Voices of the Void

Voices of the Void (‘VotV’ / ‘Voices’ from here out) is an indie game that pretends to be built in the Source Engine, tricks you into thinking you’re being paranoid, and then, once you’ve stopped caring about the lightly creepy things, starts throwing actually dangerous creepy things at you. It’s also one of my favorite games I’ve come across through videos by Charborg and others, and have recommended it to numerous others myself. The aesthetics, slightly creepy vibes, and unique gameplay drew me in instantly. As for why I recommend this game so highly, you’ll have to read on. Oops :)

TLDR; ten outta ten. Don’t click the above Charborg link. Go play it and turn on “The Funny Setting”. Don’t let anyone explain events to you. DO let people tell you the computer console codes, and don’t feel bad if you need assistance with learning how to use the signal research desk.


Referential but short-ish explanation; VotV is a game where you play Dr. Kel, a new hire for a space research company. Your new job is to search the depths of space, using a series of giant satellite dishes in an isolated forest in the middle of nowhere, for signs of life. You’ll have to run the deep space radio equipment while dealing with faulty generators, failing servers, and old outdated equipment. BUT, sometimes creeeeeeeepy stuff happens in Nowhere, and it’s up to Dr Kel to save his new home!

The meat and potatoes; Voices is an experience. The game begins presenting itself as a sort of job sim, but strange. The tutorial brings you to a liminal space, in a couple ways. First off, the game appears to be made within Valve’s Source Engine, including the sound effects, visuals, and the physics of the world to a lesser degree. It is not. It’s built in Unity. The VSE aesthetic builds a level of retro nostalgia specifically for the early 2000’s - think ‘Half-Life 2,’ ‘Counterstrike,’ ‘Garry’s Mod.’

Secondly, the tutorial takes place within a space that feels familiar (see above) while also unsettling (and secretly, holds a true liminal space exploration section). The game proper takes place in a winding mountain valley with a river running through the center, forested enough to be comfy during the day and unsettlingly creepy at night.

The basic gameplay loop revolves around you using some very out-of-date computer equipment to control a series of giant satellite dishes in order to find, download, and eventually process radio signals from the stars, while managing your sleep and hunger needs. Early on, you’re likely only going to hear static and buzzing, but as you begin processing the signals into clearer versions of themselves, some with visual components, you’ll begin to see things such as UFOs, videos of your office from above, or even videos that appear to be coming from the lockers in your office.

Of course, your employers will want to see results, and ask for you to send them a few processed signals a day. The more upgrades you buy for the computer, the more highly processed signals they’ll ask for. Meet their demands, and you’ll be paid. Additionally, you are requested to retrieve codes from 3 servers placed within the giant satellite dish bases throughout the map each day. There are 21 of these satellites surrounding your base, labeled alphabetically and arranged in a target shape. The satellite buildings each contain a computer and a server. Occasionally, the servers within the satellites will go down and need to be repaired by completing a simple addition / subtraction problem, which also gives you points (with bonus points for setting a new personal best speed). Not to be forgotten, there are also 3 generators located throughout the map. If a single generator goes down, your entire system (Base of operations lights, computer systems, etc) will all be without power. The game gives you a good chunk of time to get used to this loop before changing things up.

You have 4 in-game days (1 in game day is 75 real life minutes on normal settings, so approx. 4 hours of unpaused play) until the first important scripted event happens, as opposed to the day 2 event which is just a pretty meteor shower. Random events can happen as well as events that occur based on the real world day of the month, in addition to scripted events that occur based on in game date progression such as the day 4 event above, but you’re unlikely to see those in the first 4-ish hours. These events are what really sets Voices of the Void apart. You might go into the garage one morning, only to be met by a flying alien hurtling towards you! This of course wasn’t a real alien, but a plush/blowup grey shot at you by a catapult… which was set up by actual cat-girl aliens with invisibility technology. Some of these events are silly, like the catapult, which by the way is probably the most jumpscare-y event in the entire game minus the tutorial. Others are… less so. You may find yourself being surrounded by a dark fog, glowing eyes circling you and peering at you from beyond your reach, unable to escape their gaze. Stare too long and the creatures will agitate, becoming hostile and attacking you.

I mentioned points earlier? Yeah, that’s your money. Unless you want to live life eating random mushrooms that grow around the forest and potentially starving to death, you’re gonna need points. At least enough to buy a fishing pole and bait, because yes this game has fishing which I know means instant GOTY for some of you. OR you could buy some planting pots and some fruit seeds and become a farmer. But if fishing and farming isn’t your style, and you STILL don’t want to actually engage with the main gameplay loop, you could buy some graphics cards and set up a pointscoin farm instead. Or you could go find 7 human skulls in the woods, perform a ritual to open a gate to hell, and get sucked in… OR you know, you could buy a cat robot maid named Kerfur to meow at you, bump into you incessantly, and get obsessed with random meat that suddenly shows up in the forest, so he can do all the “go fix the server” bits for you. And then, when you’re set and living a happy life in the mountains, you can buy a TV, load whatever crap you want onto it (there are folders for custom tv videos, posters, a 3d model printing machine, and more), and blast the anti-alien alarm through it whenever the creepy stuff happens.

“Ok, I read all that, so… summarize why I should play this.”

Listen man. Just play Voices of the Void. It’s AN EXPERIENCE, and you deserve NICE EXPERIENCE. Don’t you want GOOD THINGS to happen?