The Void review

Time runs strangely in The Void. Enter a chamber, and it stands still: your life is safe, your hearts remain undrained, but the pace is glacial. Move back to the hub, and your hearts beat fast, squirting colour through their valves, burning your sustenance. Movement between chambers, therefore, has to be done at lightning pace, any wasted seconds literally gnaw away at your life. This juxtaposition makes for intriguing pacing: periods when you have time to consider your approach are offset by moments of blind panic that can lead to mistakes.

And mistakes are common. In early sections of the game, decisions made hours earlier can leave you in untenable positions. This can grate, but it’s unquestionably a design decision made in keeping with the unforgiving nature of the entire game. Where other titles offer helping hands from on high, The Void’s grasp from below, eager to pull your ear down to their whispering mouths. Learning to selectively listen, and to deduce when the game isn’t showing you all sides of an argument, is a real thrill – the stabilisers are truly off.

Conversely, the loss of balance aids might turn some people off The Void. A warning beforewe recommend this game wholeheartedly: it’s tough. It can be really tough, a truly harsh plane of existence that is actively trying to expel the newcomer. The Void relies on you submitting to its internal logic, finding your own place inside an alien world.

But for those whom The Void intrigues, it’s an unbridled success. As a vision, it’s uniquely complete, with a functioning economy, ecology and political system. Slot a player into this world and you create some fascinating stories. As a game, The Void demonstrates that the PC is the most exciting gaming platform. Independent in development, game mechanics and spirit, The Void simply wouldn’t work anywhere else. We should be thankful that such a fascinating experience has punched through from the void of Ice Pick Lodge’s imagination, and made it successfully into our world.

Nov 6, 2009