After a dozen hours spent playing Void Bastards, and a bit of research into the developers Blue Manchu, I’m starting to think former Irrational Games staff simply wanted to make survival-focussed roguelikes, rather than the linear and narrative-heavy System Shock and Bioshock games. This is yet another game from a team of former developers that is similar in design to The Flame in the Flood and City of Brass, which ditches the narrative for complex, roguelike gameplay. The end result is mechanically satisfying, even if their choice of environments is ultimately self-limiting and repetition creeps in before the end-game.

In Void Bastards, you play as a rehydrated C.L.I.E.N.T. (petty criminals are apparently deconstructed into powder for long-term storage in the future!), instructed by an obnoxious and very British AI to recover components to fix your “ARK” ship, to escape a deadly nebula, full of decrepit ships, space stations, and foul-mouthed, cockney space-pirates. The writing, item descriptions, enemy design, and animated comic book style cutscenes are always entertaining, but that’s where the narrative begins and ends. You’re initially told to scavenge several items to repair a component of the ARK, after which you get a short cutscene and are given yet another component hunt - repeat until you finish the run.


Welcome to a future ruled by corporations and dodgy contractual obligations! Each ship has a distinct design, some unique rooms, and higher chance of specific crafting material.

Thankfully the gameplay, which consists of two interwoven components, is engaging, fun, and designed to keep you coming back for just one more excursion. The first component is an overview of the nebula nebula itself, through which you guide your ship along branching paths, deciding whether to board ships or move swiftly past (there’s no going backwards). From this screen, you'll also craft mission-specific items and gear upgrades. Limited food and fuel supplies, along with the need to hunt for components and crafting materials, will keep you contemplating the risk-reward mechanics: the deeper you go into the nebula – something each plot-specific upgrade will push you towards – the deadlier your foes and environments, but also the more rewarding the supply stashes.


You'll spend a lot of time on the crafting screen, upgrading your weapons and gear (which carry over between deaths) and using the "locate" function to identify vessels for boarding.

Once you board a vessel and select your loadout (there’s a primary, secondary, and utility slot), you'll find yourself in an airlock, from the first-person view, weapon bobbing around in front of you. At this point, the game plays primarily as an FPS, albeit one that encourages some creative thinking and intelligent use of the environment to avoid or aid in combat. While not boasting an extensive roster of enemies, Void Bastards pairs several types in each vessel, along with security systems, to keep you on your toes. Each enemy is based on a British stereotype - like the foul-mouthed Juve or needy NHS patient. There’s also no shortage of environmental hazards, and your slowly decreasing oxygen supply (that is, mercifully, rarely an issue until you reach the deepest part of the nebula).

...the gameplay, which consists of two interwoven components, is engaging, fun, and designed to keep you coming back for just one more excursion.

The bulk of your time in Void Bastards is spent shooting and looting your way through these derelict vessels, collecting scrap, components, and “merits” - a currency you can use at deserted space-marts for supplies, to override security, or restock health and oxygen terminals. Ship layout is (in theory) randomised, with different vessel types offering up a distinctive visual style and atmosphere. However, but there’s only so many ways you can configure a spaceship and the layouts quickly become familiar. To keep things fresh, each ship offers various positive and negative modifiers (which you can assess before choosing to board), such an increased oxygen supply but the presence of radioactive hazards. As you descend deeper into the nebula, the negative modifiers dominate and become more severe.


It takes a while to unlock powerful weapons and upgrade your starting gear, but direct combat becomes faster and more entertaining as you progress.

If you’re playing on higher difficulties, or scavenging deep in the nebula, direct combat becomes risky. With the oxygen counter always at the back of your mind, exploration requires planning, speed, and adaptability. You’ll stealth around at first to spot enemies in the distance, pick your preferred route through the ship, lure tough enemies into rooms that allow you to lock them in, and hopefully come away with a sizeable haul of loot with minimal damage taken. Naturally, it rarely goes exactly to plan, and you’ll likely be dodging electrical hazards or dealing with random power outages - which cut the lights, open all doors, block your airlock exit, and send you scrambling towards the generator room.


The single most powerful action in the game, so long as you don't trigger a security bot. Trapping tough enemies is a vital strategy later in the run.

For those worried about the difficulty (there are four you can choose from at first), Void Bastards has no real “fail state” and offers plenty of flexibility. For one, there’s “permadeath” but you have an infinite supply of convicts should one perish; each with their own traits, positive and negative (that can be altered in a specific vessel), and it’s only your ammunition stockpile that’ll take a hit. Additionally, every mission-specific component can be crafted, rather than scavenged. Crafting materials – recycled from a myriad of bits and bobs you find on each ship – are found in lower quantities in the upper levels of the nebula, but a low-difficulty grind to craft a mission component is always an option. Hell, moving up and down within the nebula is a sound strategy in any run, allowing you to restock on basic supplies and ammunition before descending to tackle tougher vessels.

For those worried about the difficulty, Void Bastards has no real “fail state” and offers plenty of flexibility.

Visually, the game looks stylish and performance is good on the base consoles, with only light stuttering during chaotic battles and in smoke-filled vessels. The visuals emulate classic, cell-shaded, hard-edged comic book art, with pop-up descriptive text accompanying distant shuffling sounds or massive explosions. The audio mix is great, with lots of ambient sounds ensuring the derelict ships felt both eerie and threatening (at least in the opening hours), while the music is subdued. The limited voice acting is great, and humorous pre-recorded ship-wide announcements always left me grinning.


Ships and space stations vary in design but there's only so many ways you can shuffle the room layout.

Void Bastards is great fun in short bursts but is, unfortunately, let down by the limited scope of its environments, with no unique ships or even distinct "boss" encounters. You can start a new game with several modifiers that make the game more difficult (like being limited to a single weapon/utility slot) and there are several difficulty and no-death related achievements, but this doesn’t offset the feeling of repetition and grind that'll set in during your first run. That said, I still got a dozen hours out of my first campaign run and it’s a perfect palette-cleanser game I’ll be returning to between other releases in the future. Just don’t go in expecting anything more than a well-made roguelike if you were drawn to the game by the System Shock and Bioshock comparisons.