Introduction
Table of Contents:
Youtube links, roughly chopped, for those with a short attention span:
Cycle 0 - Cycle 1 - [1] [2] [3] [4]
Cycle 1 - Cycle 5 - [1] [2] [3] [4]
Cycle 5 - Cycle 7 - [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Cycle 7 - Cycle 9 - [1] [2] [3] [4]
Cycle 9 - Cycle 10 - [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Cycle 10 - Cycle 11 - [1] [2] [3]
Cycle 11 - Cycle 12 - [1] [2] [3]
Cycle 12 - Cycle 14 - [1] [2] [3]
Cycle 14 - Cycle 14 - [1] [2] [3]
Cycle 14 - Cycle 16 - [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Cycle 16 - Cycle 18 - [1] [2] [3]
Cycle 18 - Cycle 18 - [1] [2]
Cycle 18 - Cycle 20 - [1] [2] [3]
Cycle 20 - Cycle 21 - [1] [2]
Cycle 21 - Cycle 22 - [1] [2] [3]
Cycle 22 - Cycle 23 - [1] [2] [3]
Cycle 23 - Cycle 25 - [1] [2] [3]
Cycle 25 - Cycle 26 - [1] [2]
Cycle 26 - Cycle 26 - [1] [2]
Cycle 26 - Cycle 27 - [1] [2] [3]
Cycle 27 - Cycle 30 - [1] [2] [3] [4]
Cycle 30 - Cycle 36 - [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Alternate Ending#1 - [1]
Alternate Ending#2 - [1] [2]
Bonus Updates:
Cycle 5 - Killer - blip.tv Viddler Youtube
Cycle 5 - Heartless - blip.tv Viddler Youtube
Cycle 7 - Execution - blip.tv Youtube
Cycle 9 - Retaliation - blip.tv Viddler Youtube
Cycle 11 - Colour!? - Viddler Youtube
Cycle 16 - Wyrmslayer - blip.tv Viddler Youtube
Cycle 26 - Fraternal - blip.tv Viddler Youtube
Cycle 30 - Sororal - blip.tv Viddler Youtube
Finale - Life - blip.tv Viddler Youtube
What is the Void?
The Void is where your soul goes after you die. It is a strange and twisted place, its wonders all but lost on the soul that struggles to survive from the moment it arrives. A soul must find colour; to feed upon, to explore, to protect itself. For there are many creatures, other souls created by the Void, who will seek your colour either by force or beguilement. All the while time remains your greatest enemy... souls are heavy, and it won't be long before you descend into the Nightmare and lose all hope of existence.
There may be a way back out of the Void back to life... if you still want to go.
That was... something... but what is it in useful terms?
In 2005, Ice-Pick Lodge released Pathologic, a survival horror game centred around an epidemic in a town, where disease and tedium amidst a fascinating story usually bound the player in a very unique mix of confusion and hopelessness.
In 2008, Tension was released in Russia by the same studio, retitled The Void for its 2009 UK release, and it is arguable whether the feelings invoked by Pathologic have been reined in between games. The world is a grotesque place, yet mesmerising in its funereal depiction of an afterlife, with endless creativity in the way it is revealed by the landscape and the characters.
As for the gameplay; while it is in a first-person perspective, the rules that typically apply to the genre should be largely forgotten, since few things are as simple as they first appear. A good example is the fact that your character's health, ammo and stats are all controlled by one substance, to describe a complex feature in the most basic way.
The Void's atmosphere relies to a large extent on the cluelessness of a first-time player, duly rewarding any mastery of the mechanics, so clearly this will not be evident as you watch these videos. Nevertheless, you will witness all the developments that change or break the rules and the concepts, and hopefully come to appreciate the uniquely bleak ambience the game strives to instil.
I should mention that it will be
for nudity at times, though if you are found in such a state I encourage you to spend fifteen minutes feebly explaining how it's the most artistic use in the history of gaming before clearing your desk.How will it be played?
I know what I'm doing, instantly destroying half the fun, but that just means I can bombard you with comments to help you understand and speculation for you to mull over.
There won't be much time for me to play about or intentionally seek humour, which would detract from the atmosphere anyway. I'll merely be some companionship for the trials ahead and a constant reminder of how close to death we are.
I won't give anything away, so please try not to either, regardless of how meaningless it is out of context. However, feel free to get uppity and religiously fuelled about any metaphors you see, it'll be some entertainment on the grim road ahead.