VoidExpanse (with Gameplay Preview)

There’s a certain grace in trying to alter the angle of a certain genre, attaching it to another style altogether, such as VoidExpanse is trying to do in its space shooter. It would want to become an action roleplaying game (RPG), like Diablo and other isometric classics. It doesn’t quite do that yet, but at least the randomly generated adventures are plentiful in scope already. Now, it needs to fill up with some variety and balance the whole thing out.

There’s no real story here as of yet. Players board their first ship, then start a space journey through the stars, where they can dock in stations for a quest or two. Alternatively, it’s possible to freely roam the void of the universe and find fortune there.

VoidExpanse has a simple but decent and clean presentation. Most of the world is just darkness, but the canvas is populated with far-off stars for a little change. Moreover, planets can loom in the distance. They can have an emanating glow that captures the entire screen in a colorful haze. Some of those veils may even be dangerous to the simply drawn ship models, making their build bend as if it was seen from within a body of water. These events aren’t frequent enough to make the overall tone of the empty game, but they are the visually most pleasing aspect.

A game starts off with making a character and choosing a class that will determine the preferred job in space, from merchant to soldier. A small ship will quickly make way from looted scraps floating around near stations, which hold better weaponry and other equipment. These help the ship become more agile and withstand more punishment. Shield regenerate, but that takes time and once the hull is breached, it stays defective. To overcome that, it’s possible to use some consumable items or dock at a nearby settlement and repair.

While docked, there’s an option to shop around for more parts or take on missions. Some people ask to take out space pirates, while others titillate the adventuring spirit with a delivery offer to a nearby galaxy. People may be affiliated to a certain faction, requiring an allegiance through specific objectives. It’s also at the station where ships are refitted with better equipment. It’s a nice touch to restrict upgrades to camps alone, since it’d be hard to believe it’s doable to change hulls while in transit.

While out in the open, there’s bound to be a few pirates lurking amidst the debris. These come in different types, from ranged fighters to missile-bearing ships. While their character doesn’t necessarily change, their aggressiveness will already be plenty to handle at the start of the game. Just a few shots suffice to blow up and respawn at a nearby location, so running will be a recurring tactic.

Destroying space scum racks up experience points that can be put towards several skill trees. These have abilities of multiple tiers, which usually have to be upgraded several times before moving on to the next. Moreover, some auxiliary traits, such as handling bigger vehicles or even the capability to mine, are also locked behind a progression system. Without those, it’ll be a simple blasting road. VoidExpanse may want to change that, because even though not everyone is interested in mining, it cuts off an alternate play style from the start this way.

Then again, mining is currently not balanced or versatile enough to be entertaining. Racking up resources from asteroids yields tons more experience than risking death through combat and other than selling it, there’s not much to do around delving goods. It’s definitely helpful early on, but it loses appeal rather quickly.

More problematic, however, is the current control scheme that makes movement much too difficult for its own good. Rotating a ship in a pinch requires multiple inputs, while aiming works independently and flails around wildly. Since the threat level of enemies is rather high, having to struggle with controls the entire time makes combat even less attractive. Given the different weapon types, this problem can also become much larger. For instance, missiles only lob one projectile at a time and timing that with the twitching aim reticule is nearly impossible.

Going further, VoidExpanse could also do with more variety than it has now. For instance, it could have large standoffs between dozens of ships or have colossal vessels serve as boss fights, which drop better loot. That would definitely heighten the RPG feel. There’s too much emptiness in space so far, so that needs to get filled up with a lot more stuff.

There’s still a lot of work to do on VoidExpanse, if it wants to be as simply entertaining as the action RPG genre it wants its shooter to be. It has a few likable elements in place, but without manageable controls and a more activity, it’s not going to have needed impulse gameplay design it ultimately wants.

We also play it a bunch, so watch our gameplay commentary here:

Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed (@Daavpuke)