stay alive. I would find myself nearing the end as the Sister kept reminding me to “replenish my heart” and that I “was dying.” But wasn’t I already dead? I mean, technically I was, but could I get deader than that?
I guess you can if you don’t get enough Color. You are then ordered to start a garden of Color so you can harvest it and are able to fill it in your hearts. It is also there to help feed the corresponding Sister so you could continue on with your journey, but there is really only enough Color for the One. In this case, I felt as if I was playing in the Matrix and I had to become the One, slowly through a self realization type of journey. I thought the idea was interesting but it was losing the interesting aspect quickly when I had issues trying to figure out where to go. I was a bit confused at first but finally figured out that I had to go to the garden in order to complete my goal. I was just being impatient as I usually am and just relied on the goals I had to attain.
The map was helpful and full of interesting places to visit. I thought the construction of the map was intricate and gave a bit of mystery as to why it was built in a web design. The graphics of the game were great and added much more than just dark shadows, but created a unique atmosphere to surround you as you play the game. The controlling of the game and character were fairly simple and completely understandable. You feel free to be able to roam in different chambers but are restricted by time in the Void.
I didn’t like that each time I would die, the game would restart completely. It wouldn’t go to the title screen but from the very start up of the game. I had to wait for it to load and then finally I could reload my saved game. Other than that and feeling a bit lost at first, this game accomplished its idea fairly well and the graphics only help you enjoy the game more.
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