Void War

"Man o man. Wow." -like Cave Johnson once said. This is the very model of a diamond in the rough. It is all at once marvelous and humbling how quietly this masterpiece was concealed. People have described it as FTL with a coat of Warhammer 40,000 paint, which is not quite fair, but let me tell you: when FTL came out, I played it every spare moment of every day for a whole month after release, so if that was all this is, I would love it as much and even more. As it is, I sat on this five months after buying it before playing it -probably owing to unattractive presentation- and now that I've started I've been playing it like an addict. I would almost venture to say FTL is a mere tutorial for this, and a top review on Steam notes that that's with a hefty tablespoon of 40k, but even that description barely does it justice. FTL was the first, and as a result it's more basic, more experimental, and the balance is more disparate (read: shoddy), and now that the concept has been out it has been experimented on further with the likes of mods like Captain's Edition and Multiverse, which is probably the best way to play FTL. This came after all of that, so Void War has the advantage of having built on concepts that were already tested, and it shows. Being an author with a compulsive story-spinning tendency that has enamoured me with games like Tinyfolks, FTL, and Darkest Dungeon (more like a military stratagem called parasocial situationship), my most favourite part of this game is the customisation available for crew, especially the commander. The portraits add a lot of character, and along with the names do much heavy lifting in and of themselves. Alright, but this, like the rather drab and unattractive UI, is just surface level stuff. Now let's discuss the crunch and the fluff. Fellow authors, take notes: if you want to make Captain Ersatz derivatives, this is how you do it. I see the artistic genealogy of a lot of things here, including Dark Souls, Warhammer 40,000, FTL of course (and by extension Star Wars and Star Trek, for FTL was downstream of them), and par for the course, the setting is not a happy place. I am not entirely sure what the setting IS and what's going on here, but perhaps it is left intentionally ambiguous. Is the Empire like the Imperium? You get the idea at a glance and know roughly what to expect, but God-King Hyperion is not the God-Emperor of Mankind. Does the Machine Cult correspond to the Mechanicum of Mars? In spirit only, and here they are a whole separate faction instead. All of this may have a definite effect upon one's gameplay choices, though a Serious and Respected Roleplayer would likely object to that as metagaming. I tend to support the Empire and the Machine Cult in most circumstances, especially given the monstrosities they're up against, but I also don't feel bad about striking them down. In that regard, ironically, the simplicity of the game subverts one of the most loathsome stereotypes of speculative fiction: the Planet of Hats. You can pledge yourself to the Imperial Cult, fly an Imperial starship, and have nothing but Imperial enforcers, arbiters, and high magisters in your crew, and paranoid zealots will still attack you as a blasphemer. You can save that starship, only to discover they are ungrateful bastards. You can team up with glorious space pirates and they split the loot square with you, like old shipmates. And oh, piracy! Given what I just said about the complexities of the factions, what this really ends up being is Space Pirate Simulator. You can perform a LOT of legit textbook piracy here, and you can even join the pirates and make a pirate crew. It's great! And of course, in contravention of 40k setting logic (barring the rogue traders), you can have as motley a crew as you see fit, and even unleash the demonic monstrosities upon your enemies. It ... took me a while to actually break down and do it, but I suppose the Xenarite sympathies run strong. Or maybe the pragmatic appeal of unleashing a monster whose fate I don't care one whit about upon my enemies was just that strong. In other words, I chuck a demon at my foes like out of a pokéball, like a fire-and-forget missile. There are "angels" too, but it seems in this galaxy there's a worm in every apple, and they too are suspect. So what can I say about the plot, and what the Vault of Souls actually is? Doylist explanation, the Vault of Souls is obviously the leaderboard, but Watsonian explanation, it's not quite clear. In some readings at face value, you yourself seem to be as much an existential threat to civilization as the abyssal monstrosities tearing the galaxy apart. In another, everyone is just stupid and you are the only sensible one, and your actions will restore some kind of metaphysical stability à la Dark Souls. Perhaps that ambiguity is indeed intentional, and your imagination (or intent?) will fill in the blank. When you set out to end the renegades of this forsaken realm, is that the demonic beings and their cults? Those who strayed from the God-King's light? Or is it all life? Or maybe the universe itself is collapsing and you're getting the hell out of dodge? Or perchance, you're Wilford Brimley and you have an unquenchable thirst for power, and a result of all these things, you will conquer this show, encourage everyone to surrender, or you will use all your energy to help them die, and you're perfect. In the end, I think that it's a simple matter, and Void War managed to pull it off better than virtually anyone else. HOIST THE COLOURS! [b]Come, friends, ye spacemen free, Truce to navigation; Take another station; Let’s vary piracee With a little burglaree![/b] ===[☺ Audience:]=== ☐ Children ☑ Gamers ☐ Everyone ☐ Casuals [Not so: a steeper learning curve than FTL and lots more to keep track of.] ☑ Professionals ☑ Heretics ☑ Crusaders ===[☼ Graphics:]=== ☐ Make your eyes bleed ☑ Sad [Mostly this, but it's an artistic choice.] ☐ Unremarkable ☑ Pretty [Where applicable, YES.] ☐ Beautiful ☐ Masterpiece ☐ Indistinguishable from real life ===[$ Price/value:]=== ☐ Utterly worthless even on discount ☐ 90% off only ☐ Buy on sale ☐ A question of taste ☐ Okay choice ☑ A sound investment [Disclaimer: I bought on sale, and the game is still getting updates.] ☐ Well worth the weight ===[§ Requirements:]=== ☐ Having eyes ☐ Corroded toaster ☑ Antique or better ☐ Competence ☐ Powerhouse ☐ NASA computer ☐ Multivac ===[† Difficulty:]=== ☐ Just leave it running ☐ EZPZ 🍋✊ ☐ Easy as 🥧 ☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master ☑ Stay frosty ☑ A true challenge ☐ S-c-h-m-u-c-k Bait (seriously, it's not worth it) ===[⌛ Game/run length]=== ☑ One shot (0-2 hours) ☑ Short (2-8 hours) ☐ Casual (8-12 hours) ☐ Dedicated (12-18 hours) ☐ Weary journey (18+ hours) ☐ Arcade (determined by you) ☑ A sound investment in your future ===[🔧 Game mechanics]=== ☐ Liquid chaos ☐ RNG-based ☐ Poorly designed ☐ Straightforward ☐ Nuanced ☑ Brilliant ☐ Genius ===[Ʊ Story] === ☐ You'll have to make one up ☐ Blink and you'll miss any there might be ☐ Cheap fanfic ☐ Normal ☑ Exciting ☐ Memorable ☐ Epic ===[♬ Music] === ☐ Will give you cerebral haemorrhage ☐ Just turn it off ☐ Tolerable ☑ Good ☐ Most excellent ☐ IT'S A MASTERPIECE ☐ Deus Vult ===[☣ Bugs]=== ☐ CALL PEST CONTROL! NOW! ☐ Check your systems for invasion ☐ Crawling ☐ Unpolished ☑ Like clockwork ☐ Clean enough to eat on ☐ Clean enough for surgery === [✠ Considerations]=== ☐ Mod friendly [Not a bit: the files are locked up tighter than Games Workshop IP.] ☑ Singleplayer ☐ Multiplayer ☐ Local co-op ☑ Contains heresy [and HOW!] ☑ Contains crusading/inquisiting [You are the light of the world.] ☑ Pirate King's Approval [b]With cat-like tread Upon our prey we steal; In silence dread Our cautious way we feel![/b]

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I heard a lot about FTL over the years and it seemed interesting enough but never quite grabbed me. Void War on the other hand I jumped on immediately because it gave me something I didn't know kept me from playing FTL. Customizable gear and a larger variety of crewmen. Boarding actions make this game far more interesting to me than FTL. And that is why I have logged an unholy 1500 hours of play time across the alpha, demo, and final release.

FTL but better and warhammer 40K flavored.

very satisfying strategy game

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