I absolutely loved Full Void!!!!!!
This game is underrated and you all should go play it. 💛💛💛
OK so here's the thing. Was it groundbreaking, innovative, revolutionary? Maybe not that much. But was it beautiful, charming, exciting, and fun? ABSOLUTELY. It may not have shocked me with any particular gaming concepts I'd never seen before -- but it just took so many of the ingredients I love and combined them so well.
Playing this game felt like when you find a new bakery that sells one of the best chocolate chip cookies you've ever tasted. Sure, you've had chocolate chip cookies before, but THIS one is just such a REALLY GOOD ONE, and now you need all your friends to come try it.
This game was comfort food. It felt just right, like a cozy blanket. (Was it a cozy story? Nope, it was sci-fi-dystopian-mild-horror. With a happy ending. Good stuff.)
Here's what you're in for if you play Full Void:
Really gorgeous atmospheric pixel art
A combination of ambient sounds and occasional music that does a good job of setting the tone of each scene. No dialogue.
Although the protagonist isn't rotoscoped, their animations are realistic and varied enough to make them really endearing and real-feeling. (I still can't get over the army-crawl -- so cute 😭)
Puzzles! I would call these puzzles fairly easy, but they were still challenging enough to keep me engaged. Also, from an in-story perspective, I will always love a character who fights with their brain and their computer rather than with guns. You play as a teenage hacker -- what's not to love??
A lot of focus on the tone, setting, feeling, and experience of the story. Which is core to what I love about cinematic platformers, and this game does it well.
Adorable robot sidekick 💛
A tense atmosphere, stealth, escapes, and some intense chase sequences!
Trial and error, instadeath, frequent autosave points. Plenty of death animations, but no blood or gore. (This game was intended for all ages, and I think they did a great job of making it OK for kids without making it feel like a "kids' game.")
Mysterious world-building enough to make you wonder and theorize about what's going on. The game is linear, but there are hidden things you can find or not find that will give you more clues about the story.
Despite being dystopian, it's colorful. I found that this helped it feel less depressing and more exciting.
It's pretty short, but not so short as to feel incomplete.
This game is on lots of platforms, and I hope it becomes better known, because it's so good!!!!
Which cinematic platformer should I play next?