Don't stand when you can sit don't sit when you can lie downīy the nature of the game, dying has barely any negative consequences and is really only a minor inconvenience. This is the biggest gripe I have with the game - and the reason I cannot have fun playing it as much as I otherwise could. Using any one of the above weapons is always unreasonably tough to justify when the ammo for them is so outrageously difficult to find, even with their respective ammo perk. I want to use these awesome guns as much as the next guy, but I can't because I hardly ever have enough ammo to make sure I won't run out while on board. Now some of you may say: "Well, maybe I just want to use X weapon" and to that I say: ME TOO! Absolute monster, most valuable weapon in the game. Some other notable mentions are the Rad Spikes (MVP against Zecs, Spooks, and Patients), the Rifter in some cases, and the Clusterflak in even fewer cases. The only guns that feel like a real upgrade are the Rocket Launcher since it's so viable against Zecs/Turrets/Pirates and the Bouncer Shield as it is also invaluable against Zecs, and a lifesaver in case of pirates. Even worse, every weapon you get hardly feels like an upgrade at all why would you use the Stapler when the Regulator is just as good, and just as bad in the same camps? Why would you use the Roaster when it feels way too good for normal enemies but not quite efficient enough for Screws unless it's upgraded? And the Riveter is in the same boat as the Stapler. The chore of finding parts for weapons I will hardly get to use feels like a kick in the balls. Next: the Workshop Tree, which again feels more like busywork rather than a satisfying progression system. You don't want your players to see the gameplay loop as "busywork", but that's exactly how it feels when you don't give them a distraction that makes this grind have no negative impact on their enjoyment of the game in this case that would be letting them go crazy with all the toys they have at their disposal as they're collecting materials. I'm sure we will all be in agreement when I say farming for crafting components and materials can feel like a miserable slog, and the shortage of those essential resources only adds more unnecessary work and pressure to the whole experience - the keyword here being "work". From a logical perspective, it would be immersion-breaking if we didn't have to look for this stuff However, from a player perspective, I just want to mess around with the wonderful array of goodies the Workshop provides me with, and these survival elements being so front and center somewhat hinder my enjoyment of the "fun parts" - that would be the aforementioned "slaughter-fest". With that said, please don't get me wrong: I LOVE that you need to look for food and fuel, it's a perfectly fine mechanic, I just wish it wasn't so "in your face". The contrast in how Void Bastards wants the player to feel is jarring to me. Food, Fuel, and worst of all very limited ammo) that scream: "don't ignore me! pay attention to me! this is serious! you better put on your serious face or you're gonna die!". See, the game has this constant feeling of "Aaah don't think about it just go into space and shoot and loot stuff", but at the same time it has some pretty strict survival elements (i.e. I mentioned Borderlands earlier for a specific reason: it succeeds in what Void Bastards is so close to being, that is a slaughter-fest with brilliant, dark humor while also being pretty damn hard in the right departments. There is a glaring clash between the sarcastic, hilarious macabre humor of the game and its gameplay - chiefly the survival elements of it. The game feels like it wants to be both a "go freaking nuts and have a blast" type of game à la Doom or Borderlands while also being a tightly balanced Rogue-inspired experience in the same vein as The Binding of Isaac or FTL, and it doesn't quite succeed in merging the two styles. Having reached about 15-ish Hours of game time though, I finally feel well-equipped enough to talk about why - despite liking it so much - I find it so difficult to truly enjoy. That changed just over a week ago when I finally picked it up in search of something fun to distract myself with, and boy did I find what I was looking for.Ī Rogue-lite, Space Exploration experience with elements highly reminiscent of FTL, Borderlands, Doom and more? Sign me up! Void Bastards is a game I'd been hearing about for quite some time, but never bothered to play.
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