Voin is a dark fantasy hack-and-slash that handles a little like Doom Eternal
If you dislike getting stabbed in the back in first-person games, you might not like Voin. If you like ravaged Gothic masonry and dramatic evening skies, you might like Voin. If you dislike fighting fireball-lobbing demons with a sword, you might not like Voin. If you like open-ended, changeable levels full of loot and secrets, you might like Voin. If you are confused about whether you'll like or dislike Voin, you might want to try this dark fantasy action-RPG yourself during the first public Steam playtest on Friday, March 8th.
Having spent all of 30 minutes with an early playtest build, I'm cautiously impressed. I suspect there are cooler, less-known inspirations at work, but this feels like a Demon's Souls-ified Doom Eternal that doesn't quite have Doom Eternal's swagger and precision, probably because it is the work of just one developer, Nikita Sozidar, rather than hundreds.
In Voin, you are an elemental warrior conjured by a mage to cleanse the realm of an undead plague. This involves setting out from an extra-dimensional hub dungeon to explore and purge a series of compact open worlds, including an expanse of collapsing mountainside castles that put me in mind of Undead Asylum.
The fights are furious, with just four health hearts available to you in the playtest - rather than charging through mobs, you'll need to dodge, counter and make adept use of chargeable special moves that include throwing your sword like Thor's hammer, and jumping backward in slow-mo before diving forward with blade extended. It's easy to become surrounded, and harder to outrun enemies than you might think - I could have done with more audio cues for incoming attacks, and default movement with the sword out feels more sluggish than it should.
Still, it's possible all this reflects the fact that I am terrible at games that require any serious level of dexterity, so let's move swiftly on to the set dressing. Voin is surprisingly restful outside of combat. The zombies and ghouls I
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