Voidwrought from Developer Powersnake and Publisher Kwalee is a metroidvania title that is dripping with gorgeous visuals and style. Does it however live up to the greats in the genre and is it worth checking out?
Voidwrought
Players in Voidwrought will take on the role of an unknown humanoid that awakens from an “Ovum”. Within seconds of awakening, the game barely introduces you to anything and just let’s you go forth into the depths in search of “The Council”. Tiny tidbits of lore are fed to you along the way via conversations with NPCs and items that you collect and you’ll have to piece together the story.
A little bit more guidance would have been appreciated but Voidwrought seems to not want to hand-hold players too much and that can be seen as either a good or bad thing depending on what you’re used to. As a seasoned veteran of titles in this genre, I wasn’t particularly fussed about this but some newcomers might be a bit frustrated at the lack of guidance.
In any case, I digress a bit. The story of Voidwrought is good with a lot of the storytelling lore bits actually being quite intriguing. You’ll want to press on and learn more. What exactly are the “Old ways”? Why do you have devotees and a cult? The world has been scorched by a star? There’s a lot here that drives you forward and it’s fascinating throughout and only gets deeper and deeper as you get further into the game. Very “Souls-like” stuff.
The actual gameplay of Voidwrought is the star of the show though. Players will have access to a fairly basic sword slash combo at first and as you progress, you’ll quickly acquire new abilities from the Simulacrum that you encounter. This is all standard fare for any self-respecting game in the genre and thankfully Voidwrought makes full use of all the tried and trusted mechanics. You can slide, you can grab onto ledges, you can jump etc and there are a couple of fresh mechanics such as being able to bounce on spikes as well as being able to hit one of your own projectiles for additional speed and damage.
On top of this, the game features a very hefty lineup of “Relics” which can be equipped by your character and augment their combat abilities. These relics play an essential role in Voidwrought’s gameplay because they will alter your playstyle immensely and you’ll be mixing and matching various Relics throughout the game for maximum efficiency.
Getting through the game’s world is however a bit of a problem since there can be a lot of backtracking and you will more often than not, end up getting lost quite easily. Combat in Voidwrought is very satisfying with the animations and effects being great, especially when using some of the later Relics while fighting off enemies.
The variation in enemy designs is also quite welcome and the boss battles themselves are quite challenging. Some bosses might feel a bit unfair right now but with a bit of trial and error, you should be able to defeat them all without getting too frustrated.
Graphically Voidwrought looks amazing. The art style is visually appealing and there’s a lot of detail in the environments to soak up. A lot of objects in the environment also happen to be destructible which adds to the overall enjoyment factor quite a bit when you’re sword-slashing your way through areas and enemies.
Voidwrought also features a soundtrack that is fantastic. There are music tracks here that are extremely enjoyable to listen to and they fit the game’s aesthetic perfectly. I’d even recommend purchasing the OST on Steam because some of the in-game music is so good. The sound team did a great job here!
Voidwrought’s only downfall lies in the fact that in its genre, there are a lot of titles that it will be compared to. The first one that immediately springs to mind is Hollow Knight. If you’ve played Hollow Knight before, you’ll automatically end up comparing Voidwrought to Hollow Knight and as such, it will bias your opinion of Voidwrought because of how good Hollow Knight is. Voidwrought has a few shortcomings such as some finicky movement (that needs some getting used to) as well as the lack of guidance and the poor manner in which some things are explained in the game.
I can’t help but feel like a few patches and some polishing could really elevate the game a bit and make it truly excel more than it already has. Powersnake has done an excellent job here and it’s quite unfortunate that Voidwrought is going to get the Hollow Knight comparisons thrown at it due to its dark aesthetic and genre similarities. If you look at it on its own, the game has a lot of merit and it’s a title that will grip you if you enjoy 2D combat-focused platformers.
Final Verdict
Overall, Voidwrought is an excellent 2D platformer action-adventure game that has some “Souls-like” difficulty to it. It still retains the essence of the genre that the established greats such as Metroid and Castlevania have created though and this really shines through. It does enough to grab your attention, and the game doesn’t overstay its welcome either since it comes in at around 14 hours to complete.
With a few more balance patches and some polish to teach you things, this game gets a very high recommendation from me. I can’t help but think that it would be perfect to play on SteamDeck or Nintendo Switch in short bursts too. Definitely give this game a chance if you can. It’s worth looking into if you’re a fan of 2D action platformers.
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The code was provided by the publisher.
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