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Every now and then I like to highlight a game available on Xbox Game Pass that has caught my eye. I will spotlight games that I have personally played and taken a great interest in. I’m very pleased that Void Bastards in the inaugural title for Game Pass Spotlight!
Upon its release I knew next to nothing about Void Bastards. I saw a few brief clips, a couple of screen shots, and I thought it had a neat art aesthetic to it. Initial impression was that it was a game that looked interesting but decidedly not something I was going to play. Then I heard some buzz from people who had actually spent some time with the game, almost all of it was very positive.
Digging a bit further, I came across some interesting descriptors. Most fetching of all was that many refereed to the game as a roguelike, a genre which I have recently attained a special appreciation for. To my surprise I also discovered that the game had launched on Xbox Game Pass. At this point my interest was fully piqued and I had easy access to the full title. Without further delay or hesitation I fired up my Xbox and downloaded the game.
Throughout the month of June I have played more Void Bastards than any other game in that same time frame. The Xbox One marketing team would probably be jumping up and down in their chairs with glee if they ever read this because true to their message at E3, through Game Pass I have discovered that Void Bastards is a new favorite game.
What is Void Bastards
Void Bastards is a first person shooter with roguelite elements. It’s a game that is fairly unique in its setup; while this is a first person shooter via play style, it’s not really about gun toting action or racking up kills. Void Bastards at its heart is more of a strategy game, a title where careful planning isn’t wholly required, but doing so rewards the player immensely.
Your character is one of myriad prisoners aboard a giant prison transport ship called the Void Ark. Your goal is to help lead the Void Ark through the Sargasso Nebula and eventually guide the prisoner vessel and all of its inhabitants, to a place called, The Som.
As you traverse through the nebula you will jump from ship to ship running into a multitude of enemies, ship types, and encounters. Nearly everything in the game is procedurally generated so you never know exactly what to expect next. That said, the more you play the game the more familiar you get with the enemy and ship types, thus the better you can prepare for each encounter.
The randomness isn’t just relegated to enemies or environments, your own character is unique and randomly generated after every death. Whenever your current prisoner or “client” is killed a new client is plucked from the Void Ark to carry the mission on. Beyond your new charter name and unique visual portrait, every new player character also has gameplay affecting traits that distinguish them.
You may get a client with a towering presence which means you are taller than most other characters. You may have a character who is an ace pilot so they are able to navigate through certain areas in the nebula that would normally be closed off to you. These traits can fundamentally alter the way you play the game.
Not all traits are good either. You may have a chronic smoker who has developed a bad cough, each time you cough, enemies nearby will hear it; a trait such as this can be a killer to your well executed stealth efforts. You could have a character who is exceptionally frail, and they have fewer hit points, thus making survival more difficult and possibly causing you to pass up on more risky ship encounters.
What is the playing Void Bastards like
So what would a typical play session be like in Void Bastards? I would describe it best as a game that consists of a continuous series of runs. Somewhat similar to a game like FTL, you are presented with a map of sorts and you determine a path. When you have decided which path you would like to take. you jump your ship to the next area on your path using up 1 fuel and 1 food (critical resources) every time you move.
You can see where each jump will take you and what vessel or encounter awaits you at that destination. After you jump, if you are at a vessel, you get the option to board that vessel and play that level to scavenge for supplies (food, fuel, parts, ammo) . You can also opt to keep moving on and jump to the next area.
The bulk of the game revolves around boarding various vessels and acquiring necessary loot to build your character or weapons up. You also must find certain items that will upgrade the Void Ark to make your eventual final escape from the Sargasso Nebula possible.
The gameplay loop is largely the aforementioned boarding, looting, and building while also having a main objective item to collect. Fortunately the game very clearly gives players an indicator that tells them at all times which direction to head in to find your main objective item.
You jump, board ships, you jump, encounter scenarios that can alter your current run, you constantly upgrade and create new items, weapons, and benefits for your character. You very quickly fall into the flow of the gameplay loop and once you are in, it’s very easy to get hooked because there is always the promise of something new and better right around the corner.
What I like about Void Bastards
The initial intrigue of playing a roguelite first person shooter is what pushed me to download Void Bastards; that rather appealing initial hook combined with how everything in the game is designed to keep you pushing forward while simultaneously punishing you for making poor choices, is why I continued to enjoy the game for days on end.
I love the fact that the game can be played in small doses. Each ship raid generally takes about 2-8 minutes depending on your goals and the situation. This makes the game easy to pick up and play for a limited amount of time while still giving you a satisfactory sense of progression.
Void Bastards is also a humorous game. The developers at Blue Manchu deliver a keen sense of irony, sarcasm, and satire that is noticeable not only during the brief in game story scenes, but also throughout gameplay. This isn’t a game with a deep seeded lore you can painstakingly pore through, but there is an interesting larger scope to the world that you get snippets of if you care to pay closer attention to your environments and enemies.
There were multiple occasions when the game got a chuckle out of me, often times this happened when I encountered a new enemy type and they said or did something I didn’t expect. Speaking of the enemies, another aspect of this game that surprised me is how eerie, and creepy I found many of the encounters during the early stages of my play through.
Jonathan Chey, one of the lead developers behind this game has also developed System Shock 2 and Bioshock. Both games are known for their creepy, slight survival horror like elements and I felt it here in Void Bastards. There are some enemies who are extremely powerful and you want to avoid them at all costs. There are some instances when you know you are far too unprepared to take on a certain opponent and you are sweating while attempting to silently creep on by.
A small sense of dread took hold of me early game when I was desperately low on health but my objective was in a room two doors down with a Screw (a very tough enemy type) standing in the hall, behind a locked door with a window staring me down. It was around this time early in the game that I discovered another interesting game play element, stealth.
You can play this game in a variety of ways but stealth is something you will probably use quite often. This game can be played guns blazing but doing so requires lots of ammunition and health, which are generally at a premium. Stealth is heavily encouraged in moderate doses while you progress through each ship.
There were several times when I boarded a ship with limited resources because it carried an item I had to get. The most harrowing and elating moments came when I had to make these desperate runs and quickly but also quietly, race my way through a ship and past enemies while retrieving the needed supplies and barely escaping with my life intact.
Beyond all of that I love the small touches the game provides, those flourishes that give it its soul and unique voice among games in the industry. The musical cue that plays whenever an enemy dies. The comic book aesthetic and panel delivery during the game’s story scenes.
The way each enemy type makes a certain sound when moving. Another great touch is how that sound is actually displayed in words, in true comic book fashion, which you can tactically use to figure out the general position of an enemy you may not be able to currently see.
I love the various sound effects and music that play throughout which add to the games eerie and bizarre vibe. Everything comes together to deliver the product that is ultimately Void Bastards and the development team has really created something that is their own.
Closing Thoughts
Void Bastards is a title that is full of surprises. The variety of strategy and ways to play may not be readily apparent in the first hour or so of the game but they really begin to blossom soon after and never really stop until the credits roll.
I’m happy to make this game the first game featured for the Game Pass Spotlight because I think it offers a lot to gamers while also being something new and unique. I can see how Void Bastards may not be a title for everyone but if you are the kind of gamer who could find a game style such as this appealing, it might be the perfect game for you to explore.
Thanks to this games accessibility on Game Pass I have discovered a new favorite series and I will happily extol the virtues of this title in hopes of cluing others in like myself who may have written it off or never heard of it in the first place.
The good news keeps coming as well, earlier this month Blue Manchu confirmed that new updates and DLC will be coming to Void Bastards. Taken straight from their steam web page here is what has been said on the subject…
Hey everyone! We know you’ve been hankering for some new content for Void Bastards. We heard you, and we’ll be rolling out some FREE challenge modes to completely change the way you navigate through the Sargasso Nebula. We’re still ironing out the details but expect challenges like: stealthing your way past super tough enemies, being forced to rely on amped up authorisation skills to take over ship systems and managing a super fast but hard to control client. Did we mention this will all be FREE?
https://steamcommunity.com/games/857980/announcements/detail/1592501510461437433
So right now we already got a great, multi hour gameplay experience available for Xbox Game Pass players and in the near future we can return to the game again to take on new challenges. If anything I have said about this game resonates with you I highly suggest you check it out.
Void Bastards can currently be played on Xbox Game Pass and it can be bought on Xbox One and Steam for $29.99. Have you played the game? Did this article inspire you to check it out? Is there a Game Pass game you think I should spotlight? Let me know by leaving a comment!
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