Void Crew Review — Teambuilding, Space Raiding

Void Crew is a multiplayer roguelike extraction-lite game where you and, preferably, a crew of friends chart a course into enemy space and blast apart enemy vessels for fun and profit. With each crew member serving a meaningful purpose throughout a procedurally generated and highly dangerous space odyssey, Void Crew captures the space adventure feeling many of us yearned for while watching Star Wars or Star Trek. While overall a hit, there’s one area Void Crew could improve to truly become the space odyssey it deserves to be.

Something that stood out to me right away is Void Crew’s unique setting and ship design.

It’s easy to fall into generic design tropes when creating a sci-fi universe, especially in video games, and even more so with starship design. It wouldn’t surprise me to see similar starships in two different games, both of which had very similar spaceship designs or at least ones that followed the same generic design principles inspired by popular sci-fi media.

Void Crew, however, does something unique, giving its ships an Egyptian mythology/Wiccan-science vibe. This makes them stand out. The strong use of gold, black, leylines, and sharp, pyramidic shapes creates a unique feel. These principles continue into the lore, with sarcophagus life-support pods and reanimation principles being just a few interesting concepts.

While the aesthetics are cool, I found it hard to grasp the lore. Perhaps I didn’t explore enough, but Void Crew could do more to immerse you in the setting with more lore drops and storytelling.

Void Crew is a multiplayer roguelike with extraction-lite mechanics. Players team up on a ship and tackle a procedurally generated campaign of increasingly difficult space combat and salvage missions. I touched on this in the introduction, but what does this mean?

In Void Crew, you’re exactly that—a crew. Up to four players take on piloting, maintaining, defending, and salvaging aboard a small but powerful starship, seeing how far they can go in a roguelike campaign. Each mission leads to a generated set of new, progressively harder missions, and players can leave at any time to keep rewards and XP.

As you progress, you can upgrade ship components using salvaged materials or mission rewards. Rewards range from tactical modules (that call in reinforcements) and new manned guns to power supply modules that allow for a wider array of components.

These components determine how a ship operates and where the crew comes in.

Each player can specialize as a Mechanic, Pilot, Gunner, or Salvager. These roles give special perks for performing essential functions during missions. Each aspect of the ship is spread across different control modules and features that no single person can manage.

The Pilot, for example, flies, outmaneuvering enemies and positioning the crew for salvaging. The Pilot charts the course and operates the warp drive, a dangerous high-speed exit that prevents returning, requiring good judgment on when to leave.

Mechanics operate vital components, repair hull damage, manage power consumption (switching off shields and non-vital components), and generally keep things running. They also have power over the warp drive, creating cooperation and dependence between roles. This continues with the Gunner and Salvager, whose roles are self-explanatory.

All this creates a fun, unique sci-fi odyssey that can be thrilling. The trust in your teammates as you focus on your role can be a bonding experience, mimicking a real space adventure. You really feel it when the ship takes fire, making combat exciting as you’re swarmed by fighters and frigates.

My only real issue is with the underwhelming flight mechanics. Despite being set in space, movement is surprisingly slow, and maneuverability doesn’t reflect the freedom of zero gravity. While you can move in all six directions, the controls aren’t as fluid or immersive as in other space combat games. I understand this might be due to technical limitations, but it’s a major flaw that took me out of the experience, especially considering how much I enjoyed everything else.

Try Hard Guides received a PC review code for this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! Void Crew is available on Steam.