“Prepare to fend off attacks from all directions in this hybrid strategy roguelite deck builder. On your journey through varied grid-based biomes, battle unique foes and make tough moral choices to restore a corrupted land and decide the fate of your world.”

Moral choices, corrupted lands, and the Void? Other than the deck building aspect, developer RuneHeads‘ game, Journey to the Void, seemed tailor made for me. And when I see a game that fits my niche, I play it. Here’s what I found waiting in the demo.

The Journey Begins

The premise of Journey to the Void is definitely a deviation from what I expected. Instead of playing as a typical hero, you technically don’t even play as a person. The protagonist is an alien being called the Star, which uses humans as hosts to accomplish their goal of saving the planet. To do so, they battle, barter, and make RPG-esque choices to gain an alien power called Essence, all in an effort to reunite with the Void. And the Star is willing to sacrifice as many humans as it takes to accomplish this, which is where the unique element of embodying a new host after each former hosts’ deaths comes into play, allowing the game to continue.

While I’m unfamiliar with deck builders, I quickly found the gameplay to be addictive. The tutorial is well done, easy to follow, and works storywise, even if the fourth wall has to be broken a bit. Once I got the hang of the card system, it was very fun building my hand and seeing if I could get the right mix of cards to knock out the enemies surrounding me. Since the player is unable to move from their spot in the middle of the grid, there’s emphasis put on taking it slow and tailoring your hand to fit the situation while waiting for the monsters to close in. But since the two out of the three card decks available have a limited number of cards (a deck for powerful attacks and a deck for healing and buffs), you want to make sure you don’t waste those ones. It ends up being well balanced.

Stellar Presentation

Onto the aesthetic of Journey to the Void. The art style is adorable, and while it juxtaposes the grim nature of the game, it does so in a way that keeps it from being a horror game. The music is enjoyable. Although there are only two regions in the demo (Ice and Fire), the soundtrack changes depending on which one you’re at. I’m a huge fan of that. The main menu’s theme deserves a special shoutout, too. And I once again want to reiterate how much promise I see in the Star as a protagonist. They want to save the world, yet they are exceedingly cruel in their method and don’t care how many of the world’s inhabitants die. The contradictions there could make for an excellent character study. I imagine the full game does something incredible with that, especially once moral choices come into play.

Smoothing Out the Edges

There are areas where I can see improvement, but they are easy fixes. The game does feel repetitive and like you aren’t making progress. That’s likely due to it being a demo and therefore not a fully realized roguelite. What cards you draw is mostly luck based, with only your background or certain prior choices influencing the kind of cards that can be drawn. It’s really up to player preference whether that’s enjoyable or not. It can be a bit frustrating getting only cards that hit to the side multiple times in a row when all your enemies are right in front of you. However, it’s not a game breaking experience. Regarding the choices, they add some color to the world, but don’t seem to have a massive impact, which is a bit disappointing. Again, it’s a demo and there’s only so much that can be shown. I imagine it’s greatly expanded upon in the full game.

Essence of the Game

Something I want to bring special attention to is the Codex. I absolutely loved reading through it. Not only do the weapon and monster entries give insight into the world, but also helps the player learn about our protagonist. Since the entries are “written” by the Star, players get a glimpse into their mind and personality. One entry that stood out to me was of the corrupted Renegade Demon, which stated, “The Renegade Demons are willing to venture deep in the regions, knowing they’ll be corrupted. Even Demons have more moral principles than I do.” It gives a bit more insight into the Star and how they view themselves, and I love when games give extra details like that!

All in all, I’ve very much enjoyed the Journey to the Void demo, and definitely plan on playing the full game! The developers have set up an excellent foundation for a truly fantastic tale, and I’m excited to see everything come to fruition! Not to mention reaching the Void!

Journey to the Void is available on PC via Steam and Nintendo eShop, and soon to be on Epic Games Store. Start your, well, journey to the void today!