We reviewed Void Bastards on Switch

Driftwood
Friday, May 8, 2020 | 9:00 PM
3 comments

GSY Review PC PS4 Xbox One Switch

As always, Switch ports of indie titles are eagerly awaited by those who wish to be able to enjoy them anywhere. May is going to be pretty quiet in terms of new releases but the Nintendo Switch is welcoming a bunch of games other players have been able to enjoy for quite a while. Void Bastards is one of them as it was originally released about a year ago on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Inside, you will find 3 gameplay videos of the Switch version as well as our verdict. on the port.

Verdict

Void Bastards was not perfect back when it was originally released and quite logically those flaws have also landed on Switch. Because it's a roguelike, it's hard to avoid the feeling of repetitiveness that eventually pops out after exploring just another ship that looks very similar to the previous one, but what will undoubtedly give you the incentive to keep playing Blue Manchu's title is that it lets you keep the gear you unlock every time you die and your character gets replaced by a new one. Its atmosphere and art style are also 2 pretty good reasons to stick around as you will see in the footage we recorded. Considering it's an easy game to pick up and play for short sessions, the Switch release was clearly something people had been waiting for, but the port isn't perfect unfortunately. Performance isn't ideal when there are too many enemies around and they all start shooting (or exploding), which can affect gameplay a little bit, and even during more quiet exploration sequences, we've witnessed some micro-freezes both in handheld and docked modes. Our frame rate analysis tool also shows that the game isn't locked at 30, which would be fine if the game could handle high frame rates on Switch, but not only can it not, it can also drop in the low 20s at times. Although unstable frame rate is clearly not our cup of tea, we managed to put that aside and have fun. Another problem which isn't exactly due to the game itself is that playing in portable mode with the Joy-Con does not feel right. Void Bastards has never been a game with solid and precise shooting mechanics but it's made worse when you don't play with a Pro controller, especially when aiming vertically. Alas, the game does not support the console's gyroscope, which is a shame as it would have been such a great addition (it worked so well in PS Vita's Uncharted). As a result, we advise you to use the Pro controller whether you play in handheld or on your TV. Aside from those 2 specific problems, Void Bastards remains Void Bastards, so it's clearly a game to play if you're into the genre. Now as to whether or not you should pick it up on Switch and not another system, the decision is really up to you.

On the upside
Excellent art style
Great atmosphere
The gameplay loop works marvels....
Solid voice acting
The humor

On the downside
Some performance issues on Switch
Lack of precision with the Joy-Con
... but it's bound to get repetitive
The visited spaceships should be more varied

High quality stream and download

Commented on 2020-05-10 12:04:20

What a neat art style!
Is it me, or is the camera very low? Is it the protagonist particularly short?

In reply to

Driftwood

Commented on 2020-05-10 14:17:00 In reply to Prower

When you die, your character is replaced by another one and they all come with certain characteristics. In the first video, the character is really color blind while in the second he's very short.

Sdarts

Commented on 2020-05-10 20:19:05

I was really excited for Void Bastards ever since their first showing and kept tabs on it constantly, when it released and I got to play it, it was one of the biggest disappointments of my gaming life.

The fact that it's a roguelike is bad enough, but the lack of a proper story is it's biggest offense. The game gave me no incentive to kee playing it. Those upgrades mentioned in the Verdict felt bland and not all that useful in my 2 hours of playthrough. Without a story and any sense of progression, my time was being wasted.

Bland game design, bad shooting mechanics and little variety in strategies add to the monotony. The lore reason for swapping characters when one dies is perfect, as well as why they each have different characteristics and stats. But the unnecessary branching paths and random map generator are extremely repetitive.

I don't know if I had the luck of the devil, but the 5-6 ships I saw were basically the same, room and layout wise. So all this beautiful art style gets wasted in pointless repetitiveness, no story, bland game design and bad shooting mechanics, which make it a waste on a very mediocre game as well.

The fact that it's a roguelike is bad enough, but the lack of a proper story is it's biggest offense. The game gave me no incentive to kee playing it. Those upgrades mentioned in the Verdict felt bland and not all that useful in my 2 hours of playthrough. Without a story and any sense of progression, my time was being wasted.

Bland game design, bad shooting mechanics and little variety in strategies add to the monotony. The lore reason for swapping characters when one dies is perfect, as well as why they each have different characteristics and stats. But the unnecessary branching paths and random map generator are extremely repetitive.

I don't know if I had the luck of the devil, but the 5-6 ships I saw were basically the same, room and layout wise. So all this beautiful art style gets wasted in pointless repetitiveness, no story, bland game design and bad shooting mechanics, which make it a waste on a very mediocre game as well.