Void Bastards

HARD BASTARD mode put my scrotum in a vise and squeezed until I sang
9/10 would pay for it all over again
Here's a video if you want to see how it plays outside the trailer:

This game is an underrated and underappreciated gem. Nobody talks about this game and it's a shame. Now, I'm not saying it's a masterpiece, but it is certainly a great game.
I played on the highest difficulty available to me in the beginning, and that made a lot of difference in my experience with the game. Despite the AI being lacklustre, being more vulnerable with less to work with starting off makes it a lot more stressful, allowing for that adrenaline rush when you get out. Many times during my play through, I went in confident and prepared and came out with little left. Some times I would audibly sigh 'Thank Fuck' to myself after it, because I only just made it back in one piece. The rouge-like elements work great here, as every ship has different variables to either hinder or help you in your search for parts. Managing fuel and food is important, and being out of either made me panic, as some runs I was near to getting the materials needed to craft an item needed to progress, and then end up starving to death or just float into space and then starve to death.
The upgrades in this game are okay. I never really was amazed at a new weapon, a part from a few exceptions, and upgrading them makes things really easy depending on the weapon, while others get outclassed later down the line, or even when they are first introduced. Primaries have this problem and secondaries have the same problem, but it's more prevalent there, but your weapons in the third slot are important for the sole fact that they can either be the most broken thing ever, or the most useless garbage. I'll let you guys figure them out, but some are actually insanely powerful. Other upgrades make the game a bit easier, with some making you faster and bulkier, some make things cheaper and others can give you more resources. They are basic, which isn't a bad thing, but some were really situational. I'd craft an item thinking It'd be useful to me in the long run, and then realising that it only works in certain situations.
I like the idea of every run having an different, random prisoner for you to control. It shows that the Void Ark has so many people on board ready to be re-hydrated, and makes each one feel like a tool rather than a character, which is really cool. It shows that in the future, human life is a lot less valuable to whatever space government controls the galaxy. I also really like that we start with random weapons, which means you might have to use a weapon you aren't used to using or to use a weapon that is generally just awful, giving yourself a handicap which adds to that tension you feel in the early to mid game. Each new prisoner can have positive or negative traits, and without these, I don't think the game play loop would be as entertaining for me as it is. These traits could make you really short, really tall, cough occasionally that alerts enemies, make the exit appear in a random spot and many more. You can roll your traits at certain ships on your travels, allowing you to build a character that could survive multiple parts of the story.
The crafting system is alright. I think using the scrap you find in your travels to make your tools are cool, and finding extra loot in containers is always a nice reward. Making certain materials out of your different types of scrap is cool, but depending on the item, it could take ages for you to even get the materials needed. There really isn't much to say about the crafting.The story is cool, but it doesn't really go anywhere. The concept is so sick and throughout the game, it never gets expanded on. I wish it did, as I think it'd be a better game for it.
Lastly, I want to talk about the DLC. It is pretty bad. I know it isn't supposed to be this big expansion, but for $7.50 AUD, it's lacking in all departments. You get one weapon, an upgrade to support that weapon, a new type of ship and a new enemy. Now the weapon itself is okay. It a fun gimmick weapon, but I wouldn't classify it as viable for your play through, and the ship itself doesn't have a lot going for it either. The enemy is fine, and it's gimmick is also fine, but all of this for $7.50 is just terrible.
This game is great, and it was made by a team that were obviously really passionate about the development, and it shows. The comic book style is amazing, and it makes the game stand out. Overall, I'd give this a 7.5/10. I wouldn't buy it a full price, however. as $42 AUD is a tad bit expensive.

Void Bastards has a unique art style, an addictive gameplay loop and is balanced enough to make you want to play it more than once.

The game's main quest is well introduced, but it gets a little tedious. But I imagine that the main focus of the game is on surviving and using resources in the best possible way. In this regard, the game is simply surprising, with several immersive simulator mechanics.

Some ships will have very interesting modifiers that make you look for a way to overcome them effectively. Some of my most intense episodes were a stealth mission mixed with a giant shootout in a tight room. Choosing a good set of equipment is essential to progress in the game.


The sense of freedom to complete missions is very present and automatically trains you to adapt. The game's upgrades are very well implemented and balanced so that you don't get too strong too soon. Unlike many games of the genre, the grind in this game is not tedious or forced, I found that my interest in exploring the more difficult ships and their challenges was greater than gathering materials. In this case, they were another positive consequence of having explored well during the mission.

The variety of enemies is good and the game's art style makes you curious about what the next ones will be like. I strongly recommend that anyone who plays FPS shooters play on hard. Even though there is more than one strategy to approach combat situations, with good upgrades on my favorite weapons I could easily defeat enemies stronger than me.


The game has great exploration, a wide variety of scenarios, a very well thought out art style and sound design. It's definitely worth it if you're interested in rogue likes.

get it on a sale. despite being a rogue like it does not have that much replay value. but it will keep you entertained for a few days.

People say the DLC is horrible so be aware.

Short, sweet. but all so addictive rogue-lite. Can get repetitive, but i found it quite fun.

A great game with surprising depth and replayability.

The unique art style and gameplay loop got me engaged from the start. It was fun even while knowing almost nothing and dying multiple times an hour. Eventually novelty was replaced by lots of opportunities for tactics and strategy. Even if you know a lot expect to find new ways of dying where you least expect it.

Void Bastards can be really hard. There are multiple difficulty sliders which have a huge effect. The extra sliders and higher main difficulty make sense for playthroughs after the first. Brownie point challenges give even more replayability. At 60 hours I finished my 3rd playthrough doing "Termination Bonus" challenge for max points including max difficulty and permadeath. Feels like there is atleast few hundred hours of replayability left.

This one's a bit tricky to summarize. It's fun, well paced, unpredictably rewarding, and even offers moments of tension where you might lean towards your screen. The issue is that it's one of those games where the first 10 hours have a much better account for game play than the second half. I like what the latter half of the game has to offer but when you have a few jack-of-all-trades and an end-game health pool that won't let you die, you encounter the solution to this issue in the form of ridiculous compensation.
Enemies that you'd never take on in your early game become the stock of the soup in the late game. They try to make up for this by making elite variants but these enemy types are just tougher and hit harder with a couple of minor tweaks to their attacks - nothing that changes your game plan though.
I think that there's plenty here to give you as many hours to enjoy the game as US dollars it's asking for, which is a fair trade-off. But as soon as you figure out that upgrades and new weapons determine where the challenge moves, you'll find that the fun shifts with it. There's no point in returning to the stealth and tactical habits you learn at the beginning when run, gun, loot and heal becomes your bread and butter - and a repetitive recipe at that.
This developer is great and I'll gladly hand them my money for some days of fun, but be warned that you'll probably develop your own opinions on the challenge curve once you start to actually kit yourself up.
If I could change this game in some way, I wouldn't give health upgrades that dwarf enemy damage output so significantly, or add variants like radiation if the worst it'll do is pinch me before I eat the equivalent of a senzu bean back on my ship.
The enemy variation DOES ask that you pick your weapon with more consideration than a wave of the hand, but - again, who cares if you can get most of your health back in one click of a button between missions anyway.
TLDR; I like the depth of game play and I like that the game expects you to dive that depth to survive, but the band aids and shields they give you eventually become far too strong for their own good - pushing this from a game of tense scavenging and make or break combat to a game of simple decisions and upgrade overload hunting. If you're the kind of person that doesn't mind a late-game stagnation, then this is an easy buy. I can't help but think back on my time with this title fondly because it's a game that's fond of the player too. For me, I wouldn't say this comes close to one of my top 10 games, but it might be towards the bottom of my top 100. Looking forward to more of their work.