Metroidvanias are a fascinating genre of video games that have evolved over time and added new mechanics, exploring different paths to expand their impressive capacity for immersion and to offer mobility tools that allow you to explore a huge map in which you can often get lost.

The proposal that Voidwrought offers is very interesting in many aspects and not so much in others, the game has clear inspirations in great metroidvanias both classic and recent, seeking to have its own identity in the mix of that compendium of mechanics that you unlock after achieving more progress in the story and in the game's mapping. 

A cryptic story about emptiness

La plot It is presented in a non-linear way, meaning that events are not necessarily told in chronological order and at the same time, they are not told in a clear way. What Voidwrought seeks is the disorientation itself in many aspects and uses the plot to involve the player by explaining small isolated events that make sense as more pieces of the puzzle are discovered.

In the same way, that plot has elements that are left to the imagination so that you fill in the gaps you may have or those that you cannot get, as is common in this type of arguments you can spend the entire game without understanding in the slightest what the story is about, which becomes a low point, because its story has very interesting components, but it fails to deliver that resource to the player, it becomes a decision whether or not you want to find out what is happening.

Its argument revolves around the ichor, the blood of the gods that is being retained and used by all kinds of monsters. Your task is to obtain this blood and return it so that the ancient gods can regain all their power. During the gameplay you will be able to put together the story by putting together the dialogues presented by the NPCs and interacting at small altars where you will be able to read tales of ancient stories about the kingdom and characters that existed in its world.

The Void is that place you want to reach, that which contains everything or nothing and which is impressive to visit the first time you reach it –which doesn't take that long of a game–. Although you can easily miss the whole plot, it is very well designed for what it seeks to offer: a non-linear, confusing story that aims to cause impact through rhetoric and lack of directness.

Voidwrought's art direction is its backbone

I was commenting on how important immersion is for a Metroidvania, as a vital part of that immersion is based on an artistic direction that leaves you speechless. The most famous metroidvanias contain artistic expressions that become references in many aspects of the video game industry and even outside of it. This is without a doubt the strongest point of Voidwrought, which does an impeccable job when it comes to presenting its world, its enemies and every visual detail of the adventure.

What stands out at first glance is the use of color, the color palette expands as you go through different levels and besides being the color that represents that area on the map, it is also vibrant as they use it to decorate the backgrounds of each of those spaces. They use really strong colors to explore the capabilities that each area has, those colors even complement the enemies you have in each area.

These colors also represent each area very well by playing with basic color theory to enhance certain emotions, an area that is extremely difficult uses a hue that inherently keeps you alert, a calmer area uses tones to evoke that feeling – I avoid saying specifically which colors or areas to avoid spoilers – so its surroundings use resources to become part of it.

Exploring around, I came across countless times a masterful use of color. Some places stand out more than others. The first level is perhaps the simplest and least colorful. However, as you progress, the environments become spectacular, with effects like chromatic aberration used very effectively. The use of red is also more than successful when it appears on screen.

Morbid creatures and complex levels

The use of color in such a brilliant way is what consolidates the rest of the designs, ranging from simple skull-shaped enemies to morbid creatures of all kinds. Each enemy has very detailed characteristics in their appearance, looking carefully and dedicatedly made because they achieve the goal they seek, causing disgust or terror. In addition, the NPCs cause a lot of interest and draw enormous attention due to the way they look, making it interesting to talk to them and explore the rooms where they are found.

That brings us to the details that each level has: its hand-painted backgrounds are noticeable because they have the characteristic of drawing your attention completely, trying to see every little opening and every inaccessible area. Some of these areas that you can't reach are obvious to anyone who might guess, but other points seem to ask you for a power or ability that you don't quite understand how it could work, so it creates a feeling of wanting to come back later that is quite important. 

To achieve this feeling, it relies heavily on the use of light, there are spaces with lots of light and others that are completely dark where you can barely see where you are going. These small hidden surfaces that are entrances to discovering new secrets or abilities are indicated by small beams of light that emanate from the entrance, causing intrigue when you cannot access them or causing interest when you unlock the ability needed to enter.

Carefully designed bosses

Finally, the design of the main and secondary bosses stands out. The animations of their attacks are quite spectacular because those composed of magic powers are based on the color techniques I mentioned earlier, others use the level very well to make it seem like you can't avoid them, and finally, the more physical ones have aesthetic details when hitting that generate a lot of impact when you see them, normally due to the imposing design of the enemy you must face.

Voidwrought masterfully uses color, light and other design elements to achieve a visually very impressive and immersive adventure, it knows how to compose and make its world look interesting thanks to very well-used visual techniques.

Voidwrought is a Metroidvania through and through: for better or worse

Voidwrought draws inspiration from many classic Metroidvanias, and we can see these inspirations in certain elements of its mobility, in primary or passive powers that resemble many of the secondary abilities of Castlevania or Metroid. However, its clearest inspiration is the mythical Hollow Knight, its gameplay tries in many ways to feel like that of its source of inspiration and this has great successes, but it fails a bit to feel more unique and authentic, especially since it has the tools to be so.

The gameplay starts with little mobility and very few exploration resources, these are expanded as we review the first area and defeat the first boss, this will give us the power to get under certain steps turning us into a kind of liquid to access new areas, we will also get the power to hang from an edge and use it as a support point for a new jump. The movement develops very well during the adventure, we will get more than five powers to explore each territory and consequently, we will have endless options to advance, making use of the mixtures that best suit our style.

Personalization is very present

On the one hand, we will be able to move as we want because the level design allows you to mix skills and traverse certain areas in different ways, on the other hand, we will have two elements to equip to perform special attacks: Axes that hit, vertical or horizontal rays, bouncing crystals, there is everything to make multiple mixes in combat, our basic attack will allow us to fill a purple meter that will enable us to launch our powers.

At the same time, you can equip three relics that will have passive abilities to increase your life, summon a specter to strike alongside you, obtain more resources, among many possible variations. In both things, Voidwrought has many options, all of which you will have to find on the map, so the desire to explore increases a lot, thinking about all the possible hidden abilities that we will get after some battles or secret walls.

Memorable battles with imposing bosses

Of course, all of these combat and mobility elements carry over into some very interesting boss battles. The first boss you face makes it very clear that you must use both elements to beat him, and it works as a great tutorial because it forces you to use the environment and your first skills to dodge him and attack at his weakest moments. The following bosses will gradually become tougher, some even taking over various parts of the level as a stage in order to beat them.

In addition to the story battles, there are side enemies that will provide a huge challenge. One particular fight against a unique enemy had me trying it at least ten times, their attack patterns were fast and confusing, it was the thought of the rewards that kept me trying – it had also become personal after so many defeats – I was rewarded with a special power that made it all worthwhile. Voidwrought uses those resources wisely and makes it feel satisfying to go all out against fearsome foes.

The gameplay is fun, dynamic, and pretty customizable to your playstyle, whether you're a risk-taker or a more patient one who waits for the best moment to strike. Voidwrought includes a lot of things that have a lot of synergy with each other, but fails to offer anything truly new or unique that belongs to this particular game. It applies a formula that we know works, includes known powers and elements making some interesting mixes but always staying safe and within the limits of its source of inspiration.

The sound aspect of Voidwrought meets and complements 

As for the music and sound effects, the game proposes fairly simple elements. It fulfills in detail what is necessary to feed its atmosphere. Its main goal is to make you feel alone, to make it uncomfortable and that is why it has subtle melodies or even silence in many of the levels. The sound effects go very well with each enemy, especially because they are in keeping with those very detailed designs.

The level and character sounds are very well done, as well as the color referencing the mood that an area can display, using the soundtrack to enhance it, sometimes trying to make it more scary and desolate, sometimes trying to make it feel calmer. As is common in PC games, the sound comes ridiculously loud by default, so I recommend adjusting it a bit before starting the game.

Performance, Language and Recommendations

Voidwrought is a game with fairly simple requirements for today's technological industry, my video card is an Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Ti and it ran the game without any frame drops or similar problems. The game is very well optimized, even when there were a lot of enemies or dynamic particles and decorations on the screen I didn't suffer any drops, it always ran at a stable 60 fps at a resolution of 1920×1080.

It is translated into several languages, including Spanish, which I highly recommend using because the way it tells the story is already quite confusing in itself. If you play it in a language you don't master perfectly, you will miss many details because it uses atypical words and in many cases the sentence structures are quite particular. I loved how well it is translated into Spanish compared to its English version, maintaining that confusing narrative with far-fetched words that makes sense with how they intend to present the story.

Conclusion

Voidwrought is a very good Metroidvania from the soulslike branch – trying to mix the classic with the modern –, its gameplay is very fun and how it evolves feels satisfying, you can move very quickly in different ways reaching new areas. As a result, its exploration is well done and invites you to want to discover more of every detail in its world.

Above all, its artistic design is what really elevates the title and allows it to position itself as a Metroidvania that I would recommend playing, it is what keeps everything else making sense, helping it to transmit very interesting emotions. However, the game, having the resources to be unique, was afraid of stepping out of the shadow of Hollow Knight and proposing something new that would take it a step further, there really is a lack of some distinctive element that would allow me to recommend this game over others.

It is a game that metroidvania lovers will enjoy but will find quite generic in many aspects. On the other hand, it is a great game to get started in this world because it encompasses the main characteristics of the genre very well.