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0 VOIN is a new rogue-lite game with loot mechanics from Nikita Sozidar and tinyBuild. As of yesterday (10th December) it has launched into early access on Steam at an introductory price of £15.07. I played the demo a little time ago and enjoyed the gameplay then. So here’s hoping the early access is just as promising!
Rise my great creation!
Did you get to play the VOIN demo? What did you think of it? Let us know in the comments below.
Gameplay
VOIN’s intro begins with a voice of someone known as “Master”. This ominous voice tells our character (so far a nameless knight) to awaken. We are then led to navigate a set of caves and caverns which serve as the tutorial. Once done with the tutorial, we are sent to Amarict. Amarict is the games hub and here we have four portals we can go through. Two are for levels, while the other two are for upgrading yourself and gear. I do wish we had met the Master, or another NPC to help give an introduction to Amarict. It would have been nice to have someone explain the area as a newcomer. For example, going through a certain portal will lead you to the blacksmith in the molten area, and this is where you can upgrade your gear.
Speaking of gear, if you’re wondering where you can acquire any, quite handily it will drop from enemies randomly and typically will aid in buffing you up. This is also how you will loot for better equipment. Some of the gear that drops are artefacts, runes, weapons, heart, necklace, and rings. All in which provide effects to better fit your play-style. It is worth mentioning that the heart item represents your health, so it’s always best to double check the charges when choosing gear.
Runes, weapons and powers
The weapons in VOIN are atypical swords, daggers, and maces. No magic is shown as a primary form of fighting (sorry magic users). However, that doesn’t mean the game has no magic, it does, just in a minor way. For example through active abilities. Four are equitable at a time, and you must find a glowing light orb, to unlock them. One cool ability I found that was really helpful was the first one you collect. Using this makes you throw your sword and it spins for a few seconds. Very useful for crowd control.
Ichor acts as currency within VOIN. Ichor is given after slaying enemies and is used to level yourself and gear up. Right now you can level up, but it only increases damage given. Nothing else. I’m not sure if the developers plan to add stats but this would be helpful. Weapons, on the other hand, get an upgrade in rarity. When a weapon reaches the rarity called Primeval, you’re able to sacrifice useless gear to further improve it. I loved this because for a while I started getting too much junk loot and no way to get rid of it.
Two levels so far
Now, on to the two available levels in VOIN. They are decently sized, however, a big issue is more the lack of things to do. Besides fighting the enemies for loot of course. There are bosses, but they don’t stand out or have a grand intro. Which is a little disappointing. No check points are available either, so do take extra precaution. You heal by attacking foes with light/heavy attacks. Heavy will generate more health but at the cost of speed.
Dying in VOIN work similar to souls games where you drop all currently gained Ichor and weapons. Not to worry as you’re able to go get it all back. Thank god as I had a lot of loot at one point and was worried it was all gone. All you have to do is follow the red beacon of light, then attack the large blood orb thing.
Graphics & Audio
I really dig the art style of VOIN. Despite having a pixel-ish, retro style, everything looks incredible and almost realistic in some ways. The colouring is fantastic, and particularly glowing and bright orbs, lights and flickering flames both seamlessly blends nicely with the environment, or stand out perfectly when needed. Overall lighting is also brilliant overall. The only thing I’m confused/curious about is the enemy’s movement. I don’t know if it’s a style choice or not, but they look like they move almost in a 1 FPS style.
Road map
A roadmap is available (kinda) for VOIN, although it doesn’t have distinct dates on. I’m most excited about the narrative additions they aim to add.
Final Thoughts
I want to get some of my negative points out first before sharing what I really enjoyed. At the moment the game lacks depths in the way of story or even lore around the two levels I checked out. I don’t mind having to explore the area to find where I’m going, but when I reach the end (although I guess it’s not really an end), the boss fights are mediocre. The only real thing to do is grind loot, which becomes underwhelming. There wasn’t anything to really discover apart from chests which had, well, more loot
But, and I mean but, the Combat is amazing. I like the flow of using weapons, dashing, and powers in combat. It’s fast fun and doesn’t demand too much. The combat steals the show without a shadow of a doubt. The loot is simple to obtain and fun to level up personally. I want to beef up and play through a story and hopefully, over the course of VOIN’s early access, we will get some nice meaty lore.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this preview.
Are you looking for more rogue-lite games then, why not check out Kat’s PS5 review for Ravenswatch?
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