I need my enemies to bleed, bleed, bleed. As long as I draw the blocks I need and as long as I occasionally pick up another attack these marine creatures, including Bruce the shark, have no way to defeat me. With a bit of luck, I might even get the card that allows me to get back some lost health. I suspect I’ll need it for the coming end of the floor boss battle.
Vault of the Void is both developed and published by Spider Nest Games. The experience is currently in Early Access on Steam, with the creator delivering updates at a good pace and a potential launch in early 2022.
The game is a very good mix of rogue-lite and card-driven battles. In pretty traditional fashion players get a hand of cards and need to use them smartly to defeat enemies. Combat features energy, discards, status effects, unique spells, blocking, and HP management. The meta map is focused on crossing floors, with tiles that feature battles but also plenty of other interactions.
What makes Vault of the Void different is that it is designed to give players control. Blocks are applied after attacks are delivered. Cards can be sacrificed to get more energy to play more cards. All combat feels tactical and there’s plenty of enemy variety to make deck customization important. The game also features gems to boost cards and special totems to add more options and more ways to craft a killer deck of 20 cards.
Vault of the Void looks pretty standard for its genre but lacks some originality. It’s easy to hover or click to get all the information required to see how cards, status effects, and everything else actually works. But the universe of the game does not lean too much into its potential weirdness, which is a shame. The soundtrack accompanies the card action well.
Conclusion
The biggest issue it might have is the delivery of too many interlocked mechanics. A more casual fan will have to read, play, and fail a few times before seeing how all the concepts work together for each of the classes and decks. But for people who have played card and rogue mixes before Vault of the Void is a gem, a game that delivers variety and makes every choice count.
Preview code provided by the publisher.