Void Sols review

I have tried a few Souls-like games in my time but have always found them anxiety-inducing and intimidating, not to mention that they don’t mesh with my innate lack of patience. I have too much of a tendency to drift into gung-ho territory, forgetting that I am playing something that requires a careful, methodical approach and not a more forgiving, flamboyant actioner like Devil May Cry. Void Sols still gives me a great deal of anxiety and has the intimidation factor, yet somehow I found this Geometry Wars-styled top-down Souls experience extremely palatable, not to mention furiously addictive from the off.

You play the role of a triangular wedge and are placed in a bleak, yet gorgeously atmospheric prison setting, with just a basic sword and a dash ability in your repertoire at the start. As you patrol the dimly-lit environment, other angular shapes will approach you from the darkness, and kill you repeatedly until you learn the nuances of combat and evasion, are able to take a patient and cautious approach, and get to know the limitations of your current level and available techniques. As you work your way through the game you light torches which not only illuminate your path, but serve as a glowing breadcrumb trail to remind you of your progress. You find items, some of which are fiendishly hidden away on the labyrinthine map. There are also the titular Sols to find which award precious experience.

You also find generously-positioned save points where you can replenish your health and reset the stage, respawning the enemies in the process. During the save state you can also spend any experience points to level up your character, granting increases to speed, stamina, power, and suchlike. Stamina plays a huge role in Void Sols as you only have a limited amount in order to perform any of the required actions in the game. Your main attack has a cooldown period that varies depending on which weapon you are using and your current level. Like any good Souls game, this rewards progress by incrementally making life a lot easier the more powerful you are, and the better gear you find.

There are relics and artefacts that buff your abilities, and you also unlock life-replenishing potions that can be eventually recharged by defeating foes. You also get a secondary ability, the first few of which are a ranged dagger projectile, useful for taking out smaller enemies from a distance, or a shield that is extremely handy in blocking the attacks of more powerful assailants. Some enemies require a completely different approach to others, so the ability to save and switch between different pre-loaded loadouts is a great inclusion.

They may just be glowing, angular shapes, but the menagerie of enemies in Void Sols are genuinely terrifying. I cannot remember being genuinely unnerved by something that looks like it was ripped out of a 1980s arcade since the eerie atomic conflict nightmare of Missile Command or the eponymous villain in Sinistar. You will find yourself cautiously approaching each new area not knowing what exactly is going to emerge from the darkness to attack you. Combat is thankfully very satisfying, even when you are deeply underpowered, as you quickly learn how to survive. Swinging your sword results in a hefty clunk, sparks fly and blades clash, with a bombast that belies the relatively simplistic visual style. When you eventually get a more powerful tool to smash things with, like a big ‘ol hammer, it feels great revisiting a baddie that had given you all manner of trouble when you only had a puny dagger, and crushing them to smithereens in one hit. Crunch.

The first time you encounter a boss is extremely memorable. Suddenly you are faced with a creepy, super powerful beast that stalks you around a series of columns, swinging two enormous blades when it gets you in its sights. As you wear down its health, support arrives in the form of some smaller, swarming critters, as a cacophonous drum and bass rattle fills your ears. Again, you will probably die a fair bit until you learn the patterns and nuances of this devilishly tricky beast, but it is oh so satisfying when everything clicks and you finally smoosh it with a swing of your melee weapon or a well-aimed flying projectile.

Once free of the constraints of the murky prison, Void Sols opens up quite dramatically and you find yourself in a much bigger, yet no less intimidating wider world, with a variety of different biomes to explore. There are also some cool additional modes including a punishing Trials scenario. Upon first play, the worry is that the game was overly simplistic and needed a bit more oomph to really establish it as a relevant Souls contender – but thankfully that has been achieved. I was taken aback by what a great idea this really is – boiling a concept down to something that is simple in execution but with a level of depth that belies the hostile geometry patterns and sparse initial level. It kept my interest for far longer than any other game of its ilk, and is perfectly suited to the Steam Deck where I spent my time with it. Great stuff.