Developer: Hatchery Games
Publisher: Hatchery Games
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Voidling Bound – Review
With Palworld’s 1.0 release on the horizon, we already have a lot of creature collecting in store for us, but truth be told, we can never get enough of these types of games. Luckily, Voidling Bound is ready to fill that void with an interesting-looking space adventure where you can hatch your own so-called Voidlings, evolve them, and even genetically enhance them as you see fit. With early gameplay footage already piquing our interest, we were curious what the end product would be like. With the game’s release finally here, we are ready to present you with our opinion of Voidling Bound.
Story
In Voidling Bound, humanity is on the brink of extinction due to a plague-like entity spreading across the universe. While humans were exploring the vast corners of space to find a solution, it seemed like all hope was lost until they discovered the Voidlings. These unique critters have a natural resistance to the spreading corruption, and so-called wranglers will have to form Neural Bonds with these creatures to control them and fight back the plague lesions. This is pretty much the entire story, which is presented mainly via short dialogues. As you progress, some details are added here and there, giving you a bit more context, but for the most part, the narrative remains in the background for the duration of the game.
Graphics
Graphically, Voidling Bound is a very good-looking game. The different Voidling designs are really nicely crafted, and we loved seeing how our critters evolved. The different biomes also looked quite nice, albeit a bit basic at times. Most stages have a lot of open areas where you can battle, and platforming sections also have clean and simple designs, making it clear where you have to go. There isn’t that much stage and asset variety, but everything still looks good. During combat, we loved the attack animations, and there were no performance dips, even in the heat of battle.
Sound
As a whole, the sound design of Voidling Bound is great. We really enjoyed the soundtrack, and there is still quite a bit of track variety. The music fits the different biomes perfectly. The Abyss biome’s background music even managed to make us feel uncomfortable, albeit in a good way. The sound effects are equally as great, with the different Voidlings making different noises, skill sounds packing a proper punch, and enemies also making intimidating sounds. The biggest shame here is the lack of voice acting. There aren’t that many lengthy dialogues in the game, so it’s an even bigger disappointment for them all to be completely mute. With how detailed everything else is, voice acting would have elevated the experience to the next level in terms of presentation.
Gameplay
Voidling Bound is a third-person action-adventure game in which you’ll be controlling the titular Voidlings to destroy the corruption plaguing the universe. The game is fairly straightforward when it comes to its level design, as you either explore and clear the corruption or you survive waves of enemies. Each Voidling comes with its own abilities and different evolutions. While a few parts of the game can feel a bit overwhelming at first, we quickly found our bearings when delving into the game. We would say that the game controls pretty much like a Skylanders game with some shooter elements added to the mix. When we saw that Hatchery Games comprises developers who worked on the Skylanders series, it made quite a lot of sense.
The different Voidlings all come with different powers, and some have more ranged skills while others have mainly melee attacks. In terms of combat, we enjoyed both types of Voidlings and had a blast taking out the different enemies. While platforming and having to shoot certain targets, the melee Voidlings weren’t always that practical and sometimes we even had to fall down ledges in order to hit certain targets. While falling down often deals no damage, some platforming segments were a bit tedious because of it.
As mentioned above, you can evolve your Voidlings. In essence, this means that the Voidlings you hatch from eggs can evolve into different versions. These different versions will always have a base element, where one Voidling can perhaps evolve into a fire type or a poison type. When choosing a type, you’ll continue to have branching evolutions within the type of your choosing. Each evolution then comes with different base abilities, and after a few evolutions, you’ll have your very own apex Voidling. As you progress, you can also delve into breeding to hopefully raise Voidlings with superior base stats, which then turn into even better fighters. To take things even further, you can eventually alter different components of a Voidling by changing body parts or even skills. After messing with a Voidling’s genetics, however, you won’t be able to use them for breeding anymore. Luckily, the developers implemented many evolutions, genetic enhancements, and breeding, as there aren’t that many base Voidlings to play with.
Conclusion
Voidling Bound was loads of fun, but we felt the game ended at a point where we were expecting to be only halfway through the story and the experience itself. The evolutions create much-needed variety as there aren’t that many Voidlings to actually play with. Nonetheless, what’s present in the game is amazingly crafted by Hatchery Games, and we hope that a DLC will be released in the future or a second installment where you can transfer your save file. If you’re a fan of games like Skylanders and want something that feels a bit more adult, be sure to check out Voidling Bound.
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