When I first saw information on Void Bastards, I was intrigued. I’m a big fan of “roguelites.” I like building progress but don’t mind losing the particular character I’m playing with. When certain parts of my gameplay are carrying forward, I can feel that I am making some progress. That’s where this game shines. Void Bastards is endless fun.

Spooks require a certain amount of patience to deal with.

What’s It About?

Void Bastards sets you as a criminal, with particular traits, and a task of putting the ship that you’re reborn on back together. You are always in search of specific items that you need to move forward in this process. If you fail at your current task, there are other prisoners who are waiting to be rehydrated. Anything that your previous prisoner has built will carry forward and be of use to your current character.

The passive abilities of your character will define the route you take in space.

While I was playing, I was able to choose the path I was going to take on my journey. I wanted to avoid certain dangers like space pirates and whales while I was trying to complete the objectives placed before me – objectives that can be directed by the game or self-directed. I always wanted to build up my health, much like in an RPG, so that I could explore longer. So I would use the ability to mark the materials I needed to make that happen. They would then show up on the map and give me a direction to move in.

Searching the dining halls is a great way to stock up on food supplies.

Your Decisions Matter

Much like FTL, I would find myself facing hard decisions. Should I keep moving toward my ultimate goal? Should I try and find some extra supplies so I might be able to fly past anything I wanted? You do come across certain points in the map that just grant you supplies. Toward the end of the game, I found myself at a point where I could do just that: taking supplies and just trying to end it.

Space pirates make a normal encounter extremely difficult.

The writing in the game is pretty great. From the cut scenes to the in-game dialogue, I found myself chuckling multiple times. This type of humor, coupled with the seriousness of the situation, creates a situation where you put yourself in harms way just to see what’s around the next corner. The music adds to the overall experience in letting you know what is happening around you. One of the character traits adds the sound of battle every so often. This kept me on my toes because you never knew if you were in danger or not.

Do the Ends Justify the Means?

I absolutely adored Void Bastards. I kept wanting to come back to this game to find out what would happen next and so I could build the next critical item. The game does a good job in making sure that no matter how you ended your last run, you were still making forward progress. To me, that is an important factor for a “roguelite.” If I don’t feel like I’m building toward a final conclusion, it’s all lost on me.

The gunplay may not be the best, but the options that are available to you at the beginning of each docking mission are critical. The atmosphere is amazing, thanks to the writing and visual design. The hard decisions that must be made make an actual impact on your gameplay. There were several times that I drifted through space in hopes of finding some food and fuel to get me to my final destination.

In the end, Void Bastards is endless fun.