Void Scrappers

Genre: Arcade / Roguelike

Players: 1

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Review:

Void Scrappers, released on PC in 2022 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2023, is a mix of Arcade-style gameplay with Roguelike mechanics where players control movement and select upgrades, but don’t manually control their weaponry, a style of gameplay popularized by Vampire Survivors and often dubbed “Bullet Heaven”. Curiously, the connection to Vampire Survivors is closer than many other games to use this gameplay style, as Void Scrappers’ original release was only one day after Vampire Survivors’ release. The comparison here is inevitable (and indeed, I’m going to mention Vampire Survivors a lot in this review). Of course, one of these games has become widely-celebrated and the other, not so much, but is that an injustice? Is Void Scrappers just as deserving of praise?

Where Vampire Survivors clearly took inspiration from the fantasy camp horror themes of the Castlevania series, Void Scrappers looks to the stars for its themes, with players guiding a spaceship and collecting “scrap” from downed enemies, eventually gathering enough to earn passive upgrades to power, shot frequency, and so on. When taking out the boss ships that occasionally speed into view to hunt you down, players will add an extra weapon to their arsenal as well, and getting three of the same kind of weapon will upgrade that weapon into a more powerful version.

You’ll keep following this same pattern, getting an increasingly more powerful ship firing off countless projectiles and other types of attacks, until the massive hordes of enemies overwhelms you and takes you out. From there, you’ll use resources gained in the last run for permanent upgrades towards future runs, select one of the characters you’ve unlocked, and try again. It’s a solid gameplay loop that was executed brilliantly in Vampire Survivors, and is similarly compelling here.

There are a few unique elements to set Void Scrappers apart, both good and bad. Let’s look at the good first. I think the different characters in this game genuinely feel like they play differently in a way that’s far more pronounced than what we saw in Vampire Survivors – Old Major automatically collects all scrap at the cost of getting only 75% of its value, giving you more reason to spread out your damage now that you needn’t go collecting afterward, while Gary specializes in orbitals, turning them into drones that can hunt down enemies.

Orbitals are another unique element of this game – Gary notwithstanding, orbitals usually tend to rotate around your ship, similar to the bible weapon in Vampire Survivors. The difference here is that not only can you stack multiple orbitals to spin around you, but there are multiple types that situate themselves at different distances away from you or trail behind you, making an orbital-focused run like nothing in Vampire Survivors.

Getting to the bad stuff now, I feel like apart from the Orbitals there isn’t as much weapon variety as I would have liked here, and certainly not as much as the wacky and odd weapons you can get in Vampire Survivors. There’s also no level variety like in Vampire Survivors, and little enemy variety too – enemies either mindlessly move toward you, mindlessly move toward you while shooting, or mindlessly move toward you fast. Also, the inability to get weapon upgrades from collecting scrap means that your ability to diversify your attacks is tied exclusively to fighting bosses, which feels a bit stifling.

I also have to complain a bit about the presentation here. Don’t get me wrong, this game looks fine enough, with simple 2D visuals with a lot of variety in styles of ship types, backed by some decent synthesized themes that fit the action quite well. The problem is that not only does the game wash out the color of these ships to make them all look samey, but this doesn’t even succeed in making it easier to see them during the frenetic action that the game can turn into before too long, making it far too easy for a small enemy or enemy projectile to sneak through and take you out. And when you start to really get a lot of action on-screen, the slowdown brings this game to its knees, absolutely chugging hard. On my best run, I had so much firepower and was facing so many enemies that at times the game was literally reduced to 1FPS – no typo, no exaggeration.

So, is Void Scrappers just as deserving of praise as Vampire Survivors? Well… no. A lack of level variety and enemy variety, some presentation issues, and a somewhat more limited upgrade system all take this down a notch in ways that Vampire Survivors didn’t suffer from. However, Void Scrappers is still unique enough that it can stand as a game that’s well worth playing even if you’ve already gotten Vampire Survivors – the gameplay here is still really compelling, and the unique characters and interesting Orbital weapons help to set this game apart. If you enjoyed Vampire Survivors, I definitely suggest that you give this game a look as well.

tl;dr – Void Scrappers is a mix of Arcade-style gameplay with Roguelike mechanics in the “Bullet Heaven” style popularized by Vampire Survivors, with the theme this time being spaceships fighting hordes of enemy ships to collect scrap. To its credit, this game has a similar kind of compelling gameplay to Vampire Survivors that will keep bringing players back for just one more run, and although it has multiple issues that keep it from reaching that other game’s greatness, it’s different enough that it’s still worth getting in its own right.

Grade: B+

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