Void Stranger

This was a game that I really, really did not expect to hit me the way it did. On the surface it is just a sokoban puzzle game, a game where you move in a grid based system and in this case, try to get to an exit point. The artstyle and music were charming, and I picked it up because I thought it would be a nice small puzzle game. I was expecting maybe 6-8 hours of gametime from it, which would be about right for however much I picked it up for.

Though when I saw the reviews on steam were showing people with tens of hours, sometimes up to the 50 hour mark, I knew something was off. This feeling was confirmed as I kept going through the floors, finding mystery after mystery.

I will admit, my brain is small so I had to look up a guide for hints at unlocking some of the easier progression items.

But beyond that, I just want to say from a pure puzzle perspective, I think there was only really one puzzle that I thought was kinda dumb and unintuitive (you had to literally pause the game to progress the puzzle, which I thought was weird). The other puzzles were all well designed.

At first I was worried that I’d have to redo a bunch of puzzles to get to the end, and while yes, you do have to redo some, you unlock a lot of tools and shortcuts that help make the journey much more bearable and easier. It adds a nice sense of progression that helps keep the game fresh and interesting.

Of course though, the real meat of the game and the real reason why I kept playing was the story and world that was being built as I was going through it. It’s dropped in snippets everytime there’s a rest point, and when you reach the “end”, you realise you are just beginning to investigate the world. At the end of act 1 I was already enamoured with the characters, I thought Gray and Lily’s relationship was charming and I loved them. Gray was a fun character to be around, and when it came to last scene in act 1 I thought noooooooooo. When forced to choose between the mistress you served and her child, it’s a difficult choice.

I did expect her to choose the kid, because like judge zero mentioned, only Gray wouldn’t be able to return. Nothing said Lillie couldn’t.

Act 2 was… really sad. I wanted to believe Gray didn’t die, but she did, and it was clear her relationship with Lillie was strained near the end for various reasons. I think the ending to both their arcs was nice though, with Lillie coming to terms with her relationship with Gray (Mom 😭)

To that degree, and along with act 3, I think Void Stranger focuses a lot on relationships, specifically the expectations one has for their child or whoever their raising. In act 1 and 2, Gray has expectations for both Lily and Lillie, and both of them don’t want to . Lillie especially, as Gray tries to train her to be someone who could rescue Lily and the expectations eat away at her. This causes their relationship to break, and unfortunately it was only after Lillie reaches the end of void herself that she was able to reconcile with her feelings towards Gray.

Speaking of endings, the void ending is really tragic. Gray’s devotion to finding Lily is so strong that she is essentially doomed to an eternity of wandering the void halls forever, all the while the void tower changing and shifting presenting an infinite number of puzzles until eventually Gray succumbs.

Gah, there’s so many cool bits of story and lore to talk about, like how the void lords represent the circles of hell from Dante’s inferno, or the npcs along the way, but one thing I wanted to address that I felt wasn’t exactly addressed in the youtube video I watched that covered the story is I think the theme carries between Gray and Lillie also applies to Add and the rest of the void lords. You can see how Add had expectations for each of the void lords, including Cif and Lev, and you can see how the two of them wildly differed. Both considered themselves loyal, but when Lev felt that Add had betrayed her, she decided to fight back. Cif remains loyal until the end, even carrying on her will after she passes.

The theory and concept that Add is Lily’s mom is actually really interesting and I think very fitting. It also adds up to my theory that Gray was hella gay for Add, as you can see Tail takes her form.

This is all to say that I love this game, and I will continue to struggle with the EX mode. I am looking forward to play zero ranger.

OKAY I REMEMBERED WHAT I WANTED TO SAY BUT FORGOT TO SAY

I think the use of the pendant achievement is really, really, REALLY, cool. From getting the achievement first thing in act 1, to losing it whenever you reset, and then at the very end of the act losing it, only to have it pop up at the end of act 2 is fucking BRILLIANT. What an incredibly powerful use of what is otherwise just a mundane feature on steam, and seeing Lillie open up the letter and get the pendant is just… so good.

Yeah

I finished EX mode!!! It only took me 20 more fucking hours!!!! Those puzzles were fucking hard!!!!!

But I really liked the little bits of story, tragic as they were with the mimic at the end. I think there was a beautiful and tragic finality to it, and I really, really, loved how it played out. I truly did wish Gray and the Lilies could’ve been happy together…

The powerful recurring theme of devotion and dedication I really liked. Throughout the routes, it’s always been about someone searching and persisting through these difficult puzzles for their goal, and it’s their devotion is what keeps them sane throughout. Even the last rock egg tries their best.

The sad part is, and I think it’s a bit of the bittersweetness of the endings, is that despite all of Gray’s devotion, all of the mimic’s devotion, sometimes, their goals are out of reach. But what’s important is that devotion that drove them in the first place, to never give up, that allows them to persist and carry on.