Title: Full Void
System: Evercade
Price: $19.99
Release Date: Late 2023
Story
In this cinematic platforming adventure, you take control of a young kid, out in a strange world guarded by robots, as one of the few remnants of humanity that was able to escape their overprotective wrath. This is a plot of “show, don’t tell”, and for a good chunk of the game I was honestly really digging the plot. It had some intriguing seeds planted, a few nods showing what led to the situation of the game’s world, and made great use of the pixel art for some impressive cutscenes.
Sadly, the game ends in a lame, rather abrupt way. I won’t spoil anything more besides that the ending has one of the only lines of text in any cutscene during the game, and it just declares itself a tribute to kids who “survived the lockdowns” from earlier this decade. Mind you, those lockdowns were the kind that saved children from literally dying in a pandemic, so the allegory the developers made with that weird tribute line really doesn’t make the rest of the game’s story hold up well at all.
Presentation
Full Void really kicks things into high gear with some outstandingly impressive pixel art. Sure, the title screen doesn’t seem all that different from a normal indie game, but once you get going into the game and the action picks up, you’ll quickly realize that the game’s cinema scenes are done a lot like that of Another World, a similar cinematic platformer, or Lunark, another tribute to the genre. What makes Full Void special in this regard though comes from how seamless the transition from gameplay to cinematic feels.
Even with the added detail, these cutscenes continue from the usual platforming scenes remarkably well, and that even goes for the death animations you encounter during the adventure. I can’t really describe it in any other way besides that the bump in pixel quality from a platforming segment to a cutscene/scripted event feels natural, and when even some cutscenes require you to still be on your toes and interact at the right times, the outstanding pixel art makes Full Void’s transitions flow very seamlessly.
The only real gripe I have with Full Void’s visual design is that a bunch of the areas are incredibly dull and dark looking, which fits the mood of the story, yes, but just made me wish there were some super bright areas for these developers to use their talents in. The soundtrack is also incredibly dull, mostly composting of ambient noise/tracks with little else going for it, and I wish there was more memorable tracks to remember from this experience.
Gameplay
Full Void is a cinematic platformer. Thus, you can move, jump, and run your way throughout many screens, trying to reach the next checkpoint, pretty typical stuff. You have moments where you walk slowly, moments where you need to sneak around an enemy, and even moments where you need to pull out your laptop and do some technical shenanigans to open a lock or something. Think Another World but with cybernetic tech and way gentler difficulty, and you have Full Void.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to the gameplay which I found ultimately memorable. Full Void is really just a go through the motions game, with each checkpoint offering a new set of challenges. You die, and you go back to the previous one until you eventually make it past. The game slowly gives you new things to do, such as a helper robot that can grapple surfaces, hack into terminals, or mess with enemies, but even these new mechanics don’t really feel all that special. They just feel like another thing to go and do as you check the next box on your linear quest.
Honestly, the only other thing I can think of for Full Void besides it being a “going through the motions” cinematic platformer, is how the tense moments were done decently well. Sometimes you may get legitimately spooked by a robot coming to get you, (thankfully, not in a jumpscare fashion) and the tension when a robot spots you and there’s a need to get the heck out of that area, is really good! All the more satisfying when you find a way to disable them and move ahead. Besides that though, I couldn’t really remember much in terms of specific scenes outside of the very final boss of the game, which is an awesome showcase of your skills, which just made me wish they did this kind of skill test a few more times during the game.
Conclusion
I find it incredibly enjoyable that we’re getting a lot of cinematic platformer throwbacks lately, and I do want to commend Full Void for being an admirable and fun attempt at the genre, with an outstanding presentation. Unfortunately, as the first single game Evercade cart, this one just isn’t that all that enjoyable in the long term.
Yes, the adventure is decently engaging enough for you to want to complete it to the end, and the presentation is a great treat to the eyes the entire way through. However, little in terms of set pieces or screen managed to be memorable for me, unlike how Another World had so many excellent and memorable screens I still can think of all this time later. It also has to be noted that while the helper robot gimmick is cool at first, it just ends up leading to a bunch of the same types of puzzles back to back.
With all of that, I really don’t think Full Void has much to make it worth ever coming back to when you clear the three hour adventure, and that bums me out. It also doesn’t help the ending’s line of dialogue really made me rethink the context of the story and see it in a much worse light, making the whole journey feel rather cynical. It’s still a decent little cinematic adventure, but don’t expect anything to leave a mark on you, outside of the visuals.
I give Full Void a 5 out of 10.