Other people have written what I would say on Void Stranger much better than I could. What I'd just like to highlight is how powerful the script is--this game has shockingly little dialogue, but it packs every word with the perfect amount of sentiment. Mixed with arguably the best pixel art Ive ever seen in the medium, it really keeps you going through the void, run after run, constantly chasing shadows to find the next clue to the bigger puzzle of the world these characters inhabit.
To speak any deeper would be to ruin the experience, which is ultimately the curse of this game, but its just a wonderful time if you like that sort of gameplay-story integration in games, its so much more than the sum of its parts.
I am not a sokoban gamer though.
To speak any deeper would be to ruin the experience, which is ultimately the curse of this game, but its just a wonderful time if you like that sort of gameplay-story integration in games, its so much more than the sum of its parts.
I am not a sokoban gamer though.
Me resulta raro ponerle cinco estrellas a un juego que no he podido terminar y que he acabado viendo en Youtube (los sokoban se me dan de culo, que le voy a hacer), pero es que se lo merece. Los primeros minutos me volaron la cabeza, y la historia ha estado a la altura hasta el final.
La única queja que tengo (que no resta nota al juego porque no deja de ser una opinión muy influenciada por lo mal que se me da) es que el género sokoban no casa del todo bien con el secretismo que rodea a todo el paquete. En juegos como Tunic, la busqueda de secretos que lleva al final verdadero del juego se puede hacer a tu ritmo, sabiendo que todo está a tu disposición para que lo vayas desgranando poquito a poco y sin añadir frustración. En Void Stranger un paso en falso significa perder horas de juego: no hay botón de deshacer, ni ningún tipo de pista que te guíe por habitaciones que ya te has pasado anteriormente, teniendo que volver a resolverlo todo otra vez. Entiendo que es parte del encanto del juego y que primero vino el sokoban y luego la historia (la propia creadora lo explica así), pero lejos de motivarme, esto me hizo tirar la toalla. Habiendo visto el resto de la historia y de los secretos, me alegro de haberlo dejado de jugar para verlo en vídeo, porque viendo los requisitos para llegar al final sé que me habría amargado la experiencia.
Y vaya experiencia. Que locura de historia, de OST, de gráficos. Si merece la pena quedarse hasta el final, desde luego es por todo eso. Único e irrepetible como ninguno, es una de esas historias que tengo claro que recordaré para siempre.
Me llevo eso y la lección de que un "videojuego"... puede ser solo "video" y no pasa nada... (mejor me voy yendo ya).
La única queja que tengo (que no resta nota al juego porque no deja de ser una opinión muy influenciada por lo mal que se me da) es que el género sokoban no casa del todo bien con el secretismo que rodea a todo el paquete. En juegos como Tunic, la busqueda de secretos que lleva al final verdadero del juego se puede hacer a tu ritmo, sabiendo que todo está a tu disposición para que lo vayas desgranando poquito a poco y sin añadir frustración. En Void Stranger un paso en falso significa perder horas de juego: no hay botón de deshacer, ni ningún tipo de pista que te guíe por habitaciones que ya te has pasado anteriormente, teniendo que volver a resolverlo todo otra vez. Entiendo que es parte del encanto del juego y que primero vino el sokoban y luego la historia (la propia creadora lo explica así), pero lejos de motivarme, esto me hizo tirar la toalla. Habiendo visto el resto de la historia y de los secretos, me alegro de haberlo dejado de jugar para verlo en vídeo, porque viendo los requisitos para llegar al final sé que me habría amargado la experiencia.
Y vaya experiencia. Que locura de historia, de OST, de gráficos. Si merece la pena quedarse hasta el final, desde luego es por todo eso. Único e irrepetible como ninguno, es una de esas historias que tengo claro que recordaré para siempre.
Me llevo eso y la lección de que un "videojuego"... puede ser solo "video" y no pasa nada... (mejor me voy yendo ya).
Yeah... I am not understanding this one.
I was initially excited when this game I had never heard received glowing reviews in praise of it's mysterious layers of depth. I went in with a pad of paper for notes and the full intention of seeing it through, but I kept plodding along for rooms upon rooms, trying to decipher the cryptic lore while only occasionally getting some interesting puzzles to do along the way.
I really didn't care for the big boob anime intermissions with big boob anime humor and am still not sure if they have any actual function in the game. Maybe there is a secret meaning to them but it felt like I was being forced to closely observe something that is just boring to me.
I came across a lot of secrets, some which were rewarding, but many just feeling like some sort of bonus ending that can't be understood without reaching the other endings.
This game might be fun to watch a walkthrough of, because I'm sure there's a lot I didn't see, but it was a slog to play. I played for about 8 hours and called it once I just felt like I was walking in circles reading a book I don't like.
I was initially excited when this game I had never heard received glowing reviews in praise of it's mysterious layers of depth. I went in with a pad of paper for notes and the full intention of seeing it through, but I kept plodding along for rooms upon rooms, trying to decipher the cryptic lore while only occasionally getting some interesting puzzles to do along the way.
I really didn't care for the big boob anime intermissions with big boob anime humor and am still not sure if they have any actual function in the game. Maybe there is a secret meaning to them but it felt like I was being forced to closely observe something that is just boring to me.
I came across a lot of secrets, some which were rewarding, but many just feeling like some sort of bonus ending that can't be understood without reaching the other endings.
This game might be fun to watch a walkthrough of, because I'm sure there's a lot I didn't see, but it was a slog to play. I played for about 8 hours and called it once I just felt like I was walking in circles reading a book I don't like.
This is the real video games. please play without delay.
DISCLAIMER:
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
I think I got too overwhelmed by the amount of puzzles.
I would love having been able to interact more with the meta puzzles and the narrative because those had me hooked, but they were so few and far between a bunch of sokoban puzzles with no undo and a limited amount of restarts that got me tense, stressed and not having a good time.
I still have my big notes document in case I decide to go back and try to play it again, so I will refrain from watching it on Youtube for now.
Overall, sad I could not get into it as much as others seem to have.
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.
I think I got too overwhelmed by the amount of puzzles.
I would love having been able to interact more with the meta puzzles and the narrative because those had me hooked, but they were so few and far between a bunch of sokoban puzzles with no undo and a limited amount of restarts that got me tense, stressed and not having a good time.
I still have my big notes document in case I decide to go back and try to play it again, so I will refrain from watching it on Youtube for now.
Overall, sad I could not get into it as much as others seem to have.
I am still not sure if it is the GOTY 2023 for me, but this is certainly the game I will NEVER forget. It is the experience, which is so unique, it evoked feelings I have never felt in a video game before, and I believe I tried various stuff in the medium. Such an experience, totally recommend to give it a shot, if you can imagine yourself playing sokoban style games. This game is indie as it gets.
The rest of the review is spoiler free, but it still can set some expectations and change your blind playthrough experience. You have been warned.
As it has been mentioned, Void Stranger takes sokoban style puzzle formula and adds tile replacement as the main mechanic. And then it offers more mechanics, which are in perfect harmony with the core gameplay. But wait, here is more! The game is not restricted to it, it has so much to explore, and a lot of things in this can be get by thinking outside of the box and doing such interactions which are honestly mind blowing for me.
Also, while writing in this game can be too goofy sometimes, the plot is presented in fitting enigmatic way, which was at least intriguing. Some of the storyline vignettes are interconnected with the gameplay in a very creative way. Very rare thing for a game, which is not a "walking sim". Diverse soundtrack and memorable stylized art style are also worth the praise.
There are some things, which made my experience a bit worse. I wish there were more conventional way to revisit certain segments in Void Stranger. Despite the main progression of it having very good balance between too hand hold-ish and too cryptic, I still think that some segments were too obtuse for me (glad that there is some sort of consensus on one of them). But you know what? It did not stopped me, I still WANTED to do my best and see the grand finale (well, sort of). Oh boy, I did not regret it in the slightest!
Bravo, System Erasure, now I want to see what I’ve missed, try Zero Ranger out and look forward to whatever you will be cooking in the future.
The rest of the review is spoiler free, but it still can set some expectations and change your blind playthrough experience. You have been warned.
As it has been mentioned, Void Stranger takes sokoban style puzzle formula and adds tile replacement as the main mechanic. And then it offers more mechanics, which are in perfect harmony with the core gameplay. But wait, here is more! The game is not restricted to it, it has so much to explore, and a lot of things in this can be get by thinking outside of the box and doing such interactions which are honestly mind blowing for me.
Also, while writing in this game can be too goofy sometimes, the plot is presented in fitting enigmatic way, which was at least intriguing. Some of the storyline vignettes are interconnected with the gameplay in a very creative way. Very rare thing for a game, which is not a "walking sim". Diverse soundtrack and memorable stylized art style are also worth the praise.
There are some things, which made my experience a bit worse. I wish there were more conventional way to revisit certain segments in Void Stranger. Despite the main progression of it having very good balance between too hand hold-ish and too cryptic, I still think that some segments were too obtuse for me (glad that there is some sort of consensus on one of them). But you know what? It did not stopped me, I still WANTED to do my best and see the grand finale (well, sort of). Oh boy, I did not regret it in the slightest!
Bravo, System Erasure, now I want to see what I’ve missed, try Zero Ranger out and look forward to whatever you will be cooking in the future.
O jogo é lindo, a trilha é maravilhosa, eu acho o núcleo de gameplay dele extremamente entediante.
É um daqueles jogos que pede DEMAIS de você, não basta ter um monte de coisas interessantes pra você descobrir, você precisa mergulhar e aceitar todas as etapas que ele requer pra chegar nelas, e por um tempo a minha curiosidade foi o suficiente pra me levar. Mas depois de ver os créditos pela primeira vez e descobrir que agora eu preciso de mais sei lá quantas horas de sokoban ainda mais difícil, eu só aceitei que minha frustração estava maior que a diversão.
Esse jogo realmente não é pra todo mundo e no momento me sinto no grupo que ficou de fora. Quem sabe em um outro momento.
É um daqueles jogos que pede DEMAIS de você, não basta ter um monte de coisas interessantes pra você descobrir, você precisa mergulhar e aceitar todas as etapas que ele requer pra chegar nelas, e por um tempo a minha curiosidade foi o suficiente pra me levar. Mas depois de ver os créditos pela primeira vez e descobrir que agora eu preciso de mais sei lá quantas horas de sokoban ainda mais difícil, eu só aceitei que minha frustração estava maior que a diversão.
Esse jogo realmente não é pra todo mundo e no momento me sinto no grupo que ficou de fora. Quem sabe em um outro momento.
Few games warrant more than a single playthrough, let alone the 15+ I put into Void Stranger. While the time required for these is shortened to extreme lengths after only a couple, Void Stranger excels in tying its themes of repetitions and cycles into a gameplay loop of uncovering the secrets of the Void—more often than not in front of the player's face the entire time—while delving into a greater narrative at hand, whose power is built into its intentional melodrama and required piecing together of its disparate sequencing. No puzzle game since The Witness and Baba is You has reached a depth in experience and discovery that System Erasure have developed here, and it is by no small margin (despite my love for Resident Evil 4) that Void Stranger is (until Alan Wake II's release) 2023's game of the year.
Fantastic. They do so much with what seems an incredibly low-tech approach that I end up completely blown away with what they've done. Just when you think you're already thinking outside the box to solve the puzzles you're presented with, you reach a new problem, and eventually break through the confines of a box you didn't realize you were still thinking inside of. I'd compare the eventual appeal to an ARG, or the grand puzzles of Outer Wilds.
A word of warning: I highly recommend determining where the save file is stored (users-> [your computer username] -> AppData [this is a hidden folder] -> Local -> void_stranger), and regularly backing up your file on anything after your first "run". There isn't a convenient way to delete your save or roll back to a previous one, and that's by design, but some of the larger puzzles get outright devious, and it helps knowing that I have a safety net.
I'd also recommend against googling for help. Not because "you have to solve it on your own", but because all discussion online about this game, including isolated puzzles on a single floor, is so riddled with hypersensitive spoiler warnings, as to be completely unhelpful about what's ACTUALLY a critical plot spoiler.
Nearly deducted half a star because some late game (post-post-post game?) challenges seem to break the rules of the rest of the game, and not in a way that feels well-communicated. If you come up against a challenge that you can see how to do, but actually executing it feels impossible, there may be more than one way to approach it; look carefully at the situation, and think through whether the approach you're taking is really the easiest one.
A word of warning: I highly recommend determining where the save file is stored (users-> [your computer username] -> AppData [this is a hidden folder] -> Local -> void_stranger), and regularly backing up your file on anything after your first "run". There isn't a convenient way to delete your save or roll back to a previous one, and that's by design, but some of the larger puzzles get outright devious, and it helps knowing that I have a safety net.
I'd also recommend against googling for help. Not because "you have to solve it on your own", but because all discussion online about this game, including isolated puzzles on a single floor, is so riddled with hypersensitive spoiler warnings, as to be completely unhelpful about what's ACTUALLY a critical plot spoiler.
Nearly deducted half a star because some late game (post-post-post game?) challenges seem to break the rules of the rest of the game, and not in a way that feels well-communicated. If you come up against a challenge that you can see how to do, but actually executing it feels impossible, there may be more than one way to approach it; look carefully at the situation, and think through whether the approach you're taking is really the easiest one.
As appealing as any mystery vaguepostings may sound don't actually get this game unless the sokoban gameplay in the trailer looks Very fun to you
I admittedly kind of bought this game due to blind Tower of Druaga comparisons and the idea that it was a lot greater than a Sokoban game that I heard from other people, but you absolutely have to deal with a lot of Sokoban that I don't like so I'm willing to admit I made a mistake
Probably filter kino idk
I admittedly kind of bought this game due to blind Tower of Druaga comparisons and the idea that it was a lot greater than a Sokoban game that I heard from other people, but you absolutely have to deal with a lot of Sokoban that I don't like so I'm willing to admit I made a mistake
Probably filter kino idk
have you ever played a game that's way too smart for you, but you can tell it's one of the best games ever made even if you personally aren't capable of beating it? that happens to me a lot. every time this game reveals literally any information to you, it's the coolest thing ever.
This review contains spoilers
Played it through to the VOIDED ending and I'm really mixed on this one.
I got absolutely addicted to this and spent an entire Saturday playing it for 9+ hours .The depth of this game is really amazing and something special, this is a labrynth full of secrets and I know there's so much more in the game I haven't seen. If a puzzle room seems suspisciously easy its probably because there's something hidden there, if there's an out of place looking object it probably has some sort of purpose. It was really cool to see objects I noticed looking suspiscious getting mentioned in hints on how to get secrets later on and going "oh, so that's what that is there for". You also unlock more story as you find secrets and progress so the entire experience just feels immensely rewarding.
I normally don't have an interest in puzzle games but ZeroRanger is one of my all time favorite games and this is the only other game by that dev, so I wanted to pick this up. The one thing that makes ZR hard to recommend to people is that there is an ending that just deletes your save when you fail - I will defend that part of ZR because the game is very short and getting to the end after you've already done it once takes less than an hour. Well, Void Stranger feels like it was entirely built on that idea. Unlike ZR this is not a short game either, this game is a whopping gauntlet of 255 floors, some of them are easy but some could take you ages depending on how good you are at puzzles. There is no "undo" button on puzzles, you either have to reset the game or die on purpose anytime you make a mistake, which will happen a LOT. You also can't go up one level to previous floors and there's no level select feature - you can find shortcuts and skip through floors though. But if you miss something in a floor, you are SoL unless you restart the game or can find a secret path back to that floor.
So while the concept and design is awesome I question whether it was the best decision to apply the ideas they used to a sokoban game. The lack of undo button and level select is necessary for the game to work for reasons that would require me to spoil the entire progression of the game to explain, but when the thing gating my progression is this endless gauntlet of often difficult puzzles it got frustrating very quickly, and having to redo the same puzzles so many times made me feel like the game did not respect my time.
I got absolutely addicted to this and spent an entire Saturday playing it for 9+ hours .The depth of this game is really amazing and something special, this is a labrynth full of secrets and I know there's so much more in the game I haven't seen. If a puzzle room seems suspisciously easy its probably because there's something hidden there, if there's an out of place looking object it probably has some sort of purpose. It was really cool to see objects I noticed looking suspiscious getting mentioned in hints on how to get secrets later on and going "oh, so that's what that is there for". You also unlock more story as you find secrets and progress so the entire experience just feels immensely rewarding.
I normally don't have an interest in puzzle games but ZeroRanger is one of my all time favorite games and this is the only other game by that dev, so I wanted to pick this up. The one thing that makes ZR hard to recommend to people is that there is an ending that just deletes your save when you fail - I will defend that part of ZR because the game is very short and getting to the end after you've already done it once takes less than an hour. Well, Void Stranger feels like it was entirely built on that idea. Unlike ZR this is not a short game either, this game is a whopping gauntlet of 255 floors, some of them are easy but some could take you ages depending on how good you are at puzzles. There is no "undo" button on puzzles, you either have to reset the game or die on purpose anytime you make a mistake, which will happen a LOT. You also can't go up one level to previous floors and there's no level select feature - you can find shortcuts and skip through floors though. But if you miss something in a floor, you are SoL unless you restart the game or can find a secret path back to that floor.
So while the concept and design is awesome I question whether it was the best decision to apply the ideas they used to a sokoban game. The lack of undo button and level select is necessary for the game to work for reasons that would require me to spoil the entire progression of the game to explain, but when the thing gating my progression is this endless gauntlet of often difficult puzzles it got frustrating very quickly, and having to redo the same puzzles so many times made me feel like the game did not respect my time.
Fuck this game
If you love esoteric games and have a LOT of patience, this one might be banger material. Even months after finishing it though I'm still struggling to process this as a gaming experience. The amount of detective work, note writing and REAL, no bullshit, no hand-holding mystery solving you need to do to get to the bottom of this game is unparalleled, and I don't think I will ever see anything like it again.
This review contains spoilers
A genuinely unforgettable experience that really dragged on by the end. I may need to ruminate on this score for a bit but right now I feel sour on the last stretch of this game.
The first few hours were spectacular, where it felt like you frequently learning new things about the world, until you were ready to finish Gray's route unvoided. Lilith's route was a great hardmode that mixed up the existing puzzles and ended the story in a satisfactory way. After Lillith's route I felt the game's looping mechanic had outstayed it's welcome and alongside some puzzles that, if done incorrectly, would send you back to floor 1, it was a real fight for me to keep playing this one. Finishing Lilith's route should really give you some easier way to navigate the floors, it would've really helped alleviate the tedium.
By the time I got to DIS' lair and got the "true" ending, I felt I had spent far too long playing the same levels, even if there were ways to skip many of them. Each loop was giving me piecemeal in terms of new information to actually progress and I resorted to a guide for some puzzles that I think were just too obtuse for the average player to reasonably figure out on their own. New locations in Cif's route and finding DIS' lair were a lot of fun, but getting to them meant more of the same block pushing.
If this style of game appeals to you - an endless puzzle box of secrets - then Void Stranger has more than enough to get your fill, and it features some of the most satisfying "aha!" moments I've felt in a puzzle game. It's just, for me, this extreme length and depth of secrets left me with fatigue I don't often get with games. I could've done without a lot of the lore-focused segments, and the bosses felt like frustrating trial-and-error gauntlets in some cases. The devs may have made one of the most complex puzzle games of all time, but I don't think that's wholly a good thing.
The first few hours were spectacular, where it felt like you frequently learning new things about the world, until you were ready to finish Gray's route unvoided. Lilith's route was a great hardmode that mixed up the existing puzzles and ended the story in a satisfactory way. After Lillith's route I felt the game's looping mechanic had outstayed it's welcome and alongside some puzzles that, if done incorrectly, would send you back to floor 1, it was a real fight for me to keep playing this one. Finishing Lilith's route should really give you some easier way to navigate the floors, it would've really helped alleviate the tedium.
By the time I got to DIS' lair and got the "true" ending, I felt I had spent far too long playing the same levels, even if there were ways to skip many of them. Each loop was giving me piecemeal in terms of new information to actually progress and I resorted to a guide for some puzzles that I think were just too obtuse for the average player to reasonably figure out on their own. New locations in Cif's route and finding DIS' lair were a lot of fun, but getting to them meant more of the same block pushing.
If this style of game appeals to you - an endless puzzle box of secrets - then Void Stranger has more than enough to get your fill, and it features some of the most satisfying "aha!" moments I've felt in a puzzle game. It's just, for me, this extreme length and depth of secrets left me with fatigue I don't often get with games. I could've done without a lot of the lore-focused segments, and the bosses felt like frustrating trial-and-error gauntlets in some cases. The devs may have made one of the most complex puzzle games of all time, but I don't think that's wholly a good thing.
This review contains spoilers
0stRanger is a vertically scrolling 2D shoot'em up with heavy emphasis on slashing, dodging and... mystery?
A menacing demonic threat, LEV, has begun its assault. Only one stranger remains against complete annihilation.
Blast your way through enemy forces in order to unleash your stranger's latent potential, reaching new heights of power.
But as you grow stronger, so does your understanding of the true nature of your adversary...
...also, there's some really long puzzle minigame too for some reason.
A menacing demonic threat, LEV, has begun its assault. Only one stranger remains against complete annihilation.
Blast your way through enemy forces in order to unleash your stranger's latent potential, reaching new heights of power.
But as you grow stronger, so does your understanding of the true nature of your adversary...
...also, there's some really long puzzle minigame too for some reason.
I'm all sokoban'd out! I don't wanna play another one of these for a decade now. Really liked the story, it's simple but it still hit me.
woW, I cant believ it, someone finally made a game based on the ice cave puzzles from PokemanGold!! Bless these japanese indiedevs :)
It's quite fascinating just how deep the rabbithole goes with this game, which is appropriately themed. Void Stranger is a void, of infinite little secrets to discover and a fascinating mystery to solve. And, as someone who dosent care for puzzle games, I must insist, a very solid puzzle game
Yeah I'm really not sure about this one. I've heard nothing but good things about it, but I was hesitating on trying it for a while because a lot of things were raising red flags for me. Whenever I hear people talking about a game and saying "don't look up anything, just buy it!" that always makes me extremely suspicious. I've been burnt too many times on games like this with meta elements and tons of secrets where it's clear that it's trying to be a piece of art more than an actual fun video game. Granted, I did only play like an hour, so I may give it another shot in the future. Just not right now.
The music is good though, and I appreciate the developer's very clear admiration of large breasts.
The music is good though, and I appreciate the developer's very clear admiration of large breasts.
Me lo meto por el culo
I shrieked when I learned the ZeroRanger team had a new game, and it's been out for three days, and I managed to learn nothing about it. It's so rare to be surprised like that, to just hear "hey the people behind that shit you loved did it again." Hey! They did it again!
The appeal of ZeroRanger wasn't rawly as a shootemup, though it was a good one of those. Rather, the appeal was in the edges of it, in how it expressed ideas and concepts, how it subverted those concepts, and what it expected of you in return. They have done it again, and in a completely different way than last time. Must play.
The appeal of ZeroRanger wasn't rawly as a shootemup, though it was a good one of those. Rather, the appeal was in the edges of it, in how it expressed ideas and concepts, how it subverted those concepts, and what it expected of you in return. They have done it again, and in a completely different way than last time. Must play.
Easily the best puzzle game I've ever played, it's not even close.
The sound design and OST are beautiful. The intro left a really strong impression, the sound that plays when you pick up the staff sets an ominous tone for the rest of the game as hype music slowly kicks in to egg you on.
The story is intriguing and the characters are a lot of fun. The story itself feels like another puzzle to put together, even after finishing I feel like I barely understand how it fits together. The dialogue can be a little stiff sometimes, not sure if that's just a translation issue though.
The game is absolutely loaded with content. I got about 40 hours out of it and I feel like there's still plenty of things I haven't discovered. The game is filled to the brim with secrets. My friends and I kept accidentally spoiling eachother, it's so easy to stumble onto some crazy shit.
Oh and I guess the puzzles are cool too.
The sound design and OST are beautiful. The intro left a really strong impression, the sound that plays when you pick up the staff sets an ominous tone for the rest of the game as hype music slowly kicks in to egg you on.
The story is intriguing and the characters are a lot of fun. The story itself feels like another puzzle to put together, even after finishing I feel like I barely understand how it fits together. The dialogue can be a little stiff sometimes, not sure if that's just a translation issue though.
The game is absolutely loaded with content. I got about 40 hours out of it and I feel like there's still plenty of things I haven't discovered. The game is filled to the brim with secrets. My friends and I kept accidentally spoiling eachother, it's so easy to stumble onto some crazy shit.
Oh and I guess the puzzles are cool too.
touch grass
A brilliant game brimming with cool ideas and impactful moments that unfortunately takes too long and requires too much repetition for its own good.
The amount of effort needed to finish this game is insane, so at some point I just started following guides to progress on the game at all. Not only that, but some of the best moments of the game are guarded behind some of the most tedious hours of effort I've had to put into a game in my life.
Which is a shame, because other than that, the game is amazing. The sokoban gameplay is great, the soundtrack is consistently good, and the story is intriguing enough to keep you hooked throughout the game. I don't think I've ever said so many "what"s and "ain't no way"s in any piece of media of this length.
TL;DR really good, I just wish it was shorter and gave me more tools to skip the tedious parts once I've already completed them
The amount of effort needed to finish this game is insane, so at some point I just started following guides to progress on the game at all. Not only that, but some of the best moments of the game are guarded behind some of the most tedious hours of effort I've had to put into a game in my life.
Which is a shame, because other than that, the game is amazing. The sokoban gameplay is great, the soundtrack is consistently good, and the story is intriguing enough to keep you hooked throughout the game. I don't think I've ever said so many "what"s and "ain't no way"s in any piece of media of this length.
TL;DR really good, I just wish it was shorter and gave me more tools to skip the tedious parts once I've already completed them
This review contains spoilers
I have extremely conflicting feelings regarding this game. The surface sokoban gameplay is okay, nothing too great about it. But early on you realize there is much more. And it feels absolutely awesome finding the secrets, for example when I got the first time to crawlspace and found the wings, it was epic! However while I found the wings, I could not find the ability to talk to rocks and only found out later about it, when Adam Millard talked about it in one of his videos. It is easy to gloss over important items or clues and when it happens, it is brutal. Several hours of gameplay have to be redone, which sucks. This game wastes so much time and the conclusion is not enough for a casual fan. It is niche and for people who do not mind redoing 200+ rooms because they accidentally took the stairs for some nice new lore titbit, it is brillant. But the average fan will get burned out by the simplistic surface dungeon crawling
The adventure of life never ends.
this one really hurts to shelve. I really enjoyed what I played but I have so many mental hurdles keeping me from finishing this. I would love to be the guy that plays through Void Stranger multiple times and does all the different paths but I can’t. I get super anxious thinking about this process when I know I have a bunch of other video games I want to play and a bunch of other non video game things I want to devote my time to. As I think about the rest of my life and where I’m currently, I can feel that available time pool draining right in front of me. While the esoteric nature of this game is appealing, I know that I would resort to using a guide and that makes me feel a horrible mixture of impatient and flat out dumb. I ran into a similar scenario with Outer Wilds, where I really enjoyed it to a point, but that point was a brick wall where I had to confront who I am and what I’m worth. Even making the decision to shelve this was a small confrontation between myself and those feelings, and I feel like a wounded loser in this fight.
and why did the devs make her BUSTY?????
and why did the devs make her BUSTY?????
The further out I get from Void Stranger, the more convinced I am that it's one of the best games of all time.
It's typically this kind of game where the community explains to you that there is a huge secret iceberg below the first playthrough but CBA.