Void War

welcome back FTL!!! very faithful to FTL but adds lots of depth in terms of multiple boss and elite fights, crew equipment/weapons and magic! Consumable items are really neat too. lets you do loads of different combos !!! also having a bunch of different captains with different abilities is also neat!

This review is coming from a die hard FTL fan, but also from someone with next to no Warhammer exposure. In my almost 60 hours of playtime with this game I was trying to decide if I liked it the whole time, and I'm still not entirely sure if I have an answer. I will give this game a recommendation however, especially to those who have played FTL to death like I and could enjoy a twist on the formula. Getting the obvious out of the way, the inspirations for the game are apparent, but that isn't a bad thing. While Playing FTL teaches you most of what this game can offer, I believe the experience is transformative enough to have an appeal of its own not simply aesthetically, but mechanically as well. Void War has it's own nuances and flare in gameplay mechanics, with arguably more diverse strategies and build types than FTL. The game offers a lot of build archetypes and unique avenues to edging out an advantage in combat, and has clearly had a lot of effort put into balancing. Despite this balance is not perfect. Oftentimes the win condition you have snowballing and are incentivized to focus on might be inconsistent, or risky for the entirety of your run. In Void War it is incredibly easy to get caught in a moment of dense decision making and miss something small, or to have no hand in a domino falling that entirely nullifies your progress towards your win condition, or even outright ends your run. Pushing to win the game a certain way in order to reach more unlocks just for your strategy to fall apart from minor misplays or rng luck is frustrating. Despite the times I felt this, I often felt drawn back to the challenge for another go with this unique little space roguelike. TL;DR Void War is a game full of passion. The unique art style and grimdark tone in the music, visuals and spites is genuinely compelling! I can't speak to whether familiarity with Warhammer media would effect its impact, but personally find it gives the game a ton of personality. A space roguelike inspired by FTL with unique mechanical nuances and strategies that offer a fresh experience even to those familiar. Not every death will feel fair, but as you learn the game it certainly rewards dedicated players and offers a compelling challenge, with many unlockable difficulties, ships and commander characters to boot. This is a great roguelike I could easily return to in the future.

Void War is an excellent game, it sucked me in far more than I ever thought it would and I intend to keep playing it for many more hours. I don't normally like rogue-likes, but this game is awesome and as a 40K fan it checks a lot of boxes for me; I played for nearly eight hours straight the first time I played the game, which is something that I haven't done in years! I'm thirty hours in with nearly no failed runs, but still have a lot of content to unlock and I haven't gotten bored yet. The gameplay consists of upgrading your ship and crew while you travel throughout the expanse of space while searching for a maguffin, engaging in battles with other ships or planetary defenses along the way via pure gunfights or boarding actions. There's a staggering amount of build variety, with over a dozen different ships and commanders to choose from and a very large selection of weaponry and support equipment to define your ship and crew; nearly everything is viable up to the higher difficulty levels, and every playstyle that I've found has been fun and varied. The game is definitely tough and not very forgiving, but the difficulty levels provide a wide range of challenge that allows you to pick whatever feels best for you; it is worth noting that as with any rogue-like, RNG does play a role in how a run goes but I found that you can generally mitigate bad luck with skillful gameplay and good decision making. The setting is essentially 40K, except legally distinct to the barest minimum. It has pretty much everything you'd expect from a 40K game but with slight differences to avoid copyright infringement (most of the time lol), you essentially play as a Rogue Trader with options to join with Chaos, Independent factions or the Adeptus Mechanicus. The graphics and events really emphasize the grimdark setting, I've seen people say that the game is too grey but personally I don't find it difficult to make out details and I enjoy the aesthetic. Overall the game is great, it has a lot of content for the price and minimal issues. Besides the occasional crash or frustrating moment (the latter has always been caused by my own mistakes), I have no real complaints. A few of the ships, commanders, weapons, and systems could use some balancing as there are a few that are a bit weak and a few that are a bit strong but for the most part that's the only issue that I've noticed.

Amazing game. Easy 9/10 for me. If you like FTL and Grimdark this is a really great mashup of the two. Lots of fun ships and commanders to use and it gets updated regularly. The Fortification nodes are really one of my favorite additions because they encourage you to at least have some boarding capability and give the few crew with sabotage focus a really great place to shine. The Achievements are really fun to go for without feeling like a chore, though the mini-boss specific ones can get long with bad RNG. Only negative thing is some of the balance of certain weapons and starting ships are a bit off (mostly too weak, but a few that are too strong). But they have shown they are very willing to update options as the game evolves so I have faith this issue will be resolved eventually. Also some of the ridiculous combos are just so fun to witness. Like the 20 damage demon lance, or the terminus bands summons that deal 10 damage on death.

Its FTL, but better I think. Dont feel rushed like FTL. Now both are great, but this 1 is more involved with combat. Makes sense for the universe. Totally "Not Warhammer." F GW!

Great game. Thank the Emperor some devs fight the good fight to make good games.

Mal Reynolds sucks.