A Void Hope (Nintendo Switch) – The review

A Void Hope is the latest creation from the Elden Pixels studio… This time, nothing to do with the world of Alwa… Ready to discover this narrative adventure all in pixels?

A hope of renewal

We have already mentioned the Elden Pixels studio in our lines. For those who are late, let's quickly go back over the story of these four friends who combined their talents to create Alwa's Awakening: a platform/puzzle game in the style of “Metroidvania”, which was not uninteresting and graphically resembled a NES game. Building on the success of this first opus, they launched a Kickstarter campaign at the end of 2019, with a view to financing a sequel. This ended successfully and gave birth to the very good Alwa's Legacy. Building on its work on Nintendo Switch in particular, the studio has also launched into porting games to this medium. We owe them, among others, the ports of Cathedral and Kraino Origins… A Void Hope is therefore the very latest creation entirely produced by the studio since Alwa's Legacy!

A narrative hope

This time, the studio has turned to a new genre: the narrative game… So no more Metroidvania with powers to unlock… even if, as we will see in our review, certain mechanics of the Metroidvania are preserved.

A Void Hope successively places us in the pixel skin of Gilda and Keegan, a couple living in a city plagued by a mysterious virus, which tends to make those infected lose their memories… They forget their memories, becoming only shadows of their former lives. Wanting to protect his partner, Keegan takes her with him to “shelter” in a cabin in the woods… But it is too late for him, he is visibly affected by the disease and visibly Gilda is immune. She then sets out to find a cure to save the memories of the world and of course, those of her beloved. She therefore decides to go in search of scientists capable of designing the antidote. It is up to Keegan to find her, to try to save her. This is the beginning of our adventure!

Drawing inspiration from 80s fantasy films, the universe we explore is dotted with references to genre films (we begin our adventure on Rue Carpenter…). The story is reminiscent, in some aspects, of the invasion of the body snatchers (one of the enemies in the game plays it Donald Sutherland style, pointing at our character while letting out a shrill scream). But in the end, although intriguing at first, the story ends up falling into something quite classic… Even if some events seem to count in the settings, there is a lack of interactions with other characters to learn a little more about the disease that affects the inhabitants of the city and especially the impact that it has on their lives and their family… In the end, we let the story unfold, but some passages seem to be missing and in the end, we struggle to get attached to the characters and their experiences… due to the absence of what is told explicitly… Too bad, because there was a way to do something more touching (without necessarily falling into the tearful). The story that should be at the heart of the game, is ultimately nothing more than a pretext to move forward and see the word “End” appear…

A pixel hope

A Void Hope is therefore presented as a 2D platform game, with truly successful Pixel Art graphics. We therefore make Keegan evolve in different levels, by solving puzzles, mainly aiming to move elements of the decor (generally crates) to reach switches, allowing you to unlock access to the rest of the level and so on… You will also be faced with opponents first taking the form of zombies in the form of shadows, inevitably heading towards you. A little later in the game, these will change into spectral porcupines rushing towards you or even into evil pseudo-birds… These metamorphoses will be random and by returning from one painting to another, what was a wild beast will become a zombie, much easier to dodge…

Indeed, at the start of the game, you will have to play platforms to avoid opponents, but very quickly you will unlock a flare gun which will allow you to delay the shadows for a few precious moments. The progression will be rather linear, even if you will have to return to previous levels to complete them 100% (and see the end of the story). Here we find the Metroidvania spirit that we already knew from Elden Pixels. However, the objects to be recovered will only allow you to progress at a desired time in the game. (For example, the can of gasoline which is only used once…) And returning to a place already visited will only be pretext to advance the story. Keep in mind that you will necessarily complete the game 100% to see the end, because this is the path chosen by the developers (but it must be admitted, that is the goal of a narrative game) .

In addition to the platform/thinking passages, during certain phases you will have to “hack” computers in mini-games reminiscent of “Snake”, but with sometimes slightly tense handling. Although the renewed challenge brought by these phases is good to take, as we mentioned above, the handling seemed a bit too rigid to us, sometimes leading to frustration at having to start over from the beginning for a missed cell (usually always the last one).

No hope ?

Generally speaking, however, in the platform phases, the game is impeccable. In terms of handling, the characters respond to the finger and the eye. “The characters” because after a certain point in the game, we will be able to embody Gilda. However, this change will have absolutely no impact on gameplay. The handling will remain the same and the objects won by one will be automatically won by the other!

All in all, we must highlight the great effort made on the game's graphics (in pixel art, let's remember), but offering very beautiful lighting effects (still all in pixel art). We therefore take pleasure in exploring the different environments, which turn out to be varied and relatively “alive” thanks to the posters and the small animations in the background (if you like birds flying away).

The game's big strong point, however, is its soundtrack! Signed by Waveshaper, it is frankly excellent! Synthwave sounds (electronic rhythm in the spirit of what Jean-Michel Jarre does or even a certain… John Carpenter) which give the game this very “80's fantasy film” atmosphere. There is a lot of work on the atmosphere and we salute the performance of its composer/performer! If you are a fan of this kind of sound, know that the soundtrack (composed of 13 tracks) is available for sale via the Waveshaper Bandcamp page.

A Void Hope is available oneShop at the price of sixteen euros.