Now, my first comment was mid video. Now at the ending, I have to tell you that you truly captured my heart in the video. I hope you can eventually share some of the scrapped video ideas of yours, and the best to you!
This is a very heartfelt, accurate review. I’ve been dealing with mental health issues (anxiety, adhd) these last few years that have made it difficult for me to relax and enjoy my life. Some part of me thinks I’m never doing enough, or that I could be doing everything better and no one thinks I’m worth it now. When I started playing The Void Rains Upon Her Heart it felt big and confusing, especially because I wasn’t familiar with the SHMUP genre, but the more I learn about its mechanics and the deeper I get the more enchanted I become. Every attempt teaches me something new even if I lose on the first boss. To me that feels like an apt representation of dealing with mental health: some days I feel super productive and keep the destructive thoughts at bay, while other days I get barely anywhere and feel consumed by those feelings, but each day gives me more tools to tackle the next. The game’s development process reflects this theme too, since the (solo) developer has been progressively adding things for years, and in that time they’ve built what we both see as a beautiful coalescence of storytelling, visuals, music. And again, all from one person!! Your review, and your vulnerability therein, helped me reflect on all this and how far I’ve come in my own mental health journey. Thank you for making what you believe in even when things have gotten tough. Thank you for making me feel like I’m good enough to do the same, and like I deserve to enjoy life in the process. 😄
Void Rains is truly a unique and amazing game. It brings the genre of shmups to the average gamer who isn't a perfect tryhard MLG-pro and I'm glad I stumbled upon it. Not a lot of shmups around that are actually accessible, and I love how the game's progression is set up around unlocking achievements to make things available, and then spending the XP-but-not-XP to "radiate" them so that you can see what they are when presented with choices (which really helps when you actually KNOW what you're dealing with instead of looking at lots of ????s everywhere). You want to radiate things, so you want tetrids, and to get tetrids you... play the game. More play, more tetrids. More stuff radiated = you can make more informed decisions during your runs. And of course, radiating monsters lets you fight them in Quickplay too. It's a really nice system that keeps you playing and replaying. Also, adding Roguelike to a shmup is a genius idea, I don't think a lot of people would think to do, but it works! The whole thing is a beautifully designed masterpiece. It's not a huge game that is going to draw millions of players, but yet it's a perfect game for just blowing 10-15 min on a story run here, and there when you're bored or you got done playing some game and you gotta go to work in 30min and there's too much time that you're bored but not enough time that you can do much of anything else. This is the perfect game to fill gaps like those.
The Void's alternate form may be connected to how the feelings of helplessness may give way to rage against one's abuser, real or perceived, and that exact rage is the mechanism for how the Void goes into that form. I myself have experienced this, there was someone in my life that just made things so much harder for me mentally for about a decade. After long enough, I started to get this urge to hurt them. From the very start, i had the feeling that i would be happier if they were out of the picture, but it took several years for me to actually want to hurt them. Fortunately, I was able to leave before i ended up acting on this urge. I do hope they treat others better, for others' mental well being and their own safety.
Just found your video while looking for reviews. I think part of the reason this game's "rebranding" of gameplay terms works is because it *IS* still a struggle and a desperate fight to destroy the monsters' fear. It's not cozy and harmless, it's putting yourself at risk in order to hug someone.
You did an amazing job articulating a lot of the reasons I love Void, up to and including its treatment of depression. Fantastic video. Thanks so much for making it.
Really well thought out review. I like your editing choices and perspective on the game’s structure that is presented in a way I’d not considered. Had to look away for a minute while you talked about the story; I’m only a few hours in currently, but this was a genuinely well structured video with interesting ideas.
I recently had a similar feeling playing some really unique shump indies like Monolith and Last Command. Indie games will always be my favorite. Try sky Rogue for a similar starfox type shooter
Been interested in this game since I saw Olexa start playing it. I'm not one for shoot em ups or bullet hells even though some games I love have bullet hell elements (TBoI and Undertale) so I was on the fence about getting it. However, I think I'll get it after watching this video.
Now, my first comment was mid video. Now at the ending, I have to tell you that you truly captured my heart in the video.
I hope you can eventually share some of the scrapped video ideas of yours, and the best to you!
I concur!
This is a very heartfelt, accurate review. I’ve been dealing with mental health issues (anxiety, adhd) these last few years that have made it difficult for me to relax and enjoy my life. Some part of me thinks I’m never doing enough, or that I could be doing everything better and no one thinks I’m worth it now. When I started playing The Void Rains Upon Her Heart it felt big and confusing, especially because I wasn’t familiar with the SHMUP genre, but the more I learn about its mechanics and the deeper I get the more enchanted I become. Every attempt teaches me something new even if I lose on the first boss. To me that feels like an apt representation of dealing with mental health: some days I feel super productive and keep the destructive thoughts at bay, while other days I get barely anywhere and feel consumed by those feelings, but each day gives me more tools to tackle the next. The game’s development process reflects this theme too, since the (solo) developer has been progressively adding things for years, and in that time they’ve built what we both see as a beautiful coalescence of storytelling, visuals, music. And again, all from one person!! Your review, and your vulnerability therein, helped me reflect on all this and how far I’ve come in my own mental health journey. Thank you for making what you believe in even when things have gotten tough. Thank you for making me feel like I’m good enough to do the same, and like I deserve to enjoy life in the process. 😄
Void Rains is truly a unique and amazing game. It brings the genre of shmups to the average gamer who isn't a perfect tryhard MLG-pro and I'm glad I stumbled upon it. Not a lot of shmups around that are actually accessible, and I love how the game's progression is set up around unlocking achievements to make things available, and then spending the XP-but-not-XP to "radiate" them so that you can see what they are when presented with choices (which really helps when you actually KNOW what you're dealing with instead of looking at lots of ????s everywhere). You want to radiate things, so you want tetrids, and to get tetrids you... play the game. More play, more tetrids. More stuff radiated = you can make more informed decisions during your runs. And of course, radiating monsters lets you fight them in Quickplay too. It's a really nice system that keeps you playing and replaying. Also, adding Roguelike to a shmup is a genius idea, I don't think a lot of people would think to do, but it works! The whole thing is a beautifully designed masterpiece. It's not a huge game that is going to draw millions of players, but yet it's a perfect game for just blowing 10-15 min on a story run here, and there when you're bored or you got done playing some game and you gotta go to work in 30min and there's too much time that you're bored but not enough time that you can do much of anything else. This is the perfect game to fill gaps like those.
I discovered this game about 2 years ago. It's been my favorite game since then. I really love it.
Thanks for that amazing video.
The Void's alternate form may be connected to how the feelings of helplessness may give way to rage against one's abuser, real or perceived, and that exact rage is the mechanism for how the Void goes into that form. I myself have experienced this, there was someone in my life that just made things so much harder for me mentally for about a decade. After long enough, I started to get this urge to hurt them. From the very start, i had the feeling that i would be happier if they were out of the picture, but it took several years for me to actually want to hurt them. Fortunately, I was able to leave before i ended up acting on this urge. I do hope they treat others better, for others' mental well being and their own safety.
It's nice to see this game getting well deserved love. Nice video.
Just found your video while looking for reviews. I think part of the reason this game's "rebranding" of gameplay terms works is because it *IS* still a struggle and a desperate fight to destroy the monsters' fear. It's not cozy and harmless, it's putting yourself at risk in order to hug someone.
You did an amazing job articulating a lot of the reasons I love Void, up to and including its treatment of depression. Fantastic video. Thanks so much for making it.
Really well thought out review. I like your editing choices and perspective on the game’s structure that is presented in a way I’d not considered. Had to look away for a minute while you talked about the story; I’m only a few hours in currently, but this was a genuinely well structured video with interesting ideas.
I recently had a similar feeling playing some really unique shump indies like Monolith and Last Command. Indie games will always be my favorite. Try sky Rogue for a similar starfox type shooter
This game and Monolith are two of my fave roguelites ever
Been interested in this game since I saw Olexa start playing it. I'm not one for shoot em ups or bullet hells even though some games I love have bullet hell elements (TBoI and Undertale) so I was on the fence about getting it. However, I think I'll get it after watching this video.
Found the video from the game's discord, very nice! I'll be sure to check out any other video essays you release
Thanks for this video! It's a really sincere review and your openness about your mental health is refreshing ^__^
Good video. More to say, but I don't know how.
well said
you really cant make a video on any game in the genre without the bit-rate being shit at some-point. 2:57