With its reputation for punishing challenge and cryptic storytelling, the Soulslike genre has found a surprising new competitor in Void Sols. This minimalist action game casts players as a simple triangle traveling a world of harsh geometry and unrelenting darkness rather than as a noble knight or despondent wanderer.
There is a big change from what usually happens in this genre, and it almost feels like the game is trying to answer the philosophical question: what does battle mean? Is it the story, the legends of the world, or the pure experience of survival?
Light and shadow are used as both mechanics and metaphors in Void Sols, which has a dark, top-down aesthetic. Thanks to its stripped-down design, the experience feels purposefully lonely. It stresses exploration and combat in ways that are both familiar and alien. It’s a meditation on simplicity, battle, and adaptation in a world without comfort; it’s not just another Soulslike.
Embracing the Void: The Geometry of Survival
When a genre becomes as codified as the Souls here, creativity can feel like sacrilege. By rethinking the genre’s found mechanics from a top-down viewpoint, Void Sols manages to pull off an intriguing twist. Dark Souls’ elaborate, gothic architecture was shrunk into Escher-style dioramas. The result is a game that feels tightly packed and strategically open, where every angle (pun intended) counts. In a minimalist symphony of triangles, squares, and hexagons, combat, exploration, and survival are stripped down to their most basic forms.
Some of its competitors, like Elden Ring, use a lot of visuals, but Void Sols prefers a harsh simplicity. The best example is the combat system, which takes the familiar “dodge-roll-and-slash” formula and turns it into something almost primal.
Dodging is more of a survival tactic than a style move here. The top-down view removes the epic cinematic feel of enemies charging at you, turning them into simple shapes whose attack patterns look more like math problems than carefully planned fights. (“A square with a dagger lunging out of the shadows is scarier than any dragon.”)
The dodge technique is accurate, but it’s also harsh. It doesn’t let you spam your way to safety; each dash takes time and energy. The difference between rewarding patience and observation and punishing hesitation in combat feels eerily like the struggle we all face in real life: how often do we move too late or too soon? Reading the enemy’s moves, taking advantage of their patterns, and sometimes just smashing through sheer frustration are all things that can help you win.
Exploration is important because it turns the game’s confusing world into a puzzle box. When you flicker a torch, you can see hidden paths. Treasures are hidden behind walls that can be destroyed, and shortcuts give you a sense of control over everything. It’s a game where being curious pays off, not just with loot but also with a better understanding of how the world works. Void Sols isn’t just about beating your enemies; it’s also about overcoming your fear of the unknown.
Shining a Light on Atmosphere: Geometry in Darkness
In game design, minimalism can be good and bad at the same time. A game either reveals its underlying brilliance or crumbles under the weight of its simplicity when it is stripped of its lavish textures or overly detailed models. Void Sols fits into the first group. The game’s art style is harsh and geometric, with sharp angles and heavy darkness that feels like existential fear.
That brave choice makes me think of cold, practical, and quietly oppressive brutalist architecture from the middle of the 20th century. (Think about Le Corbusier if his work meant to kill you.) The minimalist style here sharpens your focus, forcing you to interact with the game’s systems and its constant hostility, unlike many modern games that are overdesigned and cluttered.
This simplicity is elevated into something professional by the light engineering, though. Light serves as both your ally and your enemy in Void Sols. Torches show the way, but they also cast long, jagged shadows that can hide enemies or hide important features. It’s not just a trick; it’s a message about life. In other places, light is a metaphor for understanding or salvation.
Still, here, it is made unclear and even dangerous. You might not see an enemy’s blade if you move too quickly around a corner. Your shadow could block it. It’s not really a design choice; it feels more like a criticism of how much we depend on confidence.
The sound design goes well, and the visuals are modest. It’s noticeable that there isn’t a big orchestral theme. Instead, there are few isolated sounds, like the crackle of torches, the crunch of snow underfoot, and the deep hiss of an enemy that can’t be seen. The stress is increased by the fact that each sound feels intentional. A low hum in the distance could mean you are safe or about to be in trouble. You have to pay close attention to this soundscape so you don’t miss the subtle hints hiding in the silence.
Navigating the Abyss: A Labyrinth of Shadows and Secrets
The world of Void Sols is more than just a collection of levels; it’s a cruel, calculated maze meant to confuse, frustrate, and, in the end, reward. Its environments feel less like typical levels and more like existential traps, where progression is marked not in sweeping wins but small, hard-won inches.
The maze-like design conjures images of claustrophobic catacombs or Kafkaesque bureaucratic nightmares, forcing players to repeatedly ask themselves, “Have I been here before?” (Hint: you probably have.) But if you’re paying attention, that dead end could now hold a new secret or a way to get there faster.
It takes patience and awareness to get through these mazes. Careful observation shows subtle environmental cues—broken furniture, dimly flickering torches—that guide your way, whereas blindly charging through only ensures death. Not having a good plan is not a mistake; it’s a challenge.
It challenges the player to internalize the world and to depend on memory and intuition instead of a glowing waypoint. It’s a design decision that calls to mind the linked worlds of Hollow Knight or Dark Souls, but this one feels even starker, stripped of their rich details and heavy with oppressive minimalism.
Level design in Void Sols is based on how things are related. When you fold the world in on itself, you can find secret paths and shortcuts that are placed in a way that feels almost like a plot. A hallway that seems to end could hide a wall that can be broken, and a room lit by torches could point to a hidden door that is just out of view. Each of these discoveries is a small victory that adds to the game’s main theme of finding light in the dark, literally and metaphorically.
You have to explore, not just be interested in it. The game rewards curiosity with relics, stat boosts, and tools that lighten survival. There will always be comparisons to Metroidvania games. Still, while those games offer empowerment through exploration, Void Sols offers something more fundamental: survival.
You know that exploring here is dangerous, but you still do it. Why? Because the game teaches you to see every shadow as an opportunity and every corner as a way out. It is a masterclass in level design that recognizes that exploration isn’t just about discovering secrets; it’s also about discovering yourself.
Crafting Your Approach: The Philosophy of Adaptation
Customization is more than just a tool in Void Sols; it’s a way to explore existential questions. The respec system, unusual in the rigid world of Soulslike games, creates an interesting paradox: complete freedom in a game about limits. At any rest point, players can move all their stats around, which is like destroying the self they worked so hard to make.
This isn’t just a useful tool (though it is exciting to change from a fragile speedster with a dagger to a lumbering powerhouse swinging a hammer); it’s also a quiet philosophical statement about starting over. What if failure isn’t the end but an opportunity to change into something new?
Weapon upgrades, too, carry this idea of adaptability. Every weapon levels simultaneously, so you don’t have to put resources into one blade and hope it pays off. This all-encompassing system supports exploration and experimentation, as neglect ever makes no weapon obsolete. Found a scythe in a dark nook? Take it out and try it—it already has a lot of promise. Void Sols dares to let players have it all (or at least try it all) in a genre where dedication frequently feels like a ball and chain.
And then there’s the healing flask, a feature that looks easy but is very important for strategy. Do you like taking sips more often or stronger ones? The answer relies on how you play and how the game’s challenges change over time. When you combine these systems, they make choices, and consequences interact dynamically. Every choice feels important, but it’s also possible to go back and change your mind. It’s a nice change from the crushing permanence that rules much of the genre.
Void Sols creates a world where growth isn’t just about getting stronger and smarter. It constantly asks players to rethink who they are as fighters and people who can solve problems in a harsh world.
Conquering the Challenge: Triumph in the Geometry of Pain
Void Sols’ difficulty isn’t just a trait; it’s a way of thinking. A constant reminder that survival here is earned, not given, are the game’s punishing enemies and sudden difficulty spikes. Every fight, whether with a square wielding a dagger or a big hexagon that likes to lunge, is designed to test your reactions and patience.
The difficulty curve is more of a series of sharp peaks, each steeper than the one before. (The creators got a weird kick from seeing us climb, fall, and climb again.) But herein lies the brilliance: failure in Void Sols is not a punishment but a teaching opportunity.
Enemies want to be watched before they attack. Blindly rushing in is a one-way ticket to death, but careful study shows their patterns and tells. Take the square with the shield as an example. Its front is invincible, forcing you to dodge its deliberate swipes and strike from behind. The game doesn’t give you the win; it requires persistence and flexibility. A word of advice? Learn to use the dash not as a fear button but as a smart way to move around. You might just make it if you treat it like fencing movement.
But boss fights are where Void Sols steps it up, and your blood pressure will go through the roof. Each boss tests your stamina, skill, and ability to spot patterns. Take the scary fight against the “Obsidian Sentinel,” a huge monster whose second part adds wide-area attacks that hurt players too close to safety. The key to these encounters is patience: watch, adjust, and strike only when the opportunity presents itself. Different bosses have different strategies, but one thing is always true: greed is fatal.
The most important thing that Void Sols teaches is how to use failure to learn. Even though death is guaranteed, it can also teach us what went wrong and, most importantly, how to do better next time. This is a place where progress is both mental and physical. Learn how the enemy acts. When you’re getting angry, take a break. And most importantly, don’t give up. Every death and failure is just another step toward mastery.
Final Thoughts: A Triangle’s Journey Through the Darkness
Void Sols is a masterclass in reductionism at its core. It takes the Soulslike model and sharpens its edges (figuratively and geometrically), daring players to find meaning in its minimalist world. The game thrives on its ability to make simplicity feel professional, from its haunting maze of light and shadow to its challenging yet rewarding combat.
You’re not just a triangle navigating dangerous shapes; you’re a vulnerable being in a world that offers no help, comfort, or forgiveness. The game’s ability to be customized in many ways and its intentionally harsh design make it an intelligent but difficult experience.
For all its brilliance, Void Sols does have some problems. The difficulty spikes can feel like hitting a sharp brick wall that also stabs you, and some parts of the game, like auto-targeting, could use some work. But these flaws make it more interesting. It’s a game that requires patience, persistence, and maybe even a little masochistic lightheartedness.
Not everyone should do this. Its rough edges will likely frustrate casual players or people who want a story told to them. But Void Sols is an unpolished gem worth discovering for Souls fans or anyone interested in how minimalism and difficulty interact. The question in the game isn’t just “Will you survive?” but also “What will you learn about yourself along the way?”
The Review
Void Sols
Void Sols is a bold and minimalist take on the Soulslike genre, reducing its core features to a stark world of light, shadow, and geometric hostility. For those willing to accept its challenges, it offers rewarding combat, thoughtful exploration, and respec-friendly customization. Some players may get frustrated by sudden increases in challenges and small problems with how the game works. Despite these flaws, Void Sols is an atmospheric and mentally stimulating experience demonstrating simplicity's power. This is a trip that fans of the genre or people looking for something familiar but also very different should take.
PROS
- Minimalist yet atmospheric art style.
- Challenging and rewarding combat.
- Flexible respec system for experimentation.
- Clever, interconnected level design.
- Immersive sound design with subtle cues.
CONS
- Difficulty spikes can feel unfair.
- Auto-targeting is unreliable.
- Sparse storytelling may not appeal to all.
- Simplistic visuals might lack appeal for some.
