Void Stranger

Aaaaaah what a game. Void Stranger is what you get when skilled puzzle creators want to elevate the sokoban genre to a new level.
I’ll try to write my review as spoiler-free as possible while still giving advices to anyone interested in this mysterious and very ambitious game.

The core of Void Stranger is your average puzzle game, you go from one puzzle to another. The main mechanic is the tile-swapping : you have a scepter that can remove the tile in front of you and store it, you can then place it to fill any hole in front of you. The first five hours are just that, puzzle solving with bits of story here and there.
And then… you’ll get stuck not knowing what to do, or just a vague idea.

Void Stranger is an enigmatic game that won’t reveal itself easily. My best advice would be to write down or screen anything suspicious or seemingly important, pay close attention to everything from the moment you start playing.
You’ll have to explore and explore again, try things, fail, deduce, retry. Any error can cost a lot of time and knowledge especially in the beginning, frustration and losing motivation can rise quickly and looking for hints is out of the question if you don’t want to get spoiled; so be thorough and DON’T GIVE UP.
Try your ideas even if they take time, it usually will be worth it as Void Stranger is full of secrets – and some of them will blow your mind. It’s indeed a massive game, you probably already guessed it when looking at the average playtime in the reviews.
But apart from the beginning, you should be fine until you have to unlock the final part of the game. That’s the only moment you shouldn’t feel ashamed to go for hints, the riddles are a bit unfair and I wouldn’t be surprised if the vast majority gave up. Well I guess it’s better to be spoiled a bit than to drop the game, just try your best not to search for hints.

The puzzle design is excellent with various mechanics, the game starts with a normal difficulty and quickly gets a LOT harder. There are really puzzles that seem impossible, it’s one of those games and the Steam page doesn’t lie, some of them are just brutal.
The riddles are usually not that hard though, except for a few ones in the very lategame that I already talked about; it’s La Mulana (go play it if you haven’t) style but with easier and much fewer riddles.

Everything in this game is top tier and will drive you to go further into the Void. That’s what makes Void Stranger so special, a classic puzzle game at its core with such an intriguing plot and mysterious/rich universe is unheard of (and if you know another game like that, message me).
The story can get a bit difficult to fully understand but it’s so beautiful, epic and original… I’ll just say it doesn’t disappoint at all. Combined with the incredible, stellar (or whatever word you want) soundtrack that fits the game and the mood so well, you’re in for a pretty emotional journey.
The lore is particularly fun to piece together, you’ll also have to take notes and write down what you find (my Void Stranger main folder has 3 folders and a huge text file filled with everything I found). I need more games like that.
Characters have gorgeous sprites and good writing. It can be cheesy at times but you’ll surely remember them fondly.

So if you like puzzles/riddles, if you’re patient and persistent, if you don’t mind the old pixelated black and white visuals… there’s only one thing to do.

Place your faith and embrace this masterpiece.

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Developer: System Erasure
Publisher: System Erasure
Platform: Steam – Windows
Release Date: September 1, 2023