Blue Manchu, an indie studio headed by Irrational Games co-founder Jonathan Chey, has revealed a new game titled Void Bastards.

At first glance, Void Bastards feels like a mix of Borderlands, The Stanley Parable, and that Prey Mooncrash DLC – all excellent games. I only added The Stanley Parable to this list because both games share the same narrator with the same dry sense of humor.

This strategy-shooter is actually inspired by BioShock and System Shock 2 and features space exploration, fast-paced combat and resource management. You lead a crew of prisoners deep into the Sargasso Nebula, where you’ll have to decide where to go and what to do to survive.

You select which derelict ship to board, and which crew member to send. But before you get to all the shooting, you have to come up with a battle plan. When boarding a ship, you get to go over its floorplan, see what type of enemies and hazards you can expect, and plan your route accordingly.

Your objective on each ship is pretty simple: gather as many supplies as you can and get out alive. But no plan survives contact with the enemy, and you’ll have to think on your feet if you want to get all the best goodies and keep all your best organs.

If you do make it back to your escape pod, you will be able to upgrade your vessel and feed and arm your crew. Void Bastards promises all sorts of wacky weapons, from robo-kitty that distract your enemies to the horribly unstable clusterflak cannon.

According to the studio, Void Bastards features a 12-15 hour campaign. You have an “endless supply of prisoners” to add to your crew, each with their own unique traits. Like in any roguelite, if one of your crew members dies, another will step in and carry on the fight. Any crafting progress you’ve made is retained from one to another.

The game’s visual style is definitely one of it’s biggest appeal, and it also looks like it’s going to have plenty of humor throughout.

Void Bastards is coming to the PC and Xbox One early next year.


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