Reviews

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  GMAN 47

  Sep 5, 2016

  Graphics need an update, textures are very repetitive. No ability to jump. Story and audio are great so far (only played to level 1). The game's music adds to experience. No controller support in the menus. 6/10, recommended if you like story-based exploration.
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  JT

  Sep 10, 2016

  Game? wasn't for me. I didn't think there was enough presented in this title for me to enjoy. I really enjoy adventure games with no combat though. Anyway, here are my takeaways. - Very short: 1 hour for me until I saw the credits roll, and I read/listened to everything I saw. - Not interested at all in the story, and my favorite genre is Sci-Fi. - Screen variations and fading to black and white with foggy areas making it hard to navigate. Not sure what the point was here. I started the game, walked around for a bit, read and listened to some terminals, had 5 or 6 goals to complete, then it ended. Maybe that's what the real issue was for me. I was expecting a game, but this is more like experiencing a story.
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  Okamikyodai

  Sep 19, 2016

  De-Void to me suffers from the simplest of problems. Lack of story developement. Before anyone jumps to the defense of the studio I'd like to point out that I enjoyed the game, I just felt it was devoid of so many smaller points that could have really helped me emerse myself into the genre. Spoilers, please be warned. The environment felt like a mix of 80s Doom2 cover art over boxy 3d objects, and when it came time for something different they just lazily pulled the textures off and let you walk around the world in grey waiting for a voice to pop up. In certain places objects made no sense as touch pads (for show and not utility) were at different levels as if you could touch one but you had to jump for others. Also if people just vanished, would their cloths? Wouldn't there be visual record of people... joining this ... conscisousness? The intents of W1LCO and AM1 for example seemed just limited to an only talked about AI and one that just kinda strung you along and you willingly follow it instead of looking for more info. Why have objects you can pick up and look at if they do nothing. A shuttle with a cargo hold that is basically a bedroom, and a ramp out.. but no way into the cockpit? I could understand automation but surely you're not an animal on a plane, it makes no sense to me. Shadows. Maybe this is the issue with the engine used for the game, and it relates to my issue before in textures, but shadows could have gone a long way to created a more mysterious and creepy vibe as you are the only person... living thing on the station and planet. Cut scenes would have been nice. A grander look at the colony and the station perhaps? Or even just transition from station to planet side. Also, I felt the faithful and the back story were not fleshed out enough. They really meant nothing to me, or even the story. There were also transitions where the character seemed to jump for seemingly no reason from one place to another, and there was no way to understand why later on except to walk around till you found things to click and press. There was no buildup of trust with anything, no really need for me to do anything but walk, click on a few things... and run away from large rolling pollen balls that actually did NOTHING save bring upon louder ominous music. I got the intent, but the reasoning behind it bothered me. The artifact they found wasn't explained, shown, or really even anything other than a mental marker... In the end 8 bucks, an hour or two later, I feel kinda let down. I just felt the story could have been more fleshed out. And while I did enjoy it, I can't recomend this game. I think it's probably my first game that I can say if I had the choice I wouldn't have purchased this as the game stands. If this has been an alpha or other early release game. Yes. I'd buy it. But even if later patches fix things or do any modifications, I just can't find myself thumbs upping this game. My apologies to the creators.
• 

  TURBO GENIUS

  Oct 9, 2016

  De-void is a thought invoker. The passive-interactive experience found in videogames these days is elevated to an active-provactive dimension. It integrates philosophical themes that other games cheapen. If anything, De-void proves that story-telling is still the very most important thing in video games. Whether that's because good narratives have always outlasted those that wrote them, or because I am a sucker for sci-fi, an immersive vision, and an attention to subtlety and ambience-- You decide.
• 

  LJS67

  Oct 12, 2016

  I wanted to like this and I do like good walking simulators, but this one made me sick. Literally. Don't usually get naseous, but this one you had to run. It was just way too much empty space between locations to stop and when you did stop it was maybe for 30 seconds. So you are just running and running while scenes fly by and you go up and down bumps with doors opening in your face, Too much running for too little reward. The story was interesting, but I couldn't finish it without starting to last chapter over and crossing my fingers the game wouldn't glitch out on me again. I reached almost the end when I had to go up an elevator. Push button and start to rise, hear engine and then ... nothing. I go nowhere and now I can't use elevator any more. So, I thought maybe it wasn't important and looked at someone's playthrough. Grrr ... yes it was and so I can't access next active area. That brings me to next bone of contention. There are only three save slots in this game. So you either have to leave it running (which is why I have long play time) when life happens or I just needed a break from wanting to throw up, or you have to restart the chapter over again - more running and reading/listening to the same logs and messages over again. So as I contemplate the last chapter hoping this time the elevator works, ehhh, I think I'll pass. This game was a lovely idea with really poor execution. Sorry.
• 

  Serendipity

  Feb 10, 2017

  I read a number of reviews before I decided to buy the game, mostly because I love the genre. I respect the efforts and talent of the creators, yet the game fails to deliver a stringent experience for me as a player. Though I did not encounter serious bugs or glitches, there were too many small ones that spoiled a fluent gameplay. De-Void did not present too much of a challenge, only some rudely unspecific directions fom the AI left me wandering through the scenery to somewhat stumble upon the next required step. The control of movement is rudimentary - left, right, forward, back. Annoyingly two-dimensional. The subtitles cannot be de-activated, at least I did not find a respective setting despite my best efforts. The transition between chapters is a bit lame, but this is the product of a small indepedent studio, so I do not mean to be pedantic. The fact that you can't save your progress at your own discretion is a most annoying subject of the game. There are positive aspects to De-Void. The voice-overs are quite decent, and even though the gaphics are not stellar, I rather enjoyed the scenery. Some philosophical thoughts are being introduced, and if you take the time and patience to look around more thoroughly you can appreciate some nice details and clues. The story has a lot of potential that unfortunately has not been sufficiently exploited. That is a real pity. All in all I do not begrudge the developers the money I payed, but I can't recommend the game in good conscience. But as always, this is just my personal opinion and not a universal truth.
• 

  greigy

  Mar 16, 2017

  Interesting concept, poorly implemented. Also, not so great with newer graphics cards
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  Digital Olympus

  Mar 17, 2017

  This game honestly needs more people who enjoy walking simulators. This is by far one of the best I have played. There are some graphical issues such as the sand looking wavy as you run and many of the textures looking like a fake plastic. Outside of those the biggest complaint is the lack of knowing where to go. That is part of the game for a reason. It lacks some missing pieces but it is mostly tied up at the end. Games like this are meant to be abstract. Enjoy it for what it is. I give it a 9/10 Overall.
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  Osiris

  Mar 17, 2017

  Thumbs down. This is a very short walking simulator with a poor story. I am really curious how some reviewers have played this title for over 10 hours ??? It took me 1.5 hours to reach the conclusion of the "story". (I explored and tried to open every door I could find.) I have no desire to replay.
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  johntohill

  Apr 2, 2017

  Being a fan of walking simulators I was quite excited going into this. That started to wane within the first 15 minutes and was completely gone 2 hours later when I reached the end. I did not feel the writing, dialogue or story was enough to entice me. Couple that with the very boring level design on the first part of the game and it sets you up to not being well-disposed towards the game. Then in the second section I spent a good half hour wandering round a desert, going up to wrecked machinery and getting an audio-log or voice over. I don't think I even needed to do that but even still, walking between each hulk took an age, even with the relatively fast run speed of the protagonist. Then in the last section the horrendous level design returns to thwart you entirely and you end up just running round in circles hoping to find the next bit of plot. There are far better walking simulators out there available on steam. Avoid.
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  Hurricane

  Jun 4, 2017

  To get it out of the way: this game is a walking simulator, and one built on a fairly old technology. The levels are vast but bland; impressive distant vistas are marred by the near flat, featureless landscape you walk through. Textures are blocky. The level design is that of someone with too much time on their hands and no real theme... items are strewn around. To make it worse, there's no in-game map, so it's very easy to get lost. There are doors that are not doors, and doors that only become doors when the game is ready to let you through them. That said, De-Void has an interesting story underneath it all. Unfortunately, I'm not sure it's enough to make up for the lackluster presentation. If this was a movie or television show, with a lonely protagonist (like The Martian) exploring and figuring out what was going on, I'd watch the hell out of it... but in-game, just getting around takes so long. The ease of getting lost discourages exploration. And finally, without spoiling anything, the ending is... unsatisfying. Is it a good story? I think so. Is it a good *game*? Eh... not really.
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  spires

  Jun 28, 2017

  I agree with the other reviews that it might be difficult to enjoy this game if you're not fond of walking simulators. The quirks present in this game are pretty frequent in the genre, including slow pacing, vast but not very detailed landscapes and odd graphic bugs. Looking past those though, this game has a pretty interesting story that was surprisingly original for the sci fi genre. While I didn't really understand all the details of it, the grand theme was pretty refreshing.
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  Evil Dan

  Jul 12, 2017

  Lots & lots of walking (or running if you prefer). Very short game (2.3 hours from beginning to end for me anyways). It's a short story made into an adventure game. No blasting away at things, no fireworks, just a story that you get to be part of.
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  FiftyNine

  Aug 5, 2017

  This was not a satisfying game to play. Let me explain, why. Some people dismiss this genre of games, wittily called "walking simulators" as not engaging and generally boring. And, true enough, the common theme for this kind of games is lack of agency or interactivity. But if these components are missing what makes a good "walking simulator"? Generally the games of this genre rely heavily on observation and exploration, allowing player to experience story and world crafted by the developer via bits and pieces of information, spread across levels, something called "environmental storytelling". Walks between these objects and reveals serve as a sort of a mental buffer for a player, a way to process new information and tie it into the mental model of the game universe he's building in his head. Additionally, such walks are best accompanied by expressive environment and music, serving to cement mood and impression the game is going for. And of course the centerpiece of this exposition is the story that is woven into gameplay, the characters, the mysteries. Unfortunately, De-Void does none of it right. Perhaps, the best parts of the game are voice acting and music. That's not to say that they are excepionally good or memorable, it's just that these components of the game were good enough. Other than that the game fails miserably at what it's trying to be. The levels and environment and bland and washed-out, offering little to no entertainment during the soul-draining walks from one point of interest to another, some of which can take several minutes. These points of interest themselves are mostly audio or text logs from other people you never encounter and have absolutely no emotional attachement to. The protagonist is similarly bland and uninspiring, simply a vessel, moved by players hand through empty vastness of scarcely populated levels. The only discernible purpose such long walks serve in this case is to pad the length of the game. On top of that at times your vision will be obscured by weather, making navigation all but impossible. And no map, of course. Where we're going we don't need maps. It all could've been saved by a good story, a decent mystery to solve. But unfortunately, no, instead of such we get pretentious and obtuse pseudo-philosophycal ramblings about the nature of man and abrupt ending, which ties none of what we've seen up until this point together. The parts of story and world feel disjointed and don't fit into a whole. Throw some gameplay bugs on top of that (I've got stuck into tight spaces a couple of times) and you've got a failed attempt at a "walking simulator". I urge you to not buy this game.
• 

  01110111 01100001 01110010

  Mar 6, 2018

  I was having fun... I really was. I wanted to love this game. Then out of nowhere I had a game breaking bug that had me stuck under the elevator. I figured "Oh, I'll just reload the last save and that should set me back like 3 minutes".... nope. Beginning of the game. I can't recommend a game that's that buggy regardless of how much I wanted to like it. I give this a 2/10.
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  CorvusCorax

  May 14, 2018

  [list] [*]I do not know how many sci-fi-themed walking sims are out there but De-Void is one of them. I am the fan of the genre so I am a bit biased here as I usually recommend most of these short, little games. [*]De-Void tells the story of a remote colony - this is a tale taking place long in the future when the population of Earth is already facing a lot of issues due to low resources. Meet Planet Ancyra, a place of refuge and perhaps the only salvation of humanity. But then communications are lost so our heroine is sent in to investigate only to find nobody. [*]The above is not exactly true as there are indeed no living beings but there is an A.I. called Wilco who assists us along the way. This is a walking sim where you explore the base and use a lot of computers to find texts to read and video logs to play, all in order to decipher the puzzle of the missing personnel. I liked the logs talking about the Planet Loss Syndrome (PLS): an illness with some awful symptoms for those missing the good old blue planet! [*]De-Void is mediocre at best in terms of graphics. It is not really optimised well and here and there you can find some glitches. I believe this is understandable as it is a low budget product - the atmosphere certainly compensates especially when you are able to finally put on the VR Helmet to be able to see the crew members... [*]When discounted you can get De-Void for as low as 1 EUR. In fact, the product called Planet Ancyra Chronicles comes bundled with it. Apparently, there is a prequel to this game titled Solarix and Planet Ancyra is the release of both under one title. Interesting. I will get there, in the meantime, grab this one if you like walking sims and great sci-fi. You know, the ones that make you ponder about your existence in the universe. [/list]
• 

  decimus28

  Oct 8, 2018

  Voice acting was good, lore interesting but after this game is just AWFUL at providing cues to the player about objective(after chapter 1). Things like lighting, sounds, camera usage, etc. that are used in good level design to help the play know what their current objectives should be are not utilized helpful manner most of the time. It's fine to encourage exploration but not knowing if you need to trudge SLOWLY through a desert for lore or to actually progress is pretty annoying. When the log has an objective listed it tends to be unhelpful, like "explore this and that and maybe this too." Doors that work look like doors that don't, correct path looks the same as a useless one. I want to like the game but it feels like a project where 3 people did a good job and one just didn't show up.
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  joemassaro38

  May 19, 2019

  This game is trash. Everything looks the same and half of it isn't marked so you get turned around all the time. No maps, no directions, no real objectives. Worst of all, no manual save option and auto save doesn't tell you when it saves. I've spent more than 30 minutes, twice, playing through only to quit and start all the way back to the point I started. Its ridiculous. I'm very forgiving when it comes to sci-fi isolation games, but this game is boring. I was literally looking away from the screen as I held the run button as I ran through endless desert. I bought this on sale for $1.19 and I actually feel I got ripped off.
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  oyvho

  Dec 29, 2019

  Buying this game or Solarix gives you access the Planet Ancyra Chronicles, which is a non-violent combination of both games. They've both been optimized and run better with a lot fewer glitches, better graphics etc. The story is pretty interesting, with a lot of well acted voice-overs.
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  demarkil

  Apr 16, 2020

  This game is not for everyone. That's its strength. It's what it says, "a meditative" experience. It's a bit like trying to read "La société du spectacle" by Guy Debord without having studied any sociology or philosophy first. Its surface is flat, harsh and leaves you no purchase into it that you do not bring yourself. If you are bored, you can't play this game. If you have ever been truly lonely and considered the implications of that, you will find yourself on familiar ground. If you are unimpressed by the human condition and find the ideas of us just spreading out through the stars as we are today, you will find yourself in the real world, inside a game. This game is a nihilistic meditation. Cold, clear, beautiful and starkly uncaring. The end might be one of the most truly Lovecraftian episodes I've yet to see in this type of media. You will probably not like this game, and that's ok.