Recommended with reservations (after completing Episode 1).

Void and Meddler has a gorgeous aesthetic. The beautiful graphics and music combine to create a lovely cyberpunk city populated with the best kind of strange characters. Regular humans, humans with horns, cat people, bird people, and others all intermix beneath the neon lights. It's a unique and refreshing setting, and I find myself wanting to explore more of it. The game looks even better in play than in screenshots.

Void and Meddler grows on you. There are amusing and clever bits that you discover throughout. The first "quest" is to turn on some music to relax, and of course the protagonist's relaxing music is the most horrendous noise. There are different ways to finish each act, and the way you pick describes the character you're playing - a violent solution paints a violent character, while a clever solution a clever one.

The protagonist is unsympathetic, which makes for an unusual game. You can do something really awful in Episode 1, which I found horribly distasteful, but who could I blame? Sure, the devs coded it in, and the protagonist carried out the action, but I was in control - I was the one who chose to do something I knew was wrong, that I didn't have to do to advance the story, so who can I blame other than myself for the awful outcome? Where Spec Ops' nastiness was forced, here it was optional - I didn't have to turn off the game to make it stop, I merely had to find another way to advance.

The writing was a mixed bag. The descriptions of people and things were often lovely, but the sometimes long monologues upon visiting a location for the first time seemed unnecessary and out of place. It seemed that the writing was trying too hard at times, and worked better when it wasn't. Part of it is expectations - I expect a description when I examine an item, I don't expect a monologue when I arrive at a new place.

Other reviews mention the walking speed, but it seemed perfectly fine to me, and at times beautifully synchronized with the music. Episode 1 does lack quick transitions for double-clicking on an exit, but that is added in Episode 2.

Unfortunately, despite looking into the future for its setting, Void and Meddler brings with it frustrations from Point & Click Adventure past. There is little direction, though it's partially forgivable given that the protagonist is supposed to be aimlessly stumbling her way through the night. I was able to get through the normal ending of Episode 1 without a guide - relying on just stumbling around, clicking on everything, talking to everyone, picking up everything in sight. But the alternate and hard endings to Episode 1 require leaps of logic that seem impossible without a guide - having to examine or use the same item twice, trying to pick up things you'd never think to pick up, combining items without any reason or explanation for doing so. I'm not sure if Episode 2 improves on it yet.

So I recommend Void and Meddler, but with reservations. If you like cyberpunk and unique games, and don't mind having to blindly stumble around or use a guide to get through the illogical puzzles, you'll find a lovely neon city to explore and bizarre characters to encounter. The visuals and music are a potent and delightful combination, and the setting is refreshing and begging to be explored.

Also, note that you do not need to purchase the Deluxe edition if you don't care about the soundtrack. The Season Pass includes all the episodes, and is less than half the price of the Deluxe edition.