Void War by Tundra
Void War is a tactical space combat and starship management game that draws a great deal of inspiration from FTL: Faster Than Light while smashing the lauded spaceship simulation’s action together with a setting that draws heavily from the grimdark world of Warhammer 40K.
Despite all of this very familiar DNA, Void War manages to demonstrate some unique traits of its own, including a greater focus on the ship’s crew and an assortment of personal gear to acquire for them.
Welcome to the Grimdark Future
Void War opens with a fairly comprehensive tutorial that provides a tour of the interface and key tactics necessary for a simple battle. Anyone who has played FTL will find themselves right at home here; the interface is nearly identical, and the combat works in much the same way.
The tutorial tails off and seamlessly breaks into the first campaign run, which I had a great time working through. For someone with experience of FTL, Void War’s normal difficulty is fairly welcoming; I made it to the final boss on the first run (although it did finish my ship off after a rather tense battle).
Much of the adventure here will be familiar to genre fans, albeit with a fresh, grimdark tone; the ship must be navigated from system to system, occasionally stopping off at shopping posts to acquire new gear and weapons. Crew can be assigned to tasks throughout the ship, and battles are a tense affair of timing barrages to overwhelm enemy shields or organizing aggressive boarding efforts to seize assets on hostile vessels.
Boarding Isn’t Boring
An interesting new feature Void War brings to the table is its boarding system; rather than a teleporter, this is handled through a small pod that can only attach to specific points on enemy ships.
I was a tad disappointed to find that the crew can, however, be beamed straight back at the click of a button. I think the tension would be heightened if attackers had to return to their pod to escape. Certain gear and psychic powers can be used for a more free-form, teleport-based boarding attempt, but these must be acquired or provided by particular characters.
Some of the more magical, grimdark-inspired weapons can make for fun additions to the formula; I particularly loved the “Grave Beam,” which operates as a standard cutting beam except that it spawns ghouls in the rooms it cuts across, leaving the enemy crew with a rather smelly problem to solve.
The ghouls rarely survive for more than a few seconds but provide a useful distraction and remain amusing throughout. These grimdark themes pervade Void War, with ships evoking a well-worn gothic aesthetic and choral music echoing through their grisly chambers.
The Verdict:
A little over twelve years ago I described FTL as a game that was difficult to compare to any other; now it serves as a touchstone for titles following in its footsteps. Void War draws perhaps a little too liberally from its inspiration, and I would have loved to have seen the concept evolved more boldly.
Do games like this really need to adhere so rigidly to Rogue-like conventions? How would this ship management format fair in an open-world exploration game with interacting factions and an open star-map rather than the more linear gauntlet seen here and in FTL?
These are questions that I’d love to see answered; there’s room for iteration and potential for an unexplored subgenre here. Void War takes a few small steps, and it’s great to have other developers exploring this arena.
Anyone looking for more emergent adventure with starship management or the same within a grimdark setting will find a well-crafted adventure here. I hope it will lead to others taking more dramatic steps with the genre in the future.
Void War is available via Steam.
Watch the trailer for Void War below:
