The Void Rains Upon Her Heart is a Bullet-Hell / Shoot ‘em Up available on Steam, although still on Early Access, it has the quality to rapidly becoming a top name for its genre.
Published by The Hidden Levels and developed by Veyeral Games, the game is actually the result of a single person’s vision to create something new, based on the passion for Bullet Hell shooters, and counting with all the community feedback and support.
Created by Angel Polanco using GameMaker Studio, The Void Rains Upon Her Heart is a tremendous surprise for fans of fast paced action, and at the same time, capable of inspiring a new set of players to a complete new, and revigorised genre. That’s how powerful this title is.
Deep in the mysterious and vague universe, where only darkness reign, there’s a young Zaraden woman, lost in a cave on a distant planet. She lives alone and far from everybody else, but then again, no one really lives alone in the dark, do they? No… The monsters are there, lying among the obscurity.
The poor girl tried to escape, but her deformed wings didn’t help, and though she could give up, she didn’t. Instead, she found the only way she could fight back; Love the monsters until they could love her as well!
The background story serves as a principle for the entire experience, as it illustrates everything, from mechanics, to the design itself.
The Void Rains Upon Her Heart plays out just like your traditional Bullet Hell game, but under a modern perspective, and how exactly is that possible? It’s actually pretty simple, although still displaying a learning curve through levels, we have a system that most resembles a rogue-like.
Layers of difficulty are present, and at this moment there are two available; Light Rain, which is the equivalent of Easy, and Heavy Rain, that stands for Normal. It’s impossible to choose the third one called Torrent Rain at this stage of the game, but it’s presupposed to be the Hard Mode, and may be available in a future update.
The player takes control of the young Zaraden’s heart, that permanently shoots small hearts as bullets. One can control special attacks though, two at the moment; the Charger attack, that fires a special bullet reinforced with love, and the Panic Mode, a special mode for those hard and rough situations. This panic mode offers a time-limit shield of love that can also be used as an attack.
Different difficulties affect the monster's health, as they are stronger, and also affect their phases, therefore having stronger attack patterns, and demanding much more reflexes from the player.
When one first starts a new game, the rogue-like elements come out in the open. The choices are everything, and as in any other game, the more you play, the more unlocks you earn, and further you can reach on your mission. Choices in The Void Rains Upon Her Heart are all about what monster to take, versus the rewards it gives. There are some strategic elements to squeeze the most out of it, and it’s one of the reasons why this game is so addictive!
Every New Game means a new and different playthrough. Monsters are randomly selected based on your predefined level. This means only a small portion of monsters will be faced, and multiple playthroughs across different difficulties are required to encounter and beat all of them.
Every time one defeats a monster with the power of love, they win gifts, such as Karma. Now, the Karma accumulates only through the current playthrough, and high karma attracts high-level monsters.
But that’s not the only gifts the player can earn! Some of the best goodies are cards, and each card has a boost, a power up, or an improved performance. There are two types of cards, some are gifts that the player can keep, while others are just temporary cards that are automatically used to help the young Zaraden defeat the monsters.
(Did you know? Everytime you hit your enemies, a white bar remains. That's your Combo. Combo breaks if you stop hitting, or you take damage.)
Permanent cards are a whole new story, as they keep onthe player’s menu and can be unlocked if one collects enough Tetris. These colorful materials are the monster’s elements, and each element works with different type of cards. Cards can be Irradiated with Tetris and therefore unlocked and applied to the player for good! These power ups can pretty much increase all sorts of abilities, such as speed, health, attack, and even adding extra features such as magical shields or adding elements to the bullets, like fire.
Irradiating cards can also reveal mysterious cards during different playthroughs, and further increase your chances of success since you know what is the best monster to defeat and what rewards there will be dropped. Monster cards are also available and irradiating them can help you study the monsters and learn their element, to further pursue your goals.
(Did you know? Cards have levels based on their stars numbers. 3 star cards are the top-tier.)
Visually, we are presented with smooth 2D pixel art, very colorful and with tremendous original ideas for the monsters and their attacks. The main character is presented as a fairy-like creature, fully naked, and a censored mode is included, just in case.
The overall looks of the battles change from gloom and darkness to psychedelic waves of colors hitting you. It really depends on the monster and its element, to a point where they present a fantastic mixture in order to provide variety.
There are a wide range of monsters, from giant insect-looking creatures, to huge floating orbs, and even some flower-ish beast. Creativity is definitely not a problem, and we’re pleased!
The backgrounds are simple and barely mixing with the main action present at the screen, which is always positive! Another positive background endowment is the soundtrack, also created by Angel Polanco, featuring electronic tunes from hypnotic melodies to some more clear rhythms, all atmospherically associated with the monster.
With Full Controller support, The Void Rains Upon Her Heart is a fantastic Bullet Hell game that focuses on increasing the player abilities, and can become highly addictive as more power-ups are unlocked.
A simple but interesting story where a young alien woman must spread her love, but she’s not alone in this journey, as a robot who calls himself The Unit, will help with tips and advice.
Recommended for both pros and those who just now got into this genre, as the level progression is highly balanced.
The Community is already very active and both the developer and publisher are always free for taking suggestions.
What else can we really want?!
A Bullet Hell game like we haven’t seen yet.