14 DAY TRIAL // Void Expanse is a spacefaring shooter / role-playing game from AtomicTorch Studio that just got into Alpha, which means that the first playable version is ready for careful scrutiny.
The game plays as a 2D top-down shooter, although it has full 3D assets, and has you going around the great outdoors equivalent of the universe, which has a lot less buffalo to exterminate and a lot more lasers coming your way.
Void Expanse presents an open-world adventure that allows you to explore the vast universe, mine asteroids for resource, kill pirates and aliens, loot them, upgrade your ship and your character and embark on various quests that will slowly unveil the story behind all the shooting action.
It comes with procedurally generated galaxies that are multiplayer enabled, and although its mechanics are quite simple, it's surprisingly fun to play, kind of like a scrolling shooter with more purpose to it.
When you level up, you can improve your prowess as a space navigator by investing skill points into different abilities, gaining small maneuverability bonuses, allowing access to bigger ships and stronger weapons, expanded cargo space, more efficient mining and many others.
You can also change and improve your ship, with different hulls having a different number and type of weapon hardpoints available, as well as other upgradable systems such as better generators or radars and even consumables that you can employ during battle for a quick shield boost.
Combat is the high point of Void Expanse, and it presents an enjoyable experience, with easy controls that get increasingly harder to master as you start facing better equipped opponents and especially so when you find yourself outnumbered, as a couple of hard hitting missiles can quickly put you out of commission.
You can use missiles, lasers and projectile weapons to take down opponents during your adventures through space, and the nice thing about it is that you have complete freedom to tailor your payload to your preferred playing style, from fast-moving lower damage missiles or powerful laser cannons that allow you to keep your distance to short-range heavy hitters that are at optimum efficiency when you're rushing headlong into your enemy.
You also have to aim carefully if you want to score hits, and all weapons have a certain cone of effective reach, which varies in width from weapon to weapon and depends on your facing and what side of the ship they're mounted on, and that you have to take into account while maneuvering your way around skirmishes.
Speaking of maneuvering, combat is especially satisfying once you get the hang of strafing and start learning how to move around your opponents in order to position yourself for decisive strikes, and performing evasive turns in order to get out of harm's way becomes second nature.
Your time will generally be spent trekking around the vast reaches of space, finding lootable debris and mining asteroids, interspersed with the occasional fight with space pirates. You can also go on missions, some of which are repeatable like killing some pirates or aliens, while other revealing various storylines.
There are some nice touches to the game, such as the screen getting saturated and a lot brighter when you go near stars and noticing an increased gravitational pull or the fact that you can collide with enemy ships to take their shields down faster.
But by far, Void Expanse's main appeal is the top-down combat and high-speed maneuvering, strafing around enemies and then charging in for the kill, constantly changing position in order not to get hit by projectiles and gradually improving your ship and character, and seeing how all your xp points translate into smoother movement, increased acceleration and more resilience while fighting.
It does get a bit repetitive from a certain point onward, but it feels like a type of more rewarding and diverse scrolling shooter, rather than a veritable space combat sim, which makes it ok. I for one am looking forward to seeing what AtomicTorch Studio will add to the game from this point on.
Void Expanse is currently available for purchase on its website's store page, allowing instant access into the alpha, as well as any future releases.
