Post Void Review: Doom under the influence of acid
If I had been a wise guy, I would have avoided playing Post Void with the Nintendo Switch in handheld mode. Since I am a masochistic fool, however, I decided to tackle the first-person shooter from YCJY Games – available on PC, Nintendo and Playstation consoles on the 16th of March – by airplane, on the route Rome – Seville and back. Fortunately, this decision, partly dictated by my tight schedule, gave me a great gem to report in review.
The person sitting next to me on the plane, about an hour after departure, turns his gaze to the Switch screen, then looks at me, then cast an eye out the window and eventually back on my portable trinket which meanwhile exploded with psychedelic colors that, for real, you have to be careful of because in the long run they might bother you. In the process, I’m sure the gentleman in question must have thought, “kosa ciera in that glass of water they kindly offered me.”
However, after realizing that what he was drinking was not mixed with any substance, he begs me to start another game again–average time of the first ten, fifteen attempts, thirty seconds–also enraptured by the gameplay loop of Post Void.
The endless trip of Post Void
Exploding legs blocking the way of a seemingly endless maze. Flying knives go across the screen; anthropomorphic shark heads try to eat me alive; and unscrupulous gangsters shoot mercilessly.
At yet another game over with the kill count never growing enough to make it safely to the last level (eleven total), I ask some flight attendant to grab the console and sling it out of the plane. The postmortem high score reminds me of how fucking cool arcades were. Landing in Seville, I pop over to YouTube to watch a random video of a web phenomenon, the same thing I would have done sixteen years ago admiring the boy all talent and unruliness in front of the booth intent on breaking his own, unparalleled record.
The key is to move constantly, snap forward and shoot the head-there is no advantage to hitting some other part of the body than a skull to be blown to smithereens. Time is your enemy: If in five seconds you don’t make a kill, it’s game over. If you don’t kill anyone, you don’t regain lost vitality. And so, again, game over.
I try to change my strategy: keeping the crosshair locked in the middle of the screen, moving it only left and right, might be a solution, but the unevenness of the terrain automatically lowers it for me. I finish the stage and here’s an upgrade of your choice: shotgun instead of gun, ricocheting bullets or increased movement speed if you walk backwards (sure because Post Void wasn’t crazy enough).
The end of the trip
Playing in TV Mode, once I returned home, proved to be an undoubtedly wiser choice: larger monitor, easier headshots, and generally better visibility that greatly enhances the gaming experience.
Post Void enraptures the user on an endlessly delirious, exaggerated, yet addictive journey. Having completed all eleven levels, the only thing I thought was, “Why would I ever stop playing?” And so I started another run, to test myself again. After all, I don’t have the change to spend, I can quit whenever I want, and I don’t think this shooter is addictive.
Of crazy works I’ve tried quite a few in my life (check out the review of Fashion Police Squad) but stuff like Post Void had never yet come across my hands. For the record: I had gone to Seville for a bachelor party but my brain, in those three days of partying and beers, was thinking solely of this little gem.
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