Something has been annoying me for a few months now, and I want to discuss it. Void War is a recent release that almost every gaming news outlet and their dog has described as “FTL: Faster Than Light set in the Warhammer 40K universe.” However, I have not been able to find any concrete confirmation from Games Workshop (the owner of the Warhammer IP) that Void War is an officially licensed Warhammer game, and the Internet can’t seem to agree on whether it is or isn’t. That confusion aside, though, Void War is great and I’d be glad to tell you why.

Let me address the space-faring elephant in the room right up front. Void War is so heavily “inspired” by FTL that I think it goes well past the point of being merely “inspired” and sits comfortably in “might as well be an unofficial sequel” territory. The majority of aspects of Void War — from its visuals to the minutiae of its core gameplay loop and everything in between — look like it belongs in a hypothetical “FTL: Grimdark Edition.” That’s where Warhammer 40K’s influence comes in.

You might reasonably take issue with how much Void War has built upon the foundations set in place by FTL. Personally, though, I have no problem whatsoever with how Void War presents itself. I’ve always quite liked FTL, and I’m becoming increasingly interested in everything about Void War that prompts comparison to Warhammer 40K. As I’ve said before, I know basically nothing about Warhammer or any of its various universes, but that hasn’t stopped me from getting deeply immersed in Void War.

I want to emphasize that I’ll do my best to keep from turning this review into a compare-and-contrast affair between Void War and FTL, but I will have to make several such comparisons because I don’t see a way to avoid doing so. In fact, I might as well make a handful of comparisons right now just to get them out of the way. Firstly, in Void War, unlike in FTL, your ship doesn’t rely on finite amounts of fuel to jump between star sectors or new points within each sector. That immediately struck me as quite a positive difference.

Four similarities shared by both games in question are as follows: You use scrap metal to upgrade your ship’s systems, and as currency when trading with merchants you’ll occasionally encounter. You’ll also want to upgrade your ship’s reactor’s maximum power output and your shields’ capacity as often as possible in both titles. You can order individual crew members around, and having crew members stationed in parts of your ship that house major systems (like weapons, engines, and shields) makes those systems run more efficiently. You can save default crew positions to have your crew quickly return to their posts.

The biggest difference between Void War and FTL is each game’s ultimate goal and the obstacles you’ll have to overcome to achieve it. In FTL, your ship is the last of a (presumably) governmental entity called the Federation, and you’re tasked with getting crucial data to its destination to end an ongoing rebellion. In Void War, the God-King of the Solar Empire has died, and you’re the leader of one of many cults that are now fighting one another to take over said empire. You’re not under any time pressure or being actively chased by enemies in Void War.

That, in itself, is a huge point I’d put firmly in Void War’s favor. Don’t get me wrong. I like FTL’s time pressure mechanic, but it always feels overwhelming to me. I understand that loitering in any star system for too long in FTL is a huge risk because I’m being chased by powerful rebel ships whose crews want me dead. That makes sense mechanically, and I’m glad it’s there as a consistent obstacle, even though it’s always been problematic for me to deal with. Nevertheless, having no such pressure in Void War is a relief in that sense.

On top of that, you’ll occasionally encounter abandoned shipyards as you jump through star sectors in Void War. I’m always glad to wind up in a shipyard because I know I won’t be attacked there, and I can use that downtime to my advantage. While at a shipyard, you can choose between repairing your ship’s hull, healing your crew’s injuries, scavenging for munitions, or constructing a “machine slave” that can help out with menial tasks aboard your ship. The second of those can be important because your ship doesn’t have a dedicated medical bay to keep your crew healthy.

Instead, your crew will recover a small portion of their missing health each time you jump to a new location. Still, I often find myself wishing there were faster and more effective ways of healing my crew, especially when I’m dealing with fires aboard my ship, fighting enemy ships that teleport their crew onto my ship, or both. Those kinds of scenarios are additional reasons why it’s important to upgrade your ship’s systems frequently: Having upgraded systems can both help minimize the risk to your ship and enable you to retaliate more effectively against all types of enemy offense.

If you’re a particularly evil FTL player like I am, I’m going to answer what I suspect are your burning questions directly. Void War still allows you to open airlocks to suffocate enemies who have boarded your ship, and to damage the life support systems aboard enemy ships to suffocate their crew that way instead. I’ve gotten a somewhat concerning amount of enjoyment from damaging both an enemy’s life support system and shield generator, then mockingly saying aloud, “Have fun trying to breathe in there while you fix your shields, lads!” I can be a real jerk sometimes.

Of course, it’s always awkward when I discover that strategy won’t work against my current enemy ship because its crew is entirely undead and, thus, immune to suffocation. That brings me back to why I enjoy Void War’s atmosphere so much. The idea of being the leader of a Warhammer 40K-like cult and fighting my way through space to claim the throne of a dead God-King really appeals to me. I also quite like the thematic restriction that your ship can’t travel unless your captain is sitting in their “command throne” and controlling the ship with their mind.

To conclude, it feels like a cop-out to say, “If you like FTL and have even a passing interest in anything related to Warhammer 40K, you’ll probably really like Void War.” The thing is, that’s the best summary I can come up with, and I genuinely think it’s accurate. Void War easily justifies its $20 base asking price many times over. If you’re still not sure about buying it at full price, though, there’s also a free demo available on Steam so you can get a taste of what Void War has to offer before shelling out any cash.

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Void War

$19.99

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Quite immersive atmosphere.
• Engaging, intuitive core gameplay loop.

Cons

• Combat might be overwhelming for some players.