Voidling Bound is a creature-collecting title where you gather different Voidlings and play as them to stop enemy factions from spreading across the universe. Your goal is to help return the universe to its rightful state. Its core design has elements of Skylanders, letting you collect various Voidlings and evolve them into different gameplay styles. It also has some Risk of Rain 2 energy, with big creatures, lots of projectiles and a third-person viewpoint. You can play it for the large variety of creatures, essentially creating your own mini zoo or for the challenge of its bullet-hell combat. Either way, the adventure offers something for different types of players. And, yes, you can pet your Voidlings. It is available on Steam, the Epic Games Store and supports controllers.
The control layout is easy to follow, as the buttons for your abilities are constantly visible on screen, and you get reminders of which ability is bound to which button whenever unlocking a new creature. Voidling Bound does assume you already have some gaming knowledge, since there is no standard tutorial for basic movement or jumping in the opening phase. That cuts out some fluff for veteran gamers, but it could be a little confusing if you are new to the genre as a whole. Voidling Bound does a good job of explaining its specific systems, though, and if you ever forget how certain mechanics work, there is an option to review small tutorials in the menu, which is a nice touch.
The moment-to-moment action feels fluid and responsive when out in the field controlling a Voidling, while the ship-based sections are shorter but still rewarding after an expedition. The player’s journey is split into two main halves. Part of the adventure is spent on the ship training, breeding, splicing and upgrading your Voidlings. The other half is spent taking those Voidlings out into the field, cleansing corruption and exploring large maps for collection points and finding eggs. Eggs are a vital part of Voidling Bound because they are the main way to unlock new Voidling creatures to take with you on your journey. Exploration is strongly encouraged as golden eggs, collection points and elemental mutations are usually hidden around the corruption-cleansing maps. Golden eggs always give you a max-trait Voidling, which costs no extra resources to upgrade, making exploration worth it on that fact alone.
Element mutations are a core part of the upgrade system, and there are five different elements to choose from. The common elements are cryo, pyro and organic (organic inflicts poison), while the less common ones are plasma and cyber. You can also choose to leave your Voidlings elementless, though each separate element is more effective against specific factions. Each unique Voidling can initially transform into one of two assigned elements, but once unlocking the mutation system later on, you can make any Voidling’s element whichever one you prefer. Knowing what elements work best against which factions is important if you plan to play on harder difficulties because enemy spawn rates and damage both increase sharply.
I reviewed Voidling Bound on hard difficulty, though I tested every difficulty to get a feel for the experience depending on what kind of player you are. Overall, developer Hatchery Games really did well here. Whether you want a more relaxed experience or one that challenges your movement and cooldown management, there is a good balance across the difficulty settings. Once you reach the end of the story, the title does offer an endless run mode called the Abyss, though the endgame can feel a little bland since it becomes more of a “see how far you can go” mode. One change I would love to see, even though I know it would be a bigger addition, is more customization for your ship or Voidling spaces, along with rare decorations earned through endless mode. That would give casual players another fun goal and could encourage people to share their setups online.
Most of my other criticisms are really quality-of-life suggestions that would improve the experience rather than fix major problems. For example, on certain maps you can see how many golden eggs or elemental mutations are available before you enter, but if you forget those numbers mid-mission, there is no way to check again unless you finish or leave entirely. A simple checklist you could open during missions would help a lot. Another useful addition would be the ability to multi-select Voidlings when cleaning up your inventory because if you have multiple eggs or unwanted creatures, sorting through them one by one can get tedious. I would also like a better way to tell when you get hit by projectiles. There were several times where my health dropped to a third or half, and I just sat there wondering when I got hit or where the attack even came from. An audio cue or clearer visual indicator for attacks from behind would help.
The title also has a lot of little nooks and crannies that you can squeeze through if you have a small Voidling or one that can gain a lot of height. That means you can bypass parts of corruption-cleansing maps in ways that may not have been intended. That could be seen as a flaw, but it can also be a positive depending on the player. Those kinds of shortcuts are usually popular with speed runners. Since the adventure already rewards fast clears with cosmetic stars, it does not feel completely out of place. Regardless, none of these issues seriously dampened my experience, and I bring them up more out of affection for the title than frustration.
Visually, it looks fantastic. There were multiple times where I stopped what I was doing just to admire the various map backgrounds, whether that meant frozen-over planets with lava boiling beneath them or lush jungles full of fog and greenery. The Voidlings themselves also look and sound great, and there is a lot of gameplay variety between them, so you will almost certainly find one that matches your style. The soundtrack is strong too. In the third section of the adventure especially, I found myself moving along with the music and really appreciating the use of percussion and ambient sound.
Ultimately, Voidling Bound delivers an engaging and memorable experience from start to finish. It may not be the longest adventure out there, but the sense of discovery, customization and expressive gameplay leaves a lasting impression. If you are looking for a standout indie title that values creativity and offers a lot of variety in how you play, I highly recommend giving it a shot. And with this impressive debut release from Hatchery Games, I am genuinely excited to see what they do next.
