Post Void (2020)

In this quick run-based shooter, health and time are a shared pool that recovers by killing enemies. I only played a couple hours of shooters with mouse & keyboard in my life before this, so the first 10 minutes felt impossible, but it was remarkable how through that single mechanic, the game smoothly taught me to play in the most effective and fun way. While Doom Eternal (which, don't get me wrong, will be high on my GOTY list) accomplishes a similar goal of intense, flowing combat through sheer complexity, this game more or less does it through simplicity--the progression curve ends up feeling less like Doom and more like challenging, bite-sized mobile games that I love like Super Hexagon. It was really refreshing and easy to get into.

The game is structured as a roguelite, emphasis on "lite" as there's not too much to it--random upgrades can shape your playstyle a bit, but it's not really possible for "bad rng" to screw over a run or anything like that, and there's no long-term progression outside your own mind and reflexes. The main advantage this structure offers is that not much is lost on death and there's nothing to worry about besides making it to the goal. I find this much easier to get into than something like Void Bastards that has a bunch of long-term stuff going on that I don't care about.

The last thing to note about the game is that the visuals are crazy, almost a little too much I would say, but it works in the same sense that the trippier aspects of Hotline Miami work. Once you're in the zone, it all fades to the periphery and all that matters are the enemies. It's a simple but very effective and very fun game, one of the most fun shooters I've played in recent years. Forgetting about cover and upgrades and unlocks is a breath of fresh air and the game is changing my mind about playing shooters on a PC.

tl;dr - Super Doom Hotline Hexagon Eternal Miami, 9/10

This is my favourite FPS of 2020 thus far. Does that make sense in the year of (our lord) Doom Eternal? It's just that good.

Post Void takes the climactic mad dash sequence at the end of many a ten hour experience and says 'that was the best bit - what if that was it?'

And it feels so good to actually complete a roguelike for once. Post Void is bite-sized in the best ways. Not stubbornly difficult, but not not at all dastardly, upon dying you'll realise you haven't taken a breath for the last thirty seconds. Void's roguelike upgrades break up the experience of a void of air into literal breathable portions in a five minute run. Void is exhausting.

Is it a perfectly-honed, perfectly balanced experience? God no - and no thank you. Halo-esque overpowered pistol syndrome is here in earnest. It's overly accurate and can be almost endlessly fired, but why not? It let me complete a run. Whilst I'm not up to a knife run-level quite yet, the other weapons remain fun to play with. Consider them artificial difficulty!

There are a dozen things I could say Post Void is 'all about.'

It's all about its game feel. It could just be new PC magic, but dispatching foes with headshots whilst aiming backwards during a slide is... easy? Post Void makes this frantic scramble also feel effortless when you're on top of it. I just hope that unlocked frame rate update is possible for extra slickness.

It's all about its fever pace. Post Void is actually a game of survival. You have to navigate a fine balance between killing to replenish your ever-depleting health reserves, avoiding enemies carving away yet more, and making a jumping/sliding beeline for the exit. This pace is uniquely married to its music. Its one track dovetails perfectly, but replace it with the official unofficial soundtrack (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5U5EZgDNJ8HGHdVebHUD3A) and Post Void becomes transcendent.

It's about its goddamn aesthetic. This is what hell must look like - and it's heavenly. Winding corridors and nonsensical rooms of unholy sensory overload and visual noise. Stylish to the extreme.

It's about its leaderboards. That's not my scene exactly. I'm just happy to survive a run. The determining equation revealed on the forums is sufficiently deep to support an interesting scene here, though.

I'm a big fan of any ultra-budget, bloatless slice of sublimity. Post void delivers the FPS as pure experience. Bursts of breathless near-perfected audiovisual and gameplay consonance in a guiltless package. Nothing more, nothing less.