A Void Hope Review (PC)

I’m jumping from stone staircase to stone staircase, at night, keeping the dark, virus-transformed creature behind me. The idea is to get him into the light and then shoot him with my weapon. This will not kill this man but will buy my own character time to get past him and to the door I am targeting. Losing your memories apparently leaves you able to navigate city streets but incapable of pushing on doorknobs.

Keegan swiftly deals with a series of jumps and elevator rides to reach another exit, which gets me higher in the level. I push forward to get to the next screen, which features one metro station I can unlock to get around faster. Unfortunately, to get there I need to deal with one of the infected, who’s quick to spot me and give chase.

A light provides a save spot but also a safe area from which to target the incoming enemy. I deal with the threat and enter a building. A few jumps on some boxes and I find the path is blocked. So, I turn back, go right, drop down one level, and find a switch I need to shoot. Once I do that, I have access to an elevator and then to a roof I can jump off.

A Void Hope is developed and published by Elden Pixels. I played it on the PC using Steam. It is also offered on the Nintendo Switch. The game mixes light platforming with puzzle solving, with a focus on emotion-driven storytelling.

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A short prologue sets up a world that’s very much like our own but affected by a dangerous virus. It robs people of their memories and, apparently, their personalities. It also makes them violent, ready to lounge at those who are not infected and kill them. A couple is caught in the middle of this dangerous situation and seeks a solution.

Keegan and Gilda are in love and planning to have a kid. When the virus strikes, they try to escape by moving to a cabin in the countryside. But they are not safe there and Gilda is determined to help the world create a cure. The story features some strong emotional moments and is drenched in loss and longing.

From my perspective as a citizen of a world that has recently faced a contagious disease and its effects, A Void Hope’s setup is not entirely coherent. There are people still congregating, even if there are plenty of boarded-up doors, with no precautionary measures. Those who are infected only turn into monsters and attack when the player character enters their sight line. These choices are needed to make gameplay work, but they also limit immersion.

Exploration and light platforming are the core mechanics. Players move across the screen, seeking to find an exit from the current level and to complete a set of tasks. Maybe it’s important to remember an important moment from life before the virus hits or it might be time to secure a particular item or interact with something inside the level.

A Void Hope is a side-scrolling experience, and the player-controlled characters don’t have many movement options. Their jumps are limited, especially in terms of height, which means a lot of time is spent finding and pushing around crates that will open up access to certain areas. Characters can drop down or jump and cling to ladders, some of which can be hard to spot.

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To cut down on time spent running around, gamers will find and open up metro stations. Inside buildings, elevators need to be activated to move between floors when stairs are unavailable. Control panels open steel doors to new rooms and areas. The puzzles aren’t hard to understand and solve, although they sometimes require backtracking. As the hero gets more items, they can get into areas that were previously inaccessible.

Because virus-affected humans are violent, A Void Hope also features combat. The protagonists use a gun, which uses some fiddly targeting but mostly does its job. But enemies aren’t killed, they are only blinked out of existence for about 10 seconds. They then come back and start chasing the protagonist until he exits that screen.

This decision creates tension and forces players to be aware of their surroundings. But because there’s plenty of backtracking required, it also makes combat feel like busy work. It doesn’t help that enemy states reset when the protagonist leaves and comes in.

A Void Hope’s gameplay doesn’t increase in difficulty, which is a good thing because it keeps frustration down. But it also lacks depth. The focus is on the narrative and the universe’s weirdness. I actually wanted to have more information about the virus and how society failed to control it and learned to live with its consequences.

A Void Hope adopts a retro, pixel art look that mostly works with the main theme and its mechanics. The world is a little sparse, there’s not much detail to the characters, but the game does a good job of highlighting the doors and objects players can interact with. There’s an option to apply a CRT filter to add another layer of nostalgia but I kept it off mostly because it can make it harder to spot details.

The game’s sound effects fit the universe but aren’t very interesting on their own. The pistol sounds especially pitiful. But the soundtrack is a great asset. Created by Waveshaper, it takes classic 80s cues, mixes them with more recent influences, and delivers an unsettling yet fun set of songs. They make the action more immersive and are great to listen to on their own.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion