Recent reviews by chaotea

FPS Roguelike isnt a unique genre, there's plenty of contenders, but Roboquest stands near the top. Its outstanding visual style, fantastic soundtrack, robust movement system and slew of interesting weapons and skill to cause carnage are all things that make it stand out from the crowd.

Its not the best FPS roguelike out there at the moment. Right now that award goes to Gunfire, but its a close thing. Both are similar experiences, but they come to the action from different ends. For the most part Gunfire encourages cautious play where every minor wound can stack to leave you near deaths door. Roboquest however encourages and in fact revels in a reckless rush to the finish of a level, swapping weapons frequently and taking hits knowing healing comes from every defeated enemy. Its a manic, and highly cathartic experience and a blast to play co-op.

Review Written at 12 hours of ingame play time, in the early access.

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TLDR: Its not bad, If you've played Raft and want something similar, this could be for you. If you've not played Raft, play Raft. If you enjoy that, come back to this when its more developed.

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On reviews:

So to start, the initial negative reviews for the game seem to be skewed unfairly. There's alot talking about the epic integration (which is because the game uses Epic services to host multiplayer functions). Alot of the issues people had was that it forced you to log in to the epic client before launch. This was a bug that was fixed within a few hours of release. Yes it still used epic to handle multiplayer, but it shouldn't bother you now.

The next thing is there are alot of weirdly butt hurt reviews about how the game was originally going to be released on Steam, but then was released as an Epic exclusive for a year before now. Weird on two fronts, one being that Epic is free. If you don't like the UI or whatever that's fine, but that's really your decision (I don't think its great, and steam is still my main service, but I've got some good games on Epic). To be honest its a good thing. The devs likely got some upfront cash for the exclusivity and could develop the game to the point that the steam release could focus on refining the game not building the basics.

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The game:

So the game itself is ok. Its not great, but will likely get better. It reminds me alot of the game Raft. The core loop is similar, though Raft feels like a progression where early tasks are eventually made easier leaving time to focus on the more complex later tasks. Voidtrain however maintains the early tasks, meaning that later tasks become bogged down and overly complex.

The core of the game is as follows: You have a train. It moves along a track. You can backtrack a little, but mostly you go forwards. Spread in front of the train are randomly generated resources floating in the void. You have to leave the train to collect these, as you use them to make everything. The game at its heart is a crafting game. You use what you collect to craft new things. The main focus is unlocking new facilities, then building them, and repeat.

The main issue with this is that it takes so much time to gather resources. At the very start, you have to pause the trains movement to have the time to grab everything, then you move forwards slightly to the next lump of resources and repeat (you cant stray very far from your train). On unlocking a tool, you can gather resources from further away, meaning you no longer need to halt the train, and can gather as it moves. But there's is next to no automation of this process (and whats there is minute), and no advanced methods of resource gathering which might offer better yields (so as you are required to make more advanced resources, you require increasing amounts of basic resources, but gather at the same rate).

Part of the issue is the level of control you have over the train, which oddly is too much. In Raft, your raft moves forwards constantly (at least in the early game) so you have a limited window to gather resources. So there's a pressure to get what you can, but you never feel you need to get everything. In Voidtrain there's a pressure to get everything.


The combat is also wobbly. Its very hard early on, being of an FPS nature, but without alot of the supporting tools FPS games offer. It gets easier when you get proper guns, but is still harder than the rest of the games pacing would suggest. Though one good point is how hunger is managed in the game. Rather than be another enemy you have to fight with carbs instead of bullets, its treated more as a buff, dictating to what level you naturally regen HP.

I feel the game is enjoyable at this point, and has room to grow. Its not perfect, but it is enjoyable.

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Update at just under 30 hours.

Some of the issues of resource collection have dissipated. The later sections of the game (around zone 15) start to offer better resources and the automatic resource collection method becomes available at about zone 7-10 (though its not stellar).

At this point I'm finding the issue is with the games pacing. It seems to base off how many zones you've gone through, rather than the tech you have unlocked. So around zone 15 you can start finding basic ingots in chests, but by that time its not particularity useful. I have stopped using the back pedal feature and been less concerned with getting every resource I see. Once my storage is topped off I just zoom through the zones, just keeping an eye out for coal or events.

This doesnt feel like an early access game. It feels complete. The additional features the early access period will bring will be a welcome addition, but as the game stands now it doesnt feel like im waiting for it to be finished.

Gunfire is a fantastic example of a looter - shooter in a roguelike setting. The game has a huge amount of replayability and i would very much recommend it for anyone who enjoys the experience of a roguelike (running again and again chasing those perfect builds) and first person shooters.

The game isnt off itself difficult, though it can be hard at times. The trickiest thing for newer players is getting used to enemy attack patterns and the movement system, that doesnt quite work as is often conventional, but getting to grips with these things is part of getting stronger, along with buying perks.

The game doesnt have any microtransactions, and to date has 1 DLC. The DLC is reasonably priced for what you get, and doesnt feel 'necessary' but is enjoyable.

A final note is on the playerbase. While about as good or bad as most games, the playercount does thin out for online play a month or two after an update (with an average 'run' lasting 1-2 hours) but average waiting times for a full group rarely goes above 5min. Still, know the games is perfectly playable in solo, though its far more fun with friends. If you have even 1 friend you can play with, youll get more out of the game.

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Edit: Its 2024, two years after posting the review above for this game. Im still playing it, I have around 1k hours in it now. The Devs are still updating it, both with paid DLC bringing new characters and guns, which are worth every penny, but also with alot of content via thier 'seasons'. The game is still great.

A great clicker game that, unlike many of the genre, has less focus on the idle aspects. While idle progression is an option, and is catered for, active play is the most rewarding option. Its not feature complete at this stage, though the dev is updating it regularly.

Certainly it is well worth the cost at the moment.

Its an enjoyable addition to the main game, which can help to mix up the otherwise repetitive missions of the base game. These maps are single levels inserted randomally into regular missions via a trap door like entrance. Go through it and get an extra level.

Generally I'd say this: If you're enjouying Back 4 Blood still, but want abit more variety, this is for you. Bt if you're board of Back 4 Blood as it is, this wont add anything new enough to refresh your enjoyment levels for the game.

Put simply, this is a great game for couch co-op, and for the pricetag is very reasonable.

A brilliant demonstration of why driving on the left hand side of the road makes so much more sense!
STOP CLOGGING THE ROUNDABOUTS BLUE CARS!

TLDR : The game is good, looks good, is fun. Its not up to Supnautica level with its mechanics, but its not a bad game. Easily a good 30 hours playtime here. If your interested in the style of game, try Subnautica or its sequal first. If you already have, this game might interest you, provided you temper expectations.

So alot of references to this iclude the idea that its 'subnautica in space'. This is only true so much as Destiny is 'call of duty' in space. Yes, it shares alot of core elements, but it is very different at the same time.

The game is split in two parts. Final Fantasy 15 style. The first half is all open world exploration, were progression and personal character development are prioritiesed. The second half mostly ignores all of that and is a linier story driven experience. Just like Final Fantasy 15, once you progress to the second part, you will be unable to return to the first area.

In terms of timescale, i'd say off my 31 hours playing, 23 were in the first part, with the rest in the second. So if the idea of it becoming a linier story doesnt appeal, but you like the look enough to get it, you could still have a good time playing the first part, the just considder the game done at the end of that part.

You may see comments about the low durability of tools. This seems more a deliberate mechanic than an oversight. Propper planning is valueable. Early game you have to scoop up loose materials. Later you can upgrade your basic smahing tool, this makes resourse node viable. Later still you'll get an infinate use version.

The comparison to subnautica is evident it the core mechanics, but it must be said that Subnautica does it better. From item storage to vehicles. This game isnt bad, and does some interesting things, but it obviously took a look at subnautica, but didnt look to hard.

Finally a note on the comedy. The game is very jokey, sitcom level. Everything about the game is filtered through some sort of joke. If that doesnt seem like your thing, stay away. Its constant. I personally enjoyed the jokeness, and the game would feel more hollow without the constant pressure, but its fair to warn.

This game feels to me not unlike 'babies first factory game'. I've played factory games before, but few are as simple and easy to get the hang of than this. That's not to say its boring. Quite far from it. The scant 7.4 hours that show on my profile at the time of writing are overshadowed by the 30+ hours I've spent on the browser version of this game (The browser version acts as a free demo, and stops at a certain point. Buy importing your save to the steam version, unlocking the next milestone, then importing back to browser, you can continue to play. Useful if your second computer doesn't have steam for whatever reason).

If your interested in factory games, like Factorio or Satisfactory, but are unsure if you can get into them then this is the game for you, a test bed to see if the minutia of the games flow can pull you in and get you hooked.