Void Scrappers Review

I’ve been addicted to Void Scrappers ever since I downloaded it, and I love its simple yet addicting premise, but I do have a few problems with this game. So I just spoiled my review for you all, but with this title so straight to the point, why should we dilly-dally? And with that out of the way, let’s get to it!

In Void Scrappers, you play as a little spaceship and blast hordes of aliens while collecting scrap pieces to upgrade your ship during runs. You can also collect weapon upgrades to gain the other hand on your enemies before being blasted to bits in seconds. After a run, you can purchase permanent upgrades, such as a better attack and a more robust shield. These enhancements will stick around throughout your time with the title hence the word permanent. It’s a relatively simple premise, but it’s so damn addicting, and I honestly couldn’t stop playing for three days straight. The process of constantly unlocking things and playable characters and then experimenting with those things is an awesome gameplay loop. There is also a good variety of weapons and scrap upgrades, and it was surprising to see how rarely they would repeat in subsequent playthroughs. So stepping back and examining everything the developers have crammed in here, it’s safe to say 8BitSkull exceeded its goal of creating a game that was clearly inspired by Vampire Survivors while ensuring the final product didn’t feel like it borrowed too much from its source. But that’s where my problems lie with Void Scrappers, the fact the developers didn’t spend time on the crucial aspects that make a cohesive experience.

Everything about Void Scrappers looks and sounds great, but the menus are basic, and the text displayed after you fail is very pixelated and hard to read. It’s also annoying how often the game interrupts the flow of play to force you to choose an upgrade, and once you’re a few minutes into a run, these interruptions become more frequent, and it gets old quickly, at least for me. I’m sure many others didn’t mind these quick pauses in gameplay, but when the action on screen gets intense, every split second is crucial, and anything that forces you to take a break can be catastrophic. I don’t have a clear idea of how this problem could be fixed in the future as I’m not a game designer, but I hope it is at least improved because I want to keep playing, and unfortunately, this issue could potentially cause me to stop for good. As previously mentioned, upgrading your ship is baked into the Void Scrappers experience, so potentially getting rid of the nagging menus might be impossible.

Still, there isn’t any reason that it couldn’t be done. This might be a pedantic complaint since/because it's a core mechanic of the game, but every second counts in a shooter. But every second counts in a shooter requiring split-second movements. I can remember several examples of being killed because the flow of gameplay was interrupted by a menu. I'd much rather have a simple pop-up in the right-hand corner of the screen that tells me when there's an upgrade available and perhaps make it controllable with the D-pad or right analogue stick since the game only uses the left one. So hopefully, the team can fix it in a future update, but I would’ve preferred it being fixed before Void Scrappers was released to the public.

At least the sound effects and music are good, though, and all the playable characters have their own unique attributes and playstyles, which definitely increases replay value and is so great to see. At first, I only noticed the first music track, but after staying on the pause screen for several minutes, I noticed a bunch more, and they all sounded super good. The sound effects add to the gameplay with the explosions and beam noises, but I wish they were more prominent as they can be hard to hear sometimes, especially in the heat of the battle. There also isn't any story, which I don't mind because — in a game like this — having a plot would just complicate things. With this title being an arcade-style shoot-‘em-up, the sound effects and music create an intense atmosphere without getting in the way of gameplay too much. But it still would’ve been nice if they had been recorded with more of a punch to them.

Void Scrappers is an incredibly addicting roguelike shoot-'em-up game with tons of upgrades and an impressive amount of replay value. However, a menu system that does its job very well in regards to what it’s trying to accomplish but is lacking when it comes to being easy to use and overall intuitiveness, along with some sound effects that don’t quite reach their potential. This makes for an experience that is ridiculously fun at times but isn't without its flaws.