If you were to ask me to describe Post Void, the easiest way to put it is the unholy amalgam of Hotline Miami and SUPERHOT.  It takes the methodical planning of SUPERHOT and reverses it, putting movement and the drive to push through to the end as quickly as possible at the most breakneck of paces all set in a bright and colorful world that would feel at home in Denation’s hit series thanks to the blaring soundtrack of looping sounds that walk a thin line between noise and music that never fails to spout blood in the most glorious of ways.

The game starts off by vaguely setting up a thin narrative that explains that at a time, there was only the void and now there isn’t, or something along those lines, and then drops you into a tutorial that explains the basics. You can shoot, jump and slide and your goal is simple – keep the idol in your left hand full – if you don’t you’ll die. How do you keep it full? Well, that’s the fun part, you don’t, you just kind of keep enough in it to not die, and the only way to get small slivers of goo is to eliminate the enemies between you and the level’s exit. You also have to avoid getting hit, as this will lose some of your much-needed life force as well, but at the end of the day time is your greatest enemy.

The gameplay loop is a simple one, but one that will require many, and I do mean many runs to make progress in most cases. You will sprint from point A to point B which is a simple glowing pit killing everything as quickly and efficiently as possible as you work your way through the randomly generated maze that makes up each level. There are only 11 levels to the game that are mostly the same with minor changes that get slowly added as you progress and sadly, are never explained unless you figure them out yourself. An example of this is the fleshy-looking walls that you’ll find around the fourth level. Initially, I thought these were just meat walls akin to those found within the older Doom releases, but after a few misplaced shots took one out, I discovered they’re actually legit walls that can be destroyed. This would’ve been nice to know from the onset since this resulted in one of my many runs ending short. I am sure there are probably a few more of these treats in store for the player, but sadly I am still stuck at my peak of level seven, which seems to be higher than the average of the reviewers out there based on the trophy progress and leaderboard as I wrote this prior to release. Since you can’t reload and there isn’t a HUD to review, you’ll also have to count your shots, but on the plus side, ammo is unlimited.

Outside of not fully explaining every facet and the missing option to reload mid-clip, the combat is fast and fluid. Headshots have the expected result and become second nature after a few runs, and once you get in the zone it becomes one of the most cathartic shooters I have played in a while. You’ll spend your time in four-minute increments shooting what looks like Agent Smith from The Matrix if he shoved his head up an Isz’s from The Maxx and is wearing it like a hat, some gooey-looking monsters, tendrils that look like possessed tumors that protrude from walls, and these annoying flying turrets that look like those bastards that make the final levels of the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (just pick one, they are in pretty much any of them) brawlers a pain in the ass, and others I am sure I have yet to meet. The end result is a mostly satisfying loop that left me wanting more at each death, only losing some of its luster once I seemed to have peaked at level eight time and time again.

Upon the completion of each level, you’ll be offered one of three upgrades that last the remainder of the run. These upgrades are a mixed bag of great upgrades, such as increasing your idol size, increasing your clip size, or decreasing your reload speed; mediocre when looking at some of the “upgraded” weapons, and utterly useless in the case of the option to walk backward at rapid speeds. Personally, I am a huge fan of the weird-looking pistol you start the game with – it’s reliable, you can easily count your shots, and it reloads super quickly, but there’s also the option to swap this with a knife (this would be the mediocre weapon I mentioned earlier), a shotgun (also kind of mediocre) and an uzi (not mediocre but needs some key upgrades to work right). The arsenal could’ve been a bit bigger, which overflows into the upgrades themselves, as there are not many and I’ve had some really good runs go south at the flip of a coin because I had to take a complete garbage upgrade because you always have to pick one and all of my options completely sucked. After having failed what feels like hundreds of runs, it almost feels like you really have to get perfect luck when it comes to the drops to have a successful run, even if you do everything else near flawlessly.

From a presentation perspective, it checks the right boxes, but did leave me with a headache after a few of my longer sessions, as these 2D shooters that play in a 3D space tend to do when playing on my 4K set. There are also a ton of flashing white screens so if you’re prone to seizures, this is going to send you into overload mode. Despite this, I really enjoyed the aesthetic and how the enemies and assets looked like something I would’ve drawn in high school in the middle of an acid trip. Part of me wishes I was no longer sober because I can see this being an amazing experience while taking in some chemicals that alter one’s mindset. When it comes to the music, it’s catchy yet easy to zone out, akin to that found in Hotline Miami. 

At the end of the day Post Void is a budget title that is well deserving of your cash, despite a heavier reliance on luck than true skill. It’s a unique shooter that is addictive as it is frustrating, and with an asking price of less than the cost of a meal at your favorite fast food spot, you could do much worse with your money.

8 out of 10

Pros

• Unique Aesthetic
• Runs that Don’t Waste Your Time
• One of the Most Addicting Games I Have Ever Played

Cons

• Smaller than Average Upgrade Pool
• Some Overly Frustrating Enemy Types
• Tutorial Leaves Many Unknowns

Post Void was developed and published by YCJY Games in conjunction with Super Rare Games. The game is available on NS, PC, PS4 and PS5 at a later date. The game was provided to us for review on PS4. If you’d like to see more of Post Void, check out the publisher’s site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

 

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