Disclaimer: Game owned and played through on Amazon Games. A strong sense of identity doesn't save Void Bastards from being a somewhat shallow, repetitive roguelike. The visual and sound design may be on point, and the game does do a good job of setting up its universe and characters, but the lack of any plot, aside from the basic gameplay setup, the ridiculously repetitive level design and the limited randomness factor quickly kill the drive to keep on playing. The gameplay loop consist of you warping from ship to ship, stripping them of parts so you can build the next plot relevant item and advance the story. Biggest problem is - advancing the story always amounts to just building the next plot relevant item. There's no real twists, no revelations, no character development. Next to having no story, this is as basic as it gets. While the gunplay might be satisfying and the tools and weapons you have access to varied, it's not enough to carry the whole experience. The exploration is completely uninspired as there isn't really anything for you to explore. The repetitive map design and a general lack of detail that plagues all of the levels are to blame. There's a few of different ship types for you to explore, but once you've seen one ship of a certain type - you've seen 'em all. The different hazards, modifiers and enemies that form the random factors of these ships are... fine, but don't change much in how you approach a level, if at all. There's no element of surprise here - what you see is what you get. No surprise boss to ambush you, no ship systems to fail on you, no sudden self-destruct timers...Nothing. You probably wont leave Void Bastards thinking you've played a bad game. Nothing in it is fundamentally flawed. It all could have been improved upon, had the developers tapped into the creative potential of their setting as much as they should have. If anything, you'll feel appetized for something more substantial. Play on Hard.
It's easy to recognize why Bloodlines is loved by so many despite its numerous issues. It's got all the telltale signs of a great RPG; good writing, a good story, some interesting characters backed by great voice acting, an immersive atmosphere that filled me with a nostalgic feeling, despite never having played the game before, a lot of charm and a truckload of player agency. Thanks to the Unofficial Community Patch that's still being worked on, a bundle of content has been restored and the game's technical issues are negligible for the most part. However, when one steps back and looks at the experience Bloodlines provides as a whole, it becomes difficult not to notice how the unfinished bits dull down an otherwise sharply written tale. If you can look past a farcical stealth system, clunky movement where you'll frequently get stuck on objects, a combat system that will have you feeling as if you're exploiting the game rather than beating it, some intriguing at first characters and arcs that end up going nowhere, a couple of frustrating boss fights and an endgame that turns into an absolute slog with somewhat rushed endings, then there's plenty in Bloodlines that you'll enjoy. If anything, it's a great appetizer for what the sequel might bring, provided it has at least a fraction of its predecessor's ambition.
