I have a lot of feedback

[Iniquity]

I love this game's art style. I'm definitely bias towards purple hooded figures as well so that gets extra points.
The music and overall atmosphere is awesome. In fact, they deserve more than a quick mention. I was playing this game on my Steam Deck at work. Sometimes I'd have to leave the game paused for a bit while I worked and I loved every track that played from the OST.

The movement and vibe are definitely inspired by Hollow Knight and it's welcomed. Combat is simple, but certain enemy designs still make for great fights. This isn't in reference to the "regular" enemies you come across though. 90% of your combat is stabbing your weapon at an enemy that barely poses a threat to you. But the boss fights I've had so far were pretty challenging. And the "dance" was really fun with these bosses once you understood what you had to do.

I know metroidvania fans either love or hate linear gameplay. I'm more of a fan of when games "nudge" you which way to go towards the next objective. This game has moments of "uhh where the heck do I go next" but also has moments where it literally highlights your next objective. So it's a toss up so far.

I'm 7 hrs or so deep right now, so I'll probably update this review once I complete Voidwrought. As of now, 7.5/10. Overall it's fine and not something I regret getting into. It's not a top contender, and that's fine too.

Edit after a few days:

This is one of those games where I criticize it, because I truly think it could be great. I definitely have some feedback. I can tell a game has potential when I find myself criticizing it to myself or even complaining, but still playing the game 6-8 hours a day. Voidwrought is that. I have 18 hrs played now, and while I love certain things, other designs or decisions are questionable.

Combat is simple, I don't mind it, but most enemy encounters are also simple. There's plenty of cool little spells/relics available but I haven't ever needed to switch off the first damage increasing Relic they give you and this one I bought from the main hub vendor which sends out a vertical red laser. Everything gets obliterated by that build and I haven't ever needed to rethink my setup for different situations.

I don't mind "cage matches" in metroidvanias but I think this game could have sacrificed a few of them and instead added more bosses. A lot of these encounters I just spam my red laser and pogo all the enemies to stay safe in the air. I want to have trouble with a boss fight, then have that lightbulb moment when you figure out the right Relic and soul combination that'll give you a sweet advantage against that specific boss. This hasn't happened yet in my 10+ hours.

The slither ability is bitter sweet. When I first got it I was excited because I immediately recalled areas I knew I could backtrack to with it. That's great design. But then you keep exploring and this same ability trivializes everything. You even pass by areas you could tell were designed with a double jump or grapple point in mind, but who cares I'll just jump on this wall here and slither on over. It's also not satisfying or fun, you're really just slowly slithering everywhere lol.

I LOVE that fast travel is introduced early and fast travel points are plentiful. I love that save rooms and fast travel rooms are easily spotted while exploring with their purple/gold glows. I think the map is designed well and aside from the secret walls, it does a decent job of telling you which rooms you haven't been to yet. I think the excavation mechanic at the main hub is pretty creative and really enjoyed "coming back home" with money to see which new areas I could unlock.

I'm going to end up completing and maybe even 100 percenting Voidwrought on my steam deck, and I'll recommend it as a 7/10 game. But I think it could have been a top contender with a few tweaks and couple more months in the oven.

Edit after completing the game:

I haven't 100%'d the game but I rolled credits after beating the "last" boss. Quotations because I'm assuming there's a "true ending" finale. The last few bosses were way too easy to defeat. I didn't die to them and I think that's an issue. I'm not some god tier gamer, these bosses just had very simple mechanics and low hp, or my damage was very high. Either way, that satisfaction of defeating bosses and unlocking new abilities or finishing a game was just not there because of how simple these fights felt. I rolled credits without unlocking all the traversal abilities. I find that to be weird. I don't mind when there's post-game content, but I think the pacing in this game could be looked at. I was missing more than half the relics and crests (spells and perks) as the credits rolled. That makes me feel like I missed out on content before completing the game. But the incentive to unlock all these missing items is lacking because what do I need new spells for? The bosses are defeated.

I think it's fine that the map is massive, but more often than not, backtracking and exploring wasn't as fun as it should be because you're pretty set once you get the slither ability and another that lets you punch out these purple bricks that often block important pathways. So I felt like I was exploring pathways _just_ so that my map was complete and not because I was excited to see what new upgrade/unlock was waiting for me behind the next secret. And speaking of secrets, there needs to be an ability that reveals all secret walls to the player once they've completed the game or something. It is _not_ fun walking around an already explored map and having to hit every wall to see if it breaks down to reveal another path. There needs to be more hints for the player that wants to 100% your game. Their time needs to be respected. There's already interactive maps to help players like that unlock everything, but 3rd party resources should not be required in my opinion.

I enjoy this game, but I really want it to be great one day. I'd love to revisit it and experience any new tweaks/patches/updates/content. If any dev reads this, I hope I don't seem too harsh. I really think Voidwrought is good, but I want to see it excel. You have an awesome foundation here.

[Maddie @ Kwalee]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed account of your feedback and for staggering your experience depending on where you were in the game, which really helps us to get a picture of what was working for you and what wasn't at different stages of the game!

You don't seem too harsh at all. Your honesty is much appreciated and we know no one would have taken the time to write so much detail in such a measured way if they weren't passionate about Voidwrought, so we're honoured that you feel that way 🙏

I've distilled a few of your comments into bullet points for our feedback doc, which the developer team will be reviewing and considering for inclusion in future updates. We've already earmarked balancing as something to revisit for a future update, which is something you've mentioned here regarding the difficulty of late-game bosses, so that is on the cards for us.

I'll come back to your post and let you know if anything else you've mentioned is being worked on for a future patch!

[Iniquity]

Thanks so much! Voidwrought is great and even though I "finished" it a few days ago, I still find myself thinking about it while playing other metroidvanias. I definitely plan to return to it when its first patch releases. I'd love to collect everything.