I used to play a lot of dwarven mining simulatorDeep Rock Galactic, and I’m also a big fan ofSea of Thieves, where I got to work as part of a crew steering a big unwieldy vessel. So what if there was a game that combined the best parts of those two games in an exciting new setting?
I recently discovered Void Crew, which is basically Sea of Thieves in the cold void of space, with Deep Rock Galactic’s structure superimposed on top. As something of a sci-fi nut, I’m in heaven, delighted to be playing a space game that isn’tStarfield.Cataloging the entire universe just isn’t my cup of tea.
The basic premise is relatively simple. You and up to three friends play as the crew of an spacecraft tasked with retaking the galaxy from a mysterious alien threat known as the “Hollow.” Just like in Deep Rock, you select missions from a central hub area, each of which consists of a handful of different objectives. You might have to ambush an enemy ship, recover lost data, escort a friendly convoy, and so on. There’s a nice variety of activities, and the mechanics tied to crewing the ship allow for all kinds of interesting emergent gameplay moments.
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Every time you begin a mission, you control of a basic spaceship. It will have all the essentials as standard, but if you want to survive the trials and tribulations ahead, you will need to make a few upgrades. You can find materials in space with which you can build better weapons, defenses, and facilities which will hugely increase your chances of success. Of course, as your ship grows more complex, the more moving parts you have to worry about, which is where things getreallyinteresting.
Almost all systems require power for a start, and there’s only so much juice to go around. You have to ensure that you’re only running systems that are required for the present moment or risk overloading your ship and losing all power, which could spell disaster if Hollow fighters are closing in. You also have to maintain the engines, make repairs on the fly, and be careful around the airlocks, which require a certain finesse to operate safely. I’ve seen more than one brave crew member sucked straight out into space after a careless moment.
All this complexity leads to some incredible moments, like when my friend was out on a spacewalk and enemy ships ambushed us. We had to scramble to get him back on board and shoot down the ships that had him in their sights before they vaporized him. Even when things go completely wrong it’s still a lot of fun. I have fond memories of desperately trying to charge the void drive while my pilot was attempting to avoid incoming missiles, any one of which would have blown us to bits had it found its mark.
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Void Crew is deep, tense, and still finds ways to surprise me dozens of hours in. For a game still in early access that’s no mean feat. The primary loop is rock solid, and it’s only going to get better with updates in the future.
Speaking of the future, there is one thing that I hope is added that would really push the game over the top, and that’s a PvP mode. I know, I know; we already have plenty of PvP-focused games, but I say this as someone who generally doesn’t like competitive games: Void Crew is crying out for player-on-player combat.
The one big issue with the game right now is that even on higher difficulties, the enemy ships lack the ability to truly take you by surprise outside of appearing suddenly in overwhelming numbers. They’re still a lot of fun to fight, but once you’ve played enough missions you’ll have seen the extent of what they’re capable of. A PvP mode, or even allowing for seamless invasion-style PvP, would solve this problem.
All the panicky fun of trying to stop your ship from falling apart, while fending off an enemy vessel at the same time, could only be enhanced by knowing there was a human intelligence, or intelligences, working against you. Chaos and unpredictability are two of Void Crew’s greatest strengths and a PvP mode could really lean into that. Even just seeing the ways other players set up their ships would be a lot of fun.
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Void Crew is at its best when everything goes wrong, and things can go wrong in so many wonderful ways when other players are involved.
I would relish having a big human-sized spanner thrown in the works while I was trying to complete another, relatively innocuous objective. The big problem right now is that after a while, the missions can become a little routine. A PvP mechanic a bit like the one inDeathloop, where other players could join your game as an adversary while you were going about your business, could really inject some new life.
Whatever happens in the future, Void Crew is definitely worth keeping an eye on. PvP or not, it’s a great game that deserves attention.
WHERE TO PLAY
Void Crew is a co-operative online game that sees you attempt to fend off a cosmic threat from aboard a spaceship.
