Void Crew – PS5 Review

Void Crew is a co-op focused space management/combat/survival game that comes to us from Copenhagen-based coders Hutlihut Games after a successful stint on Steam two years ago.

The game sees you battling against a mysterious alien force known as The Hollow through a series of missions in a rogue-like manner.  There’s really not much of a story here and, instead, the game just kind of throws you into the action with a tutorial that you really need to be ready for.  Have a coffee and ‘carb up’ or something because the information drop you get at the start is considerable.

Essentially, it all comes down to you and, preferably, some co-op buddies running a space ship.  The tutorial takes you through each of the responsibilities that you may end up taking on as a crew member and there are quite a few of them to get your head around.

The first task is to power up your ship which is possible thanks to a weird artifact called the Homunculus.  Slot that into place and you’ll get power to all your other systems: life support, engines, weapons and so on.  Then you’ll be taught how to use and maintain everything.  This is important because during battle any number of things can happen such as you losing oxygen or the ship getting fatally hot or cold.  Damage to the ship will affect its mobility, losing power will leave you hopeless.  And you’ll also be required to leave the safety of the ship to go on missions or just repair your hull.

Initially it’s all a bit much.  The initial learning curve is steep and unrelenting and that’s before you even get into the usual rogue-like issues about how to manage your build.

But eventually it will all start to click and you’ll settle into a role on the ship.  Although you can do whatever job needs doing, a persistent skill tree will see you focus on what you’re good at but there are essentially four main roles.

The pilot is probably the most essential role – although all of them matter – because they get you into the action while making sure to avoid enemy attacks.  They can also fire off missile payloads if you’ve got them and identify targets (which then take more damage if the captain tags them).

Gunners get to have all the fun.  There are fixed points on the ship where you can build weapons (as well as shield, power, life support and other items).  You get to be the star quarterback, destroying fleets of enemy ships but away from your gun emplacement you might feel like a fifth wheel.

Engineers are in the ‘she cannae take it’ role.  Desperately making repairs, putting out fires, redistributing power and making sure you don’t all freeze to death when a Frostmorph hits you with an icy blast.

Finally, the Scavenger is built to go outside.  Generally they land on half-destroyed bases and structures and use their manoeuvrability and improved oxygen consumption to carry out off-ship tasks.   But, anyone can do any task.  Sure, each class gets a special ability that makes their job easier but you can all muck in.

While destroying enemies and completing missions, you’ll find loot.  This will either be alloy clusters that are used as building materials in a sort of 3D-printer called a Fabricator.  Here you can break down unwanted items, feed it alloys and ultimately build new guns, defences and utility items.  And there are lots of great things you’ll want.

Upgraded guns are essential to later survival, improved Gravity Scoops allow you to capture loot with ease, shields keep you safe and AI defences keep proximity mines and missiles out of your hair.  And that’s just some of the goodies out there but don’t get greedy as you need to manage your power reserves.  Do you want an extra life support unit that’ll keep your ship at a comfortable and safe 21c or do you want an upgraded gun to take out Hollow bastards with?

And like any good roguelike, that’s the appeal here.  Can you pull together an excellent build that’ll allow you take on the game’s three rather tricky bosses?  Can you survive when a void tunnel collapses and you’re ambushed by another sub-boss?  Can you keep it together when a storm knocks out some of your power capacity?

When Void Crew is at its best, it’s quite an incredible game.  You feel like you really are on a small ship, with a small crew.  Each space battle is epic and more than a little scary.  Every bit of permanent damage to your hull is a swipe at your very soul.  And when it all comes together it feels great.

Our PlayStation Country crew of four players have had some great successes and some heartbreaking failures but a good run that makes you the Hollow’s worst nightmare is as good as it gets on PSN for a real co-op experience.  It nails the feel, drama and excitement of being on your own Serenity.

And the visuals, which initially might seem a little nubs when you’re on the ship become a real delight when you’re looking at colourful space-scapes, nebulas and galaxies from out of your nearest window.  The frame rate can protest a little but there’s a real sense of spectacle with this game and we love it.

However, it’s not all good news.  Aside from that fussy and miserable tutorial, there’s a lot that you have to figure out yourself or read about in forums.  And because runs are SO VERY LONG (we did a 4+ hour one yesterday) you’ll be a little scared to experiment.

More worrying is the way that game eventually starts to develop longer and longer pauses.  You’ll think the game has crashed a bunch of times and it won’t have, but you’ll think it has.  In fact at the end of yesterday’s epic run we all got a black screen that lasted for at least two hours.

And that’s before you look at last Monday’s session where we had two promising two hour runs both fail because of glitches and crashes.  Our pilot got kicked out and we ended up as a sitting duck in a boss battle and then I, as the gunner, just suddenly wasn’t synced with the ship and ended up dying of space exposure.  And I was the host.

Yep, the netplay and general stability are concerning as hell and when runs take so long, it makes you nervous the whole time.

But when Void Crew works, there’s nothing like it.  A perfect co-op experience and one of the best space shooter games we’ve played since Chorus.  Hopefully they’ll stabilise it a bit in the future because if they do, this will remain a firm co-op favourite for ages.  Oh and, of course, it’s not all that fun to play solo.