This is a first impression of the game and I will probably write more about it later.
Void Raiders is a top down mouse-aim shooter-RPG withThis is a first impression of the game and I will probably write more about it later.
Void Raiders is a top down mouse-aim shooter-RPG with random level layouts and item drops, persistent character progression and lots and lots of bullets.I played a pre-release alpha build and was immediately enamored of it, and for five bucks, this early access build is an excellent foundation. Though it lacks plot or characterization of any kind at present, it has good enough music and spritework to convey a sense of style: a dark, neon-lit, occasionally rain-soaked metropolis on... Neptune?
It has three playable characters- Boris the Brawler, Tina the Gunslinger and Gudrun the Bladedancer, and of the three thus far I have had the most success with Boris, whose upgrades slowly turn him into a bullet-spewing tank. Tina puts out even more shots with her dual guns and has an entertaining special ability that causes her to spray bullets everywhere around her. Gudrun, with proper use of her blade-dashing and bullet-reflecting, is surprisingly survivable, and has a shotgun for when her sword isn't enough, but if you can't effectively use her sword to intercept incoming shots, she's by far the most fragile of the three.
Stages are split up into floors. On each floor you must obtain a certain number of key items, either these metal boxes with pink lights or these glowing green datacubes, before the elevator to the next floor becomes available. Enemies respawn endlessly, but you get xp for every kill. They drop cash, ammo and the occasional health pickup. Cash can be used to purchase stat-boosting (more damage, higher crit chance, health back on critical hits, etc) items from in-level vendors, one item per vendor, and you also get a choice of three items to buy between floors. However, you don't know what you're getting if you buy the in-level items, and in roguelike fashion, these items are lost when you die.
There's another review on here mentions the somewhat sluggish player movement, noting that you often have no choice but to "take the hits", and I'm inclined to agree, but if anything that's the game's only real shortcoming apart from not-yet-added features. However, I personally feel like the current level cap of 10 for each character is a tad low- admittedly, leveling only gives you skill points, with the actual stat increases instead coming from upgrading your armor using components earned from defeating the bosses. I can only hope these upgrades have no cap, or at least a high one, as the game still becomes very difficult in later stages. Interestingly, I noticed that the difficulty increases not per stage but rather at certain time intervals in the length of your run- if you waste time, things will only get harder, but you might miss out on extra funding and items.
I've played a lot of roguelikes and am glad to see another one with character experience and skills that carry over between runs. I hope that, like Rogue Legacy, or Galak-Z's arcade mode, victory in this game is an eventuality, or at least a reasonable possibility as in Ziggurat.…Full Review »