Artsygamer

A few impressions on “The Void”, a game by Ice-Pick Lodge  – the talented creators of “Pathologic”:

It’s mainly a game about a soul who entered into The Void(some sort of purgatory) after the death occured. In this ‘purgatory’ Colour is everything. You collect colour(it grows like plants) and then you can use it in various modes: you need colour to sustain your life, you can use colour in combat, you can give colour in order to receive(by giving colour to some dead trees they’ll come to life and produce colour for you, in time)… There are different colours with different effects: some are good for combat, some are good for increasing the trust of The Sisters(female characters which will guide you through the game), some will attract the jealousy of The Brothers(they are the rulers of The Void) and so on…

An interesting thing about player’s interaction with the environement is the “language” used for that. In order to attack and enemy, or to activate some sort of a shield, or to give colour to someone else or whatever may be, you’ll have to draw a letter on your screen(e.g. the greek alpha, or an “o” etc.) corresponding to the action you want to perform. So, the game, or to be more precisely The world which is called “The Void” has some sort of a language of it’s own.

Well, this is the gameplay-side of the game. it requires great resource management skills. In fact it is pretty hard to finish it: there is a patch on the internet to reduce the difficulty.

But beyond this, the game has a great artistical value. the visual experience is stunning, music is very beautifull also.. and the mood given by these is absolutely like no other.

Also, I found it very oxymoronic:

The Sisters – beautifull gentle creatures vs. The Brothers – harsh, ougly, powerfull, almost monstruous creatures

The desert like, hopless, dark surroundings vs. those colour plants barely emitting some light(and with that – hope for survival) and also those richly coloured trees from The Gardens where plenty of colour grows.

(Personally, I like this side of the game very much.)

Of course, one may say the game has also a philosophical aspect and indeed the game in it’s richness alows such interpretations. (For further reading on this side of the game check these texts from the official forum).