If you’ve ever fantasised about traveling back through time and considered how, in practice, it might actually work then Void is the game for you. It came to my attention a couple of weeks ago via those learned souls over at Rock Paper Shotgun, but only yesterday did I manage to sit down and actually play the bally thing.

Well, what an experience that was.

Void, as a production, is a little rough around the edges. It features a short, detached story played out in an aging engine. But it is a student project (from the folks at DigiPen Singapore) and is essentially a proof of concept, so that’s entirely acceptable. Besides, I’m indie trained. I’m not massively fussed about the glitz and glam of a polished commercial release, particularly when what happens to be on offer is this good.

Where Void really excels (and where any other grievances fall to dust) is in its handling and seamless implementation of an incredibly tricky concept – that of time manipulation. The game is controlled from a first-person perspective and takes place within the walls of some ancient temple-like ruins. Essentially, you’re an explorer exploring. What more do you need to know?

Your abilities within the world may be hard to explain but are incredibly easy to put into practice: you have the power to create temporal orbs which separate the present from the past.

So, in effect, wherever you summon such a space – and you can fire them practically anywhere within eyeshot – inside will be contained a time long gone in which stone walls remain uncrumbled and stairways stand strong. Rather importantly, the player can enter into these orbs – and thus the past – at any time, gaining access to small spherical portions of it whenever the need takes them. The limitations lie in only being able to place two at any given time (and their existence is short-lived so you’ll need to get a move on if you’re traveling along walkways that don’t currently exist).

As an example: you are standing at the entrance of a large, open drainage system – as you’d encounter in almost any first-person shooter. Currently the pipe forming this old waterway is cracked and gaping. It leads away from you but then drops suddenly about a hundred feet below. In the past – which you can view at any point through a pair of broken spectacles – it was once full of water. You can see it all around you now, bubbles drifting serenely through it.

The solution: the only way forward from here is down, so you jump, but must remember to allow yourself the comfort of a wet, splashy landing into an orb of aged water rather than splintering your shins on contact with solid, unaltered ground.

It’s simple and brilliantly effective puzzle solving and this is just one application of how the past can be used to your advantage. I won’t list any more as the joy of Void is in the discovery of how many ways this deftly employed, but game-changing mechanic can be put to use.

A single play through will last you about thirty minutes, longer if you take the time to gather the collectable artworks which litter the rooms and hallways of this strange and exciting puzzleground. An obvious comparison here are the Portal games – puzzle after puzzle in a persistent internal environment which allows you to journey from room to room at your own pace. Progression is achieved by encountering obstacles and overcoming difficulties by using your powers in increasingly inventive ways. It’s thrilling stuff and impeccably designed. If Valve haven’t already snapped these guys up, then I’m pretty sure phones will be ringing in due course.

[DigiPen, Void]

Trailer

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