If there was a prize for weirdest game of the year then The Void, the new adventure game from Mamba games would win hands down. It is an imaginative, beautifully designed game with an interesting and strange premise but it also incredibly weird and at times confusing about what you actually have to do. The game is part of the Odyssia adventure brand and is set in the place where a mortal’s soul goes immediately before death, a mid point as it were and this place is called The Void. The basis behind the game is that the player (you) have the chance to survive this place, thus sparing your immortal soul and returning to life but to do this you have to learn about The Colour. The colour is the only food present in The Void and every creature in the place wants it. You have to use all your wits and skill to determine exactly which colours you need in order to return to the world of mortals and escape The Void. In order to do this you must listen to and work very closely with some very scantily clad women because it is them that will teach you about the use of colour in the game and why it is important to you. You have to collect colour at first and place it in your hearts. Initially this is done from small plants but eventually you have to learn how to harvest the colour yourself. You will also learn how different colours are beneficial to you in different ways such as providing you with a shield which is required because the woman are not alone in this place because they have demented brothers and they are best avoided at all costs. This is the first game I have ever seen from Russian developers Ice-pick lodge and I have to say graphically it is quite spectacular with gloomy but detailed areas sparsely populated by the sisters etc. They are very well detailed, quite often nude, which might make the game more appealing then it would be otherwise. However, please note this is not skin Mag nudity more like the nudes you would find in the Tate gallery as it is never gratuitous and always done with a sense of style and class. Sound wise the music seems perfect for the type of game, haunting and gloomy while the vocal acting in particular of the sisters is excellent with almost poetic lines spoken for in an erotic whisper. Overall I have played this game for quite a while and to be perfectly honest I am still not completely sure what the hell is going on. On the one hand it is all done at a very slow pace and yet the colour that you need to collect seems to always run out much quicker than you can collect any more. The keyboard and mouse controls are easy to learn and remember however and your character on screen does react to your button pressing.
However having said that for some reason the game does not seem to recognise what you draw first time and you often have to draw the same shape or glyph a number of times for it to be recognised. I have to say this is without doubt one of the most original games I have ever come across however it is not a lot of fun and anyone wanting a particular quick or fun game should stay away. If, however, you have patience and you want to play something different then this is a perfect game to choose. It is just a shame that many people in the UK might not experience this title due to the lack of people who actually play PC games anymore. A game for someone who rates interesting above fun. | 
Windows 
