Full Void Nintendo Switch Review 7 / 10 "A Slice of Cinematic Cyberpunk" 👤 @outofthebit #IndieGame #GameDev

The cinematic platformer is a genre well-suited to Switch, as the impact of the pixel visuals works especially well in docked mode, when you can snuggle up in bed or in a comfy chair and dive into a genre that tends to never be overlong, by design, making them relaxing experiences over a night or two.

Developer OutOfTheBit Ltd have delivered a strong slice of such action, in a wonderfully wordless experience that clocks in at around a couple of hours, making it a breezy game to replay – in a similar vein to Devwill Too on MD, a game I routinely return to each year, for its brevity and melancholy.

In Full Void, you play as a teenager making their way across a city at night towards some unknown goal. As mentioned above, the whole game plays out wordlessly, with the narrative unveiling itself in the environments encountered, brief snapshots of life ‘as it once was’ and in the gesticulations and actions of your character.

Alternating between cinematic chase sequences and slower-paced puzzle rooms – often boiling down to simple box / switch / timing puzzles – the real strength of the game comes through the narrative beats and atmosphere.

Finding the puzzles to be repetitive and a handful of the chase sequences to be based a little too much on trial and error (although this isn’t an issue as death or failure instantly resets you in that room) I instead found myself drawn to the atmosphere, the beautiful purplish, parallax backgrounds and urban horizons melding perfectly with subtle audio design and musical cues all really sucked me in, and if anything, made me wish that Full Void was instead a lengthier and more exploratory title, relying on the story, atmosphere  and locations as opposed to the puzzle scenes that block progress.

SUMMARY

A game that shines in its sound, visuals and environmental design, the tried-and-tested approach to the puzzles that litter Full Void may appeal to some, but for me, the real gold lies in simply traversing its silent, melancholic world.